Challenging Chicken Changes

       Above:  Newland Grange Egglu's

Right: Bluebelle in the jetway

As stated, the holidays are over and it's back to reality but - not just for us! The hens are back from their luxury Hen Hotel at Newland Grange.

http://www.newlandgrange.com/index.htm  They spent a week in an Egglu with Sarah caring for their every need!  It seems she must have spoilt them for they laid as many eggs as ever and all 4 girls have laid today.  However, they're back home and having to acquaint themselves with new arrangements in their own home too.  When let out into the Hennery, they soon found their way out onto the Strip via their new jetway but had a little difficulty retracing their journey!  I put them a temporary ladder and hung a feed bar as a bribe!  It was then a case of lifting each one in just to get them used to going in and out.  Sandy used the jetway to take off into the field and had to be retrieved but so far so good and all four made several journeys to and fro.  I suspect that, come dusk, more help will be needed!  Whilst I was getting the girls acclimatised, Al was busy making a door at the other end of the jetway inside the Hennery.  At night this will be kept closed in order to deter Monsieur Le Reynard.

Above: Al's new door

I know what you're thinking!  What a lot of trouble 4 chickens have caused.  The truth is that it's lots of fun! Now Al's working on an egg stall to hang on the gate! The present one sits on the grass verge in the lane and seems very popular with our neighbours.  Maybe a bespoke one hung on the gate would look smarter!

Gardening Mauritius Style

Some of the gardeners from PTC sneaked off for a week's sunshine and checked out how they grow fruit and veg in Mauritius!  Well!  They grow such a variety  of both all over the island.  Aubergines are widely grown.  Pineapples, bananas (of course) papayas, guavas, mangoes (slurp!) sweet peppers, chillie peppers, sugar cane, coconuts (galore!) onions (very popular) salad veg  of every kind, tomatoes etc etc.  The soil is volcanic, deep, dark and fertile.  The humidity is high and the temperature is consistently hot so many crops in a single season.  Mauritians are very hard working and little land is wasted.  Their mountains ensure decent rainfall.  All the many plots we saw were very well tended and there was no sign of any chickens vandalising precious crops!  In fact this hen and her chicks on a roadside were the only ones we saw.

Chicken Diversions

Top Left: The girls explore their new surroundings                    Top Right: Chris battles with the thorns
Bottom Left: 50 square yards of freedom                                    Bottom Right: The trellis tunnel

Work began on chicken diversions and Saturday became Friday.  Firstly, we erected 2 boundary panels and then we constructed a a trellis tunnel which we linked into the Hennery.  Posts with wire above the tunnel prevents access to the garden.  Now when the girls go out to play, they have direct access to the Gaza Strip via their own jet-way. Not bad for 4 hens.  They can dig, scratch, mine, peck, excavate, preen, dust bathe and lay to their hearts' content and no one will be worried about garden damage (phew!).  Now we have to hope that they don't keep jumping/flying over the fence and that Monsieur Le Reynard doesn't come visiting!

Catkins despite the gloom

Even on a grey and gloomy February day, how nice and cheery do a few catkins look?

Time for lawn maintenance

In the meantime and as the weather has been dry and the 3 days of gales and high winds have really dried things up, it's been time to call in Green Thumb for aerating and scarifying the lawns.  Yes, I know!  It does sound extravagant BUT, by the time the cost of hiring all the necessary equipment to do both jobs AND the time sweeping up all the thousands of plugs of soil and barrowing them all to the compost heap is factored into the equation, it really isn't such an extravagance.  The lawns look a tad worked over now but we'll take another look in a few weeks time (and, no I don't get commission from Green Thumb!)  I promise you'll see a massive difference.

 David first came to do this to do this job 3 weeks ago.  He unloaded all the heavy equipment, walked around only to find very waterlogged and/or frozen lawns, came in for a cuppa, loaded up the machinery and went home!  I'm relieved everything dried up enabling it to be completed without it all looking like a mud bath.  In fact, I arrived home to find the lawns looking very 'swept' and tidy.  Mark Bishop is the chap to call http://www.greenthumb.co.uk/worcester

More vandalism!

Quelle damage!  What a good job the girls are soon to have new surroundings! The pond perimeter couldn't take this for very long.  I can't wait to get things up and running!  What chance do plants stand when they're up against 8 very strong clawed feet all day long?  If they're not having there tops pecked off, they're having their roots clawed up!  Still; never mind!  Materials have been ordered and works commence on Friday.  Until then, it's damage limitation!

Alive!

These help compensate for losses due to such a severe winter and chickens!

https://picasaweb.google.com/peartree.pam/WinterDamageSignsOfSpringFebruary2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCN6x98KHkLeJdQ#