This morning I decided to clear the rather weedy area where the pea wigwams had been. The chickens love garden clearance!
Amber wandered onto the border by the veg plot where there's a fair bit of couch grass to be removed. 
A few minutes later, Ruby (with the curly tail) and Topaz helped to finish the job!) Himself would like to make a raised bed here and try growing a melon next year. It's a sheltered spot by the fence and as long as the chickens don't get in there while it's growing, it just might work.
Topaz had a good system. As I was digging she 'followed the plough' and got rather more worms than the others. Champion worm-bane is Ruby though, who manages, by tossing them till they are right way round, to swallow huge ones that the others won't tackle.
Amber seems to be coming out of her longest broody period to date - nearly a fortnight. Unfortunately we went away in the middle of this time so my regime of shutting the house up in the day had to be foregone - we only had one visit a day to feed, clean out and change the water. Since our return on Thursday she's gradually begun to take more interest in food and become less aggressive to the sisterhood. The appearance of the fourth egg will announce that she's totally back to normal.
