Bluebell and Blossom are slowly settling in. . .

Here is Blossom and Bluebell ready for day three in their new home.  Bluebell has the blue leg ring.  I can actually tell these ladies apart because they have got different markings.  They are 'Rhode Rocks' a Hybrid.  My other three 'ginger' chickens were like clones.  With the first chickens I was amazed to discover each chicken had her own personality and we really bonded as we had them since they were eggs.  They were very used to being handled as they lived in our living room for 6-8 weeks!  They were in a brood box under a heat lamp, they did not free range around the house.  I am not quite that dotty.  There was  one day when the dog opened their gate and invited them into the house last Summer.  I never fall asleep on the sofa but I did that day.  I woke up to find two chickens watching the television (they always loved the tv) and there was another happily exploring the kitchen.  The dog looked mightily pleased with herself.  I am sure they saw me as 'The Mother Hen' and I felt the weight of responsibility.  They always greeted me with abundant enthusiasm.
         I do not look at a live chicken and think 'dinner'. . .well not very often any way.  When the others sat under the sage bush, I could not help thinking about the delicious combination.  . .baaaadddd chicken mama!  I can't believe I love chickens but still eat chicken.  Euan has a policy 'we do not eat animals that we know'.   That is quite noble and good news for the dog and the budgie.  I think in an ideal world we would only eat animals we know, then we could be sure that the animals we ate had lives free from 'pain or distress'.  I am not cut out for farming at all however much I like to think I am and the whole 'to eat meat or not to eat meat debate' is a massive and often controversial topic.  Having 'pet' chickens has made me realise they are not a food product, they are happy, intelligent, sentient beings that are able to experience pain and pleasure.  My girls used to like a trip to the 'Beauty Salon' and enjoyed a 'wash and blow dry' pamper experience and would happily cluck away under the hair dryer.
         Blossom and Bluebell are very different to our previous chickens.  They don't know me at all yet and it is a bit sad that they think I am very frightening.  I had not seen them venture out at all.  Euan had a steady stream of children going up and down the garden last night to show off his new 'sisters'.  I think all of the kids on our street have had a formal introduction now.  He assured me he had seen them both out and eating and drinking.  I went up to the coop this morning to take a photograph of them huddled in the next box.  I was surprised to see them out, they were surprised to see me too but they did not run away.  I am talking to them in my 'nicest, as reassuring as I can get' voice and I am telling them nice things.  I don't think it would be a good idea for me to transcribe a 'chicken chat' for you because you never know who is reading your blog and I do not want the men in white coats to arrive to take me away.  I haven't heard a cluck yet but they are making cute little 'coo's and peeps'.  This morning they looked a little bit interested in what I had to say rather than just plain terrified and they chatted back a tiny bit, so I think we are making progress.  I know I need to handle them regularly so they are not afraid but I really don't want to traumatise the poor things.  I can't trust them to free range yet because catching a terrified chicken is no easy task.

 I am amazed my little apple tree is not so little this year and it is smothered in blossom.  Soon the garden will have oodles of fruit that the chickens can  happily  gorge themselves on.  A chicken doing standing jumps for the fattest raspberry is quite a sight.  We will be competing to harvest the blackcurrants too. It is all happening in the garden again.  I have seedlings and vegetable plants and lots of chicken wire.  It is a long weekend as Monday is a Bank Holiday. . . I do love a Bank Holiday.  
Hope you are having a good weekend.  XXX   

National Chip Week Celebrations

This is what I find most mornings.  I photographed these this morning, before I touched them.  How clever of my Chickie Wicks to lay them all neatly in a row, waiting for me to collect.  Good, clever girls.

My daffodils are multiplying in the Spring sunshine in spite of all the danger, as they are under almost constant attack from a child, a dog or chickens. The backdoor has been open all day and the dog has been snoozing in the garden for the first time in months.  My parents popped down as my Dad wanted some of my Raspberry canes to transplant, today was a good day for pottering in the garden.  The chickens enjoyed dust baths in the raised beds nearly burying themselves in the soil and flapping madly.  They better make the most of those raised bed dust baths because I have been on Ebay looking for 'vegetable protection solutions'.  My other half constructed a pretty serious looking fence last week straight across the middle of the garden.  To say he was a little miffed about all the Crappity Crap the chickens create would be an understatement!  It is starting to look like Alcatraz out there!  Now I just have to solve the problem of their wanton vandalism of the vegetable beds.  My chickens are keen gardeners, a bit too keen.  I can forgive them as their eggs are delicious, not to mention they are clucking cute!
   For lunch we celebrated 'National Chip Week' in style.

You really can't beat homemade chips with a fried egg.  I was going to use a Parsley garnish for the purpose of the 'Egg and Chips' photo shoot but I didn't want to 'over egg my pudding' and the chickens have had all the parsley anyway!
I am also working on another small crochet project, in among the madness.  It should be ready for revealing soon, today or tomorrow.  The problem with my Granny Square/ Granny Stripe addiction is there are a lot of ends to sew in!  I hope you are enjoying a relaxing weekend.  It feels like Sunday to me today, so officially I am having a long weekend as I get to do Sunday all over again tomorrow.  Yippee!  Hoorah for delusion and confusion.

A Touch of Glamour or Two!

Last night I finished spinning and plying 'Clamor for Glamour'.
I chose to Navajo Ply because I wanted blocks of solid colour rather than a complete marl yarn.  I have said before I am just delighted to be spinning yarn but I would like to improve and get an evenly plied yarn.  I guess it will come with experience (or maybe not!)  There are a few knots where the singles broke during plying but I am finding knots quite regularly in commercial yarn anyway so  I will forgive myself a knot or two.

Don't ask me what weight it is or how much I have!  I have one skein of 'thinnish for me' stuff!

Look at that glamour.
That is not the only glamorous thing to be going on around here today, one lucky lady has had a pampering, a very posh wash and blow dry!

I ran around the garden taking over ten photographs and this was the best one.  The others are all blurs as chickens move pretty fast.   Dotty Daisy was a very dirty 'Little Red Hen' apparently some Hens are just dirtier than others.  Daisy is very cute but she is the dirtiest of the three!  Not a nice claim to fame.  So today I had my first experience of bathing a chicken.  It is very cold here at the moment but she actually seemed to enjoy her warm bubble bath.  She didn't struggle she really relaxed in the water and chatted away.  Her sisters watched on and looked fascinated.  I couldn't leave her cold and wet so I used the hair dryer to get her dry and fluffy again.  I was worried it would distress her but she seemed to thoroughly enjoy the whole experience.  She cooed and clucked, chatting to me while I dried her.  She tried once to make a run for it as I took her into the shed to dry her, at one point I had a chicken on my head!   I think she would appreciate weekly visits to the salon now she has had a taste for it .  There is never a dull moment around here, it is not an everyday thing to bath a chicken is it?  I think I am going to become a very strange, eccentric old lady one day, if I am lucky! 

What is Orange and Rhymes with Parrot?

Emily at Ba-gawks.blogspot.com  has kindly agreed to let me share some of her photographs with you.  'Ba-gawks' is my type of place, loads of photographs of chickens and goats.  I am very excited and pleased about this as I think the photographs are wonderfully creative and they make me very happy to look at.  I really hope they make you smile as much as they make me smile.

Little Chicken on the prairie

Chick Peas

Chicken in a Little Mushroom Hat

Chicken and Tomato

Chicken Hood

Ahoy Jim Lad!

Chicken Flower Fashion

Helping the ill

Chicken and Sweetcorn

Warrior Chicken

Suits you Sir!

Pretty as a Picture

Wingardium Leviosa

May the Force be with You!

If you would like to see more photographs pop over and say 'Hiya' to Emily.  I am off to get me some felt!

I thought they Love me. Chickens escaped!

My Girls must be entering the 'Teenage Unruly Phase'.  I thought they loved me.  I also thought my garden was chicken proof!  It seems a neighbourhood cat has been in cahoots and shown them a gap in the fence!  I bet that cat is plotting something, trying to lead them astray like that.  It was a tiny gap in the fence and I did not witness the act!  So maybe it went something like this?

They were in the neighbours garden being 'helpful'.  They were digging up his parsnips!  I had to go round and apologise.  Then try to catch them.  In my own garden they run towards me, overjoyed to see me but in the neighbours garden, oh no!  They pretended they didn't know me!  I nearly had to resort to this:

A phone call to the 'Chicken Police'!  Euan found the hole escapade most distressing, I found it moderately anxiety inducing and Henry thought the whole thing was pretty funny!  It cost me six eggs worth of apology and now I am watching those chickens like a Hawk!

All Hands and Claws on Deck - There is Work to be Done

The boys have been 'enjoying' each others company and watching 'The Lord Of The Rings'.  The Girls have been helping Mommy with the Festive preparations.  To repay me for their nice clean coop and copious amounts of deep warm straw they decided to help me in the garden.  Today's job was digging for Parsnips to roast for Christmas Lunch.  They had great fun pecking and scratching and their was much vocalising at our haul.

I will deliver some parsnips to my parents later.

The Girls took their duties very seriously and were rewarded with the odd juicy worm.
I also picked some Parsley and Sage for the Chestnut Stuffing.

Oh Dear it's that Chicken and Sage thing again!  Bad thoughts, Baaaddd Thoughts!

Daisy was the best and digging and really was fascinated by parsnips being removed from the ground.

Poppy prefers to show off, positioning herself as high as she can and preen.

And Little Rosie prefers to perch on my back and shoulder, watching what I am up to and chattering in my ear.

I pointed the camera over my shoulder and clicked, while she cooed, bocced and brupped in fascination.

I was actually walking around the garden having a full on conversation with a chatty chicken on my shoulder.  A lovely Christmas Eve Morning.  These three will be Happy Hens for Christmas.