Poultry Progress at Pear Tree Cottage

As I type, 4 new 18 week old hens are sleeping in the new house for hens!  We have a Blacktail, a Bluebelle, a Rhode Rock and an Amber.  All 4 are hybrids and came from Sarah at Newland Grange near Malvern

 ( http://www.newlandgrange.com/ ) which is an amazing place! Honestly!  It really is!  Even the website is well worth a look.  She has thought of absolutely every aspect of keeping and breeding poultry and even offers hen boarding!  She has rows of Eggloos just for the purpose.

We hope to have photos in the next Poultry Progress Post!!

Nearly finished.....

More progress on the recycled hut means that the gable ends are finished (cut from bits and pieces kicking around and painted by me whilst Chris's sneaked off to Wales!) and it now sports a rather natty original enamelled shop sign rescued by Chris from a former local village shop sadly no longer in existence.  Only Al remembers Eldorado ice cream though.

Rain stops play

Rain stopped play for us but not for Mr. Blackbird who carried on singing at the very top of his voice regardless.  The rest of us were confined to polishing brasses - all day!

http://picasaweb.google.com/PamsPhotographs/PTCThroughTheSeasons#

House for Hens

The new hen house was delivered in a massively oversized articulated lorry which couldn't get under the oak tree and had to reverse back down the lane taking some of our neighbour's Laurel with him! Erection and assembly of our the 'House for Hens' (.http://www.housesforhens.co.uk/)

was a doddle and took far less time than imagined.  Feedstuffs and troughs are awaited before acquiring new occupants.  Hopefully we shall soon be collecting our very own free range eggs.  We also hope that a few hens don't adopt a scorched earth policy in the garden or get eaten either by uninvited canine visitors or Monsieur Le Reynard!

http://picasaweb.google.com/PamsPhotographs/HouseForHens162010#

More new from old

New idea for Al's summerhouse  - an Austrian blind made from the old Union Jack. Now he can enjoy a sundowner and see what he's drinking!  Bonus! As the summerhouse faces due west, sundowners can be really dazzling!

For anyone interested in making a blind, the fabric was stapled to a batten already cut to length.  The batten  was first rotated (to disguise screws) and screwed to the ribs on the roof which allows the ties (redundant curtain ties in this case) to pass either side and right around both batten and fabric. Pre-drilling assisted screw insertion. Hey presto: a flag swag!

More work on the hut

Work has continued on the hut restoration project. All interior bracing is now complete. The scalloped roof ridge is fixed on one side and all reclaimed corrugated tin nailed on. In case you haven't worked them out; the hand sculpted(!) and painted gable end barge boards await Chris's return from Wales at the weekend. Both exterior and interior are painted.

An afternoon off gardening meant a visit to Lower Court Nursery at Suckley (http://www.holloways.co.uk/plants.htm)  to meet Caroline Orgee who sells a good range of garden plants and shrubs as well as a large selection of those more suited to conservatories.  More importantly, she was full of really sensible advice!  Despite arriving home with a boot full of plants and shrubs, the majority were destined for a friend's garden 'mound' over at Clifton-on-Teme.  Hopefully all have since been planted with plenty of TLC! I wasn't completely empty handed. Another Ligularia  and 3 specimens of Primula Viallis (right) found their way to PTC so - more planting to do at the weekend! Chris arrived with an unusual Iris (which was immediately planted in front of the pond loggery and I think it could well be Iris ensata variegata) and departed with a Vibernam Opulus and a Pittisporum.