Ready for the rain!

The run is now roofed over, ready for the rain. Where is it? I love a bit of good weather but it's over a month since we had even drizzle. Since I took the picture there's also a length of guttering and a water butt. The drying peas in the photo are all harvested for seed or winter use and the soil is like dust. The only beans with green leaves and pods not drying are the True Red Cranberry pole bean which has such a long season it ends up on newspaper on the windowsill. Still, the girls are enjoying windfall damsons (the ones too high to reach even with the steps) and the small sweetcorns too titchy to bother with. They bother!

Eating marrow and playing dead

I used most of an overblown courgette to make a marrow chutney a couple of days ago, and the chickens tackled the remainder. I cut it into slices and they pecked it away from the middle outwards. I expected to find the rinds but they ate them too!

Rather a contrasty shot but all four were nestling in dusty hollows they had gouged. When I came out with the camera, Topaz ran up to see if it was edible, but I've caught the other 3 playing 'dead chickens' on what used to pass for grass!

Pieces of eight!

Got a chicken on my shoulder. Couldn't afford a parrot!

Guess who? Topaz the Indomitable!

Ruby strutting her stuff.

Amber checking out the trousers. Himself sometimes has seeds in his turn-ups. You never know.

The Chiminea Nest Box

The old patio heater has proved irresistible for egg laying. For the last 3 mornings there have been 2 in there. If nothing else, the chickens have been a bit quieter in the mornings. Maybe the shouting wasn't all "Come and look, I've laid and EGG!" so much as "Shift over quick, I've got to lay an EGG!" Without the queue for the nest box everyone can lay somewhere comfy. According to DEFRA there should be one nest box per 7 hens. We have one between 4 and they all lay so closely in time that there was often an egg under the perch when someone was caught short!

Chicken Tandoori?

We have had this patio burner for over 8 years and it has cracked to the extent that it's just about unusable. It's held together by wire. It stood on the patio between the run and the grassy area so the indomitable Topaz has explored it several times, getting covered in wood ash as a result. Yesterday Himself cleaned it out, saving the ash for the garden, and filled the base with straw. After capping it with a tray of gravel to keep the rain out, it fetched up in the corner of the run. Topaz was naturally first in, and since then 1 or 2 at a time venture in for a little sit down.

This lunchtime we got back from the allotment with some greens for them and while I was in the run, Ruby went in and settled down. Topaz had to come and see what was going on, of course!

Ruby sat there like a good'un. Was I encouraging them to go broody I wondered? I went indoors to make sandwiches and a loud Birth Announcement (" I laid an EEEEGGGGG!") got me dashing outside to find a lovely warm egg on the straw. We had 3 this morning as against our usual 4 - no problem - we get a 3 egg day about every fortnight - but this was a surprise. Very comfy nest, obviously.

Chicken cuddles

The minute the girlies got out of their run today they scampered over to their 'field'.

I sat on the chair in there and immediately I was over-run with chickens! Topaz was first up (as usual) and in my face.

She had her beady eye on my ear-rings which must have looked edible.



She pushed off when they didn't turn out to be as delicious as she hoped, and gentle Ruby settled down to be stroked. Amber sat on the chair arm to muscle in but got fed up too and cleared off to do some serious scratching.


Great, got the knee to myself. Down a bit. You've missed a bit. Ahhhh! The pleasures of being stroked!



Ok, thanks for the cuddle - I'll be off now.

I went inside for my knitting and settled down outside their enclosure (or they stand on my wool and make the knitting come out funny colours!). When it went suspiciously quiet I got up to check what they were doing. While everyone else was up for a cuddle, Garnet was systematically digging a nice cool hole! They all settled down in it to dust bath and wing-flap.

She's watching us again - look busy!

Topaz goes exploring

Here's an action shot of the ladies scarpering across the patio to Chicken Field, Amber in front and legging it!

Topaz (world's nosiest chicken) decided not to go onto Chicken Field though. She thought it would be interesting to go into the garden room where I had a book and a cup of tea for company. She pottered around in there for several minutes but it obviously had no scratching or pecking potential so she ambled off to join the others.

Back on familiar scratching territory. Poultry in motion (I think I can feel another tee-shirt coming on!)