The Mrs Chicken Diaries.

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Wellington Boot
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The Mrs Chicken Diaries.

Post by Wellington Boot »

It all started in the summer of 2012, when my husband (Neil) and I were in a pet shop, buying rabbit food. The shop keeper let slip to Neil that he kept Chickens, and Neil was fascinated, they chatted for ages, and Neil got quite excited about the idea, gradually I got excited about the idea too. So we bought a chicken coop online, and filled the dining room with Chicken paraphernalia.

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So, feeling very excited, we bought our 3 ladies home, and eagerly waited for the first egg. After about a week, we felt brave enough to let them free range in the garden:

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sandy
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Re: The Mrs Chicken Diaries.

Post by sandy »

Hello )wav( Love their house, it is so pretty. And what pray tell are your ladies named?
The Pink Ladies..Audrey,Ingrid-Bergman,Madeleline,Norma-Jean,Dora,Janice,Jo,Robyn,Chrissy and Joyce
The Peds…Mork,Mindy,Bell,Saphire &
Vorky ,Blueped,Ginger,Ninger &Linky

Sunny Clucker was ere July 12-21 2012
Sunny Clucker was ere July 6 2016 to Sept 9th 2017
Sunny Clucker is here , rehomed Aug 18th 2018/
Wellington Boot
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Re: The Mrs Chicken Diaries.

Post by Wellington Boot »

Fast forward to February 2013, and I finally managed to persuade Neil to let me add to my flock, there was a bit of umming and arring about what to get, pure breeds or hybrids? Eggs, chicks or Point-of-Lay? We kept changing our minds, I don't think I made up my mind much before arriving at the breeder. In the end, I let the girls make the decision, and we drove home with a sussex, a black rock and a blue ranger. They were ten days old then, and very tiny:

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They quickly out grew their plastic box, so I emptied out my eldest daughter's toy box, which made a perfect brooder.

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Whilst all this was going on, we had also been putting some thought into the outside space. The chickens FR a lot, which is making quite a mess of our garden (not to mention all the poo everywhere!) and we wanted them to have their own space, so we set about designing and building the chicken village:

First I built a smaller coop (a place for the chicks to live, until they are grown up enough to move in with the big girls):

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and then (queue lots of swearing, and cutting my fingers on weld mesh!) I extended the "secure" run to the coop:

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Once this was done, it was time to enlist some slave labour, and make some toys and a dust bath for them:

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aceface
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Re: The Mrs Chicken Diaries.

Post by aceface »

and do you still have your beautiful lawn {rofwl} >ch< >ch< >ch<
[center]HELPING THE LITTLE BROWN GIRLS OF THIS WORLD FIND FOREVER HOMES
Humble chicken maid to a happy little flock
Frankii Whippers leading the way with Dorey,Prila(aka Mrs Brown),Ann-a-Lou Greta, Delphine my adorable silkie,my twin girls Lana and Boudica (aka The Jedward Twins ) ,Augustine Eizabeth(aka Pippy), Rheima, Marnie and Fleur aka little miss chatterbox[/center]


Still loving and missing Skinnie Minnie and Queenie xx

Marlene you taught me how to live and laugh again xx


Isabella my darling top hen ,you stole my heart xx

Porscha my sweet little girl ,you left so suddenly xx
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sandy
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Re: The Mrs Chicken Diaries.

Post by sandy »

What a beautiful village, and very talented little helpers )t'
The Pink Ladies..Audrey,Ingrid-Bergman,Madeleline,Norma-Jean,Dora,Janice,Jo,Robyn,Chrissy and Joyce
The Peds…Mork,Mindy,Bell,Saphire &
Vorky ,Blueped,Ginger,Ninger &Linky

Sunny Clucker was ere July 12-21 2012
Sunny Clucker was ere July 6 2016 to Sept 9th 2017
Sunny Clucker is here , rehomed Aug 18th 2018/
sarabee
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Re: The Mrs Chicken Diaries.

Post by sarabee »

Lovely to read about it. Great that you had willing little. Helpers!
Sara

"Harm no living thing"

Brilliant hubbie, 2 great teenagers, Sasha the elderly dog and Fin, the evil but loveable cat! 3 chickens; Dottie, Gaia, and Buttercup
Night night Rhoda xx
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MissEllie
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Re: The Mrs Chicken Diaries.

Post by MissEllie »

Great pictures, I love the colours of your houses :-D looks you have a severe case of chickenitis just like the rest of us )t'
The talent for being happy is appreciating and liking what you have, instead of what you don't have
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LisaB

Re: The Mrs Chicken Diaries.

Post by LisaB »

Awww, the chicks are so beautiful (as are your other chooks), I just want to squish them {hug} )grin2(

I also LOVE the colours youve painted the coops, making me think about what colours to paint mine in summer....
Wellington Boot
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Re: The Mrs Chicken Diaries.

Post by Wellington Boot »

Thanks everyone!

LisaB wrote: I also LOVE the colours youve painted the coops, making me think about what colours to paint mine in summer....


I did want to do them pink and lilac, but DH wasn't too keen. I tried to use it as an excuse to let me get a cockrel (well, if we're only having girls - then we should have a girlie coop!) but that didn't go down well either. Oh well!

aceface wrote:and do you still have your beautiful lawn {rofwl} >ch< >ch< >ch<


errr.... sort of. They only really scraped at the lawn near their coop (which is covered in straw now anyway) although it is a bit patchy in places. The flower beds have taken a beating though. I'm hoping that the bigger shrubs will have survived (I guess only spring and summer will tell) but now we've made them their own area, I may need to go plant shopping! Any excuse!
[center]Wellington Boot Garden Farm is now open for business.
Search for us on Facebook, or check out the website at www.wellingtonbootfarm.co.uk
[/center]
Wellington Boot
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Re: The Mrs Chicken Diaries.

Post by Wellington Boot »

I've just been out (in the snow!) and taken some more up to date pictures of the Chicken Village (we've been doing more work on it, over the weekend) it's still not quite finished (we need to put chicken wire all over the fence, to stop them climbing through it):

We're also going to add a log pile, and a bale of straw for them to peck at.

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[center]Wellington Boot Garden Farm is now open for business.
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Wellington Boot
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Re: The Mrs Chicken Diaries.

Post by Wellington Boot »

While I'm at it, here are some pictures of the chicks - taken this morning (3 weeks and 4 days old):

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[center]Wellington Boot Garden Farm is now open for business.
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Annie
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Re: The Mrs Chicken Diaries.

Post by Annie »

I love the idea of a chicken village just perfect.
Oh dear your garden yike* not quite like the first pics, thankfully lawn usually recovers(unless like us you have 2 dogs to complete the damage)
It will be alright in the end , if its not alright, it isn't the end .
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Wellington Boot
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Re: The Mrs Chicken Diaries.

Post by Wellington Boot »

Annie wrote:I love the idea of a chicken village just perfect.
Oh dear your garden yike* not quite like the first pics, thankfully lawn usually recovers(unless like us you have 2 dogs to complete the damage)


he he he, I think the kids do as much damage as the chooks to be honest - especially running round in the muddy weather!
[center]Wellington Boot Garden Farm is now open for business.
Search for us on Facebook, or check out the website at www.wellingtonbootfarm.co.uk
[/center]
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MissEllie
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Re: The Mrs Chicken Diaries.

Post by MissEllie »

Aw the chicks are definitely not camera shy! They look like they're doing really well {hug}
The talent for being happy is appreciating and liking what you have, instead of what you don't have
Woody Allen
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aceface
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Re: The Mrs Chicken Diaries.

Post by aceface »

they are beautiful so cute and the chicken village well envy}} love the tyre bridge what a fab idea
[center]HELPING THE LITTLE BROWN GIRLS OF THIS WORLD FIND FOREVER HOMES
Humble chicken maid to a happy little flock
Frankii Whippers leading the way with Dorey,Prila(aka Mrs Brown),Ann-a-Lou Greta, Delphine my adorable silkie,my twin girls Lana and Boudica (aka The Jedward Twins ) ,Augustine Eizabeth(aka Pippy), Rheima, Marnie and Fleur aka little miss chatterbox[/center]


Still loving and missing Skinnie Minnie and Queenie xx

Marlene you taught me how to live and laugh again xx


Isabella my darling top hen ,you stole my heart xx

Porscha my sweet little girl ,you left so suddenly xx

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