Weekend Chickens and the joys of a weather "app"

Forest Hill's noisiest chicken - Tallulah!

Sometimes I bloody dislike those chickens! Right I'm the first one not to have a lie-in but seriously, 7am on a Sunday morning and you are not going to be best popular with husband or neighbours when all the girls start screeching.

Not an alarm call, just that really annoying noisy clucking cum half strangled squawk that got me out of bed to both see what the matter was and stop the wretched din. And the problem causing this poultry furore? That would be Harriet using the nestbox that Tallulah wanted to be in. For goodness sake you would have thought that Tallulah could have at least used the nestbox next door but no, she stood there screeching at the top of her voice, Nigella joining in just because she could and Harriet answering them back. Letting them into the garden solved the problem however after all that din we only got one egg. 
As I said, bloody chickens.

By odd coincidence I took some video of the girls feeding off a corn cob stuck on a skewer and dangling from a wire. A bend in the skewer has been a new addition as it twirls the corn around and keeps the girls amused for considerably longer than previous. It's alway good to do at this time of year as corn is so cheap however I do realize it's not doing anything for the girls egg laying abilities and girths. Oddly looking back it was almost a year to the day since I last videoed them doing this very thing.

Chasing the corn

RainAlarm failed to tell me about this

Much can be said of the Great British summer, for I remember it well and sadly finished in June. The past week has been the normal cycle of rain, sunshine, heavy rain, glimpse of sun, very heavy rain, vague daylight, monsoon. 
In a moment of apparent or indeed abject stupidity I downloaded an app for the iPod called RainAlarm - what a wonderful waste of time.
Firstly due to the constantly inclement weather it doesn't stop pinging and telling me that there is precipitation 4.3km away, 4.2km, away, etc. Of course what it's not telling me is that I am soaked to the skin while cleaning the chickens out and it doesn't seem to realise that the heavens have actually opened up over me! Why no monsoon warning for SE23?

Still, we can but cherish the moments of sunshine and warmth and rejoice in the fact that at least all the slugs and snails that are reproducing rampantly in these moist climes are providing a veritable feast for the girls. Lets hope it provides the edible stimulus for laying more eggs!

Harriet - all she wanted to do was lay the egg.

Three years of chickens and Hens in the City

Goodness me - how time flies when you are having fun/keeping chickens.

It's now three years since Harriet arrived in our lives, closely followed by Ruby which means that its also three years since I started this blog - heavens, that's longer that a Katie Price marriage!

The one and only Ms Harriet Princess Ping Pong McEllis

In some ways it really doesn't seem that long ago since we got the chicken run shortly followed by the Silkies, Harriet and Lottie, the first occupants however they were followed the very next day by the Sussex bantams Ruby, Cybil and Margot. I recall with great trepidation the first time that we let them out into the garden.

A rare photo of Ruby NOT moulting

I have no idea why we ever thought we had to worry. After three years we have gone through the process of hatching and loss, arrivals and departures. The garden has developed into an area of plants that can generally withstand the girls once they are established though the lawn does need areas re-turfing each year. 


The girls do an excellent job at demolishing slugs and snails though this year they did wipe out the lettuce faster than the aforesaid molluscs! 


There is no doubt that the greatest joys of the chickens are the eggs. Glorious in taste, there is absolutely no comparison to shop bought eggs to the eggy joys the girls produce. Although they are bantams and therefor bantam eggs we have found that the yolks (as well as being the most amazingly bright orangey yellow)are larger that those of a normal sized egg which could well account for the fantastic flavour. It really doesn't take long to get the hang of working out recipes with bantam eggs instead of the normal "recipes are based on large eggs" scenario. I wonder if the slug and snail diet makes the eggs tastier?  

Tallulah - her of the saggy bum 

Nigella - beware dogs and actually everything!

Poor Lottie passed away at a fairly early age. Cybil and Margot departed for a new life in rural Bedfordshire due to the fact that noisy early morning bloody chickens in the city do not go down well with the neighbours (and no, rural Bedfordshire is not a synonym for "in the oven")


So onwards to the next two lovelies that arrived. One is a partridge colour Silkie (I think she's a partridge colour? Do correct me if I'm wrong)called Tallulah. To say she was shabby when she arrived is an understatement however she moulted out into a lovely bird. She does have something of a dropped undercarriage and all the old poultry keeping books suggest that she should be straight into the pot however she's a happy hen and not a bad layer though she does turn out some very thinly shelled eggs. And of course Nigella the Destroyer. A silver Sussex (as was Cybil whom we had to move on) Nigella is full of attitude. On the positive side she takes no nonsense from the dogs and will quite happily chase Max. Unfortunately Max thinks that Nigella is playing so he takes his ball over to her so she can throw it! I have to say that I do love the Sussex bantam as a breed.


So still very happy with our "girls" and we are forever indebted to our lovely neighbours who are always more than happy to chicken sit when we are away. It was also lovely to meet Alan and Sarah in the park the other day, more fellow chicken keepers in our road. Hopefully at some stage I might get to upload some pics of their girls.


Despite the oddness of the weather and blight attacking lots of people outdoor tomatoes we are doing good, harvesting lots of fruit and veg. Tomatoes and outdoor ridge cucumbers are doing well, just planted out kale, calvo nero and celeriac at the allotment for winter crops and also just had our first chilli of the year - yup it was a right hot little bugger even though it was still green. Courgettes haven't overwhelmed us yet - you can always tell when there are too many as its straight to the glut crop recipe pages! We also have some really good squash coming on for later in the year. Just trying to fit in a last crop of Florence fennel as the first lot got too hot and bolted but think I'm too late.


So three years just went that'er way. Thank you for reading and your comments and all of those of you who contact me via facebook about the chickens (and don't forget the read the latest Max and Millie

Ruby after being severely "app'd" by my hubbie

July ramblings

True to say that a week was going to be far to optimistic in doing a follow up blog however I think that in current times five weeks is not bad going for me.

Enjoying a French evening

Summer as described in the prior update has now fizzled out, the scorching temperatures of earlier months has now returned to the norm of grey, moist and humid days, the occasional glimpse of sunshine equated with torrential rains. Needless to say it plays havoc with your tomatoes if you are growing them outside.

At the end of June we went out to Limousin to visit my sister and her partner who have very happily settled into the French way of life. While we were in the lovely little town of Le Dorat it really was exceptionally hot but glorious, the downside being that for a couple of nights sleep eluded everybody due to the heat and a bloody black redstart that insisted on calling at 4am for about an hour! All of our adventures are in husband's excellent blog, just click on the Max and Millie link opposite.


What I wanted to mention was how lovely and completely unspoiled the entire area is, for me it recalled country lanes in the Cheshire of my youth and a pace of life that somehow I think I want to embrace. Needless to say its not a fast process however I do feel that we shall be spending more time in Limousin.

While we were there we did visit a very large country market which not only had the most amazing selection of goods from stunning pre 1970's nylon leisurewear to mattresses, tripe sausages (which we accidentally bought and manfully tried to devour but failed miserably) but lots of stuff for the garden from plants to mini-tractors and livestock. You literally could by anything from a horse to a hen.

On the practical side of it husband wasn't overly happy with the way ducks, geese and chickens were dealt with, crammed into cages then boxes, dignity and welfare out of the window. It's a farming community with little time for compassion, in real terms it looked worse than it was in reality. Once you left the utility area however there was a good selection of fancy poultry, silkies seemed very popular, and lots of other odd pets. If you wanted to buy a chocolate labrador well you were in luck along with a good selection of ferrets, budgies and indeed all manner of creatures that were not going to end up on the table.

All in all it was a very interesting and fun experience though despite my general happiness at eating most things apart from celery I very much doubt I will be having andouillette (tripe sausage) again.


Recipe with eggs as promised in last blog is as follows and not only is highly seasonal but of course uses eggs. My sister made this for us (the cherry version) and it was delicious (and apparently from the Limousin anyway)
Cherry (or in this case, plum) clafouti
Firstly bear in mind that this is a kind of sweet Yorkshire pudding and secondly make sure your baking dish is big enough as if the batter is too deep it gets stodgy in the middle (not a bad thing but the idea is summer and not stodge)
You need a 22cm dish in which you put 2 tsp vegetable oil and get it into a hot gas 7 oven
In a big bowl mix 75g plain flour and 50g caster sugar (or more if the plums aren't ripe) then whisk in 5 bantam eggs (or 4 normal sized ones I guess) along with 250ml milk (full or semi-skimmed).
Stone and chop 400g plums, small plums got chopped into quarters so take it from there. You do need them cooked after all.
Once the oiled dish has hit the required temp quickly mix plums into batter then whip dish out of oven, pour in plummy batter mix then get back into oven asap!
Cook for approx 30 minutes - don't peek!
After the prescribed time you will have a lovely golden puffed clafouti which will collapse within 5 minutes but no matter as it tastes better after waiting around for 10 minutes.
Dust with some icing sugar and serve with cold cream - delicious

Needless to say you can use cherries. It also tastes great cold



Nigella

 The chickens have of course been feeling the seasonal desire to go broody. Harriet as reported, did eventually finish her spell only to be followed by Tallulah who I managed to persuade to finish slightly early, Ruby who got finished off within two weeks so hopefully all have now had a broody attack which will see them over the summer. All have gone into a huge moult apart from Nigella so the garden looks as if it is suffering the remains of a major pillow fight. We did have a most odd week when there were no eggs at all. At one stage I thought that maybe the eggs were being taken but no, laying resumed this week. It's odd not having any eggs!

Small snippets of information. Winter always causes a problem with trying to provide the birds with some greenery or forage. I know that they will do well on just pellets with the occasional scattering of mixed corn but I do like to keep the girls as happy as possible. I have just been reading about feeding them nettles in the winter. I know on various poultry forums there is always debate on nettles, some people say their chickens eat fresh nettles others say that the chickens never touch them. I have been looking into using nettles as enrichment fodder for giraffes of all creatures. Once the nettles have dried the stinging mechanism in nettles is deactivated and giraffes LOVE the stuff. A little research has revealed that if you go and collect your nettles (without getting stung of course), dry them out and bundle them up they can be used to great effect with your chickens and if you have the room and place to keep the nettle bundles dry you could store some for the months when greenery is at a premium. I am going to trial some but not sure quite yet how I am going to make some extra space in the already packed shed in the garden.

Ruby

Allotment is doing okay - of course failed on erecting the polytunnel again this year but with what I think is going to be another disaster with tomatoes I have to promise myself that it will go up this winter! Harvesting is early this year on various crops and we have in mid July already had some bumper crops of blackberries and plums. Have made two batches of bramble jelly so far and jolly delicious it is as well. The most amazing thing is that the jam actually set!

Okay - enough for now. Hopefully I will manage to do another update before Christmas.

April musings, two new chickens and the dog!

Wonderful weather over the weekend, the added bonus being clear blue sunny skies devoid of aircraft due to the volcano in Iceland!

A couple of months ago I did mention that we now had a dog, Max, who is now a well established chicken hound. Despite his puppy inclinations at excitement he is and the girls get on great probably with the exception of Stella who, despite being a grown up girl now still flaps at the smallest thing. Not that we are worried, having recently having picked up Stella she is very, very solid and could probably withstand a small nuclear attack and a small puppy isn't going to do any harm whatsoever. To ensure that hens in the city doesn't become Uptown Puppy you can follow Max's adventures at http://johndentonmckenna.blogspot.com/ - link also in the side panel.


My approach to stopping the girls being broody worked! Less that two weeks later and we are already have Ruby and Stella laying - hooray. I cannot tell you how wonderful the taste of our home produced eggs are so its great that the supply has returned.



We have been been doing some reworking in the garden, moving some old border edging and replacing it with wicker hurdles. Needless to say the girls were there to help! They have over the winter months been confined to the end of the garden and as you can see from above, there isn't a lot of lawn remaining (so some returfing in a month or so me thinks) however once the plants are established again they will again have access to the entire garden.

And thank god that the girls don't eat daffodils however my new delphinium regrowth didn't last long!

Now don't ask me why but for some reason we had an idea that we should get another silkie to keep Harriet company. So it was with glee that we saw urban-chickens.com were holding a chicken auction in Essex. Off we went and were amazed at the number of chickens available for sale and how many people turned up. It was great fun in the auction itself and we became the proud owners of two new chickens.


Firstly we did indeed acquire a silkie. Duly named Tallulah she is I think partridge coloured (most appropriate considering our recent visitor) and was supposedly hatched in 2008.





On exit from her box (one of the problems with the auction was it was not easy to see into some of the boxes to completely check out your prospective purchase) she was a bit rough looking to say the least and a bald bum. Saying that she appears to be full of character and Tallulah is a bold one that's for sure.


The second purchase was a second choice. First choice was a lovely gold-laced wyandotte hen however we were firmly outbid on her. Secondly we were taken with silver Sussex hens (again) and there were a few for sale. As it happened the lotts in the catalogue didn't match the actual birds being auctioned so it was a little confusing and we ended up not buying the bird that we had originally looked! Still we have a 2009 bred silver hen named Nigella.

Bless her, she couldn't be more distant from our last silver Sussex hen Cybil. Nigella is very shy, very nervous and would you believe a pigeon-toed chicken! I do think she is going to take a while to settle in and she is most definitely at the bottom of the pecking order.

So would I get chickens from an auction again? I have to say that I probably would but would be happier if the birds were in cages that you could see the birds more fully................the biggest job ahead of us now is integrating two new girls into our resident flock of three!

Two weeks old

What a difference a week makes!

It's been a busy old week and I have been away for some of it so the chicks seem to have been growing at a most impressive rate.

Eggnog, although still the smallest, is doing extremely well and devoted to Harriet. We are dithering on what sex it is. Although Eggnog started out a boy in our minds I get the feeling that Eggnog may in fact be Tallulah! As you can see below, that chick has been eating lots!

The buff Orpington bantam has been named Stanley, as I am convinced he is indeed a male due to already visible and fast growing comb (please tell me if I am completely wrong here). Stanley is THE most independent of all the chicks and is quite happy to go off exploring the garden without mother hens in tow.

The silkie chicks - I personally think they are a definite for being named Laverne and Shirley (for those of you who remember "The Fonz" the names should be familiar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laverne_&_Shirley ). They do everything together, are slightly dim (I think it's a silkie thing) and so hope that they are both girls as I would hate to lose either of them. Any comments back to the blog voting for Laverne and Shirley would be deeply appreciated.

Harriet with Shirley and Laverne

And then we get to the baby turkeys. What we think are the speckled Sussex are growing at an alarming rate. They are probably twice the size of Eggnog. They are always the first to the food and I am sure that at least one is a male if not both of them.

Speckled Sussex chick realising its got wings!

After the "confinement" the girls have undergone both incubating and the start of rearing, they have now had both a chance to spend some time in the "lawn run" and if we are about, free-range in the garden.

The "lawn run" was a quick internet purchase which in the guise of a guinea pig run seemed to suit the purposes of getting one of the mums and some of the chicks out onto grass and some peace from the other. However that proved to be impossible as Harriet and Ruby are joint mums so dividing them, never mind the chicks just didn't work.

The positive is that we can get all the birds out onto grass for a good scratch about and a hugely enjoyable dust bath (it's hysterical watching the chicks emulating Harriet and Ruby dust bathing, usually underneath the mums and getting kicked out on a regular basis, not that they minded) when we are not around.

Best of all is that when we are about we now let all the birds out into the garden. Still not quite confident enough to leave them alone as although Ruby as turned into a complete headcase if she thinks any of the brood are in peril I still feel a cat could take a chick. However if we are about they now all go out and love it.

Of course for ever positive there is a (slight) negative;

• Newly seeded lawn trashed and reverted to a dust bowl within a few days
• How quickly newly planted vegetation is removed in search of the occasional bug
• Physalis (Cape gooseberries) were outrageously victimised and eaten without mercy
• Borders instantly scratched out onto the paths

So bless them a couple of rules are now applied;

• chicken training - they now move easily between the lawn run and home run
• when free ranging, mums are not allowed on the borders
• when free ranging, physalis is seen as a legitimate target so that is a sin they are allowed
• Stanley does exactly as he pleases
• can chicken herding be classified as alternative employment? I love it.

All in all, could life be any better?

Allotment update to follow as I ran out of time.

Eggnog - it's a long story

Sometimes you wonder where your partner is coming from - seriously.

We have and indeed continue to worry about the little black Orpington bantam. It, although now a "he" in our minds, has ended up with the most unusual of names.

Aforesaid chick is black with small white stripes (though these have now turned yellow) so I instantly thought, in an alcoholic sense of course, that we should call him Guinness.

So innocently asking my lover what drink name did little chick inspire...........Eggnog!

"Eggnog???" I ask?

"Yes, Eggnog, what's wrong with that? Isn't it champagne and Guinness?"

Rejoice, Eggnog we love you!

Various worries - chicks not getting the idea of running up the ramp to the hut in the evening though Harriet stayed with them in the run as Ruby went to the nestbox.

Eggnog has NOT got the idea of eating and preferring to stay in the warm feathers of Harriet instead of eating however we did see him eat and drink.

Various good bits - all the other chicks are doing great and both Harriet and Ruby are doing a great job at feeding them especially as this is their first time.

Various wonderful bits - the George clan came around this evening to take over chicken and chick rearing duties over the weekend while we are away in Devon. A huge thank you to them.

There may be an update from Rob and Isobel (that would be good) however that's it now until Sunday evening

Wot a weekend

Well the suspense has been killing us! The girls have been sitting fastidiously for the past three weeks and have just been brilliant. Every evening at 6.30pm after we have managed to struggle home through the London rush hour (and thanks Bob Crowe for the Tube strike - idiot) we gently lift Harriet and Ruby off their respective nests and eggs. If we didn't I am convinced that they would go as far as they could sitting on their clutches of eggs without food, water or exercise. Anyway they love their 25 minutes incubation break. Food, water, the biggest and smelliest chicken poo ever, a quick preen, and if they can fit it in - a dust bath, another drink and then straight back on the nest for another 23 hours and 35 minutes. Bless them.........and we have just been waiting and waiting for chicks!

It's been a great weekend. Saturday we went to the South of England Show, a huge agricultural meet-up where you can buy everything from a combine harvester to a ferret harness. Watching the cattle and other domestic stock being shown was humbling. The pride that the farmers and owners had in their animals was evident and it was great seeing them being paraded. Saying that I nearly bust a gut laughing at the youngsters trying to steer pigs around a judging ring with a board and stick - some pigs will just NOT do what you want them too!

Glad we got to the Show early as it became too busy and too crowded. The chickens (which was one of the main reasons for going) were disappointing with far fewer breeds than I have seen at other shows and the quality wasn't exactly that good either and in fact without being that rude I think Harriet our silkie would have walked it with first prize and not even a buff Sussex bantam on show (so by default Ruby was a winner). Still, a very enjoyable morning and we picked up some lovely plants for the garden at bargain prices.

Today - main event of the day was seeing "The King and I" at the Royal Albert Hall - a very generous gift from my boss for my birthday. All geared up for seeing it at 7.30 in the evening we were mortified when we got the tickets out at 3.00 in the afternoon to find it was for the 2.30 show - OH BUGGER!

Anyway -we had a good afternoon at the allotment where a spate of burglaries has scandalised the site. The worst was a poor plotholder having their entire shed stolen! I'm never going to complain about the occasional golden courgette (zucchini) disappearing again. We had some very tasty freshly harvested radish for dinner along with lamb marinaded in our own home grown herbs.

So back to chickens - and the waiting and the waiting, however this afternoon as I was putting the girls out for their daily feed and preen I heard cheeping. And it was the chicks in the eggs cheeping as they started to hatch from the eggs. John was amazed as the calling of the chicks was so clear and loud. Didn't take long for Harriet and Ruby to do their business this evening - its hatching night so tomorrow evening check to see how we and the girls did (and like there is going to be any sleep tonight).

News in early June

After the week of sunshine and very respectable temperatures we are now back into the early summer run of sunshine and showers. I think our incubating girls prefer this weather as opposed to the very hot times. Saying that, with no mud to bathe in Harriet has returned to her most white and pristine loveliest.

They are creatures of habit are our hens, as indeed we are, and get lifted gently off the eggs once a day for a good feed, drink and a very big poo (which as previously mentioned is very smelly and getting smellier as the incubation goes on it seems!). Both revel in having a good flap about, a quick preen but they are normally back on their eggs within 15 - 20 minutes.

We are getting excited now as the eggs could hatch as soon as Friday (only 5 days time). I think that we have got everything ready for the arrival(s) and needless to say no doubt lots of photos on the way.

The blue tits did very well and although we are not sure how many left the nest the parent birds still have a minimum of 6 chicks with them. The entire family are now using the bird feeder in the garden so we see them on a regular basis. The female blue tit looks as scruffy as ever - I wonder if they will do another clutch? There also seems to have been a small explosion on long-tailed tits, lots of them in the trees at the end of the garden.

Allotment and although we were a bit late in getting it sorted this year the strawberry plants have given a wonderful harvest and we are now getting to crop radish and salad leaves. The little fruit trees that we put in three years ago are doing well with apples and cherries on the trees but the Victoria plum has never done anything like producing blossom or fruit.

Finally the garden. Obviously lots of chicken poo has worked wonders and with the girls now incubating there has been a flurry of plant activity and its looking lovely. The downside is that the slug and snail populations seems to be on the increase as there are no little poultry predators to polish them off.

Next update hopefully we'll have some exciting news.............