Oh my, it's been a while!!!

Well firstly the good - no, GREAT news - I've lost six stones!!! Also, my next door neighbours have a brand new, healthy baby boy who is almost two weeks old now, and absolutely GORGEOUS! My kids are well (if a little too noisey), and OH is still slaving away over a hot stove. I am still working with the fishies, and have finally set my own tank up at home (nothing special, just a tropical 60 litre). The small furries are great, though we lost Humphrey to old age. I bought two new chickens in January, taking our grand total to seven. They are Buff Orpingtons and absolutely devine - so fluffy! We rehomed Myrtle, as I was worried the neighbours would complain due to the racket she made. She is now free-ranging with a flock of hens (and a few cocks!) in a lovely big, open space. Her new owner sent me pictures and told me she'd settling in well.

Christmas went well. My Dad came over as is traditional these days.

The new growing season is just getting underway. I shall be dedicating the large border to sunflowers, which I am growing for a friend's wedding. Prado Yellow is the variety. She wanted sunflowers as they remind her of her late grandfather.

Phyllis and Ethal both laid eggs yesterday!!! Phyllis is the lighter colour of the two Warrens, and lays very pale eggs, Ethal darker. As the day length shortens towards Winter, they may stop laying until Spring, or they may not. Hybrids can continue to lay all through the Winter months, but pure breeds tend to stop. Some chicken keepers hang artifical lighting in the coop to promote extra lighting, but a lot of non-commercial keepers see Winter as a time when the birds can have a rest from laying eggs. I think I am just going to let nature take it’s course. If they lay, they lay. If they don’t, well Spring is only just around the corner.

The Marans and Silkies are pure breeds, and should come into lay in Spring. They won’t lay as many eggs as the Warrens, but maybe that’s just as well, as if they did, I could have six eggs every day!

We had our first ground frost today. It is below freezing at the moment, so I suppose I’ll have lots of clearing of dead plants to do over the next few days. On a positive note though, the parsnips will be getting sweeter! Yum!

They settled in really well, eating and drinking. The Warrens laid a few eggs over the next week, and then stopped. I thought it might have been the stress of the move, but hopefully they'll start laying again soon.

My Dad arranged to come over on 2nd October to re-design the run, and make it deeper to keep the birds in. When my son woke up that morning and let the chickens out, he discovered Nightingale was dead and laying at the bottom of the coop, no visable reason why.

So, my dad came over, and we went to the Rare Breeds auction at Murton to have a look around. I took the pet carrier just incase, but really wasn't planning on buying any more birds....... famous last words. It came to pass that we brought two Silkie hens home with us which I completely fell in love with. £18.00 they cost me. They are called Stella and Myrtle. Pure comedy value they are. I don't know how old they are, but they are amazing and full of character. Myrtle is the smallest, but boy can she shout!

So on 18th September we brought our brand new chickens home!! I filled the litter tray in the coop with woodshavings, and put straw in all the nest boxes. We were intending to keep the birds in the coop for the first day so they could settle. They must have been so stressed by their ordeal, so we put some food and water into the coop and left them to relax. I checked on them a few hours later, and one of the Warrens decided she'd actually quite like to start exploring, so rushed passed me before I had time to shut the door again. I thought oh well, I'll leave the door open and they could do as they pleased. So they all decided to come out. And within minutes, the Warrens were jumping onto the nest boxes, waddling up to the apex of the roof, and just stood staring at me. The 3ft chicken mesh doesn't keep two chickens intent on feasting on lettuce contained, and away they swooped over it. Do not believe anyone who says chickens can't fly!!!

So, without further ado, let me introduce Ethal, Phyllis, Marjorie, Nightingale and Glenda to the world.........

I am loving keeping chickens! I have six at the moment. I bought three 12 week old Cuckoo Marans, and two 22 week old Warrens from the Fur and Feathers auction at York Auction Centre on 18th September. It was a new and exciting experience being part of an auction (other than Ebay) for the first time. I wandered up and down the rows of cages, making notes of which lots I might be interested in. Thank goodness there were other chicken keepers around who were happy to answer questions (and I had a lot of questions!). I felt a bit out of my depth when the bidding started, but I came away with five of the birds on my shortlist, so was happy! The Warrens (which are hybrids) were already laying eggs, and I paid £16.00 for them. The Marans (pure breeds), who won't start laying eggs until Spring cost me £12.00 - for all three!!!


Getting them home was an experience!!! The cardboard boxes I aquired from a few shops at the railway station in York were very flimsy, but we somehow managed to get the chickens in them and got a taxi home.



The coop itself I bought from Ebay the week before. It cost £85.00, plus £14.99 delivery. It was flat-pack, so I needed to put it together, but it only took a couple of hours to do that. A few coats of wood preserver later, and it was ready for the ladies to move into.

The picture below shows the rear of the coop. There is a slide-out litter tray area, which makes the daily poo-picking easy.

The front of the coop is shown in the picture below. There is a pop hole with catch which the chickens go in and out of via a wooden ramp (not shown). Above the pop hole, there is a vent slat, which provides ventilation for the birds.

Apparently these types of coop don't last too long, as the wood is pretty flimsy, so I can start saving for a better one. I'm hoping that the wood preserver I have used will at least allow me to use it for a few seasons before the coop needs replacing. A lot of chicken keepers use sheds which they convert to make them suitable for keeping poultry, so will look into that in due course. We have had a lot of heavy rain recently, but the coop we have has remained dry, so fingers crossed it will last a fair while.

We constructed a run from timber and chicken wire mesh. The run itself is about 12ft by 10ft, and the mesh was about 3ft deep. 3ft. Hmmmm, it wasn't long before we discovered that 3ft wasn't going to be deep enough!!!

The garden did well this year. We had sweetcorn (of course), courgettes, a pumpkin, red and white onions, garlic, several varieties of tomatoes (which got blight), peppers and potatoes (which were completely disappointing!). I still really enjoy being out there, and even enjoy weeding! I can spend hours out there, and time just passes in a flash.

God, how sad do I sound?!!?!

I am now the proud owner of chickens. I bought them from a livestock auction in York three weeks ago - two 22 week old warrens (hybrids), and three 12 week old pure breed Cuckoo Marans. Unfortunately we lost one of the Marans eight days ago. It was very sad, but she obviously wasn't right.

My Dad came over that day and took us to the Rare Breeds auction, where he persuaded me that I NEEDED two black Silkies. They are pure comedy value!