Bigger steps

I opened up the back of the broody coop this morning and Mary decided to come out, whereupon she did the most enormous squawky wing flapping display which sent the chicks scuttling into the corners of the coop. They started cheeping and following her once she'd settled down, presumably exchanging wry comments about not messing with Mummy when she's hormonal. A valuable lesson...

It's a big world out there and the chicks looked unbelievably tiny:

I was terrified I was going to tread on them so kept well out of the way but then Mary got the wanderlust (what is it with my hens??) and walked off, scratching at things in the undergrowth with the chicks precariously close to her great feet. I nearly lost them in the borage:

but Mary had more of a handle on it and a few deep clucks and they tootled back. We managed to marshal her back into the coop where they rejoined the egg and all nestled down.

I then remembered it was Latin at 10 (arghghgh!) so galloped off to Eastbourne where I dropped the children with the wonderful Phyllis and went and found Nicky for a CCG meeting.

Today was Fimo day :-) I had a go at making a 'cane' which is where you layer up lots of different colours to make a pattern, a bit like a stick of rock. I then sliced off sections and rolled them on to my primed crochet hook. Having started off thinking I was making a rose, it sort of didn't quite go to plan, but I then decided I quite liked the red fried egg look so:

I've not done a super close-up for a reason, ok?

Anyway, Nicky excelled herself and made the most fantastic Apple and Cinnamon cane which I sliced and pricked and baked and made into buttons. I've sewn them to my craft bag but here is one of them:

Isn't that exquisite?

Talking of starting to make one thing and ending up with another, I had embarked on another sugar mouse so that I could show Kate the technique but then I couldn't be bothered to finish it, so I unravelled it a bit and made its body into an owl instead. Adding some eyes and wings and a little crochet beak has made a suitable present for an owl-loving friend so I'm looking forward to giving it to her:

Small steps

Well today was an exciting day for the chicks - they took their first trip out onto the grass! Led by Mary of course. She managed to find a worm for each of them and when the little blonde chick got an extra one she took it off him and fed it to Blossom who had only had a tiny one. And no, there were no cries of "That's SO unfair!!!" and stamping of little chickeny feet and storming off back into the coop etc etc etc either...

 

They have been eating lots of chick food today and drinking too, but the last egg has been rather forgotten, although I'm not sure if there's anything in it...I tried to listen for tapping but I am really not sure, and I think Mary would know if there was another chick in there as she was talking to the others. Anyway after all that running around outside it was time to come back in for a nap:

 

I keep reckoning I've seen the cutest thing and then something like that happens
:-)

Other news? Well there isn't any really! I've been investigating permaculture and chickens as I want to make their new run as interesting for them as possible, and apparently they really like comfrey leaves so I'll take a trowel out with me next time I walk the dog as there's about half an acre of comfrey by the river. I've been looking through the crochet book as I want a project for the CCG meeting tomorrow and also have picked up my book on evolution which is interesting and given up my geology essay which wasn't!

Mouse, pony, chicks

I finished 2 crocheted items today, both from Nicki Trench's Super-cute Crochet book; Camilla the Pretty Pony:

A present for the lovely Camilla nextdoor, obviously

and a Sugar Mouse:

Not sure about the eyes...

Of course there has been more chick watching as they started eating the terribly expensive (though not Sarah Raven) chick food I bought from Middle Farm that is full of green bits and amphipods and smells like a health food shop. They seem to like it:

I managed to get a picture of all of them which was quite good. And I think I heard tapping in the final egg so fingers crossed, we could have a 4th chick :-)

Anyway here are a few more photos. Sorry, apologies to anyone who is getting bored of pictures of tiny chicks....although why are you reading my blog???

Ahhh

Ahhhhh hhhhhh!!

Words fail me

.............

Bills in the morning post...

But bills of the Galliforme variety!

I had been very dubious about the prospects of the little black chick that I helped out of its egg, and when I woke up, I crept downstairs so as not to wake the children, collecting a small box and tissue paper on the way to retrieve the little body for burial.

But I needn't have worried:

I gave an involuntary gasp of joy at seeing a little fluffy cheeping chick. I was so relieved. In rootling around under Mary I found another eggshell, so here's our third chick:

This one was still slightly damp on its wings so I think had only hatched a few hours earlier. It's got a lot more yellow on it so we have a dark chick, a blonde chick and a mixture chick which makes for easy identification. The first chick was looking extremely bonny:

He's starting to explore his environment. I don't know he's a he, but I can't call such a bundle of fluffy cuteness 'it'. The girls, of course, were thrilled. I'm sure Tristan will be sufficiently thrilled to make the journey down to the chicken run too, once he wakes up...

Here's a photo of the chicks' dad, looking splendid and Kelloggs-ish in the morning sun:

Shame about the puny tail feathers. He's probably also trying to suss out whether he can get over the hedge...I saw him and Daisy standing on top of the run yesterday, plotting their escape.

I'm not sure if the last egg has anything in it as there's no pipping or cracks but I'll give it a couple more days if Mary's happy to sit on it. She's being such a good mum, I'm really proud of her.

Last on the list of bills, a pic of the ducks enjoying a late evening nap last night:

Ahh!

Chick pics

Well frankly after the excitement this morning, not a lot has been done. One more chick has hatched but was trying to get out of its egg all day. I finally helped it out, but it lay looking completely exhausted :-( I've popped it under Mary to warm up and dry off but it's not looking very good. Although if they're not really strong enough to hatch, they're unlikely to thrive so it's usually for the best, so we'll see.

But! Here is little Drew (named by Tristan):

Honestly, too adorable.

Needless to say, the girls were completely enchanted, and Chickwatch won over T4, no mean feat, believe me!

Here is a picture of the finished chicken run for the grown-up hens:

They seem ok with it, although I let them out for an hour this evening whereupon they scuffed up my new border and trotted off up the track to their old haunts:

Hmm.

Other news: Kate and Liam come over this afternoon for tea and I showed Kate how to crochet 'in the round' by making a mouse - although given the proportions I think Kate is a little worried hers is going to be rather a large mouse but we won't use the 'R' word...

I also managed to plan the essay question for my last assignment which, given it was on whether global sea level will rise 0.6m over the next 100 years and what evidence blah blah blah, and in the face of such chick-based distraction, is worth a pat on the back and an evening off watching Countryfile with a spot of crochet.

New addition

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

More construction

I've been having to keep the chickens shut in for the last couple of days, as since reading in my newly-purchased Haynes Chicken Manual that a) pullets should not be mated under a year old and b) being in a permanent moult is a sign of protein deficiency, I have kept Maud and Ida seperate from Henry and the older ones in so that they jolly well eat their layer's pellets instead of birdseed and corn. I put the wire on the broody coop:

so I now just need to affix some string to the flap to keep it shut - it wouldn't be a construction of mine if it didn't have a bit of string somewhere. Can't find anywhere to incorporate a bungee but I'm sure the time will come. Anyway, I've decided to allocate the piece of garden behind my house for the chickens:

I even remembered to measure the run so I could get it in to the enclosure before I'd banged the last post in. Well, when I'd only banged it in a little way to be honest but I still remembered. I didn't remember that I'd used all the staples on the broody coop though, or at least not in time to remember to get any from Scats. Hence the hiatus in chicken run building but it won't take long hopefully once Charles arrives with his pack of staples. The chickens will miss their freedom a bit:

But I will let them out for an hour or so when I'm around to supervise.

Amber seems to have taught herself to crochet...I didn't get a picture of her with hook in hand as she's disappeared next door but here is her first attempt (it's going to be an acorn)

I'm thrilled, especially as she took a hook and a ball of wool on the trip to Scats :-) girl after my own heart. I also decided to store some apples - I think you're meant to use sawdust but surely shavings will do?

I am now tackling question 2 of my final assignment for Geology which is slow progress, but progress nonetheless. Not much hooky-wise to show you at the moment although I have a bit of a project for Camilla's birthday present, and have been carrying on with the granny squares - I've got about 35 now!

Broody coops and crochet

I spent most of yesterday at Simon and Joss' building a broody coop for Mary which took rather longer than expected! I was going to post a picture but I still need to staple on the wire so I'll post a pic when it's done. Nicky came over in the evening for a meeting of the CCG which went very well - I made a waxcap mushroom, Nicky a Common Blue butterfly:

Rosie has been pestering asking me to make her a rose so I did:

And we discussed children, crafts and homeschooling over tea, cake and hooks/needles.

This morning Joss was coming over to deliver the broody coop (it wouldn't fit in my boot even with all the seats down which in any case would have been slightly dubious from a passenger safety point of view since I had the kids with me) so I was about to walk the dog quickly before she arrived when I was met by the hedge trimmer guys. Whilst discussing which bits of hedge to do and telling them to part the detritus and adopt a policy of 'if it doesn't get out of the way, you can step on it', I noticed Henry, head lowered, wings out, doing his testosterone-fuelled dominance pose as Scarlet who was grazing quietly under the apple trees, completely disregarding the cockerel's threats.

"Ah!" I said to the hedge trimmer guys, "She shouldn't be there - could you keep an eye on her while I get my daughter? Oh, and look out for another one please....the grey and white one" so having yelled for Amber we finally managed to steer Scarlet back into the run and I extracted Willow from the lupins where she had evidently been burrowing, looking at the mud all over my shirt. The bunnies loved the beech branches and the guys kindly left a bundle of clippings for them when they left. I had pointed out they could have a carbon-neutral shredding service if they had thousands of rabbits in their trailer. Yes I do say these things out loud sometimes :-/

Joss arrived with the coop and we discussed homeschool and drank tea (do you see a theme?) and as she left, Kate arrived. Kate and I drank tea and discussed crochet and had a go at a granny square whilst trying to decipher what a bobble stitch entailed. Then Kate left and Charles arrived, and we had shepherd's pie and watched 2 episodes of Bang Goes The Theory on iPlayer.

What a lovely day! With the bonus that I can now see the field out of my kitchen window:

The V-e-t

The bunnies were due to have their Myxi booster so I decided to take Scruff along with me as he is appalling at the vet and it's soooo embarrassing when they have to say "Ok hmm, we'll just take him round the back and put a muzzle on him...then perhaps we can do the routine ear check". When we parked outside the surgery he bounded along enthusiastically until we got in through the door, when he had an oh no moment. The girls and I sat in the waiting room and Scruff stood, trembling, with his nose pressed up against the door, putting horrible sticky nose marks all over the glass. Then the wimpering started. I told him he was going to watch the rabbits have an injection but he wasn't listening. In attempting to jump on my lap he upturned the display of leaflets and then started knitting with his lead around chair legs. The door opened and the vet called us in; Scruff looked out in abject terror from under a seat. I dragged him out - luckily his paws were all sweaty so he slid along quite effectively - and in we went.

The bunnies were ok but the vet was obviously not that used to small animals (or indeed any animals - he looked at 17) so there was a lot of scrabbling around. Meanwhile Scruff stood staring at the paper thin gap between the door and the frame, willing himself through it. He was motionless, apart from the trembling, until the vet said 'Right!' in an authoritative manner, at which point the wimpering and scratching at the door started in earnest. I had wanted to get him on the scales but they were nearer the vet than the door so I decided that wasn't going to happen and the poor dog had suffered enough trauma. The door once again opened and Scruff tore out with Rosie on the end of the lead. The front door of the vet's was also open, so I came out to see Rose standing about 30 feet away in the precinct with Scruff looking back, ears pricked. We brought him back in so I could pay, and he stood with his gaze locked on the consulting room door. I bought him a chewy treat which he bit in half and swallowed, clearly desperate to get the heck out of there before we remembered that he'd not actually had anything done to him. His look was definitely one of "can't believe I got away with that..."

Not a great success.

There were lots of elderberries when I walked through the woods so I took the girls and some colanders up to collect some balackberries and elderberries, to make some cordial.

Gotta be done

We managed to collect quite a few:

which I put on to simmer this morning:

I'm following a recipe from Eat Weeds so I'll let you know how it goes!

I'm in the middle of crocheting a sunflower again as it went a bit wrong and carrying on with the granny squares. Mary has about a week to go on her eggs and the other livestock are well and happy, the ducks especially so with the rain.

Baking and Bickering

I decided to have a go at some baking-in-advance with the children this afternoon. T wanted to make flapjacks and the girls anything which involved cracking eggs, so I got to work after lunch. It's amazing how such a potentially enjoyable activity is soon fraught with competitiveness as to who has done the most spoonfuls/measuring/pouring/stirring/egg-cracking but anyway, we now have jars of ready-weighed cake mixture and a huge log of biscuit dough in the freezer, ready to be sliced and baked as needed. Tristan made the flapjacks all by himself apart from doing the syrup, butter and sugar mixture and greasing the tin. So er, he weighed out the oats but was happy to ration his sisters' portions on the basis that the flapjacks were 'his'.

:-/

Anyway here are some pictures as you can't see the resentful faces and hear the bickering:

See, all harmonious...

...a vision of calm, quiet, co-operation and sharing...

Oh he did open the tin of syrup too

I also dug over a border while the children were out with my parents this morning, and finished crocheting another acorn leaf.

I sewed some beads on to my dragonflies but they were a bit small so the blue one now looks a bit strange...hmm. I had popped in to town this morning too and managed to procure some corks for wine bottles, some luggage labels for my wine bottles (more rustic than stickers; I don't mean that my peapod is off travelling) and various 'back to skool' stuff that's all on offer at the moment.

Hopefully tomorrow I will be off to Simon and Joss' to make a broody coop! Weather permitting...

Update

I picked some of the gorgeous flowers from my garden to decorate the house, while Henry looked on:

I took Mary off her 4 eggs for a wing stretch:

Scruff waited patiently for his bee-catching practice:

And again for his tea...they say dogs can't talk:

I tried to get a picture of the bunnies without them escaping:

...I just about managed! And the bees were busy bringing in pollen, nectar, and adopting a strict frisking policy for all those wishing to enter the hive as it's wasp time of year so there was a bit of a queue to get in:

I then went for a walk in the afternoon sunshine:

and got back in time to receive my Ocado order, the driver of which bought all the yellow courgettes off my stall! I did also crochet another oak leaf but I need to sew up the holes in the chain stitches so I'll post a pic of that tomorrow.