Notes on a Garden

Gardening in February: Sowing Broad Beans

2012-02-23T12:08:00.002-08:00

Another job for February, if you haven't done it already, is to sow broad bean seed.

Different varieties of broad bean need planting at different times, but if you want to sow a hardy Winter variety to give it a chance to grow before there are too many blackfly about get them into humus and nutrient rich soil by the end of the month.

I planted mine at the end of January this year, which seemed a bit late, but with all the snow we had, perhaps that wasn't a bad thing. Mind you, they aren't up yet.

No sign of the beans yet, but hopefully they are about to burst out soon

When we were looking around Wisley on Sunday I noticed that they had protected their broad beans with a fleece mini cloche.

Healthy looking broad beans seen at Wisley on 19 February

Other varieties can be grown in the Spring. Check the packet for details. If you have a small or windy garden you may prefer a dwarf variety.

Here is some more information about growing broad beans from The Royal Horticultural Society

Heron Alert

2012-02-14T05:06:00.000-08:00

Prompted by the Garden Smallholder, I thought I would check if we had any eggs, but no. Amber did lay three at the beginning of the month, having laid nothing before that since the 12th January, so I thought it was possible. Anna and Bella are still a bit young. We probably have to wait another couple of weeks.

The chickens were alert and very wary and all the other birds in the garden sounded agitated. The reason was clear:

This heron was perched atop a tree in the next-door but one neighbour's garden.

Gardening in February: Chitting Potatoes

2012-02-14T03:56:00.002-08:00

It may be very cold outside still, but if you haven't done it already, and you have the space to plant them, you can chit potatoes without venturing outside.

Chits are the shoots that sprout on potatoes when you've kept them a week or two, even if you've tried to keep them dark. It's what potatoes do naturally. It's the way they multiply.

We bought a small bag of Pentland Javeline seed potatoes when we visited Wisley in the middle of January. These can be used either as first earlies for tasty new potatoes, or for maincrop if you want to leave them in the ground until they are bigger.

The weekend before last I noticed they were sprouting already and I didn't want the chits to be damaged, so I set them out in an egg box to keep them separated from each other. They need to be kept in a frost free place and as cool as possible. For strong, sturdy shoots the potatoes should be kept in the light. Keeping them in the dark will make for long, spindly shoots which will break easily.

If you buy potatoes from a garden centre now or in a few weeks time they will probably have started to sprout. When asked, members of the Gardeners' Question Time panel were divided about whether it is necessary to chit potatoes. The consensus of opinion was that having longer shoots might mean a slightly earlier crop, but was unlikely to make much difference except where First Earlies are concerned. If the shoots are not obvious, set the potatoes in the egg boxes with 'eyes', or tiny buds, uppermost. If there are a lot of eyes, have the area with the highest concentration of eyes or the sturdiest shoots uppermost.

The advantage of buying potatoes early is that you have a greater choice and are more likely to be able to buy the variety you want. This is probably why we need to set them out for chitting them, otherwise the shoots might be damaged as the potatoes knock against each other, or get trapped in the netting of the bag they are in.

It is recommended that you buy proper seed potatoes rather than potatoes you've bought from the green grocer or supermarket, to avoid bringing disease into your garden.

Potatoes do take up quite a bit of space, so they aren't a good idea for small gardens. You can grow them in tall tubs, but as well as adding more soil as the leaves show, you will need to water them well to get a reasonable crop.

RHS advice on chitting potatoes.

Anna, Bella and Amber Day Seven

2012-02-10T22:05:00.000-08:00

In case you are wondering, Anna and Bella have been down much more in the past few days and Amber seems to be more accepting of them. It may have been a coincidence, but they've got along better since I put an extra feeder in their run.

Anna, Bella and Amber starting to learn to share

Feeding the Birds in February

2012-02-10T14:43:00.000-08:00

We woke up to a white garden Sunday morning

You may think there isn't much to be done in the garden at the moment with snow laying on frozen ground and temperatures close to zero or even below it.

One thing that is important right now is to feed the birds and to make sure they have a supply of clean, unfrozen water.

I've been a bit slow doing that this year, but I made the effort to top up my bird feeders Saturday night and Sunday morning to make sure the local birds had plenty of food to keep them warm.

We have a sumach tree that is great for hanging bird feeders on

I also have a bird table

and a pole with several more feeders, otherwise known as a feeding station

You may have noticed that some of them are enclosed in a cage. This is to stop the squirrels eating the bird food before the birds have had half a chance.

The birds are hungry at this time of year and lots of the food I put out on Sunday has gone, so it's time to top it up to help the birds stay warm. Suet balls or suet bird table concoctions, seed mixes with plenty of high-energy sunflower seeds, peanuts while there are no baby birds around unless the peanuts are in a mesh feeder so only small pieces can be taken - all of these are good things to feed a wide range of birds. If you want to attract finches, then niger seed is what to put out in a special feeder with plastic walls and narrow slits. If you don't get any finches the sparrows will enjoy them as a treat.

We keep our bird feeders at the other end of the garden from the chickens, to try to reduce the risk of cross-contamination.

The water in our bird bath has frozen

so I put out some water in a special container, because I didn't want to take the kettle to the top of the garden.

After I'd topped up the bird table a couple of robins flew down quickly, not trusting me, and flew straight away again, but this one came back and waited in the ivy for the right moment.

I could hear a lot of birds in and around our garden, but they are very timid. A blue tit flew on and off the table before I could take a photo and the sparrows were peeking out of the hedge and going back in again.

Anna and Bella's Third Day With Us

2012-02-06T09:52:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we found out that Anna and Bella don't show up too well against snow.

I'm not sure how well they are settling in. Hubby put them down the ladder about half past seven this morning so he could clean them out but by half past eight they were back upstairs. It may be that they don't like the snow, but the fact that Amber is behaving like a bully and chasing them away from food might have something to do with it, too. They went upstairs quite a bit yesterday.

Luckily I was home from work by half past three as Anna and Bella were still upstairs, or if they had been downstairs they had gone up again early. I decided to take some food out to them and by the way they devoured it, they certainly seemed hungry.

Anna was first to investigate.

Fairly soon they were both tucking in.

I'd given Amber some grapes to distract her, but once she'd finished those she started jumping up to try and steal what she could from Anna and Bella.


You can see Amber getting ready to jump


A close up of Bella . . .


. . . and one of Anna

When they had eaten most of the food I brought them some water, but they seemed most suspicious of it. Bella did have a few sips before putting her foot in it and spilling it everywhere. Anna showed no interest, so perhaps they had been down during the day and at least had enough water to drink. They are still both very nervous of us and don't like being touched.

It's not just the chickens that aren't too sure about the snow, having been used to living in a big shed, but some of our flowers and even hellebores seem unhappy. However, here is one that is enhanced by the snow

Introducing Anna and Bella

2012-02-04T12:56:00.000-08:00

Today we left the house about quarter past nine to drive down to a place we know in Sussex.

We started to visit Middle Farm shop when we visited my in-laws and especially my mother-in-law as we went down very regularly after my father-in-law died and it became apparent how ill she was. We did our chicken keeping course at Middle Farm and found John Piles, who has premises on the site, was a reliable source of Marriages organic layers mash, which is what we have tended to feed our chickens. As mother-in-law now lives near us we don't visit East Sussex very often these days.

We were pleased to see this sign

although, to be honest we had rung up beforehand to check that he had some

point-of-lay Light Sussex pullets. Bella is hardly visible here as she seems to be cowering under Anna; it wasn't a question of her being squashed. They looked so small sitting by the counter in the cat basket. We were told they are 16 weeks old.

At home we put them in the ark, once hubby had given it a clean while I made lunch for ourselves and hubby's brother who came down to visit his mum again.

This is Bella, with the white head, in the foreground. Anna has a grey heading and is lurking in the background.

We put Amber in the run as she is easier to manhandle, being used to us, but this might not have been the wisest action as she may have felt that she had been evicted.

After a couple of hours we felt it wasn't good for Amber to be so exposed, so we put her in with the two new residents. She decided she was going to let them know that this is where she lived and they were not welcome. She pecked at them both, especially when they tried to eat, but has not yet removed a feather or drawn blood. They have decided to move out of her way rather than fight back. Indeed Bella has been cowering under the water container and the feeder at times.

In the end they both went up to bed about 4 pm, an hour before Amber. They seemed quiet once they were roosting together.

Anna

Bella

You can click on these pictures to enlarge them.

Visitors to Our Garden

2012-02-02T12:21:00.000-08:00

We've had a green woodpecker visit our garden occasionally every year and we've been here nearly 16 years, but today was the first time I've been able to get a decent photo. The bird was much nearer the house than usual and the sunshine meant the lighting was good, too.

While my camera was handy I thought I'd snap this acrobatic squirrel.

He's stealing the food I've put out for the birds, but it's hard to be cross when he can look so cute. Besides, to the right, you'll see the squirrel proof feeder to make sure he (or is it a she?) doesn't eat all the suet balls.

Grand Designs

2012-01-29T08:40:00.000-08:00

We have some exciting plans for the garden this year.

Amber's egg is top right

First of all we hope to acquire a couple of new chickens fairly soon. We think we ate our last home-grown egg this morning as Amber hasn't laid an egg since 12th January. The extra large eggs I bought in the shop were still smaller than Amber's have been, although hers were a bit too big. They over-spilt in an egg poacher and couldn't touch each other in the egg compartment of the fridge. They were also too tall for an egg box.

Hubby and I recently started a bee keeping course and are thinking about getting a hive, but they do seem to need more attention than chickens in some ways , although they don't need looking at every day.

We're hoping to have an extra shed by the beginning of March, but it may not be a potting shed, which I had wanted. The space available is a bit small. There was an old Wendy House in the garden when we moved here, nearly 16 years ago, and hubby knocked it down last weekend. Disposing of it wasn't easy, though, as it seemed to be made from asbestos-reinforced concrete. After taking it to the wrong tip on Saturday, he took it to the right one first thing Sunday morning only to be told he had to go away and wrap it in plastic first. Having finally done that and returned to the tip he found that he had his annual quota in the boot, but there was still a fair bit still at home, so we'll have to think about what to do about that.

Now you see it

Now you don't

First of all, though it would be good if I started by planting some broad bean seeds as January is nearly at an end.

A Blog Award for Me and My Favourite Bloggers

2012-01-26T08:33:00.000-08:00

On a more cheerful note, I'd like to thank Karen at The Garden Smallholder for giving me a Liebster Blog award, an award given by bloggers to up and coming blogs with less than 200 followers. I'm glad that Karen has faith that I am up and coming in spite of my long lapses and the fact that this blog has been plodding on for a few years. I don't think I've had an award for this blog before, so thank you very much Karen. If you didn't have one already I would choose to give one to you, your own blog is always so informative and interesting with lovely pictures.

I'm told that acceptance of the award is conditional on the following:

Copy and paste the award on your blog.

Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them.

Choose five other blogs to award with less than 200 followers and leave a comment for them.

The blogs I choose are not all gardening blogs but the owners mostly have at least an interest in gardening. I choose to give a Liebster Blog award to

Kay and Sime aka The Smiths on Tour for their cheery outlook and interesting ideas.

Nicola for her interesting view of life without a car, in Around Britain without a Plane, which often gives me food for thought.

Just Gai for her interesting insights.

As you will have gathered, I enjoy reading things that make me think.

Lucy at the Smallest Smallholding for her enthusiasm and ability to bounce back with renewed optimism after setbacks. (She has quite a few followers, but I don't think it's reached 200)

David at The Anxious Gardener, who not only provides interesting and useful information but adorns his blog with beautiful photos.

There are a few others I considered giving the award to, but I think they may have too many followers.

In fact this has made me realise what I've been missing on all these lovely blogs. I'm afraid I don't have the time for reading and writing blogs that I would like to, just now, but I will try to look in a bit more often.

RIP Robyn and Betsy

2012-01-22T10:48:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately we lost Robyn at the end of November. She had not been laying for most of the year, but otherwise seemed healthy enough. Then in the middle of November she started to go downhill. I noticed all the chickens suddenly running from the end of the run into the hen house for some reason and Robyn ran straight into the ladder. Any unusual behaviour that followed I put down to her having bumped into the ladder, initially.

This all coincided with my mother-in-law being in hospital and hubby was working in Switzerland and the kids were at uni, so it was up to me to visit mother-in-law during the week. In the second week I started to notice that Robyn was falling down the ladder from the roosting area and not sitting on the perch when she was roosting. On the Wednesday morning as I fed the chickens and let them down before dashing off to work Robyn's difficulties became more obvious to me, but by the time I'd got home after work and visiting my mother-in-law it was dark and all the chickens were in the roosting area.

Thursday morning I decided to bring Robyn in to keep and eye on her, so I put newspaper and dust-free sawdust in a large cardboard box to keep her in. She didn't seem to be eating and drinking properly and had a couple of black spots on her comb, which was a purple colour at the back. I kept a close eye on her, making sure she had enough to eat and drink, but she didn't have much appetite and could hardly move. Hubby was home at the weekend and we wondered about taking her to the vet, but it was a bit late on Saturday before we thought about it and by midday Sunday she was dead.

It was after Christmas we noticed that Betsy was limping and keeping one wing open. I made sure she had enough to eat and drink as she wasn't going downstairs much, but stayed in the nest box a lot. A few days later her droppings were green and runny although she'd not had any greens to eat, so hubby took her to the vet. The vet said there wasn't much hope for her if she had green, runny droppings and also felt lumps inside her rear end.

Paralysis and tumours are symptoms of Marek's disease, and although it was less obvious with Betsy, it was pretty obvious Robyn had most of the symptoms, including a film covering at least one eye at the end. I'd ruled it out to begin with because I thought they were vaccinated against it, but it seems the vaccine doesn't always work.

Chickens from both sides

2011-11-27T14:26:00.000-08:00

Chickens have their cute and amusing side:

but also their very messy side:

It was time to clean the wet, old, dirty straw out and freshen things up. We do get lovely compost these days, though. We keep them on the patio during Winter, so they aren't in a mud bath, and we have less far to go in inclement weather.

As you can see from the first picture, they enjoyed a good scratch in the grass while I cleaned out their living quarters. Robyn was there, too, but she's a bit poorly at present, so keeps herself to herself a fair bit.

A Bit of a Buzz

2011-07-05T00:41:00.000-07:00

When we first moved here we had a lot of wasps flying into the house and eventually realised we had a wasps' nest in the loft.

Recently we've had honey bees flying into the house, which was a bit of a nuisance, but at least it means the honey bee seems to be thriving in this area and they like the plants in our garden.

However, when my son and his girlfriend went out into the garden to hang up the washing on Sunday I heard a scream. I looked out and they were surrounded by a cloud of flying insects. At first I thought it was flying ants, but then I saw that it was a swarm of bees, which began settling on a branch of our juniper bush. It might have taken 20 minutes for most of the bees to settle. A few remained buzzing about, presumably on guard duty, but I could get quite close. A swarm is usually fairly peaceful.

I phoned a local bee-keeper, whose number I got from the local bee-keepers' association website and he came within the hour.

Here he is pruning some branches that were in his way before cutting the branch the swarm was on.

You can see from this picture that he had fetched a skep before cutting off the branch. In this picture he is holding the branch to which the swarm was attached and is putting it into the skep. You can see quite a few of the bees were disturbed by this.

You can see from this picture that the skep has now been turned quickly and deftly upside down and quite a few bees remain outside it, on the cloth and on the beekeeper. That's why they wear suits.

The queen bee is inside the skep so her loyal workers are now making their way in to join her.

About 20 minutes later they were nearly all in. Once all those that wanted to go in were in the bee-keeper tied the skep up in a cloth and took the swarm away, minus the stragglers - scouts and guards - who are still buzzing about and in a more agitated fashion. Some of the bees remained in the air, presumably acting as guards and the bee-keeper told me that some bees will have been sent out as scouts looking for a suitable permanent home for the swarm.

I saw a few of the remaining bees on another branch of the juniper bush in a very mini swarm yesterday morning and felt quite sorry for them. They must wonder where their queen and their fellow workers have gone. The guards are more aggressive than they were, so I can't get as close as I could, which suggests they are feeling more agitated.

I wonder if anyone else here has had any experience of a swarm of bees. Any bee-keepers here, even?

Potatoes

2011-04-30T00:45:00.000-07:00

The first earlies I planted in bags at the end of February seem to be doing well. I just hope it's looking as good below the earth as it is above. I think the variety is Duke of York. I was pleased to find a small bag for sale with just 10-12 seed potatoes in it.

The Charlotte potatoes seem to be coming along nicely, too. They were planted about a month later.

Apple blossom

2011-04-27T09:39:00.000-07:00

We had a really good crop of apples last year, but the year before we didn't have a single apple. I know that apple trees have a good year followed by a bad year, but I don't think a bad year has to mean no apples at all. However, we had a reasonable amount of flower on the apple tree this year, so I am hopeful that we shall have a fairly good crop.

Mystery plant, part two

2011-04-25T06:35:00.000-07:00

The mystery plant is looking distinctly like a member of the alium family. I still can't remember planting this special alium, though.

Tadpoles

2011-04-21T09:29:00.000-07:00

Tadpoles in the pond last week.

Survival of the fittest

2011-04-14T13:30:00.000-07:00


The peas are coming along nicely as are the fuchsia seedlings

I went away for a few days, getting back Monday. Our daughter was in charge of the chickens and I had also asked her to water our seedlings, especially if the weather was warm as it had been on Wednesday. Well, she didn't forget entirely, but the seedlings were on the dry side when I got home and some had perished, but the majority survived, which they wouldn't have done if she had forgotten entirely. She is only 19 and doesn't see the point in gardening.


A few of these tagetes, marigold and cosmos seedlings are no longer, but most have survived. I shall have to resow the summer savoury, though.


Some of the beetroot seedlings have expired, but we had more than we needed.

The leeks look promising so far

Sowing Seeds

2011-03-26T11:11:00.000-07:00

The weekend before last hubby and I sowed some seeds in cardboard cells using organic seed compost. In the last few days some have started to sprout.


Beetroot seedlings


Cosmos seedlings

Leeks are slower to germinate. These were sown in the cardboard tubes from toilet rolls.

Mystery plant

2011-03-25T10:11:00.000-07:00

Can anyone please tell me what this is. I think I must have planted it at some point, but I can't remember what it is. I imagine it grows from a bulb.

It's Coming Along

2011-03-22T10:56:00.000-07:00

I bought a few plants on Sunday to try and fill in some of the gaps in the garden. I put a few in the rockery, which needs quite a bit of tidying, trimming and replanting. I also bought some for the bed half way up the garden, which was looking sorry for itself by the end of the Autumn, so it needs more plants. I think a lot was killed off the previous Winter and I mostly put annuals in the gaps and the dry summer and our 2 week holiday didn't help new plants get established.

So, I put some bulbs in, some planted this Spring are only just coming through.

Sunday I added some more plants so it looks like this

I've got some cosmos seeds I planted the previous weekend that have just started to sprout, so they'll come in useful for filling a few gaps more cheaply.

The First Day of Spring

2011-03-21T10:36:00.000-07:00

Today is officially the first day of Spring and our cherry tree is in full blossom. Last weekend it was still in bud. I was really pleased to get this photo of a honey bee on the blossom. There were several honey bees around and I also saw a bumble bee (white tailed, I think).

The garlic I planted towards the end of January is looking good

and the broad beans, which I planted near the beginning of January have come up at last. I use Aquadulce, which is a hardy variety that can be planted in the Winter. I prefer to sow the seeds in November when I can as this is meant to give the crop a head start where blackfly are concerned.

Chicken's First Dustbath of the Year

2011-03-17T14:55:00.000-07:00

The chickens had a lovely time having a dust bath on Saturday while hubby was cleaning out their ark and run. It is a great way for them to clean their feathers and dislodge any mites that might be lurking.

Later in the afternoon we noticed Robin was looking decidedly poorly and her crop looked pretty swollen. When I felt it it was very soft and squidgy, a sign of sour crop. About half an hour before bedtime she was sick. Hubby put her up to roost as we weren't sure she'd manage to go on her own, but a bit later she came down for a bit of supper and a glass of water. She was much better in the morning, but I gave them all some yoghurt anyway and more on Tuesday to help balance their microbes. They adore yoghurt, so I can't give it to one and not the other.

Adding a Splash of Spring Colour

2011-02-24T14:04:00.000-08:00

What a lovely day it was today; quite Spring-like. I had a thin jumper on, but didn't need a coat. The birds were singing and calling out to each other and for a while I was serenaded by a dunnock. He was quite close, but annoyingly I didn't have my camera to hand.

Dunnock

I did some pruning, especially of our rambling roses, which had got quite out of hand due to neglect. I think they should have been pruned in the summer after flowering, but we never seem to get round to it then. Now we can get to the back of the pond and plant a few things there, which I'm hoping to do as it's rather bare at present. I'm even contemplating a frog/toad (no wish to discriminate) house.

I also managed to plant a couple of snowdrops and a couple of cyclamens to add a bit of colour to the flower bed we look out on at mealtimes.

The bed on the other side of the path has colour, but needs a good tidy up.

Preparing for Spring

2011-02-14T14:35:00.000-08:00

Crocus now in flower

I've been making the most of the sunshine today and Saturday.

Today I planted five seed potatoes in a bag, they are a variety of first earlies call the Duke of York and a bit on the small side, so hopefully five won't be too many. I also put in some narcissus, crocus and iris bulbs I didn't get round to planting in the Autumn.

On Saturday I started to tackle a flowerbed we look onto from the dining room, which has got rather weedy and straggly. It's going to be quite a few hours' work to clear it. Hubby dug the remains of a large red hot poker out for me as best he could as it is growing under some stones. There are two more red hot pokers that need severely chopping so that they can also be dug out and a mahonia and a japonica, which are not right for that bed, which need similar treatment. There are also quite a few brambles and a smothering of wild strawberries.

There suddenly seems a lot to do in the garden to get it ready for the onset of Spring.

There are signs of Spring all over the garden, with Winter heather and crocus in flower and the garlic I planted about a month ago up already along with the Autumn onions I planted late October or early November. I'm now waiting for signs of the broad beans I planted a couple of weeks ago.

Garlic shoots

Bullfinch

2011-02-07T13:43:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I spotted a bullfinch on one of the bird feeders. Shame he didn't visit when I was counting birds for the Big Garden Bird Watch. It was an overcast day, so I needed my binoculars to see him properly and I didn't notice if he had a mate nearby.

As my camera isn't good enough to take a photo of something so far up the garden, here's a picture I found on the RSPB website, where you can find pictures to help you identify most birds as well as examples of birdsong and lots more.

Big Garden Bird Watch - Results in My Garden

2011-01-30T09:00:00.000-08:00

I watched out for birds in my garden between 8.30 and 9.30 this morning. Considering the birds who do visit our garden occasionally I was a bit disappointed, but here goes.

I saw 3 blackbirds, two male and one female who mostly chased each other away, even the female chased a male off the area where she was feeding.

2 magpies and 2 wood pigeons frightened off the smaller birds while they were around. 2 collared doves also put in an appearance, but not for too long and they were less aggressive.

Later I saw 4 blue tits flitting about and occasionally using our feeders.

I also saw a great tit briefly on one of the bird feeders, one dunnock lurking in the hedge, a couple of robins making excursions to the bird feeders and 3 tree sparrows doing the same. We usually have more tree sparrows than that in the hedges, so not sure where they were this morning.

Unfortunately the wren I saw earlier in the week didn't make an appearance.

My results have now been entered on the BGBW website.

I'll leave you with a clip of birdsong, although the robin who was trilling away can't be seen. The scraping noise isn't some exotic bird, but hubby scraping the chickens' mess off the paving stones on the patio. There was some lovely bird song while I was working in the garden this morning, but when I tried to record it, the birds stopped singing or even flew away.

Signs of Life in the Garden

2011-01-25T13:35:00.000-08:00

I've been pleased to spot some signs of life returning to the garden this week, so I thought I would share them with you.

The few bulbs I managed to plant in the Autumn are showing and the pansies are still flowering


Erica Carnea Isabell, a Winter flowering heather which does not require acid soil.

Chickens and Sprouts

2011-01-24T10:28:00.000-08:00

Once I cleared out as much of the muck and old straw as I could yesterday, I put down some new straw and gave the chickens fresh water. Then I threw a sprout plant into their run, minus the few decent sprouts on it. I thought I'd take a photo of the chooks attacking it. Notice they seem to find the earth nearly as interesting as the leaves, but poor Robin had trouble getting a look in where the green stuff was concerned.

Cleaning Chickens

2011-01-23T10:07:00.000-08:00

Chicken keeping can be a very enjoyable occupation. There are all those lovely eggs to start with and the birds themselves can be an endless source of amusement, but there are some aspects which are not so enjoyable.

Chickens are messy. They eat constantly and so they are constantly depositing their droppings on the ground, and their droppings are usually fairly soft and smelly.

We usually remove the droppings from the roosting area daily, but by the end of a week it can do with a more thorough clean. We also like to put fresh wood shavings (these should be the dust-free variety sold in pet shops etc) in the nest box as even when no-one has spent the night in there little bits of mud and muck are brought in on the birds' feet when they lay their eggs. If a bird does spend the night in the nest box we try to scoop their droppings out before anyone lays an egg, although sleeping and egg laying tend to take place in different parts of the nest box, thankfully.

Today I gave the chickens their weekly clean. Once I'd scraped all the muck I could from the floor of the roosting area I spread the sawdust from the nest box over it to make cleaning it a bit easier and once I'd removed as much of the old sawdust as I could from the nest box I replaced it with a generous amount of clean sawdust.

The nest box is the section on the right.

On your marks . . .

Then I had to start on the lower quarters. To do that I had to let the chickens out and they couldn't wait.

As the chickens are currently on the patio we have put straw down, which absorbs some of the muck,

Very mucky straw.

so that needed raking up

and putting on the compost heap.

A bucket like this comes in handy for that purpose.

Other useful equipment is a garden rake and a shovel

and for day to day maintenance, a churn brush, a small hand hoe (it makes a good scraper) and the pan from a dustpan and brush set..

Next weekend hubby will probably give them a more thorough clean if the weather permits.

The Big Garden Bird Watch

2011-01-22T12:59:00.000-08:00

blue tits in our magnolia tree January 2009

Happy New Year, and welcome to Notes on a Garden's new home. I have a new e-mail address, so I had to make a new blogger account, but thankfully I was able to move my blog across.

The New Year may have only just begune, but it's already time to prepare for the Big Garden Birdwatch again. The RSPB would be very pleased if you could spare an hour next Saturday (29th) or Sunday (30th) to count the birds in your garden. It's a good way to find out just what is happening to our garden birds.

To increase your chances of finding out which feathered friends are living in your neighbourhood you could put out plenty of birdfood and top up water dishes to encourage them to pay your garden a visit. This is a good thing to do regularly at this time of year, anyway, to help our garden birds survive the Winter.

Apparently early morning is a good time, but any time will do.

You can find out more about how to take part here.

Apologies to readers of my Green and Generous blog, but I thought it was worth repeating here.

Winter Quarters

2010-10-31T09:25:00.000-07:00

This afternoon hubby and I moved the chickens to their Winter quarters, which means off the grass and down onto the patio, nearer the house. This means the chickens won't be in such a mud bath, and we won't have so far to go in inclement weather in order to see to them. We found out last year that putting straw down helped to keep the mud and muck under control as well as making it easier to clean them out.

The Fruits of our Labours

2010-09-12T13:39:00.000-07:00

I'm afraid I've been busy with my other blog when I've had a spare moment, so I thought it was time I reported some of the things that are going on in our garden.

I was pleased when the flower on my sunflower opened up a couple of weeks ago. Last year I planted 3 sunflowers and the slugs and snails ate them all before they could flower, so this year I planted it in a pot and put it somewhere we don't get many slugs and snails.

The green peppers are doing much better this year, too. I only planted three in the tub, whereas I think I put 5 last year, because they were called 'mini bell peppers'. In fact the one that is doing best is one I bought at the Hampshire Green Fair earlier this year.

I was pleased to see at least one decent sized pepper on the plants a couple of weeks ago and now I have several more, so I'll not be needing to buy for a few weeks.

I've also been pleased with my cherry tomatoes this year as I've managed to harvest several punnets of ripe ones already. I've grown them in a 'grow house' and kept them zipped up most of the time, whereas in previous years I've thought it was only necessary to close them up when the weather was cold. I'm still waiting for the uncovered Ailsa Craig's to ripen.

I've also harvested a few more pounds of runner beans lately, some of which I have blanched and frozen, the rest of which we have eaten. They are very nice cooked in with chopped tomatoes, or tomato purée if you get fed up with eating them just boiled. You can fry a bit of onion or garlic first as well and maybe add some basil or oregano.

It's also been an excellent year for our apple tree this year and I've picked pounds of apples, some of which I've stewed and frozen, some of which hubby stewed up with blackberries he picked in the garden and made a crumble then froze the rest. We've also had a plain apple crumble and an apple pie in the last few weeks, all made with apples from the garden. We've also eaten some raw and have a fruit bowl full of them. I gave my parents some and I've still got quite a few left. The tub contains about half of what I picked.

I've decided that a grow bag was not the ideal medium to grow a courgette in, but my plant is still producing courgettes, albeit small ones just now. This is proving to be a pretty good year for our garden. We didn't plant a lot of onions, but we had enough to last us a few weeks. Last but not least I also harvested a few pounds of potatoes a few weeks ago.

Every Cloud

2010-08-25T09:26:00.000-07:00

I was looking forward to eating our cabbages when we came back from holiday in the middle of July. We'd had a good crop last year and I thought I'd grown these in exactly the same way. However, last year the cabbages had good hearts before they got too big for the cloche I'd grown them in to protect them from cabbage white butterflies and their ravenous offspring.

The one thing we did do differently was to plant the cabbages several weeks later due to the prolonged cold start to the year. We also went on holiday a couple of weeks earlier.

For whatever reason, this year's cabbages were a big disappointment as their hearts had been eaten away by the cabbage white caterpillars, so instead of us eating them we have fed them to the chickens, who have very much enjoyed them as you will see from the clip below when I threw them our very last cabbage. That was until I tried to get close to them.

When we put them back in the hen-house we threw the cabbage in with them and it's now not much more than a skeleton.

We still have the Brussels sprouts, though.

A Day in the Garden Planting Pansies and Lettuces

2010-08-21T11:35:00.000-07:00

I've had a busy day in the garden today, weeding and planting. I put in a globe artichoke, which I bought a few months ago, but had put in a bigger pot until I could get round to planting it. This is to keep my other globe artichoke company, one I grew myself last year, which is to the left of the picture. Maybe they will both flower next year. I can but hope.

I've also put some pansies in the bed I tidied up a few weeks ago, as it was looking a bit bare apart from weed seedlings. Something has to go in to keep the soil from washing away and I'd rather have pansies than weeds.

A couple of weeks ago I put in the chrysanthemums, fuchsia and black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia), the latter to benefit the bees and butterflies.
I'd noticed one of those was growing in the bee-friendly garden at Ryton Organic Garden when we visited it last month, so I thought that would add a splash of colour as well as feeding the bees as Autumn approaches. When I looked today it was surrounded by a cluster of hover flies.

Next Spring I expect I'll put in some perennials once the bedding plants have finished flowering, but there's not a lot of choice at the moment. Bedding plants have their uses, but it's less work if your flower beds have mostly perennials.

I also bought some lollo rosso lettuces when I was in the garden centre, which I was pleased about as I haven't started any new lettuce plants myself. I like Geoff Hamilton's idea of an Ornamental Kitchen Garden with vegetables planted among the flowers, and as lollo rosso are attractive lettuces, I've put some in a flower bed by the back garden along with some more pansies. I'm hoping my husband will like it as he's not so sure about the concept.

There were a dozen in the pack so I've planted the rest in tubs.

This meant a lot more digging and weeding as this bed was also fairly overgrown. I noticed the soil was quite dry, so I added some compost from our third compost bin, which is the oldest and fairly well rotted down.

I've put copper rings around the lettuces to protect them from slugs. I've found these to be quite effective so long as the leaves don't droop over the edge of the ring. I've had them a few years now and they don't show signs of deterioration, just discolouration, which happens very quickly with copper.

I've also put some grit down to deter slugs and snails, but probably should add some more. It was a long day in the garden and in the end I was very tired. I also sprinkled a few Growing Success slug pellets around. These are available from the organic gardening catalogue as well as garden centres.

Home Grown Dinner

2010-08-20T10:42:00.000-07:00

Tonight we shall have omelets made with eggs from our chickens accompanied by home-grown potatoes and runner beans. A very low-carbon and low-cost meal, and healthy, too.

A Bounty of Beans

2010-08-12T09:41:00.000-07:00

I've picked 7 oz of runner beans and 12 oz of French beans today, we're eating them at least every other day at present.

I need to go and prepare the runner beans for dinner now.

We also had three eggs, which is still quite usual, although once or twice a week we only get two and it seems to be Amber who doesn't lay most of the time we are one short. She lays the biggest eggs the rest of the time.

My Little 'Helpers'

2010-08-11T08:39:00.000-07:00

The weekend before last I decided to weed part of a flower bed that was looking seriously neglected and after that I took some compost from our compost bins and spread it over the flower bed. Then I decided I'd put the chickens on the bed to have a good scratch around as they love doing nothing better and they would help remove slugs and bugs, although possibly a few worms and other 'good guys', too.

I kept a close eye on them all the while and decided to put them back in their pen when they started to move further afield.

Our Garden at the End of July

2010-07-29T10:37:00.000-07:00

We went on holiday for the first two weeks of July and left our garden and the chickens in our daughter's hands. The chickens seem to have been looked after well, showing no signs of having missed us. The garden on the other hand was clearly in need of water as it had rained very little in our absence and watering plants was clearly not too high on our daughter's list of priorities. Most plants did survive though. The main victim seems to have been the peas as they had been flowering profusely when we left but there was only a handful of small pods to be found on them.

Now we've watered them the runner beans and French beans are starting to produce a good crop and we've had one meal with a good helping of beans already.

The onions are looking a decent size, we have yet to investigate the potatoes, but I was very disappointed to see that something has been digging up my carrots, most of which are still tiny.

My courgette plant, which I'm growing in a grow bag this year as I was short of space in the veg garden, looked very unhappy with some brown leaves and fruits that were not doing very well, but after some tlc, particularly water, it is looking much better and we have four courgettes for tonight's dinner, with a few more still growing on the plant.

The tomatoes seem to be doing quite well this year, so far. I have two Ailsa Craig plants in an open container on the left and some cherry tomatoes in a grow bag inside a 'grow house'.

Quick up-date

2010-06-01T06:38:00.000-07:00

So far this year I've harvested a few strawberries and hubby and I had a handful each for breakfast this morning, and I cut myself a lettuce for my lunch from a tub growing on the patio.

We've both been fairly busy in the garden this weekend. Unfortunately I'm quite busy at present, but I'm hoping I'll have some time to put some photos up at the end of the week.

Sex and Violence in the Garden

2010-04-29T06:16:00.000-07:00

We didn't really do anything in the garden until a couple of weekends ago, more of which later hopefully. However, I did participate in the RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch at the end of January. We do get a fair number of birds in our garden for various reasons. We live near a small strip of woodland as well as farm land, the garden has hedges and bushes as well a variety of naturally occurring food for birds and, when I remember, food in bird-feeders. We also have a small pond, which quite a few birds visit for a drink, and some may have eaten some of the frog spawn and tadpoles, which arrived this Spring. Watching the birds can be a very peaceful and soothing past-time but nature is not entirely quiet and idyllic.

During the Winter months we noticed aggressive wood pigeons going chest to chest with any bird they thought was infringing on their territory and feisty blackbirds chasing other birds including chunky wood pigeons away from precious food sources. Already in February we had male wood pigeons pestering the poor females who did their best to remove themselves from their amorous attentions. The females were obviously more aware that the weather wasn't yet suitable to rear little chicks, while the males had only one thing on their mind.

More recently I looked out of the window after hearing a lot of chattering to see a sparrow hawk sitting under our hedge with some poor creature still squirming under its claws. A few minutes earlier a mistle thrush had bumped into our bedroom window and I'd seen it looking a bit dazed with, it seemed, a few feathers coming out of its neck, so I suspect that the sparrow hawk had chased it once unsuccessfully and then returned for the kill, which is a shame as we don't get many thrushes here.

On a more positive note, this morning I saw some greenfinches on the niger seed feeder for the first time I put it up over a month ago. We also have a robin who comes up very close when we are outside digging and weeding.

I've still got my results for the big garden bird watch somewhere, so I will try to look them out and add them later.

Chickens up close

2010-01-07T07:52:00.000-08:00

Apologies for the wobbly camera, I was using it to shepherd the hens back inside as they looked like they were considering the idea of coming out to play in the snow. However, that has meant some very close up shots of their faces. I'd just brought them some spinach and a couple of outer lettuce leaves, which is what they are playing with down below.

My reward

Frozen chickens

2010-01-06T08:03:00.000-08:00

Well, not quite, thankfully. Whatever you think about battery hens, breeds such as Warrens are hardy, which is good considering the weather we are having. They have been confined to quarters due to the bad weather: hubby disconnected their run as it was full of snow, so they would have had trouble walking to the end of it to
drink their water.

We've had eight or nine inches of snow fall here since yesterday evening. The cold weather we've had since before Christmas means hubby has had to thaw out the chickens drinking water every morning for some while now and in fact he has started to bring it in at night to save time in the morning, although they need fresh water every other day anyway. The chickens now have straw on the ground, which hopefully gives them a degree of warmth. I've used wooden seed trays to give them some protection from the weather and especially to protect their drinking and feeding areas.

Btw, here's a glimpse of Betsy, who has not yet completed her moult. (click on the photo for a better view.) She hasn't grown her flight feathers back yet so her wings look rather small when she stretches them. The purple patches are where she was a bit raw before Christmas, so we sprayed on some gentian violet in case she was being pecked or was pecking herself. She laid a few eggs for us before Christmas, but has gone off lay again. Apparently it is quite usual for hens to stop laying for a couple of months while they moult. She seems OK otherwise as far as we can tell. Robin and Amber are both laying daily at present.

I have been a bit remiss feeding the birds lately, although they have been able to access the seeds, berries and insects in our garden while we have remained snow free and the frost thawed out during the day.

However, I have corrected that today by hanging up a few fat balls and putting a good helping of bird seed on the bird table this afternoon, although I slipped and fell on my way back down the garden, which proves you have to be careful even on the shortest journeys. Luckily the snow provided a soft landing and no damage was done.

The vegetable garden is covered, of course.

The apple tree had a lot of snow on it, which could damage the branches, so I cleared most of that off while I was out in the garden.

Last but not least, may I wish you a healthy and happy year in 2010 as well as a green and generous one.

Moulting has begun

2009-12-15T06:00:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update as I am up to my neck in writing Christmas cards, trying to make the house presentable for visitors tomorrow and making sure I'm ready for work in a couple of hours.

Last week we started to notice that Betsy the blonde was looking a bit shabby and pale as if she'd overdone the peroxide. We also started to notice a lot of feathers in the run as if a fox had made the chooks run around in a panic. Eventually we worked out that Betsy is moulting, which also explains why she seems to have gone off lay.

We think Robin has also started to moult, although she is still laying her distinctive small, speckled egg each day so far.

If I have the time and the sun shines this weekend I shall try to take a photo or two to post up here.

Some serious dustbathing

2009-10-29T09:10:00.000-07:00

. . . and a while longer

2009-10-06T06:07:00.000-07:00

Life continues fairly hectic at the moment, what with work and worries about my mother-in-law. However, we hope things will settle down where she is concerned, for the time being, at least. I continue to hope for 'normality' and the chance to settle into something of a regular routine.

Needless to say, I've not done much in the garden lately, but the tomatoes I raised from seed earlier in the year and planted on the front doorstep are still doing well. It is a sunny spot and I planted them in a larger than usual grow bag, with collars to provide extra compost and moisture.

Hubby and I managed to see Joan Baez in Brighton last night, which was a wonderful and uplifting experience. There was something of a hill-billy sound to many of the songs, with fiddles and banjos being played by her band and some wonderful old-time acapella singing, too.

It's been a while

2009-09-09T10:33:00.000-07:00

Someone asked if I was OK as I haven't been blogging lately and I notice a few people are still checking to see if I've had anything to say. Well, in case you are wondering, let me assure you that I'm fine. Life is good and I've been quite busy, that's all. I am meaning to tell you about some of what I've been up to and write a bit about our garden and chickens soon. I will try to write a little more in the next week, but we have invited quite a few people to a party in just over a week, so there is a lot to do.

Beans and peas

2009-06-23T13:57:00.000-07:00

As I was saying, things are growing quite well in the garden at the moment.

The broad beans are nearly over now, with just a few pods left to pick. They were a bit disappointing as we've only had one decent meal from them. Partly the rows are shorter than last year because this year's bed is smaller, but also there were a few gaps in the rows and I didn't plant any spares. The pods weren't all full, either, which may mean their weren't enough bees about to pollinate all the flowers earlier in the year.

Hubby's runner beans got off to a slow start, but now seem to be doing nicely.

His peas are looking good, too, although the second row isn't coming along too well, possibly because they are shaded by the first row, and now the ash is in full leaf it is shading that bed quite a lot.
I've also planted two different varieties of French bean, which haven't been in long, but look OK so far.

Who set the hens off?

2009-06-22T03:54:00.000-07:00

I happened to have the camera handy when the chickens started this noise the other day. I guess something startled them, but I'm not entirely sure. Whatever the reason, it struck me as rather amusing.

I'll have to remember not to say anything when making videos in future.

The last of my Spring cabbages

2009-06-21T10:50:00.000-07:00

Things are growing quite well in the garden at the moment. I just harvested the last of my pointed cabbages, which had been attacked a bit by a couple of slugs and some tiny green maggoty things. However, this was the worst one, most of the others only showed slug and snail damage on the outer leaves, which we don't eat.

I had covered them over with a small fleece tunnel, which successfully kept the pigeons and caterpillars off.

Also copper rings kept the slugs and snails off until the plants got bigger and the leaves flopped over the rings.

Chickens sharing

2009-05-31T13:12:00.000-07:00

Chickens love to share . . .

. . . what other chickens have.

If you have four minutes to spare, sit back and enjoy the relaxing sight and sound of chickens enjoying some cabbage leaves. If you listen carefully you will hear some birdsong in the background, too. The voices are mainly from the neighbours, except the obvious absent-minded outburst.

Flowers for bees and other insects

2009-05-29T14:02:00.000-07:00

A little while ago I promised to add some pictures of flowers that attract bees and butterflies etc, but I never found the time. However, I have now taken some photos and I now have the time to post them. Click on a photo if you want a closer look.

This prostrate rosemary is in flower very early in the Spring, and possibly even in February, and it continues flowering into the Summer.

Columbines (Aquilegia) are an old cottage garden favourite and grow where many flowers would not. They don't need it too wet and don't mind some shade.

This bee was clearly enjoying the thrift.

Thyme is also popular with bees and butterflies

as are the flowers on chives.

These little rock roses also attract nectar-loving insects.

Lettuce

2009-05-19T13:33:00.000-07:00

One home-grown crop I've been enjoying for several weeks is lettuce, although I did buy the initial 8 Little Gem plants as seedlings.

In fact, this photo taken at the end of April shows just one lettuce missing. There is only one left in that tub now, although I have planted four more Little Gem type seedlings I raised myself. The copper-felt mat underneath does seem to deter slugs and snails so long as I don't let the grass get too long, or the lettuce leaves don't hang down. I'm also trying rooibos tea leaves as an added deterrent.

All these have now gone, too, and have been replaced by Romana type seedlings, which I also grew myself. Thankfully it was only the outer leaves that had holes in, and the chickens didn't care, they loved those, while we ate the nice bits inside. However, it does mean I need a copper mat or something to stop the slugs and snails climbing up as the wool alone doesn 't stop them, especially once the lettuces cover it over.

I'm currently working my way through these butter-head lettuces, which have got quite big now, so just the thinnings provide a lot of lettuce. I'm leaving a few to heart up, hopefully.

My First Strawberry

2009-05-18T06:05:00.000-07:00

This morning I ate my first strawberry for breakfast. It is the first of the strawberries we are growing this year and one of the Honeoye strawberries I am growing under my blueberries. It is also the first strawberry I have ever grown. It tasted delicious; sweet but also distinctly strawberry flavoured.

Unfortunately I didn't think to take a photo before eating it, but here is how the strawberries were looking a couple of weeks ago.

If you are interested I have posted about the Hampshire Green Fair here, on my Green and Generous blog, as it's not got a lot to do with gardening.

Fox 'attack'

2009-05-12T13:51:00.000-07:00

I was eating breakfast this morning when I saw a fox come through the hedge and go straight to the hen coop. The chickens were safe inside, but they ran around frantically flapping, feathers flying everywhere. Of course I ran out shouting at the fox, and it looked for an exit, couldn't find one and jumped over the netting fence around the coop and up the garden. Our chickens remained nervous for some while afterwards.

We now realise this must have been what happened last Wednesday. No one had checked on the chooks all day, and when I went to have a look at them in the evening there were a lot of feathers in one corner and others scattered inside the run. I thought some feather pecking or other aggressive behaviour had taken place, which did seem out of character, but we thought they must have been bored or hungry. Now it is clear that Mr Fox (or his mate) must have shown an interest in them and put them in a blind panic.

This evening I saw the fox again, coming down the top of the garden, so I went out to scare him away.

We're wondering if we might need to invest in some electric fencing as that is meant to keep foxes out very well, although if he's around the edge of that the chickens might still panic.

A busy weekend

2009-05-10T13:15:00.000-07:00

Hubby and I went to the Hampshire Green Fair this afternoon and we had a good time. I'll write more about it in a day or two, with any luck, and will answer any outstanding questions at the same time. Yesterday I was working and then it was our daughter's birthday party so I whizzed round doing last minute cleaning and finishing her cake and then hubby and I went out to dinner, which was a nice change. We were home before ten, but there was no chance of sleeping until after midnight, when the last of our daughter's guests went home.

We therefore had a late start to the day, but I popped a few lettuce seedlings in the planters I'm using to grow lettuce, and added some nasturtiums to the planter with tomatoes, as well as doing a couple of loads of washing to take advantage of the sunshine. We had to stay home until one o'clock as we needed to take daughter and niece to the station, as daughter was accompanying her younger cousin across London and onto her train home.

The 'rockery'

2009-05-05T08:25:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if it's actually a rockery, but as it is on a slope and has rocks in it, that's what we call it. It had got very overgrown and looked rather sad, so last year hubby cleared out all the plants and weeded it. Then I weeded it a bit more and replanted it, adding lots of potting grit as alpines hate getting waterlogged.

Our efforts seem to have paid off and I'm rather pleased with how it's looking at the moment. It just needs a liberal sprinkling of alpine grit as a finishing touch to keep the weeds down and the moisture in.

Chickens can lay more than one egg in twenty four hours.

2009-04-28T04:56:00.000-07:00

According to wikipedia chickens cannot lay more than one egg in 24 hours. I'm sure it isn't good for them, especially as their life-span is closely related to the number of ovum they use up, so laying too many double-yolked eggs will shorten their life, or so I have been told by someone who ought to know.

I'm sure it is neither normal, nor desirable, but Robin has proved it is possible for a chicken to lay more than one egg in 24 hours. I noticed she was in the nest box last night, although hubby had collected 3 eggs in the morning. One of those eggs had a very thin shell, though, and it was cracked. The egg I collected about twenty past seven last night was smooth and pale, but the shell was thick enough.

This morning I collected two eggs from the nest box, presumably from Amber and Betsy. Later on I noticed Robin pop up into the nest box, but she came down again and nothing was there. This happened again. Then about quarter past twelve I realised I'd forgotten to replace the roosting bar after cleaning the floor of the chickens' sleeping quarters. When I went to do that I noticed Robin was missing and could hear her in the nest box again. At ten to one I found a smallish, pale and very warm egg in the next box. Unfortunately this one also had a cracked shell as it was so thin. Poor Robin, I hope she sorts herself out soon.

Update, 20th May 2009. We have been getting a very regular supply of three eggs a day from our three pullets for the last couple of weeks, so it seems this was just a teenage blip. To be honest Robin seemed to just start laying with no problems from the word go, so she was due a short spell of irregularity, I suppose.

Eggstaordinary problem?

2009-04-21T00:29:00.000-07:00

We were worried about Amber last night. She'd been fine up to six o'clock or so, and earlier she had been jumping up on top of the run and jumped up and pecked my finger trying to get some lettuce. After dinner I noticed she was just standing there looking like she was in a day dream. The other two were busily pecking and scratching, but she was just stood there looking subdued. Her undercarriage looked lower than the others' too. When we put her back in her run she decided to have a drink, again she was slower than the other two, but eventually she was drinking more quickly and ended up drinking more than her sisters. She managed to get up to bed OK, though.

I wasn't sure what I'd find when I let them down this morning, but Amber was as eager to tuck into her mash as the other two and looked absolutely fine. When I looked in the roosting area, however, I found not one, but two, soft shelled eggs amongst the droppings under where Amber had slept. Not surprisingly she didn't lay today. We just had two normal, large eggs from Robin and Betsy, which fit nicely in the egg compartment.

Chicken keeping course

2009-04-20T02:01:00.000-07:00

Saturday hubby and I set off bright and early for a one day chicken keeping course at Middle Farm in Firle, East Sussex.

It was a very informative and enjoyable course, which I would recommend to anyone thinking of keeping chickens, or who, like us, has only had chickens for a short while and still has lots to learn, assuming you can get to Middle Farm by 10am, that is.

After a cup of tea or coffee our tutors, Tania and Bonnie, started by giving us a brief history of the chicken and description of various breeds followed by being told about how to buy chickens, where to put them when you've bought them and how to make them comfortable and safe. Feeding, maintenance and the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of health problems were also covered. There was plenty of opportunity to ask questions throughout the day.

We were taken out to look at the various chickens kept at Middle Farm before our last indoor session before lunch. They have some lovely breeds, some of which are cute or funny, but fairly impractical, such as these guys, know as Polands. Some breeders tie their top knots up, others trim their 'fringes' because otherwise they can't see where they are going very well.

Lunch consisted of a filled baguette with salad and a cup of tea, which was very nice. There was time to wander around for a bit before the afternoon session began. This included a brief lesson in how to 'despatch' a bird, although none of us were interested in keeping chickens for the table and we would probably all take our terminally ill birds to the vet when that became necessary.

It wasn't long before we went outside and were asked to inspect a chicken's feet and 'vent', which is the technical name for a chicken's behind. Their feet have a soft pad underneath, which can be cut and infected. Mites and other parasites are likely to congregate around a chickens backside as it is nice and warm, so that's a good place to look if you want to check for an infestation. In fact this area is a mine of information about a chicken's health. Just above the vent is a special gland from which chickens of both sexes obtain oil with which to preen themselves. I now know what that little lumpy bit is at the back of the chickens I put in the oven!

We also had a demonstration of how to clip a chicken's beak and toe nails, although I hadn't realised this is always necessary and I'm still not entirely sure it is but we'll be keeping an eye on 'our girls' to see if the top of their beaks get
overly long or their toe nails start to curl like a Chinese Emperor's finger nails. Tania and Bonnie used these Light Sussex as their demonstration models, the poor old cock being used for the most undignified bits:

Then it was our turn to have a go, using the Partridge Pekins to practice on and their nails and beaks are very fine and soft. I got to pick up the rooster, who had lovely, long, silky feathers on his neck.

Having washed our hands after handling the birds, it was time for afternoon tea and a generous slice of cake.

This session also explained that a cock bird is not necessary to keep hens in lay, something which a surprising number of people don't know. The male is only needed to fertilise eggs for breeding, and if one is borrowed, the eggs laid for about a month after his visit will be fertilised.

We were told how we could go about selling our eggs if we wanted to, and we were also told how we could hatch new chicks if we were so inclined. This part of the course included a visit to the incubators to learn how they work and what features they might have. Then for the best bit. We each got to carry a little fluffy day (or two) old chick to be with all the new hatchlings under the warm lamp. The chick was stood on our hands and we had to cover it with our other hand to stop it hopping off, so it was impossible to take a photo at the same time. Here they all are together, though.

We had a really great time and came a way with significantly less gaps in our knowledge of the day to day aspects of keeping chickens.

If you happen to be near Firle, then there is a lot to see at Open Farm for families with children interested in livestock. Apart from about ten different breeds of chickens there were also ducks and geese and a peacock. There were lamas and sheep in a shed, at least two breeds of pigs and we could have seen the cows being milked about 4.00 pm.

There is also an excellent farm shop as well as a shop selling mead, cider and non-alcoholic drinks. Numerous plants were on sale including herbs, vegetable seedlings and border perrenials. We picked up a bag of Marriage's layers mash and some oyster grit from John Piles' animal feed shop, also at Middle Farm, and another person on the course bought a couple of black rock POL chickens from him.

Last, but not least is the King of the Barn, whose name I've forgotten

and the rooster reserve which offers a home to retired cocks and spares to replace those who die in service or are no longer up to the task.

How the garden is looking mid April

2009-04-16T12:59:00.000-07:00

I've not had much time to blog lately as my spare time, and a bit more, has been taken up with the garden. There is so much to do at this time of year.

Over the Easter holiday hubby did something he's wanted to do since we moved in almost. He built a pond in our garden, which is not an easy thing to do on a slope. He's still not sure how to finish the top off, but he has now put in a couple of plants, some pond weed and a solar-powered fountain.

A few months ago we both planted strawberries, which came mail order from Garden Organic. Hubby chose Hapil and planted them in a strawberry pot on the patio,

and I chose Honeoye, which I planted around my blueberries, an idea I got from the organic garden at Loseley Park. Mine arrived about a week later than hubby's. You may notice the brown plastic pieces of 'cat scat' around them, which are to deter whatever it was that was digging in this bed after I planted them. They do seem to have worked.

The broad beans are doing well, but it would have been better if I'd planted some spares in pots to fill in the gaps. Hubby has now planted some peas, which are look good so far.

I've decided to experiment with asparagus and have planted a couple of crowns. I've put in some cabbages, which I've covered with a mini fleece tunnel as the ones we planted last year were stripped by the pigeons and I've also planted some onions and carrots and am trying out a barrier against cabbage root fly.

I've also got some potatoes in plastic bags. The first two are growing fast and the third I just planted this week.

The garlic I planted early in February is looking good, especially the lot I put in patio bags.

Just over a week ago I sowed various seeds, which have now come up, and this week I sowed a few bell pepper seeds. More about them later, and about where I decide to plant the globe artichokes I started off earlier this year.

A Giant Egg

2009-04-13T14:09:00.000-07:00

The eggs our pullets lay are variable in size, but they are usually medium to large. Occasionally we get an extra large one, which doesn't fit in the egg holder in our fridge door very well. The other day we had one which was too big for an egg box. When we weighed it, it was about 120g or 4 ounces and 7.5 cm or 3 inches long. I took a photo of it next to an extra large egg. You may even be able to see that the shell was a bit wrinkly. It turned out it had a double yolk and it made lovely scrambled egg.

We did check and Amber, who laid it, seemed absolutely fine, but it was a bit worrying. She gave egg-laying a rest today, and who can blame her.

Chickens eating spinach video

2009-04-13T13:25:00.000-07:00

As it was sunny today I made another short video of our chickens, as requested by their fans. This one is about three and a half minutes long.

To begin with Amber is all alone because Betsy and Robin were too busy with their heads in the mash to notice me and it then took them a while to work out how to get out of their run and partake of the spinach.

If you listen carefully you will hear some gentle clucking and occasional peeping, but latterly there is a pigeon cooing and various other birds enjoying the sunshine.

Chickens out and about

2009-03-27T14:02:00.000-07:00

We got some more netting on Saturday, so the chickens could roam in a wider area.

Here are a few pictures.

Betsy the blonde, having a stroll and showing off her long nails. She is the oldest, but is currently the most petite.

Robin's beady eye. She's pretty sharp and likes to check that nothing untoward is going on. She usually inspects the roost area after we've cleaned it out.

Amber wasn't posing. She's too busy eating lettuce. She was more wary of us than the other two were, but she's started asserting herself more with her sister chickens.

Another one of Betsy, who was happy to pose, and seems very comfortable around us. She managed to fly over the netting and escape into the lower garden, but let me pick her up and put her back, with no resistance. She has got quite used to us now.

Robin's antics

2009-03-27T13:50:00.000-07:00

Robin enjoying the view from her roof.

Robin coming down from the roof in a bit of a flap. Watch out down below.

Do you think I could join the ballet?

Settling down to three eggs a day

2009-03-21T06:21:00.000-07:00

We may have had three eggs on Monday, the first two laid about an hour after we let the girls out, and the third laid a few hours later, but there were only two in the nest box on Tuesday. Wednesday morning hubby saw one on the ground, rather smashed, and there were only two in the nest box again.

However, on Thursday, there were three eggs in the nest box all at once, by ten past eight in the morning.

This pattern has continued for the past few days now.

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A month of chicken keeping

2009-03-16T13:34:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if I should say, it's only a month since our chickens arrived, or it's a whole month. Sometimes it seems like only yesterday, but they have very much become part of our lives. It would certainly seem like something was missing, if they suddenly disappeared: something that enriches our lives and brings us joy.

One month on we now have all three hens a laying. Today was in fact our first day with three eggs.

I haven't had time to blog today, and I'm a bit tired now. Suffice it to say we were fairly busy in the garden yesterday and I've had a few forays into the garden to plant the odd plant today and will write about how the garden is coming along later in the week.

For now I shall try to leave you with a short video clip of the chickens enjoying a tray of soil we gave them.

If that doesn't work, you can see it here

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Busy in the garden

2009-03-09T15:10:00.000-07:00

We haven't just been playing with chickens when we've been out in the garden the last few weeks.

This weekend hubby has been busy clearing my log pile for overwintering hedgehogs that had become more of a branch mountain.

He's been putting loads of branches through the chipper to make mulch.

I planted some potatoes in bags as we are short of space in the veg garden. I planted them with the side with the most shoots uppermost. They are a 'second early' variety called Cosmos. 'Early' and 'second-early' potatoes are ready more quickly than main crop potatoes, but as a result they have smaller potatoes. However, being ready before the main crop potatoes, they are more expensive in the shops, and so are more worthwhile to grow yourself. They are also very tasty fresh out of the ground.

They've been sitting in egg boxes on our windowsill to chit since mid-January.

I also put in a couple of pink primroses after moving a few more primroses from that bed into the one on the other side of the path. In order to make way for them I dug out some Lungwort (Pulmonaria), also known as Soldiers and Sailors, as it tends to take over in damp shady areas.

I think the pink and yellow primroses together look better with this Lenten Rose than all yellow ones.

My broad beans and garlic are up and there was lots of sunshine on Saturday for taking photos.

As the weather had warmed up last weekend, hubby cleared compost from the bin I'd found a frog in a few weeks ago and put down some paving stones as a base for our new wooden compost bin, which he then erected on top of them.

Ranging Free

2009-03-08T09:49:00.000-07:00

Our first attempt to let the chickens out would have been quite comic to any observers. Hubby had been told they're easy to catch and he had also been told he should clip their wings, so the first weekend he decided we should let them out one at a time and clip their wings. Well, we soon learnt that they are not easy to catch if they don't want to be caught, and we were still pretty much strangers to them. The second problem came after hubby had caught Betsy, but we couldn't agree on which part of her wing to clip. I wasn't sure it was the bit he said, so I thought it best not to do anything. Besides, clipping her wing the first time we picked her up didn't strike me as the best way to reassure her we meant her no harm. So, to date, our chickens have unclipped wings.

Last weekend we let them out again, and hubby had been assured that chickens will just follow you around. Whoever said that doesn't know our chickens. They ranged wide and started to get a bit to close to the garden gate, so we herded them back into their ark with washing up bowls - we have several year's worth of old ones in the garden as they come in useful for all sorts of things.

So this weekend we decided to take control and bought some plastic mesh and poles to fence them off where we wanted them to be. It also proved useful for herding them to the new position for their ark as we are moving it once a week at present.

Betsy and Robin

Betsy and Amber

Amber the acrobat

Three chickens sharing a dust bath (no chickens were harmed in the process)

'Let me just reach that bit in there . . .'

Two eggs a day

2009-03-08T09:29:00.000-07:00

Betsy has been laying her eggs by half past eight, but when I went to check before going to work on Friday she was still sat in the nest box, so I asked daughter to check at lunch time, which she did. In my afternoon tea break I found a message saying that she had found two eggs, but one was a bit broken.

When I got home there was the new egg, with a little hole in the shell, looking very much like someone had pecked it with a pointy beak.

Perhaps Betsy wondered what it was when she went up to lay, who knows. It was smaller than Betsy's eggs have been of late and had a darker brown shell. We're pretty sure Robin is the new layer and her ear lobes are darker than those of the other two, although I don't know if that is a guarantee that she will have darker eggs. I was surprised, as she still seems quite immature compared to the other two, but then I still have a lot to learn about chickens.

In further news about eggs, Betsy laid an larger than usual one last Monday, and when I ate it today we found out it had a double yolk. Her eggs usually weigh 2 ounces (or 50g for younger readers). The one with a double yolk weighed 3 ounces (75g).

The picture shows Betsy's large egg next to her normal eggs. Betsy is an extremely good layer so far, having laid every day except one since she started.

RIP Geoffrey Smith

2009-03-03T02:19:00.000-08:00

I was sad to hear of the death of Geoffrey Smith at the weekend. I remember watching him on TV as a teenager, and my mum laughing at the way he would take a handful of well rotted compost and speak about it as if he was about to eat it. He was certainly a 'down to earth' gardener, but he was also clearly enthusiastic about gardening in a way that was infectious.

He has been quoted as saying, "some people go to the whisky bottle, I go into the garden", which strikes me as a very sound philosophy.

Gardening is great therapy and is used to help people overcome depression, but it is also a wonderfully creative and productive way to get rid of the day's stress and unwind reflectively after a busy week. Of course, if you're not used to gardening or any physical activity, it's best to take it easy so you don't end up with any injuries, and for the same reason you do need to exercise care and common sense with sharp instruments such as garden forks and shears as well as when tackling brambles and other plants with prickles and thorns.

Overall, though, the world would be a much better place if everyone spent an hour or two a day in the garden. Is it time the government introduced a compulsory gardening break on top of the lunch break? Would employees be more productive as well as more harmonious as a result?

Betsy's half dozen

2009-02-27T11:04:00.000-08:00

Betsy has actually laid eight eggs since Thursday last week, but we ate two at the weekend. In the meantime we've been trying to use up the eggs we'd bought, not expecting her to start laying so soon.

Here are the half dozen we haven't eaten yet.

New shoots in the garden

2009-02-25T08:33:00.000-08:00

Last week the crocus were starting to come out.

We've also got some small cyclamens in flower here and there.

Today I noticed that my broad beans are finally sprouting. I was beginning to worry that they hadn't liked the cold weather that arrived a day or so after I planted them at the end of December. No photo as yet, but as soon as they're up a bit more and the sun shines I'll take one.

How battery hen farming could become a thing of the past

2009-02-24T05:28:00.000-08:00

Someone else is wishing we could eradicate battery farming altogether and is wondering about a campaign.

I had thought this blog would be a genteel, non-political affair, but even chickens can arouse a passionate desire for justice and compassion. There's more on commercial chicken farming on the Compassion in World Farming website.

Recently I'm questioning the wisdom of strident campaigns with negative messages, although sometimes it does seem like the only way to get a message across. I'd prefer a gentle, positive campaign, if it would work.

As consumers I think we need to remember two things.

Firstly we have a responsibility to be informed about things like the conditions people work in, the pay they receive and the way animals are treated to bring us the bargains and 'good value' we seek.

Secondly we have the power to bring about a change by buying products that are good value for everyone involved and have not caused poverty or suffering in their production.

After all if no one buys eggs from battery hens farmers will stop using that method of producing eggs.

On the other hand, farmers will only switch to keeping free-range hens if they can be sure there is a market for it as extra costs are involved, not to mention the initial outlay a change in farming methods will need.

If I can add a third thing, let's not forget the power we have to influence our friends by spreading the word in a positive, non-preachy fashion. (Hope I'm not sounding too preachy myself.)

Compassion in World Farming have a few more ideas.

The RSPCA website displays a list of products made with free range eggs.

When we first moved here, some miles from the Tesco supermarket we had been able to walk to, I made a monthly trip there to do a big shop. Now I avoid the place like the plague as I've heard so many bad things about the way they do business and their record on animal welfare. Of course, I realise not everyone can do this if they want to. Life is never that simple, but even if you have few shops to choose from and a limited budget there are still choices you can make for the better.

However, if you want to be sure your eggs come from happy hens you might need to keep your own, as this article suggests.

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A very good reason for buying free range eggs and chickens

2009-02-23T12:20:00.000-08:00

The Garden Small Holders have just rescued another batch of ex-battery hens, which is very good of them. The picture of these abused creatures is quite horrific. This is what a year or so of being kept in an egg-producing battery farm does to chickens, yet very often, proper living conditions and a good diet can allow these birds to grow their feathers back and lead a fairly decent life. To my mind it is criminal that the birds are allowed to be treated this way in the first place. If you treated your pet cat or dog, and probably your budgie, like this you would be prosecuted, so why is it legal to treat chickens so cruelly?

However, I'm not sure I would be willing to take on the extra stress that nursing these poor birds back to health involves. Looking after our healthy birds is quite a steep enough learning curve at the moment. I would imagine that after such an awful life their immune system must be weakened and the birds are more likely to be prone to disease, which is what seems to have been the case for these birds. It certainly doesn't strike me as the best way to start out keeping hens, but perhaps it would be a bit easier for an experienced poultry keeper who has some idea what is normal for healthy chickens.

This highlights for me the importance of Hugh Fearnley-Wittenstall's Chicken Out Campaign and the need to bring an end to battery hens and chickens raised in over-crowded and unnatural conditions. The campaign is now concentrating on the way chickens are bred for the table as so many supermarkets have said they will only stock free-range eggs, so one wonders why so many battery hens are still being kept and what happens to their eggs.

I've been buying free-range eggs and chickens for years, but it occured to me (indeed I believe I read it somewhere) that many products containing egg will contain eggs from battery hens if it is not stated that the eggs are free range, so perhaps we need to keep an eye out for that, too. It does make shopping a bit more complicated, but it's something we can do to reduce the number of hens who have to be tortured because we who live in a country where obesity is becoming a serious problem have been willing to let them suffer so we can have cheap food.

A Fox and A Fourth Egg

2009-02-23T09:34:00.000-08:00

When I looked out the window this morning I saw a large, old fox at the top of the garden, possibly lingering to eat some bird food on the ground, but I wasn't very happy to see him/her there and chased him away before letting the girls out of their roosting quarters. I kept a look out for some while, but didn't see him again.

Betsy was unperturbed and laid another egg today, her fourth, about half past nine.

Egg number three

2009-02-22T13:54:00.000-08:00

Betsy laid another egg today, her third so far. We noticed her go upstairs this morning and once she had come down there was an egg in the nest box.

The other two also went upstairs for quite a while and Amber was definitely in the nest box, but not surprisingly there were no more eggs, although Amber's comb is beginning to grow, but only one tuft or notch or whatever it's called, so far. We did start to wonder if they were unwell, but they were fine after lunch. Perhaps it's all part of getting ready for egg laying. When you haven't kept chickens before it's hard to know what is normal behaviour and what isn't.

A second egg and a change of scene

2009-02-21T07:01:00.000-08:00

This morning I found a second egg, which had been laid in the roosting area, so perhaps the fan was drawn across the nest box a bit too early last night. We were told to do this each evening for the first month so the birds don't get into the habit of roosting in there and making it mucky. This helps to keep the eggs clean.

As you can see from the picture, the second egg was bigger than the first, but not quite as big as the medium egg, which we bought.

The small egg got a bit lost in the egg cup. I guess that's what they call a pullet's egg.

They both tasted very nice, but the yolks seemed a bit orange, which may be due to the dyes in the feed, which I'm not entirely happy about. We shall make sure we buy organic feed next time, not least because I have been buying organic free range eggs for some time now as I think that is best for the chickens and the environment.

Later on we moved the ark and run onto the grass, which they obviously enjoy eating.

Our first egg

2009-02-19T13:21:00.000-08:00

It's typical, isn't it? I went to see my parents today, which mostly involved driving on quiet country roads, so the journey there and back was nice and relaxing.

About half past one our daughter phoned me up to say, 'what do I do with an egg?' Now she isn't stupid, and she can cook an egg in several different ways, so I began to twig that this wasn't any old egg she was talking about. Apparently she had seen Betsy go upstairs to the nesting area, so thought she would take a look and lo and behold, Betsy has produced an egg just three days after arriving! Our first egg and I wasn't there to see it, although it was still waiting for me when I got home and daughter took some lovely photos. We'll wait for another one or two before we eat it.

It's not a very big egg, but it is an egg, and I think she can be excused if her first egg is too small to be classed as 'medium'. After all, in human terms she must still be a teenager.

Perhaps it was the lettuce I gave them before I left this morning. I'm pretty sure Betsy ate most of it. I tried to put out three lots of lettuce, so they could have an equal share, but Betsy had almost finished the first bit before I fiddled about putting the second bit through the wire, and the same happened with most of the pieces, although I think the other two got a bit of a look in eventually. If they like cabbage, they love lettuce.

Introducing 'the girls'

2009-02-19T01:00:00.000-08:00

If you aren't interested in chickens you might like to come back next week, when the novelty may have worn off, at least a bit.

I thought it was time to introduce our young ladies. They are three ordinary little brown hybrid chickens, although one is much darker than the other two. They are meant to be docile, hardy and good layers, so good birds for beginners like us.

This is the darker, reddish one. Our daughter decided she should be called Robin. You can see one of the others behind her with much lighter, gingery feathers. She seems the quieter, most timid one so far.

We have decided to call this one Betsy. She seems to be the pushy one. If she wants it she'll get it and the other two get out of her way.

Currently she has more of a comb than the other two, which suggests she is a bit more mature. I don't think her comb is as red as it could be, though, and it might still need to grow a bit more. Apart from that temporary physical difference she is hard to tell apart from Amber just to look at. However my daughter has spotted that Amber is darker on the back of the head and neck.

Here is Amber if you want to compare her. Amber seems to be the most inquisitive and was first to have a nose around upstairs when they first arrived.

Wire netting isn't the best window, but if you click on the pictures to enlarge them you can see a bit better.

We were told that our chickens were about 18 to 20 weeks old when they arrived. They are what is called 'point of lay' birds as they should start laying in a few weeks. As only one has a comb so far we expect she will be the first to lay, but don't know how long we'll have to wait. However, we certainly hope to have our own eggs by Easter. Young hens are called pullets, presumably from the French 'poulette', or 'little female chicken'.

When they first arrived they kept together in a huddle and stayed away from us. Now if they see us coming they come towards us to see what we've got for them, which isn't anything half the time, but they are obviously optimists.

They flinch every time a bird flies overhead, even if it is only a blackbird or pigeon. On the other hand, a chaffinch who thought to land on top of their run took one look at the size of them and thought better of it, doing an about turn onto the rockery.

Chickens on day two

2009-02-17T04:37:00.000-08:00

Apparently chickens aren't always sure where to find the bedroom in a new home, but our girls took themselves off to bed about twenty past five last night, except for the darker one. She lingered a while and I thought she wasn't going to bother, then she flew up onto the ladder and disappeared into the loft, where the roost is. I pulled up the ramp and secured the rope to keep any marauding foxes out.

When hubby opened it up this morning, this area was a lot grubbier than it looks in the photo, taken when it was in pristine condition.

He was keen to see to them this morning as he had come home after they went to bed last night. He decided to put some bark mulch down in the run to make it easier to clear away their droppings, which are dropped on a fairly regular basis. The bark will also make foraging more interesting for them, while still allowing them access to grass, plantain and other weeds growing in the cracks between the paving stones.

In the information we were given by Forsham Cottage Arks it says that chickens should not be given access to mown grass because they will probably gobble it up and over fill their crops, causing them a lot of problems, which could include death. So, it is better for chickens to have to peck at the grass and only take in small amounts.

Food seems to be high on the list of a chicken's interests, so Forsham suggests keeping them busy eating most of the time, by supplying layers mash rather than pellets. It has the same ingredients as pellets, but takes longer for them to eat as it is much more powdery and less compact, thus taking more beakfuls to consume the same quantity. Bored birds can develop all sorts of nasty habits, such as pecking each other and doing serious damage in some cases, so we don't want our girls to get bored, or too stressed, either.

Having read books, blogs and a discussion forum to gain tips on looking after our chickens, I find Forsham's advice contradicts what I've read elsewhere. They don't think there is a real need to give chickens mixed corn, although it can be helpful to get the chickens home, if you've allowed them to roam during the day. They certainly shouldn't have too much of it.

It seems layers mash or pellets should make up 95% of our chickens daily food intake. Kitchen scraps are not a good idea, even if the chickens love it, as they are unlikely to be of a high nutritional value. The lady in the Forsham office I spoke to said it was like giving them chocolate bars. I presume this doesn't apply to raw lettuce and cabbage leaves, although too many greens could give them the runs, I suppose. Too many treats can leave chickens less healthy and less likely to lay well.

I was also surprised to read in the info from Forsham that oyster shells aren't necessary either, as there should be sufficient calcium in the mash. As egg shells are made from calcium hens need plenty of calcium to ensure their eggs have good shells, although they can sometimes pass a shell-less egg, especially when they are immature, and that doesn't indicate a lack of calcium.

The other thing chickens need to consume is plenty of grit as they don't have any teeth. As you can see from the picture, the grit is quite chunky, too. This helps them to grind the food down to aid digestion.

So we shall stick to the feeding regime Forsham Cottage Arks suggest and see how we get on.

I think I could sit and watch the chickens for hours, at least, I could if we had warmer weather. They are fascinating to watch, and so much about their behaviour we still need to understand such as why does the darker bird appear to be on her own more, while the lighter pair seem to follow each other around? Are the latter more competitive or pushy, or more friendly towards each other? Why were the lighter two opening their mouths wide yet making no noise, earlier?

One funny aspect of their behaviour is the way they rush for a few steps and then slow down as if they suddenly think, why was I rushing? I'm sure there's no need really. I also find it soothing when they are clucking gently to themselves.

Chickens at last

2009-02-16T06:21:00.000-08:00

I've been saying we're getting chickens for a while now, but today they have arrived.

A man in a van from Forsham Cottage Arks drew into our drive just after half past twelve and produced a crate of chickens and

various pieces of wood and wire with which to make an ark and run for the chickens. He then proceeded to put it all together and in next to no time it was all ready for the hens to move in to.

Last but not least he produced all the containers we would need to feed and water our hens and bags of food, grit and wood shavings. He was gone before two o'clock.

The girls have started to explore their new home

and quickly worked out where they can find food and drink.

A sunny day in the garden

2009-02-14T09:31:00.000-08:00

We had a lot of warm, sunny intervals today and spent much of the day in the garden. I was quite warm planting garlic just before lunch and nearly took my coat off.

The birds have been singing their little hearts out today in contrast to their silence when it snowed. It was lovely to hear them.

It's a bit late to be planting garlic, but I didn't have the energy to plant anything last Autumn, and hubby kindly bought me some Spring planting garlic. I've read that they really need some frost if they are to do well, and when I planted them, perhaps a bit later in February last year, they didn't seem to do anything until the Autumn. However, you are meant to be able to plant garlic in February if it is the right kind and we do have cold weather forecast for the next two or three weeks, although it might be warming up over the next few days.

I also planted a few heather plants my parents gave me for my birthday back in January as the weather and soil haven't really been suitable until now. As our soil isn't particularly acid I chose Erica Carnea, which flowers in Winter when not much else does, and tolerates a higher PH (less acid) than most heathers.

Hubby did a lot of general clearing up and our son moved my bird table higher up the garden away from the area where we want the chickens to go to begin with. We have been told they should be delivered on Monday.

Last Sunday we put our new wooden compost bin together. We just had to slot all the planks in place. Eventually we want it to go where the black bin is now (see photo), but when I thought about moving it I found a frog hibernating inside, so I put him back and covered him with the clods of earth I had removed and put the bin back on top. I hope he didn't come to any harm. I wasn't expecting to find him in there, but then nor was I expecting to find clods of earth in a compost bin. Apparently hubby is trying to kill off bindweed, but it didn't look very dead.

Remember to feed your friends, the birds.

2009-02-09T12:04:00.000-08:00

Birds are a gardener's friend. Just watching them can be a great source of entertainment and pleasure, but many of them eat the pests in the garden, so it is a good idea to feed them at this time of year when they need a lot of food to keep warm and that food can be scarce.

We have a particularly aggressive blackbird at the moment who chases away all competitors for food, his own size or smaller. However, it isn't just the male who is being so possessive, a female blackbird, presumably his mate, is also chasing other female blackbirds away. The territorial turtle dove of two weeks ago seems to have calmed down now as I spotted two pairs feeding in our garden at the same time this morning. I managed to get photos of a turtle dove in the snow with a wood pigeon in the tree behind and also a blackbird feeding on our bird table. Click to enlarge the photos.

I have sometimes seen a thrush in our garden recently, but he seems to be a rare visitor, which is a shame as thrushes are partial to a juicy snail, smashing the shell on a stone in order to get to the soft part.

We've also had chaffinches and greenfinches visit our garden, especially during this recent cold patch. Wrens can also sometimes be seen daintily inspecting the undergrowth for anything edible.

With the cold weather we have had blue tits, great tits and long-tailed tits coming to eat the food we've put out, but except when the magnolia tree was covered with snow, they clearly also enjoy greenfly and other such delights as they can find on it. Pictured are a great tit and a pair of long-tailed tits feeding on fat balls.

The robin is a regular in our garden, which is a good thing because he will eat slugs and all manner of grubs whenever he gets the chance. (Look for a hint of red in this picture.)
We will have to watch out for the pigeons, though as they can be quite a nuisance in the veg patch.

One bird that doesn't visit often, probably because we have no pond stocked with fish for it to eat, is the heron, who rested on the top of some trees at the top of the garden earlier last week.

If you have some birds in your garden you would like to identify the RSPB have a 'bird identifier' to help you out. They even have the bird calls to listen to, which has made me realise that the commotion I sometimes hear in the woods at night must be the Tawny, or aptly named 'Screech', Owl.

Birds are Nature's own pesticides, but it's not just feeding them in Winter that keeps them healthy and abundant. If you want the birds to help you keep the harmful bugs and grubs down in your garden you need to make your garden wildlife-friendly and, most important, cut out the chemicals that are poisoning the birds and the things they feed on. There are environmentally-friendly, organic alternatives available.

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Provisional Delivery Date

2009-02-05T07:57:00.000-08:00

We had to say no to our chickens being delivered yesterday as there is still a lot of snow lying on the ground where we plan to put them, and to be honest we were expecting more than a day's notice.

However, all being well they should be delivered on the 16th or 17th of this month.

So we hope it really will be sunny on Saturday so we can do the necessary work to get everything ready for our chicks.

We also hope our new boiler will be installed and nothing stops that from happening as a week without hot water and central heating will have been quite long enough.

Hence I'm not using the pc much as it's upstairs away from the fire.

Bye for now. I'm back down to the warm.

Snow in our garden

2009-02-02T02:36:00.000-08:00

Today our garden is very white. About a foot of snow has fallen overnight.

There are hardly any cars in the road.

The birds are hungry. I did venture out to put extra bird food down, although I forgot to thaw the water. Otherwise I stayed indoors and baked bread, cooked jackets potatoes for lunch and warming red cabbage for dinner.

Ironically today is Candlemas, the Christianised version of the pagan festival Imolc, which mark the return of light and warmth to the land - or perhaps the hope that they will. Candlemas is a fixed date, but the date of Imolc is decided by movements in the sky. This year it will be on the 4th February. Brigid or Bride is associated with the day as is her Christian counterpart St Brigid in some parts.

Sowing broad beans

2009-01-08T08:52:00.000-08:00

I love broad beans, but haven't met many people who do. I think this could be because most people have only come across rather dry and floury broad beans, which they bought in a shop. It may make commercial sense to pick your broad beans when they are bigger so you can make more money when you sell them, but it does nothing for the taste and texture. If you want beautiful, tender and succulent broad beans you have to grow them yourself.

Broad beans can be planted from November to May. If you plant them in the Autumn it is best to plant them when the soil is still warm. In milder regions this is the best time to plant in order to avoid black fly infestations, which can damage crops and looks unsightly. If the plants start to come through during very cold, frosty weather you might need to cover them with a cloche, but don't leave it on when the weather warms up or the plants will not become hardy and will also be more susceptible to black fly.

If you sow the seeds between November and January you need to use seed suitable for that time of year such as Aqua Dulce. 'The Sutton' is a dwarf variety suited to small gardens.

I prefer to sow my broad beans early in the season, but wasn't able to do so this November. In fact it was the 27th December before I was able to. This coincided with the new moon, which the ancients and even farmers a few centuries ago thought was a good time for planting and sowing. We shall see if this makes a difference.

The bed I'm using for legumes this year was used to grow root vegetables last year, so it had already been dug quite well. Hubby spread compost from one of our compost bins on it early in the Autumn, so I just raked it over, removing any major weeds I spotted and raking in the compost. I was then ready to make my first drill with my trowel.

I then put my bean seed in 2 inches deep and about 5 inches apart.

I used the trowel as a guide.

I repeated the process, making a second row and put some canes in at each end of the row. You'll notice both the canes on the right have bird feeders on top. One fell off shortly after and the second had been knocked off the next day, presumably by an over heavy bird trying to perch on it. Perhaps they should not have been left out in the Winter.

I then raked it all over and trod on the soil lightly to firm it.

Now I'm looking forward to juicy broad beans in June.

Towards the end of the process I noticed I had company.

More detailed info on broad beans can be found here.

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What to do in the garden in January.

2009-01-08T08:33:00.000-08:00

It may seem that there is not much to do in the garden at this time of year, but when the ground is not frozen it can be dug in preparation for the sowing and planting to come. Compost can still be spread on the soil to rot down and let the worms incorporate into the soil and it is also a good idea to spread leaf mould or dry fallen leaves onto beds that are prepared and waiting for Spring.

Now is also a good time to plan what you will grow throughout the year to come and how you will be rotating your crops.

The Garden Organic website explains how to make compost and also provides a useful reminder of all the things you can be doing in the garden each month. Members can access a guide to crop rotation, but the RHS guide crop rotation is available to everyone.

On mild days onion sets and garlic can be planted and broad bean and pea seed can be sown. I decided on Autumn planting onions, which I put in in September, and will wait till the Spring before planting any more. This was just as well as I was unwell for a couple of months after that. It turned out I was anaemic, but once the iron tablets started working I got back to normal fairly quickly. However, with all the Christmas preparations I only managed to sow my broad seed on 27^th December.

I didn't look for garlic soon enough and haven't been able to find any, so am now waiting for the Spring planting garlic to come in. I would like to plant it soon as I'm told it does better if it endures a cold spell to begin with. Last year I waited until February and it didn't do very well.

New residents expected soon.

2009-01-06T06:52:00.000-08:00

A new addition to our garden this year will be 3 brown Warren chickens, at least that is what we are expecting. Hubby ordered a Boughton starter kit complete with 3 point of lay pullets from Forsham Cottage Arks yesterday as they were part of a good offer. They are due to arrive with their housing and a man to set it all up, mid-February, which is a bit earlier than we had originally planned, but it is starting to feel quite exciting.

We hope the Boughton chicken coop really is fox-proof as Mr Fox, or was it his wife, was sniffing around our garden this morning and we know the Fox family often pay us a visit at night.

Warren chickens are a hybrid breed bred for the battery farming of chickens, also known as ISA Browns. They are a French breed of chicken, which is a cross between Rhode Island Red and Rhode Island White chickens. This means they are hardy and good egg layers. From what I can gather they probably lay brown eggs. It sounds like they could be a good breed of hen to start with, but I think I'd like to try something more interesting if our initial experiment proves successful. Our daughter had her eye on some Sussex hens, but we don't know what is available locally.

The photo is the best I could manage from the kitchen window. With reference to the photo below, the fox is just above the raspberries and blueberries.

A view of the garden

2009-01-05T09:43:00.000-08:00

This shows our garden with a dusting of snow this morning. It was taken standing on the patio. You can see this side of the 'rockery' and the steps from the patio in the front of the picture.

At the top of the picture, in front of the tall trees (Leylandii?) you should be able to make out a trellis, although the bench is in front of the trellis. Behind this trellis is our veg garden.

On the left hand side are the raspberries, and behind them my 2 blueberry plants.

Here are my blueberry plants the Autumn of the first year I had them.

Last January hubby constructed edging for three beds and paths in between. The bed in the foreground, with sticks to mark where I've planted this year's broad beans is the same size as the furthest bed where a few sprout plants still linger. The middle bed is longer and wider than these two.

This is not a picture postcard veg garden, but it provides room to grow vegetables and the soil is in fairly good condition. Since we had the ash tree pruned the plot gets plenty of sunshine on sunny days.

I have placed two slug pubs at either end of my rows of beans, although I am not planning to put beer in them until the weather is warmer. In the far corner you might be able to make out a black plastic compost bin. Making your own compost is very important if you want to grow organic veg. We are planning to buy a wooden compost bin as it should make better compost than a plastic bin.

This is how the veg garden looked in 2006.

The gardener's hopes and dreams

2009-01-03T09:13:00.000-08:00

I've been interested in gardening organically for a long time. Both my parents are gardeners. When I was growing up my dad grew a lot of the veg we ate and my mum looked after the flower beds. So naturally I hoped we'd grow a lot of our own veg once hubby and I were married, and we have grow some veg with varying success. However, already in my teens I began to develop an interest in what we humans were doing to the environment and started to wonder about the wisdom of throwing chemicals around the garden.

When we moved to this house, nearly 13 years ago, Geoff Hamilton was on the tv presenting a series called 'The Ornamental Kitchen Garden', which was about growing veg organically as well as growing veg amongst the flowers. However, at this stage hubby grew the veg, letting me take care of the flowers, and he didn't think they'd grow properly without a good dose of 'Growmore', a sprinkling of slug pellets and the use of an insecticide whenever he saw something that might threaten his crops. I didn't know much about gardening organically at this stage, I just knew that it meant we should stop using the chemicals he relied on. I had no idea what we could use instead. I'm still no expert either where gardening in general or gardening organically is concerned, but I know more now than I did then.

I think a garden should be a place that helps you feel happy and relaxed, so I try to keep the flower beds looking nice, but I also think that a happy, relaxing garden is one that works with nature, that looks fairly natural and is a garden where birds and other wildlife are at home.

For a long time now I've been itching to try to grow tasty, fresh veg for our table, so in the last few years I've been experimenting with growing a few things such as broad beans, garlic, tomatoes and Autumn planted onions.

I've also got a couple of blueberry bushes, which I'm very pleased with.

Last year we found the weather a bit of a challenge, although it did mean we didn't need to do much watering. So we are ready for another year of trying to grow veg organically and hoping the weather will be more favourable for gardeners and hoping we shall be more successful this year than last.

Here's a glimpse of Loseley organic kitchen garden, which I've found particularly inspiring not least because it is local, but I also happened to know the previous gardener who was very enthusiastic and informative about organic gardening.