Fixing the sun (umbrella)

The mice in my greenhouse have had an excellent winter. As I haven't had chickens for a few months they took the opportunity of unmonitored supplies and bedded in my straw bale and ate through my bag of corn (that was fun when I picked it up..... Not!). And they demolished a small portion of my patio umbrella. Well yah boo sucks to them, I win!

New year - new chickens!

I lost 11 of my hens last autumn to the dratted fox. Always a possibility, something you just try not to think of. Trouble is they don't just take one - they kill the lot, so it's an all or nothing situation.  He got into my big pen by yanking my feeder/hopper off the wire wall and then pushing his way through the little hole they have to peck through for their feed.

Anyway enough about the downside, the upside is that as it's nearly spring (well you gotta look optimistically don't ya?) I have decided it was time to fix the run, clean out the house and fill it all back up with hens (this decision was in no small part due to the price of pretty pale and insignificant eggs in Sainsburys)

So the two hens and cockerel that the dear ol' fox left me with (cos they were living next door) got moved into the big pen last weekend.

My handsome boy!:
I'm afraid tho' he didn't show many manners when the new girls arrived ;) he pretty much dictated immediately what they were there for as far as he was concerned - so rude!  The new girls are a bit young yet, but when they start laying we will use him for that purpose and hatch some eggs for meat. He's a big boy so I think will produce good eating birds. (I know it sounds callous, but really they do have an incredibly good life and any hens that are particularly good layers get kept and the cockerels always have a chance to father more before their time, I'm sure the same can't be said for the birds that you buy at the supermarket)

The new girls tho' weren't sure about all the attention and took refuge behind the bay tree. They've settled in now tho' and strangely having declared his intentions so early I don't think he's been near them since They are a bit young for him though!

In other news, the crochet blanket is going well and will be finished in a week or so, I have nearly finished all the squares (yes there were 130 if you remember) and I may even be able to do an extra row as there seems to be some yarn left over - I'll have to see how that goes though.  There is an, as yet unused, oatmealy colour which is used to join all the squares together as "sashing" so to speak, so when I've finished the squares (maybe tomorrow) then the joining shall commence. I've tried to take some photos but it's a grey day here and they don't look as lovely as they should so you have to wait!  I may take this blanket out somewhere special for a photo shoot when it's finished!

The final news is that the Crafters' Barn is gaining momentum.  I have new software and new webspace for a bigger better Barn and will then be inviting many more sellers to join us to improve the range of handmade gifts we can offer you.  It's testing my tech skills though I must say - I haven't worked so hard at learning something new since I was 14 and taught myself guitar!! ;)  I'm off to a trade show in a couple of weeks so am hoping to find ways of maximising our exposure and providing the very best retail outlet for crafts that I can.

Right, it's very chilly here so I have a date with a fire, a cup of tea, a hot cross bun, the tv and some crochet.

Til soon xx

Sad News & Ally Pally 2011

I'm sorry everyone, I've been AWOL again. It's been a bit of a fortnight if I'm honest, and although writing about it may well have actually been a good thing, i just didn't feel the love for blogging during it.

All you blog-readers should know, though, that my beautiful Silkie-mama was taken by a fox last week. So no more pictures of her. Super-sad as she was brooding 6 new silkie eggs for me. I had left the door to the house open as i was away for the day, and the fox must've found a way in. Tbh i do leave the house open often and have never had an issue, but there you have it, it's happened, and I'm gutted (and have to admit to bawling my eyes out at the time - especially as it was a bit of a raw day for me anyway)  So the fox has not only denied me my chicken cuddle, but has possibly cost me £120 in lost chicken sales (silkies sell well as they are such good mums), assuming a 50% female hatch rate. Plus it'll cost me every bit of £30-£40 to replace her possibly,( and that's money I haven't got at the moment). Although i won't do that yet as having such a little bird hasn't always been easy. She was way too small to be in with the big girls - plus she was broody every other fortnight, so she spent most of her life in her own house and run, but alongside the big girls so she could see them. But it wasn't always the most convenient of situations. So I need to consider carefully what to do next.  She was a wonderful mum though and she did me proud with around 6 hatches.

If she had already hatched the chicks i really wouldn't have felt as badly about it. She was getting old, and i s;pose the fox needs to eat as much as the next animal. And she would never have been worth plucking and dealing with for a human meal. And if they die naturally you are not supposed to bury them any more, so that would have meant a huge fire (a cremation service if you will)  So, another 6 months down the line and I'd have taken it much more pragmatically. But the timing sucks both financially and emotionally and I'm heartbroken to have lost the only chicken that would actually be cuddled! - She really was a little snuggler.

Anyway, moving swiftly on.......

Last Thursday Mum and i made our annual pilgrimmage to Ally Pally for the Knitting and Stitching show.  I took a certain amount of cash (and no credit cards so I couldn't be tempted to abandon my budget!) and am very happy with my purchases:

I got a 3 month subscription to The Knitter, and Molly Makes (not hugely impressed with the latter, but that's the beauty of a cheap 3 month sub!) I got a thread box (no an ice cream tub is not a suitable substitute).  "Crochet lace innovations" by Doris Chan. And three lots of yarn:  3 Skeins of pure silk, 10 Skeins of green Mirasol Sulka and 4 skeins of Subliime Kid Mohair blend.

We had a really lovely day, it wasn't overly crowded and we had plenty of time to amble around and decide how to spend our money. The highlight of my day was very definitely meeting Doris Chan, especially as i was wearing my Jewel jumper at the time. At this time of the year it is one of my most wearable jumpers, and i think I may have helped boost her book sales just a little! *blushes*.  So amazing to be noticed by the designer of something you are wearing though - especially if it's a make that you are happy with. It was definitely one of those Big Grin moments!

So there you go, a mixed week. But we are now starting a new one, and I have a smile on my face and a skip in my step, because life is too short not to have.  I have lots of ideas for the yarn I bought at Ally pally - all of which is destined for The Crafters' Barn. - So if you fancy any of it, - keep a look out in my shop.

Have a great week, and I'll be back soon xx

Chicks are growing up!

These are the little chicks that were hatched 27-5-11.  They're in the run with Dad, who's had to be separated from the hens as he gets picked on, and really we should cull him cos he's got a bad leg - but he eats and drinks and does the business if we put him in with the ladies, so we're keeping him until this little boy grows up (and I have grown emotionally attached, which should never have happened!!).  Dad has been looking after these little ones so well. We've given them a separate box to sleep in (Dad is BIG!) but he fusses over them, and protects them fiercely if something new enters the garden (as my Mum & Dad's weimaraner found out the other week)

All three chicks:

When I grow up I'm going to be big and strong like Daddy, but right now I'm just a little bit scared of you:-

Daddy and three tails:-

That dark brown one is soooo pretty:-

They're all just "mongrels" bred from my own hens and Dad there in the photo (he was also a mongrel) I honestly have no idea what I've got now, but in my time there have been Sussex/Sasso crosses, Sussex/Rhode Island Red crosses, Welsummer pure breeds, (and a silkie, but I'm not mating her with that cockerel!!! He'd break her!)

Anyway they're all very lovely, although have just got to that very skittish age where they jump at the sight of everything. - I need to make a shorter smaller run so I can handle chick more as they always become impossible to catch at this age! - I'm sure they'll settle down later tho'

So fingers crossed there's no Coccidiosis this year, and that these little beauties grow up to start my next generation.

End of May already

So the May socks are going extraordinarily slowly. I think i've lost the love for them, but am nearly finished on the first one so haven't the heart to frog it and choose another pattern. Whatever happens they ain't gonna be finished for May!

We also seem to have acquired 3 new chicks.

These little lovelies have already had so much bad luck thrown at them..They were abandoned at 18 days by my broody silkie (chicks take 21 days to hatch) and the eggs had gone quite cold.  As luck would sort of have it, I had another broody - an old Welsummer (She's 5 or 6 years old and has never gone broody in her life until now) So we put them under her in the main hen house just in case.  And on day 23, just when I was going to empty the nestbox and get her sorted out, these little ones appeared from under her!  (There was a fourth but it didn't make it :( )

It all caused a bit of a dilemma, because firstly, Welsummers are renowned for being bad mothers. Secondly Silkie was in the broody coop, and she can't go in the main run cos she is so much smaller than the other girls and gets beaten up, and the cockerel is still recovering from his hen-pecked injuries in the 2nd run. So what the heck was I going to do with these. I couldn't leave them with the Welsummer, even if she had been a good mother they couldn't stay in the main run with all the other old biddies.  So, they are currently in a recycling box in my spare room, with a heat lamp for warmth. I think the poor old cockerel will have to go to the Freezer, and Silkie will go in the 2nd run. Hopefully when the chicks are a little bigger they'll go in there with her, but we'll have to see.

I have also made a couple of cushion covers. 3 down, another 3 to do at least (although I have 10 inserts as it was cheaper to buy them in 10's!)

In the meantime, I am furiously knitting and lovely the sock yarn blanket. I had forgotten how much fun it was to knit.

How ridiculous.

Two large nestboxes and what do they do?.................





-Someone will most likely we wearing an egg in a minute.

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Freckles

Hi Everyone, Freckles here. Just thought I'd show you how much I have grown while Human Mum was away. I'm nearly as tall as my silkie chicken mum now, and look at those feathers. I'm getting pretty handsome! I haven't fully decided whether i'm a boy or a girl yet, but look at the way i'm standing today - that's very boyish....... but then yesterday I was standing quite girly ! ;) It's raining today and I'm not terribly impressed, but at least there's a roof on my run so I can still get out and run up and down which I really like doing.

3 weeks now ;)

Hey everyone, it's freckles here again! I'm now three weeks old, and just at my ugly stage (although i think I look like a hawk or something posh....... not just a chicken!)

Mum says I have beautiful colouring tho'

I still like to stay close to Mum tho', even tho' I'm really grown up now.

And I've learnt how to perch (sorry about the unfocused wire in the shot, but I'd be all over the garden without it! ;):

Now my human Mum says she's really busy at the moment doing stuff to get ready for a holiday or something. But she will have lots to tell you when she gets back, so in the meantime..... well just keep popping back and looking at me, I'm handsome enough!

I am a week old!

My name is Freckles and I am a week old today.

The way I am standing here makes me look like a boy - but I'm not letting on yet whether I am or not.

Because I am a week old, Dad made me a little run so I can see daylight and run around a bit.

We're in the oldest house, and it's pretty rickety, but it will do for now until I am bigger and can go and play with the other chickens. Mum is keeping me warm anyway!

There's this other weird creature that comes and watches me for ages too? - I expect when I'm older I'll understand more, but I like fidgeting about and scratching and running and jumping and climbing, but this other creature just lays down and watches as still as a statue.

Weird huh?

New Chick on the Block!

My Nephew seems to think that Freckles is a good name - so freckles it is. We don't know if Freckles is a girl or a boy, but it seems a pretty unisex name really (as luck would have it!)  Only 1 hatched, out of 6 eggs, but to be honest I wasn't really expecting a good show.  I had to leave broody mum in with some of the other hens for quite a long time whilst the broody house was de-red-mited (several times! - and they're still there a bit) and then another hen went broody too so they shared the duty a bit. but that also meant a little fighting and at least one egg got kicked across the hen house! Plus it could well have meant that the eggs went cold while they were squabbling. Who knows. But this little one is a fighter - I had to help the hatch after watching for over 2 hours and all there was was the first little hole. A pair of tweezers came to my aid and I helped open the shell in much the same way as the chick should have done, and when I popped it back done Mother hen yanked it out of it's shell, so she obviously thought enough was enough too!.  Fingers crossed for this little one. I know it's common to loose one or two in early days, and obviously I can't really afford to, so we are just hoping this one will be ok!

Latest update, 20 squares done

I'm not blogging about much else at the moment am I?

I'm trying to be really random with the colours, but it's funny how difficult random is when it comes down to it!

In other news, I have silky sitting on a few eggs, poor love keeps going broody and it seemed only fair to give her a chance to be a mum again.  I don't hold out a lot of hope on these tho' as I'm not sure the cockerel has been doing his rounds lately!, but we'll see what happens. Heavens knows where I'll put them if they hatch, they may well have to come indoors in a box for a while!

There's not much else to tell you at the moment, life is ticking along as normal. The veg patch is doing ok, but i've had to stop watering all my pots and window boxes. It's coming to the end of the season anyway and they did so well early on, but I'm on a water meter and we haven't had any decent rain since early May (and even then it wasn't really a lot) so my water butts emptied a long long time ago. So now I'm just finishing off my veg then I'll call it a day for this summer. I've done well, courgettes, bean, a few peas, and plenty of potatoes. So no complaints and definitely cheaper than the supermarket!

Spot and I haven't walked quite as much as usual, it's really incredibly hot for a dog with a long fur coat, and she still hasn't learnt that she'll last longer if she doesn't run round like her a*s is on fire. But we have walked a few evenings along by the river where I did my 5k training and that's lovely, and usually ends up with me rescuing her from the river where she dives in and then realises it's too high to get back out!  I swear she'd jump off a cliff face without a seconds thought if that was what took her fancy at the time!

All of these walk photos have been taken during July - very late for little ducklings (which probably explains why there's only one) I expect it was a second brood?

Right another coffee, and then.............. well who knows, the sun is trying to peek through so maybe a walk if it's not too hot, although I really should do some work................. sometime!

All grown up now!

It's a noisy morning this morning ! LOL........ my babies are all growed up!

and my boy saying good morning to you

Eeewww redmite!

 

	The kids had a day in the garden today – well all the female ones did anyway – This is the biggest and showing most of the size and temperament of a Light Sussex, although the tiniest little brown flecks from her Welsummer mother
	This little one is a bit of a runt – she seems to have no back to her (no arse so to speak!!)  but she manages alright, if a little wobbly on her legs, so we keep an eye on her and leave her be!
	Group Shots
	And what you do with just about everything you touch when you find the damned redmite – God they are revolting and indestructible little creatures!
	It was a nice fire though – and a perfect end to a day outside!

A week and a half

Well how quickly news changes.  My poor little chicklies have been sick. :(  One died last week (the lightest of the brown ones, and the prettiest IMHO) and the rest have all been ill.  They have coccidiosis.  It’s a parasite which particularly attacks young birds and seems to do it extremely quickly!  After the death I took another chick to the vet (something I always said I wouldn’t really do, due to the price, but with 4 chicks I thought it would be worth it)  They confirmed my diagnosis (I think in all honesty I knew more than they did)  but could only order me the medicine needed in 1 litre quantities…….. which cost £80, on top of the £40 consultation fee, and I only needed 10ml *shock*.  Not only that, but they wouldn’t actually let me take the 1 litre (which may at least have softened the blow as it has a long shelf life and I could have kept it for further instances) I could only have the prescribed amount – 10ml!  I phoned other vets and they all said the same thing.  So now I was in quite a quandry, I had spent £40 on basically nothing but really couldn’t justify a further £80 on 4 chicks.  To cut a long story short, i did eventually get some, travelling half way round the South East of England to get it, and as I type the 4 remaining chicks are still alive and eating and drinking well.   I don’t think we’re out of the woods by any stretch yet, but the outlook certainly seems more positive than it did on Friday.

 

In other news – I made my first meal completely of home harvested food on Saturday:-

 

This became an omelette with onion, courgette and new potatoes………mmmmmm

 

 

 

There isn’t really much knitting news – Sahara was finished and looks lovely, but I’m going to undo it and add an inch or two the body length. I am currently knitting a fairly boring v-neck in Sirdar Just Bamboo, just because it needed using and it’s quite nice to knit with in the warmer weather.   I also signed up for the Socktopus Mystery Shawl Knit-along, but having rummaged my stash I don’t have anything in a strong enough colour for it – I feel shawls, stoles and scarves should be made in contrast to your normal attire and as I usually wear very earthy colours I think a strong colour would be better for this. I also think the pattern is calling for something with a touch of silk or something sheeny………….

With that in mind I have decided to go to the 100 Club in oxford Street for the lunchtime gig on Thursday (which is good cos it’s one of my favourite bands and only £7 entry which isn’t bad) and then on to maybe John Lewis (does anyone know if JL in Oxford St sell Yarn???!!!) and/or Iknit and maybe even Socktopus as well if I have time to travel that far out of town.   If anyone in the London area fancies joining in…………………..??!!! ;)

 

Right I’m off to clean out the chickens – again!  Have a good week all. xx

Nearly fully feathered

Few more photos:-  I think I have 2 cockerels and 3 hens, but it’s difficult to tell.  Two are definitely bigger, but it could just be the way the genetics worked as they are all “mongrels” !!

    

	Pretty definitely a boy!
	Hmmmmm 2 girls and a boy – or 3 girls?
	Probably One boy – one girl.  The one on the left is the smallest of the bunch!
	Grub up
	The white one in front has all the size of a cockerel, but somehow seems like it might be a hen – fingers crossed
	Come on – she wants a group shot
	showing off the new feathers
	Do you think I look good in brown?

 

There may be knitting news next time? – or maybe not!!

We’re a bit shy

Cos we know we’re at our ugly stage! – but we think we might be beautiful when we’re ready!

 

View Full Album

OK I lied….

There was no way I could keep away once she brought them out into the sunshine.   - Photo’s are clickable (I hope) thanks to the genius of Windows Live writer, but only taken with my phone so not amazing.
Trying to get all 5 together proved a bit of a test.

5………

The final chick count is 5!!! – I am very happy. They all seem healthy and happy and are eating and drinking and snuggling under Mum.  Unfortunately in my eagerness to watch them yesterday and keep lifting the lid off the hen house, I have put my back out. So no more photos for a couple of days as I need both hands to hold me upright!

The back ache has also scuppered any idea I had of going to the Surrey County Show, which is practically in my back garden, so I am a bit miffed. 

Enjoy your bank holiday everyone.

All three for a photo call

This one was shy to begin with

Then just peeped

And then they all said "hi" - although it was a tad dark for the camera (Phone!!) under Mum!