catching up

So it feels like a while since I've talked about the chickens (and quail and ducks)
I'm planning a few changes and shake ups over in my field. So my flock of layers ruled over by gorgeous Ben the light Sussex are all laying like mad and enjoying dust bathing in the sunshine. My star layers are wonky, Margo and pixie. Over the weekend I'm going to introduce the little quartet of bluebells to their paddock. The bluebells are about 16 weeks old now and getting quite big. I expect ructions from cloud (my delinquent welsummer) and general superiority from Margo and pixie. I haven't given them names yet as I'm still unsure if I'll sell a couple of them or not. The little one who suffered quite badly from having her tail feathers pecked out and her vent damaged has come on great guns but I'm still worried about whether or not she;ll be able to get an egg out. A few times over the last couple of months when she's look uncomfortable passing droppings I've thought about dispatching her but we'll see what happens when she comes into lay.

The bluebells are currently living with the two adorable black silkie boys who are tiny but have suddenly become men, crowing (which sound so cute) and doing the little 'well hello there ladies' dance and trying to mount the blues (who are 3 time their size) up until yestrerady I've been umming and ahhing about keeping them to increase the gene pool when I finally get some Silkie hens to breed from. However yesterday these little balls of fluffy cuteness crossed the line. i let them all out in the morning and straight away they started hassling the bells so being as I was standing in their run I intervened and gave them a stern talking to about chivalry and how it was the decent thing to let the girls grab a bite to eat before trying to sexually assault them when the little monsters turned on me. Which would have been hilarious If I wasn't wearing shorts and very inappaortiate footwear. I was lucky to escape with my life. I almost fell over the electric fencing fleeing from the little devils and have some nice scratches on my ankles and a peck on my shin. So they are now officially on the market ( They are still adorable and my hubby laughed so much when I told him about it he got the hiccups)

The little gang of chicks are all growing up fast. There is definitely 2 cockerels there a light Sussex and a splash Andalusian (I finally figured out what he is) The other 5 Sussex's all look to be hens, and some of these I plan on selling when they're a bit bigger. My little auracana is such a poppet when I'm in with them she comes running over to me and stands by my foot cheeping waiting fro a cuddle. I crouch down and she'll hop up onto my knee then my arm and chatter away to me.
For this reason I think shes a she, not having any experience with the breed I can't tell by looking at her but shes small and dainty with no signs of any comb or wattles. She also very placid unlike the two little cockerels so I'm really hopeful. I'm also hopeful my Buff Orpington is a female too. To begin with I thought a boy as its wattles grew over night but so far its comb is still tiny and neck and tail feathers haven't grown longer. If this is the case it Will mean out of ten chicks 80% are girls which will be amazing. They are so funny as well acting proper childish, always being noisy and always being the last to go to bed. I'm sure I've seen Margo tutting at their naughty behaviour.

I'm planning on getting rid of Sawyer my welsummer cockerel, originally I planned on breeding welsummers for selling but I'm going to set up a group of rare breed chickens when I decide on what breed to get. Sawyers lovely but he's very much a big fish in a tiny pond and doesn't have the suave smooth romantic attitude to his ladies Ben has. It doesn't help that his ladies are all small and very fast, so his advances are easily escaped from. Also they have gone broody.
Primrose my little Indian game x wyandotte has been broody for a week siting clamped down in the nest box and sounding like a velocaraptor when ever I move her. I've been adding china eggs to her nest to see how many eggs she could comfortably sit on (about 5) as shes a tiny yet buxom little maid. Gwenny Fairfax the Indian game is playing at being broody and lays eggs in the same nest box, Primrose is also still laying too. Isabel the silkie cross bantam has gone broody too and every morning she's been escaping from her run and abandoning Jim Morrison (holly golightly) my big chief silkie to squish in next to primrose and fluff herself up. Tomorrow I'll finish the twin broody coops and select some eggs from big Bens run for them to sit on and fingers crossed will soon have some light Sussex and light Sussex x wels/marran/buff Sussex babies.

Sadly on Sunday morning sweet little violet, primroses daintier prettier sister died. I'd noticed on Friday afternoon she wasn't eating much but drinking a lot. I managed to catch her which was strange in itself as her and primrose are almost feral and hate being picked up and her crop felt full and squishy. I gave a a little olive oil and gently massaged her crop and could feel a hard little lump in there, I managed to break it up a little and popped her in a box with some water and yoghurt over night. Next morning her crop had got bigger and squishier so I gave her some liquid paraffin and some live maggots (from the fishing tackle shop) she ate these but it was blatantly obvious she was in a bad way. She gotten that tail down eyes half closed pose. So to avoid the stress of being on her own I caught sawyer and relocated him (much to his annoyance) and popped her back in the run with her freinds. She showed no signs of improvement in the evening so I tucked her up in the nest box all nice and cosy in a thick bed of straw. When I opened up the house in the morning poor little lass had died. Which in a funny way I was relieved about, because if she been the same in the morning Hubby would have dispatched her in the evening. She was tiny and very flighty and like my little silkie I lost last year to sour crop didn't have the constitution to regain her strenght, so at least her demise and exit was swift.

In happier news the quail are nearly all laying, only one more to go. Yesterday another laid her first egg and you know how tiny hens eggs can be when they lay their first well this new egg was half the size of the others I weighed it and it didn't register on the scales.
As for the ducks well thats another story in it self that I'll save for later as I've rambled on for ages now and I'm watching alfie out of the corner of my eye trying to catch a mouse thats scutterling about under the tv and better try and catch it before chaos breaks out. Or it runs over by bare feet and I start screaming like, was going to say girl but that makes no sense lol.

Jess x

P.S quail make really strange almost whistling sounds when they're laying. A world away from the shricks and caterwalling the chickens make.

P.P.S The bullocks are now trying to eat the leaves off the cherry tree.

Always a sucker for an underdog

A month ago I bought some hens from the local auction (no surprise there). I bought 3 little brown hens who looked a little rough around the edges but out of all the sad and sorry looking ex-free range layers or exbatts this 3 were the best looking of the bunch and I may be a hopeless sucker for a hopeless case but commonsense tells me to sadly avoid the really sorry looking ones. So I got my 3 home and put them in a quarantine pen for a week (If you ever get birds from markets/auctions you really need to do this as you never now what the may bring into the flock) Good job I did as they had worms and lice after an extended stay in isolation, I introduced them to the flock, expecting trouble, but they were good as gold. Ok there were a few scuffles from Margo and pixie (anything less would have been out of character) and big Ben had a go. But within 2 days they were laying in the nest boxes, perching at night and going to bed (slightly after the rest) on there own. I was expecting them to be flighty and feisty towards me but the are lovely (in fact they could teach some of my other hens a thing or too about showing me some respect) very friendly and wonderfully easy to handle.

Now I hate to say I have favourites but some chickens I have a little more fondness for than others (That's not to say I don't love them all) and I have a special place in my heart for this little lady





This is wonky, an unfortunate name I know I had planned on calling here Clementine or cinnamon but well wonky kind of stuck.
She is not the most prettiest of hen, she's very scruffy, had an outrageous lice infestation, her beak had been trimmed badly and was overhanging like a broken nail, she limps slightly and is lopsided (hence the name). But after a couple of days beauty therapy treatment, some dusting, a beak and claw trim and a bath she looked a lot better. she started laying eggs again with a week and bless her has laid everyday since. Now it wasn't her sorry looking condition that has made fall in love with her its her character. She is the sweetest of hens, she is a little bit simple and slow and gets picked on by cloud (my delinquent welsummer who was at the bottom of the pecking order) but she just bumbles along unfazed by pecks on the head. She has difficultly pecking at the grass (so I tear her little bits of and hand feed her), has a little bit of difficulty climbing the ramp to the house (so I often give her a hand). She follows me everywhere snuggles into my arms when I pick her up and makes the cutest little noises (unlike cloud whose vocals would scare a banshee).
I love little wonky she is truly a poppet. Her two sisters sugar and honey are also little sweeties too. I'm so glad I bought them and given them a happy home.

Jess x

P.S cloud my delinquent welsummer also has a special place in my heart for her feistiness, she shrieks like something possessed all the time. she has a habit of escaping and she has a piecring sidewards sneaky peering look. she hates being picked up yet is quite happy having a cuddle when you catch her but she will try and peck me and pulls my hair. I'm wondering if she is picking on wonky because she's worried shes no longer the apple of my eye.

P.P.S that's enough blogging for today I have tons to do outside and the ducklings are waiting for their bath.

Me and my Quail

I love my little Japanese quail, they are such cute little things.

I was planning on having them in the field with the chickens in a little coop but I've decided to keep them in the garden for a two reasons, security and the fact that since all the chickens have moved to the field its quiet in the garden.

The quail live in a rabbit hutch ark with an attached run on my patio with a nice deep layer of wood chips. I feed them layers pellets and canary seed mixed with some grit and oyster shell. I've tried hanging up some greens in there for them but they don't bother with it so I tear up bits of grass and dandelion for them. I also pop a little seed tray with compost in for them as they love dust bathing. Had I have put them over in the field I would have fixed some mesh or chicken wire to the bottom of the run to stop rats digging under and getting them. Being so tiny they are particularly vulnerable to predators. As they are so good at flying vertically they need to be kept in a covered run. Their little wings are sort of triangular shaped, perfect for soarng upwards and gliding.

I really thought they would be really flighty little things but they are actually really calm and chilled out, they kind of shuffle about with the occasional leap and they make the loveliest noises, like little frogs a sort of gentle murmurings ribbet ribbet noise. They look and sound like they've just stepped out of a Studio Ghibli film.

Mine are all female, as I'm not to looking to breed them getting a cock was pointless also I'd heard that the fellas have large sexual appetites for there tiny size and can hassle the so much that they lay less eggs. I've also heard they make rubbish broody mums. They lay an egg a day through spring to late autumn but as the daylight hours shorten they stop unless light is provided for them. They reach POL between 6 and 8 weeks old (so the breeder told me), mine are now 8 and 1/2 weeks old and haven't laid anything yet. One of them looks like she may be thinking about it but as they are very hard to tell apart I have no idea if the one I think is thinking about it is the same one (if you know what I mean). I'm going to get them little tiny coloured leg rings.

One last thing, I think they are slightly nocturnal. They avoid being outside in the middle of the day, they all poke their little heads outs of the house half asleep. At dusk they are much more active I'm sure they would happily stay out all night but for my own piece of mind I pop them all in the house and shut them up till morning.

They such sweet little poppets I would definitely recommend keeping them, but John if your thinking about getting yourself some for your field, reinforce the run to within an inch or keep them in the garden, I'm sure you'd be equally charmed by them.

Jess x

P.S my little ducklings are getting so big, but I wish someone had told me just how messy they are, I reckon they are all drakes too well they're bound to be..

A happy ending.

I promise I will blog properly soon but with all the rain we've had in the last few days my garden has gone mad and even though I have been more organised this year and have lots of seed sown and plans of where things are going and weeds under control I suddenly have that overwhelming feeling that I have lots to do and won't be able to keep on top of things. But anyway what I wanted to say was.

Yesterday I rehomed Boris and Ivan

and a lovely young maran cockerel ( I say lovely, he was lovely looking very friendly to me but was hassleing 2 of my hens and startng to challenge Ben for superemicy).
They have gone to live with 100 exbatts, a couple of turkeys, and a pair of geese at a school farm for troubled and expelled teens. I am so happy they've found a home espesicaly as the Maran was becoming a real pain and hubby had given him bank holiday monday as a (quite literlly) deadline to be gone.

Now Big ben is king of the castle.

Thursdays favourite plant

Hooray its back.

Is it Thursday today? this weeks been a bit of a blur!

Anyway may I present.....

Iris reticulata



My most favourite of the early spring bulbs. Easy as pie to grow just pop the bulbs in twice as deep as their size in the autumn, wherever you'd like a splash of gorgeous colour. I always put a few in small terracotta pots too. They look lovely in window boxes as well.
The colour of these little sweeties is lovely, there are many different varieties with different depths of blue, including a pale washed out blue and mustardy yellow, which frankly I'm not found of (I think you need bright colours after a long dull winter) and a gorgeous purple one whose cultivar name is I think 'Pauline' (but don't quote me on that. If you have heavy clay soils add a handful of grit to the hole before placing the bulb in to give it a bit of drainage (good idea for any bulbs).

In other news I've said goodbye to another cockerel today. I saw a wanted ad in the local feed store for a Maran cockerel, rang it up and a lovely chap from further up the valley came and collected him for his flock of maran hens this morning. And he paid me for him. So that leaves his slightly smaller brother (who I may keep to set up a breeding trio with, not sure yet) Boris and Ivan (the two chaps in my sidebar) and fancy looking but bad tempered bantam. That will leave me with Sawyer my gorgeous gentlemanly Welsummer, Big gentle ben the light sussex and holly my partridge silkie. There is also the two silkie babies, snuffkin and little my, I tried dowsing them with my wedding ring and a bit of garden twine last night and got a different result for each, but time will tell.

Right Sidneys appeared in the middle of the field wanting some dinner and he doesn't like to be kept waiting.

jess x

A winge

Now I don't normally like to be a grumpy pants but today I'm fed up, in fact the last 3 days I've been fed up.
I'm fed up with the cold. I'm fed up with the rain. I'm fed up with mud, really fed up with mud. My boots get stuck in it, my jeans are plastered in it and my poor chickens are squelching about in it looking thoroughly fed up. I'm fed up of muddy paw prints all over the house (and on my bed). I'm fed up of falling over boxes and bags of poultry feed that are sitting in the hall waiting to go over to the shed. I'm fed up of having my hands stained with purple spray (why is it you always end up with more on you than the bird your spraying). I'm fed up wearing the same old clothes everyday. I'm fed up with the drizzle making my wavy locks go all frizzy. I'm fed up of my chickens runs and houses being bodged together with bits of old wire, feed sacks and baler twine. I'm fed up with waiting for my hubby to get some wood so I can build a raised bed. I'm fed up with grey skies.

On Saturday night I was thinking about moving back to the city. Living in a nice tidy beige flat, with views onto a street maybe over a pub. Of having central heating and hot water taps the actually contain hot water. Of having soft hands and manicured nails. Of spending my money on high heeled boots, designer dresses and expensive cocktails. Of getting my eggs clean and in a nice box on a super market shelf.

Sometimes the good life is BAD but anyone who lives it knows that!!!!

So this afternoon after having a bad nights sleep thanks to Holly the silkie cockerel and his old english game mate crowing all night in the cardboard box in the bathroom, Then spending my morning in the pouring rain and mud trying to repair their broken run and house in a different part of the field and checking and re-spraying the other valiantly brave cockerels who got in their way when holly and his mate went on the rampage after the run collapsed. I settled down with a pot of tea a few wee drops of single malt and half a chocolate cake and sought solice in my Darling Buds Of May dvd



Oh why can't my life be like that????
I know I know the darling buds of may is such an unrealistic slice of country life and I know that it was never that romantic in real life, but to me its like a rose tinted blueprint of how I want to live.
And when ever I've got the grumps I snuggle up on the sofa and pull out the dvd and it makes me happy.

Now I need to head back over to the muddy pit of a chicken paddock and take back the girls who I evacuated and bathed (wet chicken smells worse than wet dog) to their newly positioned less muddy run, play hunt the eggs, take the pups for a walk in the muddy field feed all the ducks that aren't mine, make dinner and wash my filthy jeans.
After that I'll be having a hot bath, straightening my hair, painting my toe nails pink and having an audrey hepburn dvd marathon.

Tomorrow is another day (so said scarlett) and it might stop raining.

As for the beige flat and central heating.............
Well where would be the fun in that. As my mother always says "its character building".
I must have one hell of a character.

jess x

I am so naughty

So yesterday morning I went to a poultry auction, with absolutely definitely totally no intention of buying anything. There were a few birds I quite liked but nothing I wanted to bid for except possibly some quail. There was a box with silkie chicks 4 weeks old written on it. Stupidly I lifted the lid.
I hung about while the auctioneer did his thing seeing lots of birds (mainly lone cockerels) not selling, waiting on the quail (which went for more than I could buy from a very good local breeder. As he went down along the cages he drew near to the box he started the bid at £5, £4, £1 how about 50p for the pair, he looked around at no interest and was about to deem them a no sale, when like a automatic reflex action up shoots my hand.




One of my many new year resolutions was to NOT buy (unsexed) random chicks at auctions and another was to not buy silkies unless they are point of lay.

So there's 2 broken, but seriously how could I resist. So to add to my already crazy brood I now have 2 adorable little babies (who knowing my luck are baby boys) who cost me less than a diet coke.

I had planned on trying to steer my posts this week to the subject of gardening but hey ho.

jess x

P.S I counted Sid, his lady, 7 mallards and a moor hen this morning. Hoping for some flamingos tomorrow.

Duck tales

Well Sidney is still here living in the field opposite the cottage spending his nights somewhere down river, but always appearing for breakfast and supper.

But whats this??????





It would appear Sidney has invited a friend along to tea.



So if Sidneys appearance over a month ago wasn't curious enough, now the I have mystery of 'where has his girlfriend come from?' (I'm assuming she's a lady, not having the curly feathers in her tail)

Whats Sidney up to? Is he swimming up and down the river inviting stray ducks to dine at jess's sucker for lost creatures cafe?

I have this horrible feeling of waking up one morning opening the curtains and finding the field full off all manner of waterfowl waiting for breakfast to be served.

Right must dash its almost chicken bedtime.

jess x


P.S does anyone have any idea of what breed she (or he) is?

What the?? .....is it an early birthday present sent by the gods of poultry

This is Sidney


Sidney appeared on the river bank of the field opposite the cottage a week ago.




I was rather confounded. Where had he come from? I have rang around every farm, pub, estate up the river and valley. No one has lost a Muscovy.
I rang the RSPCA and was told as he isn't in distress they can't do anything. So I've checked everyday out of the window to see if Sidney is still there, thinking he might swim back to where he came from.



Sidney has been dabbling about in the flooded grass and swimming about on the river. But come on, do you think I haven't had the heart to go out and give him some food.





Sidney is tame enough to know the shaking of corn in a scoop and come waddling across to me. He almost comes close enough to eat out of my hand but is too flighty to actually do that, I have made one half hearted attempt at catching Sidney but missed and I didn't want to frighten him into flying away somewhere (like the road).

I would love a Muscovy duck but have no where to put him in my field (unless I quickly construct some pre-fab house) The pond falls out of the boundary of my fencing, and a large strange duck will not improve the cockerels temper.

Maybe I should attempt a two person and a net capture mission to rescue Sidney.
I'm also concerned about the twine tangled around his leg (which appears to have been there a while)

I'm also scared about looking out the window to see a pile of feathers (don't want to say the F word).

Hmmm this story will be continued.
Anyone got any suggustions or advice (Sara and John fancy coming down here to help me capture Sidney)

*Sidney is not his real name but I think it suits him and I don't even know if he's a he, he does hiss though.

Chicken dinners

So I want to talk about eating chickens, now I know not everyone wants to or will ever do this but if you do listen up. You can always by-passthis post and come back tomorrow I'm going to a bumper plant post.

I'm not going to give a blow by blow of killing, plucking and dressing for 2 reasons.

1. I'm no expert!!!! I'm still very much a novice but I have learnt a bit.

2. Its not the nicest subject in the world now is it.

If your going to to it find someone who can show you (of course I didn't do that I watched a few you tube vids and read my John Seymour bible (if you haven't already realised I like to do things the hard way)

First the bird. If you have excess cockerels you need to get rid of try and do it before 20 weeks. (If its an old rogue then when you cook it roast it in a covered tray with about an inch of water to tenderise the meat)
If your raising birds for meat then there are fast growing birds such as the hubbert or Cobb or Sasso. Or Dual purpose birds like the sussex that are good layers as well as good table birds. Or there are some traditional birds like the french La fleche or the Ixworth (I quite fancy some Ixworths in the spring) Dorking and Indian game. A cross between an Indian game and Dorking or sussex is meant to be really good.
My only real experience so far is with Indian game. Firstly (I'm sorry if this a bit cold hearted) because the boys are quite um scary looking I didn't automatically form a bond with them like I did with my little welsummer chaps. I guess this made it easier to look at them as table birds. We killed ours at 18 weeks old. Their stance is similar to a bulldog, they have huge breasts and chunky legs.
I found the meat really tasty with bags of flavour. One thing with dark feathered birds though is that after they've been plucked they don't look as neat and tidy, as white feathered. Silkies are black skinned so don't eat them (although in china I heard they are a delicacy)
I feed mine the same as all the other chickens. Growers pellets, corn and lots of treats and greens. Withhold food for at least 12 hours before. It will sweeten the meat and can help to avoid any mess when the inner bits are removed if you get my meaning.

After the kill. Make sure they are well bled and start plucking as soon as you can, don't rush plucking take it slow, try avoid tearing the skin. A fatter bird is easier to pluck than a skinny one. If you can let the bird hang for at least 24 hours it will sweeten the meat,relax the Adrenalin, and let it develop more flavour (the longer you leave it the gamer it will taste), hang it by its feet somewhere cool.

Ok so now the nasty bit. so you have a chicken on your (spotlessly clean) chopping board needing gutting. Ok so be brave and don't think about it just be confident. Make sure your knives are razor sharp, secateurs are handy for cutting through bones and small scissors are useful too. Have a bucket close by for the bits and a bowl for the bits you want. A jug of water and I'd do it near the sink in case you cut through the wrong thing and need to flush it out quickly. Remember to be brave and don't stop and think OMG what am I doing ( I'm sorry if this is sinister but I put Danse Macarbe on really loudly to help me focus) The first cut is the hardest (never a truer cliche). Check and double and triple check everything is out. Save the neck and gizzard (cut it open and wash it out) for making stock with ( I put them in a bag and freeze them till needed) The liver is like nothing you've ever tasted but I found after doing 3 birds in a row I wasn't really hungry any more so I saved them till the next day.
I gutted before hanging but you can hang for 24 hours then gut (but it will smell.

Wash everything up and freak out a bit if you need too.

If you brave enough to rear meat birds go for it, ok they might not look as perfect as nicly packed supermarket shelf ones, but they will taste so much better and I found I have even more respect for them now. If you can't do it (no shame in that at all) then please please buy only free range and check for all other chickeny products (pizza, sandwich's, take aways) I won't eat chicken out without checking to see if it is free range. Turkeys and duck too.

jess x

So this is a very quick roundup of events

Ok I'll be quick as I'm starving and have a little treat for my lunch.

So Cockerels I've a ton of them turned out all of the birds except for Boo, the Indian game hen and (hooray) the smaller of the two remaining Maran boys?!?

About a month ago now we decided the Indian game birds time was up so that morning me and the hubs went over to the field with implements of destruction to do the deed. I let all the raging horde out of the hen house and we kept back all 4 of the IGs, Hubs then went and prepared his axe, knifes and block whilst I stood there listening to the biggest one crow, with butterflies of doubt fluttering about in my tummy. "WAIT" I yelled "let the hen out". Hubs was not impressed. I told him with her gone Boo would be the lone female in a run with 7 boys and will surely be massacred. Also, I told him, she can breed baby chicken dinners for us too. That's what swung the argument. 'Quick run away little hen before hubs changes his mind'.
So only the 3 BIG boys got dispatched and bloody big boys they were too, the biggest weighed almost 3kg.
With them gone the vibe was calmer amongst the lads.

I brought over to the smaller run (inhabited by Ivan the terrible, Boris and the two Marans) my two little welsummer hens and tinkerbelle the Maran. Who were terrified to begin with, nasty little boris kept having a go a them but the big maran girl was so sweet trying to befriend them and putting herself in the way when boris went on the rampage. I was more concerned with the big Maran boy who is about 3 times their size, but he was fine.
Boris was now on his final warning!!!! Later that day when I came back to the field after lunch I could hear them all shrieking and yelling so I ran over to the paddock and saw a caramels flash of fluff leap up into the air. I got to the gate and and the Boys looked up at me all innocent. I did a head count and saw I was missing Boris he'd got into the big boy run (He likes to perch high on the fence and most likely toppled off) He was cowering under one of the shelters but he was unscathed. So I put him back and told him that was Karma biting him on the arse. Weird thing was all the big fellas were bleeding from combs and wattles. So I reckon boris managed to kick some arse whilst be was being terrorized.

All the boys are crowing now which is lovely to hear when I let them out in the morning. Blackberry (the gentle black rock) was the first to start (not counting Ivan the terrible terrible crow). Blackberry has gone though from being a sweet gentle little chap to a sex maniac, but the little Indian G hen doesn't seem to mind!!!, Boo though, not happy about it!!!.

Remember those little whites well one has turned into a massive Light Sussex, one into a teeny fancy looking bantamy thing (with full on Napoleon symptom) and the other two rather scruffy looking birds were leghorn and god knows what else in them. These two weren't the nicest of birds, in fact the were quite nasty picking fights with anyone in some kind of WWF style tag team, and attacking Boo. Yesterday they waited in the door for Boo to come out first thing to try and launch and early rape attempt on her. They didn't attack the Indian game hen as shes learnt from her departed brothers to be pretty hardcore, you don't mess with her, she feisty (another reason I'm so glad we kept her).
Now I refer to the two leghorn X boys in the past tense because earlier this morning, we dispatched with them. We had to. There is to many cockerels, they were horrid and the other boys seem to all get along with each other, and as they were not really attractive or pure breed, I could only have offered them free to a good home and that good home could well have been someones oven.
Also Tomorrow we're going to move the garden girls to the field. Hubs suggested this at the beginning of November and I wasn't keen but their run has just got so muddy and nasty, the steps up the bank have got dodgy and the path along the lawn to get to the steps has got so slippery, that is plain dangerous to walk along. (last week I was coming down the steps along the lawn I went A over T and chucked the eggs up in the air and they landed on my head!!!) so tomorrow They go and Hubs will dismantle the run dig over the mud, add some drainage and lay some turf, so its all lovely for them to come back to in the spring. I just hope Blackberry doesn't hassle them too much. Mind you they've never seen a boy, they might love it.

Holly Golightly and the silkie mini mafia are all doing grand, one of them has turned into the most magnificent cockerel (he looks like Fawkes, Dumbledores Phoenix) but he can't stay in the garden as this morning he starting crowing a bit but I'll worry about that when my nearest neighbour starts complaining.
That pleased me a lot as out of 7 only 3 are boys (Ivan and boris being the other two)

Right I'm off to cook up some lunch. I will get some pics up soon, promise.
(sorry that turned out longer than I expected. lol)

Love jess x

Onwards and upwards

I had another sad day again yesterday. My lovely little cuckoo maran pullet Tilly, was put to sleep. Last Thursday when her and her boys out of their coop I noticed she had difficulty using one of her feet, she was stumbling about like she was drunk. I thought I'd give her and hour or so and then go back and check on her. There was no improvement and she hadn't eaten anything. So I bundled her up in my arms and brought her home. I checked her over and could find nothing wrong, she wasn't using her left foot in fact her toes were curled up into a fist (if you know what I mean) I could find no breakage or any wounds. Anyway shes been eating and drinking for the last week, I gave her some antibiotics and have given her the run of the flowerbeds and lawn. But although she wasn't getting any worse, she showed no signs of getting better and yesterday I could see she was in pain. She had given up even trying to stagger around and just lay down and would cry out. So it was a very easy decision to let her go.
Difficult but easy when you know they are suffering.
So although I was sad, her welfare all of the birds welfare is the most important thing to me. If she had showed signs of getting better I would have quite happily have kept her as a little limping pet hen, but I would also have taken into consideration her quality of life, if I thought she wouldn't have been able to do the things like scratching, flapping and dustbbathing that make hens happy, I would have let her go.

So now I only have 1 definite hen left in the field, and a whole gang of young boys and a handful I'm still debating on (although sods law and all that).
Although.... Last night when I put her brothers to bed I noticed one of them has a much smaller paler comb and wattles...........I daren't hope but could he be a she?

Anyway everyone else is thriving despite the rain, including my darling Holly Golighty who along with her little posse have been relocated to the courtyard very close to the kitchen door and are enjoying the benefits of more veg peeling and tinned sweetcorn. She also has the most amazing electric blue ear lobes.

(If anyone says blue earlobes means shes a boy I will cry, lol)

jess x

catching up

Sorry for the long absence, things have been a bit up and down and stressful here at the cottage and I haven't really felt inspired much lately. I had this favourite plant post planned for Halloween but obviously didn't post it I might put it up later. So I've been snuggling down knitting eating biscuits and watching The darling buds of may Which is my ultimate security blanket, I watch my dvd all the time and especially love it when I'm feeling blue, I wish I was one of the larkin kids or better yet my goal is to grow up to be Ma Larkin.

Anyway things are back to normal now, I spent Monday afternoon blitzing my courtyard, My whole garden looks like a bombsite what with the chickens tearing up all the grass, and all the rain we've had it wasn't really inspiring me to go out and do much. But now the courtyard is tidy and the baby silkie x english games have been brought down from the top chicken garden, as its turned into a swamp and are residing by the side of the house. Much better for me and them as they have turned feral in the last few weeks, My Holly Golighty is like a mini Sea Eagle when ever I try and handle her, but now we can spend more time together. Three of the smaller silkie Xs have got scaly leg, so the whole lots been treated. My original garden girls need to be moved as well so I can rest their run but I need to have a think about where to put them. They have all come back to laying again after I discoved they all had lice.
Over in the field I had a bit of drama last week when I let them out and Boo came out looking all sorry for herself wings and tail hanging down and hiding under the shelter so I bundled her up in my arms and brought her home where I feed her yogurt and chick crumb. There was no signs of anything wrong, although I did find one lone louse on her so I gave her a dusting and put her to bed in the spare room for the afternoon. By the morning she was back to her feisty self again so back to the field she went. I think she might have received some unwelcome attention fom all the boys there. The Indian game birds (who will be dispatched next week) have all started crowing and trying to have their way with Boo, and I think poor Boo was overcome by their advances. The two Welsummer boys Hector (previously known as Dean Martin) and his smaller brother are growing into magnificent cockerels. Hector is learning how to be a good chap, he rushes at the Indian game when they rush at Boo, and he's always the first in to the hen house and then darts in and out till everyone is safely inside. Blackberry has turned out to be a Boy (I knew it) but he's so gentle and endearing hopefully with a good few more females to keep them sane I can keep him. The little white leghorns have all grown except the one who looks more male he's tiny, I love these ones, they crowd around my feet peaking at my boots when I been walking through the grass and they're like naughty children, always mucking about at bed time.
My biggest surprise was when I took the three Marans and rogue silkie x's to the nursery pen in the field, They were the ones that fought with Holly, Literally overnight the small grey one grew a wattles and a comb.
I took them over on a day I was feeling particularly grumpy. After letting them out of the box into their new run I turned around to talk to Blackberry when this little tiny grey thing let out this very croaky and strangled cock-a-doddle-do. I haven't laughed so much in ages, all the other boys stopped what they were doing and looked over at him, and he just kept on crowing all afternoon thinking himself magnificent. I've called him Ivan (the terrible) seems to suit him. I think we might keep him just for the comedy value he brings.
So all in all I have (not including the Indian game or the garden girls) 6 definite cockerels, and 6 definite girls. Everyone else I'm still not 100 percent sure of. I have promised my husband no more chicken till the spring now. Spring will also be the time when I start on the ducks but shhhhh don't tell my husband.

jess x

Drowning in feathers

Remember these little guys

Well this is them at 16 weeks old
This is Dean Martin (Dino) who was the cheeky one staring at the camera (the one I thought might be a boy) Isn't he handsome.



Here's Boo still a ball of fluffiness.


This is the welsummer I thought was a girl, He's not not a name because most likely he'll have to be re-homed unless he can get on with his big bro and live happily together (we'll see?)Ohh the one behind is one of the Indian game birds.


This is my black rock? Blackberry.Not sure about the sex really hope its a girl as its such a sweet little thing, he/she follows me round the paddock and pecks at the polka dots on my wellies. If its a boy I might build him a kingdom all of his own or re-home him somewhere lovely. Boo and Blackberry are best mates.


This is 3 of the 4 white leghorny chickens


Here's the 4th white one which looks very different to the others I assume they are all related but maybe not? The whites are living in a sectioned off part of the main paddock, when the table bird has departed they can move in with Dino and his lot.

Right now on to the garden gang

This is Blondy, one of the silkie x's He/she has the feathering of a silkie. He/she also hates Holly Golighty with a passion so he/she is living with the Marans. The two you can see are I think boys (Doh!)


This Maran I think is a girl (fingers crossed) I'm going by the size of combs and the fact (and please tell me if this is rubbish) that the males are lighter. There is also a little grey bird in here but he/she didn't want to come out of the house to have its photo taken. It also hates Holly Golighty.


Heres the fabulous Holly Golighty (who I'm 90% sure is a lady as she kind of clucks at me) She is living with 6 little ball of trouble. I'm not sure if she's put herself at the bottom of the pecking order or she's gone all mumsy with them, maybe it will be good practise for her as a broody.


This is what she's got to put up with.
I tried to take photos of them individually but it was impossible.

That just leaves my two welsummer girls and their baby sister maran chicklet. But the batteries in my camera have run out of juice so I'll snap them tomorrow.

Anyone got any opinons about the sex of any of them? Anyone want one?

Back in business

(What are these?????)

Hello, I'm back normal service is kind of resumed. I'm much happier than my last post. Thanks for all your kind words.
Well a lot has happened since my laptop died, on the chicken and garden front.
Here's the head count...

Well to start with we have the garden girls Then Holly Golightly who I'm pleased to say has coped well with the loss of her buddy (better than I did)
Then we have the two Welsummers who have both turned out to be cockerels, and Boo the little Buff Sussex who fingers crossed its very much a girl.
4 Indian Game birds, these are destined for the table in a few weeks time. Hubby was after some Hubberds or Cobbs at the auction but got chatting to an old farmer who recommended these as birds he'd kept before, being slower growers and bigger . breasted. They are living it up in the field along with the Welsummer boys and Boo
Next up another impulsive auction purchase was a box of 5 farmyard chicks?? which consisted of a older larger black chicken (who I really hope is a girl as its a bit of a wimp but follows me round the paddock and has the most gorgeous purple green sheen to its feathers) I'm not sure of its breed I'm thinking maybe a black rock? This one was put in with the wels and boo, and was terrified of the wels who didn't pick on it as such but weren't exactly nice to it, luckily boo was nicer. This one is in the field with the wels and the dynamic is much improved. And 4 little white birds again I have no idea at all of the breed, they all look a bit different one has a crest and a fan shaped tail a bit Dutch bantamy and the others look a bit Sussex x amberlines. As these are tiny they are in the nursery run in the paddock.
The same day we bought them I also got a box of 3 Cuckoo Maran chicks, obviously I knew very little about link/auto sexing and its turned out that 2 of them are 100% boys and the other one I'm not sure yet,. They were 2/3 weeks old when we got them and are now about 6/7 and massive.
Then 2 weeks ago my husband bought 8 Game x chicks at the auction, these are adorable. Hubby thought they were Indian game but they're Old English Game which is a totally different bird. there are two sets of chicks in this group, 5 of them are crossed with silkies, (I've got a fuffy one, one with 5 toes, one with a rose comb and 2 with feathery feet) the other 3 are tiny wee little thing, so pretty and if I didn't know any better I'd say were part quail. I had a chat with the seller after hubbys purchase (50p a head)and quite frankly I don't think she had clue what they are. These are living in the converted hutch and run with Holly golighty except for the fluffy silkie x and a very pretty grey one who hate Holly and she hates them. I tried putting those three together first but the fighting was really nasty and blood was drawn, which is a shame because the fluffy one was my hopeful as a broody to go with Holly (obviously I have no idea about the sex of any of these yet and If I'm honest still not 100% about Holly although I've heard her cluck, please be a girl, please be a girl.)They are co-habiting with the 3 marans.
Then lastly Saturday was a rare and minority breed auction and hubby was at work so I was flying solo. Unbelievably I bought nothing there was tons of birds there. I was tempted by some quail and Indian runner ducks, but sensibly didn't even bid as practically we not set up for either yet. Also some Buff Orpington bantams but again sensibly knew as lovely as they are aren't a practical buy. I was after some welsummer pullets but I was hugely outbid, they weren't massively expensive but for that price I'd rather buy them from a breeder face to face.
In a way I was quite pleased I came home empty handed as I've spent the last week moving chickens around the garden and paddock, building and securing proper (make shift) houses and runs and got my garden back ready for some care and attention. So it was quite nice to come home and not have to run around with chicken wire rigging up a temporary home in the garden.
Off course that didn't last... An hour after I got home I was googling local breeders and came up with one that had some Welsummer pullets, hooray. So yesterday me and hubby drove out to South Yeo farm east rare and traditional breeds and got some 6 week old girls, now these look very different to the orignal welsummers I bought. Much more salmony coloured. The lady there was lovely, she showed me around her breeding pens and gave me lots of advice. I've fallen in love with some new breeds and plan to go back in the spring and maybe get some Ixworths, Vorwecks and Legbars. I found this place really inspiring. Oh and I also bough a baby Cuckoo Maran girl too.

So in total if my maths is correct that give a grand total of 31 chickens. Wow

I've learnt a heck of a lot in the last month or so, mainly the hard way. Auctions are a great place to buy inexpensive birds as long as they look healthy but most young chicks will most likely be unwanted males (if its a breed that can be identified young)I plan on defiantly keeping one welsummer and one Maran. Buying from breeders is better as you get to look around and chat and some more comeback if things go wrong. I've learnt how to (try) and deal with sour crop and have a much better understanding of a chickens digestive system. Even though I know I did all I could, I just wish I known about sour crop sooner and how to deal with it, maybe I could have prevented Eliza losing so much weight and saved her, although being so young her chances were so slim.

Unfortunatly I haven't got photos of everyone yet but theres an old photo of the black one and one of the little white bantamy things at the top of the post. If anyone has an idea what they might be please please let me now.

The saga of the eggs

Well Friday evening big mama came leaping out of the broody coop so I had a peek inside to be confronted by a truly evil smelling broken egg. So whilst trying valiantly not to throw up I cleared up the mess (even the dog ran away from the stench) and she went back in. So the eggs have been removed I double and triple checked by giving them a little shake (horrible glooby rattle) and candling them. At the moment she's sitting in the box but with the door open, so today I'll be trying to break her broodiness and over the next few days trying to re-integrate her back with the others.

I'm disappointed but these things happen. I'll try again next spring (even more reason for getting a couple of silkies) and I'll be better prepared and organized.

Wish me luck with Ethel, I have a feeling this may not be easy.......

Don't count your chickens.........

Well my eggs are now 2 days over due, my little superstar Ethel has been sat snugly on them for 24 days with only a short snack break each day. I'm beginning to think that they're not going to hatch at all. I'm a bit disappointed but I always thought of this as a bit of an experiment and if we got some babies that would be a lovely bonus (sometimes I tend to veer towards the pessimistic) but I'm not sure what to do with her or when to throw in the towel. She'll need to be re-integrated back in with the big girls and her broodiness gently broken. I think I'll give it until the weekend to see if anything happens before I give up on the eggs.
What do you think? If anyone with experience of hatching eggs has any advice for me, please let me know.
I wonder if poor Ethel will upset at her lack of babies.

The little girls are doing really well. They are now living in a converted two storey rabbit hutch with a small run tagged on (the bright side of no babies will be extra chicken wire to make their playground bigger. They've learnt to walk up a ramp and roost on a little perch when its bedtime, which is earlier than the big girls. They've stopped being scared of Alfie when he goes to see them, one of them even pecked him through the wire (as much as he behaves himself loose with the girls, he has a healthy respect after being chased and pecked by Pixie and Margo, I'd never let him get too close to the little ones). They are still as yet unnamed although I think the adorable little buff sussex will end up sticking with the name Boo. I must really get round to naming the other two soon.
Another thing that need a name is my smallholding, Hubby has fixed up the hen sheds and fenced of a nice little area so hopefully next weeked he'll be bidding for some birds at the auctions. We are going to start off with birds for the table, now I know I'll find this difficult, but we eat a lot of (free range) chicken here so it makes sense to have a go at rearing are own. I reckon I'll be a total wuss with this side so hubby will be in charge and when I start stocking up with layers (and all the other birds I'd like for all my plans) we've agreed (well I shouted, had a tantrum and shed a few girly tears) to keep them seperate from each other.
I just hope there are more silkies at next week auctions as some so and so outbid me on a pair last time, if not I might happened to bid for a few ducks when the mr isn't looking, unless my little eggs hatch......

The photo of Tom and Barbara is included because, well why not.

All I want for christmas is.........

I really really want a few of these


and some of these



this would be nice


and this


I wouldn't mind a couple of these


and I think I definitely would like some of these


and maybe a few


these would be lovely


and I'd love love love a little gang of these


Oh and my Mr wouldn't mind one of these



(photos from the devon county show, way way back in may)