Eggs and junior chicken wranglers

Cyclamen coum

Such great promise this weekend with lots and lots of jobs planned but Saturday just rained, rained and rained - so you get the feeling we were somewhat damp. Sunday was somewhat better so managed to get lots of tidying up done, did some major repotting of our three Actinidia deliciosa okay, kiwi fruit (I was just trying to be flash) and got some celeriac seeds sown. I do feel that we need a major weekends work at the allotment but if it's wet all you do is get covered in clay and come home again without having done anything apart from make a paddy field. You do look a bit trendy with clay leg weights stuck to your wellies I guess.

Loads of lovely eggs

We have had quite a few comments on which cockerel to get - Reginald seems to be an outright winner at the moment. We have had two days this week when all 4 girls laid, they really are getting the idea that spring is on the way. Tallulah, despite all our efforts is still laying such thin shelled eggs that one occasionally breaks in the nest as they all decide to lay in the same nestbox. Indeed the eggs are so fragile that sometimes they can get a dent in just by gently picking them up. All the other girls lay incredibly stout shelled eggs and in truth the diet has all the correct elements, they wade through mountains of oystershell and the amount of snails they eat with accompanying shells should be more than enough so I think its just Tallulah.

Chicken handler of the year

A few other updates which might be of interest. To the left is a photo of our godson Ferdie having a "chicken" experience out in the Philippines. The good thing about having adventuring parents and a mother who is a world renown marine biologist is that you get to visit some very funky places, you know most aquatic species by the age of 2 and your godfathers and grandparents make sure you know all the domestic ones.  Our god-daughter JJ manages to do all this and wear glitter as well - we are so very proud of both of them.

I know that Christmas has now gone and I must say that due to events it really does seem to have been a blur however I have for a few weeks been meaning to mention a wonderful gift we received from our lovely neighbours and occasional chicken sitters, Rob and Isobel. We got a chicken, but not a chicken in SE23 but a chicken bought for an abandoned disabled child in Thailand. The chicken is for a brand new project called Eden Farm which will bring in finance for the abandoned children and also teach them vocational skills. It's a fantastic project so why not log onto www.4lifethailand.org and click on the Current Fundraising section. You can help the project by purchasing a range of items as simple as seeds, to of course chickens and even pig huts and you know your money is going to help some very disadvantaged kids and giving them an opportunity of a better life.

That's about it for this week. As ever, any feedback is always welcome.