The residents of Featherend Cottage

[Annie]

1st May

Yes , chickens are bonkers !
I had just let the silkies out into the garden and was opening the gate to the bigs girls run when out of the blue, there was a 30 second hail storm , the big girls scrambled over each other to get out and join the silkies eating the 'treats' ..........................bits of ice !
I had 1/2 bag of compost left after yesterdays gardening so at last managed to get some up for the hens big bath. I tipped it in and mixed it through the shavings a bit and within 5 mins there were 3 hens having proper dustbaths in it - up until now its just been a play pit to dig in.
Old Mary is laying again , against my wishes, can hardly imagine its the same hen who was so tired and worn out a few weeks ago.

[aceface]

they so love their dust baths don't they i love watching them ,little silkies eating ice bless em ,ice hitting their little top knots

[Annie]

6th May
The girls garden was looking shabby after so much wet this winter and it really needs a good layer of woodchip , which Eck and I will get round to but in the meantime I got them a couple of bags of a product called Flaxcore ( see thread about it) to kick about in. I used a bag and a half and its certainly dried the garden up and it looks much better for them though how long it will last .
Now Eck has laid the synthetic grass and put log roll around it , our bit of garden looks much tidier, apart from the original hen house sitting under the tree so a decision was made (by me ) to move it . The best place seemed to be in the hens garden so after a lot of ' to you - to me , put it down, now lift it up' we eventually got it in place .
It needed a good scrub out and ideally today would have been bright and sunny and it would have dried but it wasn't , still I wasn't too concerned as its not for the girls to sleep in, only somewhere to go to lay when the big hen house is occupied. Gloria in particular screams the place down if anyone dares to enter the henhouse while she is laying so it will give the others an alternative place to go. It did make me realise how much hard work the wooden house was and what a skoosh the big shed is.
I reorganised the logs and its really brought the girls alive with something new to investigate, they have been quite funny today, taking it in turn to jump on and off the new arrangements of logs and popping in and out of the house. Melody in particular thinks its her new house and was hogging it rather a lot but she is like that with the big bath I put into the run too, absolutley loves it.
Record number of eggs today 14 eggs from 15 girls

[aceface]

busy day annie they love it when you give them new things don't they ,trouble is they like to help a little to much sometimes their little beaks get a bit too near

[Annie]

Just a pic of the adventure playground


and Mary Queen of Scots and Cleopatra Queen of the Nile being taken in by the synthetic grass

[Mrs B]

Gorgeous photos Annie

[Annie]

16th May
On Monday this week as I was doing my afternoon lollipop stand , one of the neighbours was having a number of trees removed from his back garden so as soon as I was able I nipped over to see the tree surgeon to ask him the all important question.
That load of woodchip was destined for some allotments and the chap said ' come over with your car and some bags and you can have some'. When I explained it was for covering over 1/2 a garden and was for the chickens and I would need more than that, he took my phone number and said he would get in touch.
Well as good as his word he phoned yesterday afternoon and delivered me 1/2 load of the most wonderful beech wood chip, he had been cutting the top growth out of some old trees to bring them down to a better size. Its lovely stuff so much cleaner( and no dust) than the usual stuff the other tree surgeon used to bring us, looks like it will last longer too.
He was in the garden admiring the chickens, he has just moved house himself (he is a Londoner) and bought an old property with a fair amount of land and chickens are on the agenda sometime so he was very interested. He also commented that I had a lot going on in the garden with the raised beds and greenhouse and hens - took that as a compliment. Not sure what he is cutting down next but he will be bringing us more woodchips in the next couple of weeks.
I bagged a lot of it up this morning (we have to have it delivered at the back ofthe garden and there is no access) and brought it round to the hens garden and then when Eck got in from work he dug the old stuff out and spread the new chips around with the help of 15 hens. Looking good now but certainly could do with the extra when we get it, hoping that will see us through most of the summer weeks ( daren't say months).

[Linda S]

You certainly dropped on good there Annie and I bet Eck was thrilled to bits with all the work for him to do
Yor girls look so healthy an that photo that they just about glow they are beautiful, are they 2 of your ex-batts
Love the playground iv come to the conclusion that we provide for our flocks like we would for kids Lindaxx

[sandy]

Annie love the girl's playground I agree sussex are the loudest and most cantankerous layers

[Bridgets Mum]

Wow, beautiful chickens, gorgeous adventure playground and wonderful chicken names.