Bantams, Bees and a New Pair of Mitts

The weather has been delightfully spring-ish and I'd earmarked today for going to buy some new chickens. My flock at the moment is a rather motley collection of hybrids and others that I've inherited or reared, so much as I love them all, I thought I might get some new ones of a specific breed. The coop I have (which was too small for Emu) is the perfect size for little bantams, so I procured myself a trio of Buff Sussex from Over the Stile in Broad Oak, about 20 minutes up the road from me.

They are very sweet! I've not yet named them as I can't tell the difference between the hens and you sort of need to get to know their characters before naming them. Yes, you really do.

Apparently they lay a good sized egg for a bantam so I'm looking forward to seeing how they get on. I'm hoping to sell some as hatching eggs (fertile eggs that people buy to incubate) as they are pure bred so will produce Buff Sussex chicks. Ooh how sweet would they be....no....no don't start on that train of thought :-/

My bees have been making the most of this warm calm spell and I was watching them visit all the crocuses in my garden. I can't stress how important it is to plant these easy bulbs wherever you can - pots, window boxes, lawns, borders - as they are so very valuable to pollinators early in the season. They are inexpensive, easy to plant and sink gracefully back in to the earth when they're done. Queen bumblebees were out too, and I saw one shivering to warm up her muscles in the bowl of a crocus having probably just had her first drink of nectar since the autumn:

I saw a small solitary bee and a variety of bee-fly enjoying the nectar too, so please put a note in your diaries to double your quantity of crocuses when planting time arrives in the autumn!

The new season brings some warmth but it's still quite nippy out despite the temperatures nudging in to double figures if you stand in the right spot. So, I was pleased to have my Peerie Flooers mittens (pattern: Kate Davies, yarn: 2ply jumper weigh by Smith & Jamieson) which I've just finished and have been blocked. I'm absolutely thrilled with them and they're just perfect; bright and cheerful whilst being really warm:

Aren't they fab?

New Things

The garden is underwater at the moment as we've been deluged thanks to some low pressure weather systems recently, but I have noticed that my crocuses have emerged which is early - presumably because of the mild weather so far this winter; we've only had a couple of days where the temperature's nudged below zero.

These are Crocus 'Gypsy Queen':

I have finished my Kate Davies First Footing socks and apart from a few furrowed brow moments with the heel flap, I'm really pleased with them:

I used Shetland Heritage yarn which was delightful to knit with, and the whole kit had been a Christmas present from Nicky so it was fun to do. I have quite big feet so used the pattern for the larger size up and actually they fit perfectly.

The desire to sow seeds and encourage spring to arrive is almost overwhelming, but I know from previous years that sowing too early just produces leggy spindly seedlings, but I have been ordering some packs. One batch is from Chilterns Seeds but I have just received my seeds from Higgledy Garden - a selection of Bee/Butterfly seeds at the bargain price of £10 for 10 packs, plus a few other goodies such as Cosmos 'Pied Piper' and some climbing nasturtiums. It was beautifully packaged:

So lovely!

I had a bit of a worry earlier in the week as my cockerel Emu, who had been suffering with a swollen foot before Christmas had a bit of a relapse. I spoke to the vet on the phone who advised me that the prognosis was not good, but once we were at the vets and he'd given Emu the once over, we decided to give him another course of antibiotics so I didn't have to deal with the awful feeling of leaving the vets with an empty basket, and he had his first dose last night when we got back so hopefully they'll get to work quickly.

It's probably time I washed the kitchen floor...