Go Girls!

We made another trip to Little Hen rescue on Sunday and collected another 6 hens to add to our flock.

It would be good to say they all got on famously from the minute the new arrivals stepped out of their crates, but that wouldn't be the truth.  In fact poor old Brutus aged about twenty years in the first hour from running around stopping fights, rounding up the ones who were wandering off.  It was hard work, this I know because as Brutus was stopping one fight I was stopping another!

But I take my hat off to the boy, he knew what he was doing and did it very well, and very calmly until one of the new hens went under the trailer at which point he just gave up and walked back to the flock.  Mr Bumble helped to shift the reluctant hen from under the trailer and got a peck for his troubles.

Two days on and I just went out to lock the coop doors and all 10 hens and Brutus are crammed into one coop and very contented noises they were making too.

Egg production is up as well we have rocketed from 2 a day to 7 a day and very nice they are as well.

On the downside I have replanted my onions at least twice now, and in the case of the poor little onion closest to the hen houses, at least a dozen times!

Nanny Southwellski suggested that we introduce the dogs to the hens and I thought she was a little premature but I followed her instructions and the dogs have developed a very healthy and wise respect for the beak.  Mr Bumble has had a couple of pecks on the noggin and that was more than enough for him.  He now keeps out of reach.

The plot is taking shape very nicely now and a handful of corn scattered in the right place means I get the grass stripped up by the chooks leaving me to turn the soil over. The sunsets have been beautiful these last few days although a bit of rain, more than the few drops we had today, would be very welcome.

Our strawberries are in and under fleece cloches now, to keep the chooks away as much as protect them from the weather. Our potatoes are also in and the runner beans that didn't get frazzled are almost ready to go out.

I ordered the middle level fruit and nut trees for the forest garden at the weekend there are some good offers out there at the moment if you look for them.  I used D T Brown, I bought my hedging, strawberries and potatoes from them and was very pleased with the quality and prompt service they provided.

I also finished the deck at the front of the potting shed so that Coco and I don't have to tiptoe across the bearers anymore and it gives us somewhere dry to stand as well. While I was doing that Coco dismantled all of my neatly stacked pots and emptied my compost all over the floor, bless her!!!!  It looked like we had been burgled.

If the good weather holds it will be more digging tomorrow.

No rosettes today

We took Scarlett and Mr Bumble to a dog show at the showground near Norwich today.  Came away empty handed but met up with some familiar faces again so it was worth it. Before Coco came to stay with us we did about twenty or shows a year and travelled all over the country.

Last year we did maybe two or three shows, Coco's first show was at the Royal Norfolk Show in July last year and it was a scorcher of a day. We did quite well there with a first for Mr Bumble and a Third for Scarlett.  Now that Coco is a bit older we will be doing more shows this year, fuel prices allowing of course. 

Mr Bumble moved really well today for Nanny Southwellski and he looked a picture.  The judge seemed to prefer leggier dogs and the terrier group was won by an Irish Terrier, in fact in both Scarlett and Bumble's classes the littlies came in the last positions.  Scarlett looked lovely like she always does, but judges generally don't seem to like her very much.  Never mind we love her and are very proud of her.

An Orpington Cockerel

The Norfolk Poultry Club had their show at the showground today as well, so Coco and I had a little look in the building and boy what a racket! Coco was completely overwhelmed by the noise of whole plethora of cockerels all crowing at the same time.

I thought Brutus was a big lad but compared to some of the cockerels there today, like the Orpington (Left) he is a budgie!

We were surprised at how many entries there were in the show, it was packed with cages.  The website address for the club is www.norfolkpoultryclub.org.uk.

Our girls, with only enough feathers to make one decent hen between the lot of them, would have looked out of place there today but they were happily scratching about in the paddock when we got back and they laid two eggs today which seems to be the average for them at the moment so we don't care what they look like as long as they are happy.

We took some photos of Coco sitting in the apple tree in our garden it was meant to have been taken on her birthday but we just ran out of time and never got round to it but we will make sure we take it on the right day in future.

Just to put your mind at rest I was behind the tree with a handful of wooly trousers while Nanny Southwellski took the photo.

I love you.... says it all really

Never look a gift farmer in the mouth!

When Coco and I started work on the plot it seemed the right thing to dig it all by hand.  Uncle Robin, our farmer friend had offered to come and cultivate the plot with his tractor and cultivator.  It felt really good saying "No thanks, we'll dig it by hand".  What we should have said is "Please, please, please come and do it for us!" Ah well, lesson learnt. So today we have been digging the plot for the potatoes to go in.

Digging for Victory (Well potatoes actually!)

We had one plot already dug over and we planted our garlic and onions in there this afternoon.  While we were doing that Uncle Robin and Auntie Angela arrived for a visit, so while Nanny Southwellski and Auntie Angela chatted the three of us started digging the potato patch.

It wasn't too bad digging the plot, it had been covered by our caravan while we renovated the bungalow so all the grass had died off and the digging was easy(ish).

Less click click Nanny, more dig dig!

Coco did really well digging but got very tired and just watched for a little while from amongst the canes which mark the rows of onion sets and garlic.

Nanny Southwellski was busy taking photographs of the progress in the plot, (you can see these on Southwellski on Flickr) and Auntie Angela came and played with Coco they went went indoors to help Nanny  make some tea to have with hot cross buns.

Faster Auntie Angela!

On the way Coco and Auntie Angela took a little detour and they played on the swing for a while.

Uncle Robin and I kept digging until we had finished the potato patch and now all Coco and I have to do is take out the clumps of grass and rake it over.

The chooks were very good at scratching up the grass clumps on the onion/garlic patch so we hope they will do the same on the potato patch.

Stop thief!

We have been taking time to introduce the dogs to the chickens and today we brought Mr Bumble and Scarlett, our two Norwich Terriers, through into the garden.   

They have been through before but today we had more time to supervise them.

Mr Bumble is the leader in our dog pack and felt that he should now have the chooks under his 'wing', however when they first met Brutus had a quiet word and now you can see the mutual respect between them. Except when there is a stale crust of bread about.

Just another chook.

Scarlett is a regular visitor and we are sure she just thinks the chooks are dogs just like her.

Our other two terriers, Monty and Blossom are a different matter altogether, as they are both very highly strung we will take a lot more time to get them used to the chooks.


Blossom managed to clear the dog run fence on Thursday and get in with the chooks but I was able to stop her before any damage was done. In all honesty I was more concerned about what the chooks would do to her than the other way round.  The dog run fence is now doubled in height!

Our two old girls, both cross breeds and both 17 years old are almost oblivious to the chooks although we do keep an eye on Lou as she has previous for killing chickens.

Anyway back to the garden, we have planted 9 bulbs of garlic and about 50 onion sets this afternoon, 8" (20cm) apart in rows also 8" (20cm) apart.  The soil is really good and Coco and I are really pleased with how it has cultivated into a really nice crumbly soil.

We have a dog show tomorrow but when we get back its all hands to the potting shed to plant some more runner beans to replace the ones we lost last week. We also have some peas to get sown as well and as these are Coco's favorite veg they are high on our list of important jobs. Off to bed now, early start tomorrow.

Its been a while I know but....

Brutus!

Its been a busy couple of weeks, hence an abscence of news from the garden.

We have 5 new additions to our menagerie, 4 ex battery hens and a stunningly handsome Cockerel called Brutus, no other name seemed to fit.

The girls are settling in extremely well, although they seemed a little overwhelmed by the amount of space around them on the first day we got them home, but now, almost a week later they are happily exploring the paddock which is their new home.

They also seem to have got Brutus exactly where they want him, it's a cold night here in Hockwold and when I checked on them a little while back, all 5 were crammed in one of the nesting boxes in the hen house, and who was in the middle? Brutus.

Two of the girls

 The girls aren't looking their best just yet, these pictures were taken a few days ago, but already we are seeing a change in their confidence, and they also seem to be putting on a bit of weight.  They have given us 10 eggs so far and very lovely they are too.

They now follow Brutus around and its lovely to hear the gentle clucking coming from the hen house in the morning. Coco and I go and let them out first thing, fill up the feeders and put down fresh water.  

Coco has got the hang of throwing some corn down for them, that is now she has discovered its not that nice to eat it and it is in fact a bit hard to chew when you only have four teeth!

We got the Chooks, as Nanny Southwellski calls them, from Little Hen rescue, at Flordon near Norwich.  Their website is www.littlehenrescue.co.uk and even if you don't want hens you can find a whole wealth of info about chickens, and while you're there why not put your hand in your pocket and donate something or better still get some chooks!

This isn't our first experience of ex battery chickens, we had three a few years back, they came to us after our dog, Lou a Rottweiler cross, killed our two young hens we had only just acquired. She thought she would try and do the same to the three ex batts.  When she tried they cornered her, and we found her penned in tight against a fence and squealing like someone had beaten her. She never went near them again. Beanie, the leader, had real attitude and on more than one occassion fronted up to me. If she was human she would have carried a knife!

We hope the new chooks are as happy and live as long as Beanie, Irene and Ida.

One piece of advice though, and ignore it at your peril, if you have chooks, DO NOT GO NEAR THEM WEARING CROCS!

Anyhow, we are planning to start planting tomorrow on the garden, our onion sets will be going out, and we should finish the bed for the potato's, we did have a bit of a disater, our runner beans which have been living happily on the shelf in our potting shed protected from frost by the pariffin heater got scorched by the sun on the one really warm day we had last week and we have halved our plants.  Never mind we can plant some more.

Anyway enough for now, busy day tomorrow.