All posts tagged hens

Three Things Thursday: 14 December 2017

My weekly exercise in gratitude – three things that are making me smile – feel free to steal this idea with wild abandon and fill your blog [or Twitter account or Facebook page or diary or life in general] with happiness.

First, snow and no snow. Here on the west coast of Wales, because of the influence of the Gulf Stream, we rarely see snow, so it’s a novelty when it falls – as it did on Sunday. However, I only like it when I don’t have to go anywhere (as was the case on Sunday and Monday) and I’m generally pleased to see the back of it. So, it’s been a good week, because it arrived, stayed for a few days and now it’s all gone.

The hens were not impressed and mostly refused to venture out.

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Mags and Aliss were not keen

Second, being stuck indoors. The weather on Sunday kept me inside and it gave me the excuse to focus on sorting out parcels for some of my random acts of kindness (part of my 17 for 2017) as well as doing some sewing. Having not used my overlocker for several months it did take me ages to get it threaded and working at the right tension again, but it’s all systems go now.

Third, Sophie. I was too busy to post on my progress yesterday (I was doing some very short deadline editing); so, since she’s making me so happy, I thought I’d share my work today (not blocked, so a bit untidy).

I really like one section in particular – several rows of small stitches in different colours:

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simple but lovely

I’m thinking that I might use some of the left-over wool to make something in this style once Sophie is done.

 

So, that’s some of what’s making me happy this week. How about you?

-oOo-

Emily of Nerd in the Brain originally created Three Things Thursday, but it’s now being hosted by Natalie of There She Goes.

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by The Snail of Happiness on December 14, 2017  •  Permalink
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Posted by The Snail of Happiness on December 14, 2017

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Gardening for chickens

Not all the fruit and vegetables that I grow in our garden are destined for human consumption. Some we share with the hens, some unwanted plants (weeds or excess production) are fed to the hens, some infested plants (brassica leaves with caterpillars or insect eggs on them) are also given to the hens and one plant in particular was planted specifically to provide chicken treats. This plant is a chokeberry.

Years ago I read somewhere how much hens like chokeberries and so, when I planted up the fruit cage, I planted a chokeberry. It started fruiting after a year or two and now it produces a crop each year which the hens do, indeed, adore. I’m careful to ration them, as I suspect, given the chance, they would eat all the chokeberries in one go, and who knows what effect that would have on their digestive systems?

Today I picked the first batch for them – beautiful black berries, to which I added a few red currants (as we have so many of those, I don’t mind sharing).

They go straight from the bush to the hens and you can judge for yourself how much they enjoy them (please excuse slightly odd orientation of this little film – I was juggling camera and berries whilst trying not to get mugged by hens before starting my recording):

If you search on the internet, you will discover lots about how wonderful chokeberries are: a “super-food” (I HATE that term), full of antioxidants. However, they aren’t particularly tasty and so I don’t mind the hens getting all the benefits!

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by The Snail of Happiness on August 5, 2017  •  Permalink
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Posted by The Snail of Happiness on August 5, 2017

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Three Things Thursday: 18 May 2017

*three things that make me smile: an exercise in gratitude – feel free to steal this idea with wild abandon and fill your blog [or Twitter account or Facebook page or diary or life in general] with the happy*

Emily of Nerd in the Brain originally created Three Things Thursday, but it’s now being hosted by Natalie of There She Goes. Anyway, here are my three things this week…

First, The Sisterhood of the Travelling Sketchbook. It has been a great honour to make a contribution to this wonderful project, but today I am bidding farewell to the sketchbook and sending it on its way to The Crafty Creek. If you want to read more about it, check out its very own web site here.

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Second, four eggs in one day. We have four hens – Anna, Tiffany, Mags and Alice. The latter three are regular layers, but Anna (short for Annagramma – the awkward one for those of you in the know) has not laid for eighteen months. Recently, however, there was evidence that she was going to start again. Over the past few weeks, there have been two or three eggs that might have been from her, but we have never been certain… until yesterday, when four eggs were laid. Hens only lay once each day, so four eggs means one from each hen and that means that Anna is doing her thing again. Hurrah!

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Third, fool-proof recipes. Some friends came for lunch on Monday and I decided to try a new recipe – peaches and cream cupcakes. What a disaster – never test out new recipes when you are cooking for guests. Fortunately there was still time before they arrived to make something else, so I fell back on an old favourite, based on the recipe below (much covered in ingredients), which comes from a little book called Country Inns in the White Mountains: Favorite Recipes:IMGP2886

I generally make this with raspberries and white chocolate chips rather than strawberries, but you can use any fruit you fancy. The other good thing about this recipe is that you can use an off-the-shelf gluten-free flour if you need to and it still works well. When I have whey from cheese making, I use that rather than milk and the recipe still works… honestly it’s one of the most reliable recipes that I have and the muffins are always delicious. To give you an idea of how good it is, my guests all wanted this recipe to take away and use at home (and one of them runs her own B&B).

So, those are three things making me smile and that I am grateful for this week. What is making you happy?

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by The Snail of Happiness on May 18, 2017  •  Permalink
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Posted by The Snail of Happiness on May 18, 2017

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Not much like spring

Despite the sowing of seeds in the limery, spring has not really arrived here yet and I daren’t sow any seeds outdoors for fear of them drowning! Of course the day when it was gardening weather this week, I was stuck in a training room doing a food safety course and exam. Now I have some free time it’s chilly and raining. I did manage to plant a new rhubarb root earlier, but then the rain started so I’m letting some of my little helpers get on with a bit of weeding and pest management:

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slug-hunting (I hope)

I’ve finished my editing work for the week, so I’m getting on with my first ever crochet sweater:

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work in progress

Sadly, the picture doesn’t do the colour justice… I would describe it as teal with some coloured flecks. The yarn is from New Lanark – a favourite maker for me, although this is the first time I have used their chunky wool. And, as ever, Max is keeping an eye on progress. He’s a bit chilly as he was clipped yesterday, but he does look lovely:

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Max has had a hair-do

The wet weather is forecast for the whole weekend, so it looks like more indoor seed sowing and crochet are on the cards. What are your plans for the weekend?

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by The Snail of Happiness on March 17, 2017  •  Permalink
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Posted by The Snail of Happiness on March 17, 2017

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Who’s a chicken?

For more than two months now UK poultry have had to be confined to keep them separate from wild birds because of the risk of avian ‘flu’. Originally it was suggested that they should be housed 24/7, but when it was realised that is was not possible, netted areas with water and feed kept under a solid cover was deemed to be acceptable. The end to this restriction is in sight: after the end of February birds will be allowed to range once again as long as various mitigation measures are in place.

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Approved disinfectant and Self-assessment form

The situation varies a little across the UK, but here in Wales all poultry keepers are required to complete a self-assessment form which they must have available if they are inspected. This outlines the actions that they are taking to minimise contact between wild birds and stock (e.g. use of bird scarers) and the biosecurity measures being implemented (e.g. hosing down and disinfecting concrete paths, disinfecting boots after accessing poultry).

For the duration of the restrictions, the hens Chez Snail have been happily foraging in the fruit cage, which has been connected to their small run and house by a netted corridor. Their small run always has a ‘roof’ over it to give them somewhere to shelter from the rain, so their feeder has been in there. Now they are going to be allowed to range free round their half of the garden, however, a different sort of feeder seemed like a good idea. So, I bought a rodent-proof, wildbird-proof feeder…

The hen stands on the pedal,the lid opens and there’s the food. It can only be activated by something weighing more than 500g, so garden birds and most rodents won’t even be able to open the lid. We can keep this out on their range without fear of attracting wild birds.

The only issue now, is training them to use it. Yesterday, we put it into the fruit cage propped the lid open and there was some interest…

Today, even with the lid propped open, they very carefully avoided it… hens really are chicken when it comes to new things. So, Mr Snail has been out there showing them the ropes… with some success:

I hope they get the hang of it soon – or at least before the end of the month!

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by The Snail of Happiness on February 19, 2017  •  Permalink
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Posted by The Snail of Happiness on February 19, 2017

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Three Things Thursday: 1 September 2016

As usual I’m joining with Emily of Nerd in the Brain (and others) for Three Things Thursday’. As she says…

*three things that make me smile: an exercise in gratitude – feel free to steal this idea with wild abandon and fill your blog with the happy*

First, chickens – happy and behaving naturally. Specifically the fact that this:

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Feathers!

is because of this:

Moulty Bluebell

Moulty Bluebell

not because of a fox or other predator. This is quite an early moult, but it’s good because the weather is still pleasant, so she’s not shivering or drenched (yet). As you can see the two new girls are also doing well; they are both laying almost every day… so I’m grateful for their eggs too.

Second, crafty activities. I spent the whole of Sunday sewing, crocheting, paper-crafting and generally being creative. I’ll write a whole post dedicated to some of the sewing sometime in the future, so here is an example of some paper-craft:

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Mr Snail’s birthday card

Third, tomatoes. For many years I have found it impossible to grow tomatoes. Every year in our old greenhouse I got only a tiny crop before the plants succumbed to Botrytis mould. This year is the first full growing season for the limery, and I’m delighted to report it’s turned the tide and I can now produce my own tomatoes – hurrah!

So that’s it for this week. What are you feeling grateful for?

 

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by The Snail of Happiness on September 1, 2016  •  Permalink
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Posted by The Snail of Happiness on September 1, 2016

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Three Things Thursday: 30 June 2016

Joining with Nerd in the Brain (and others) for Three Things Thursday’. As “Nerd” says…

*three things that make me smile: an exercise in gratitude – feel free to steal this idea with wild abandon and fill your blog with the happy*

First, home-grown fruit and vegetables. In the past week we’ve had herbs, leeks, potatoes, raspberries, peppers and tomatoes, plus our first courgette. There may be rampant weeds and rampaging slugs (it’s been wet recently) but we are harvesting.

Second, sensitive plants. The seeds I sowed that came from The Eden Project germinated well and I’ve now got lots of plants. They need potting up, but before I do that, here they are in action:

And I just want to assure you that I don’t regularly molest my plants like this!

Third, happy hens and lots of eggs. The new girls have settled in well. Oldies and newbies are still choosing to sleep in separate houses, but Aliss is laying in the main house. Mags has not yet started to lay, although she’s grown well and is becoming calmer and more sociable with us. It’s good to see them functioning as a single flock.

So that’s it for this week. What are you feeling grateful for?

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by The Snail of Happiness on June 30, 2016  •  Permalink
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Posted by The Snail of Happiness on June 30, 2016

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Aliss lays an egg

In a week in which the news is full of the horror of another mass shooting, football violence and yet more refugee deaths, not to mention wild claims about the results of Britain remaining in/leaving the EU, it’s good to focus on events at a more personal level (if only to remain sane).

And so, I’m delighted to tell you that one of our new girls, Aliss 2, has laid her first egg today, just 2 weeks after we got her. She’s still quite a small hen, but she managed a 43g egg. For comparison, Tiffany’s egg today weighed 76g.

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Eggs from (L) Tiffany and (R) Aliss 2

You may be wondering about why she’s Aliss 2… well, she is so similar to our original Aliss (late of this garden), that we just knew that we’d end up calling her Aliss anyway. I had thought she might be Two-ey, but the Aliss has stuck. For comparison, this is the first Aliss:

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Aliss the first

And this is our new girl:

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Aliss the second

The first one was a good layer and it looks promising for our newbie.

Do you have good news to share this week?

17 Comments
by The Snail of Happiness on June 14, 2016  •  Permalink
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Posted by The Snail of Happiness on June 14, 2016

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Bathtime

Personal hygiene is important whether you are a human or a hen. We have an area of wood chip in the part of the garden that the hens occupy and this provides perfect conditions for a dust bath when the weather is dry. The new girls seem to be especially keen

I even managed to get a little film of Mags in action:

Oh for it to be that easy for humans! Over the years of writing this blog, I’ve pondered several times about eco-friendly grooming, finally settling on buying shampoo in bulk (I haven’t yet found a shampoo bar I like, although I haven’t given up on the idea) and washing with real soap (bars not liquid). I’ve tried a number of different soaps and particularly like the stuff made out of goats’ milk. Sadly, the little business that I bought some from a couple of months ago don’t have any in stock at the moment, so a new search was required… and I’m pleased to say that I’ve found a company that not only makes soap without the use of any palm oil, they also don’t use plastic in their packaging. I’ve only just ordered from The All Natural Soap Company so I can’t show you a picture and I can’t say for sure whether they live up to their own description, but I have high hopes… I will report back.

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by The Snail of Happiness on June 10, 2016  •  Permalink
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Posted by The Snail of Happiness on June 10, 2016

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Three Things Thursday: 2 June 2016

As I have been so bad at blogging in recent months, I’m wondering whether some structure might help. So, with this in mind I’ve decided that each week I will join with Nerd in the Brain (and others) and write a ‘Three Things Thursday’ post. As “Nerd” says…

*three things that make me smile: an exercise in gratitude – feel free to steal this idea with wild abandon and fill your blog with the happy*

So, without further ado, here they are…

First, something I completed a few weeks ago, but that I haven’t blogged about but is still making me smile every time I see it… my completed Arizona Dreams throw. I’m still sad that Colinette, the company that produced the kit, is closing down, but very grateful that I have had the chance to work with some of their yarns (and have some more squirrelled away in my stash).

Second, I’m loving the abundant growth in the limery at the moment. Summer is here and we have tomatoes and peppers developing, melon flowers, passion flowers and pitcher plants thriving. Plus there’s my lovely light-catcher creating rainbows (thank you Pauline).

Third, is both sad and happy… or old girl Lorna died a few days ago.

Lorna checking for pests

She was six and a half (not bad for a chicken) and she’d had a fabulous life, digging holes, eating slugs and invading the vegetable patch. She’d even laid eggs up until a couple of months ago. She went to sleep the other day and didn’t wake up. Since she was the last of our original flock, it does seem like the end of an era. However, our hens are working girls and so we needed a couple of replacement layers. We chose a Light Sussex and a Rhoderock (apparently that’s the correct name for what we have previously called a Blackrock). We’ve been enjoying watching them settle in. Tiffany is putting them in their place and making sure everyone knows she’s top chicken. We have named them Mags (short for Magrat) and Aliss II (our last Blackrock was Aliss). They are a little skittish at the moment, but here are a few pictures:

Mags is clearly less mature than Aliss II judging from that teeny-tiny comb, but there should be eggs in a month or two.

So that should be my three things for the week, but I just want to add my gratitude for Skype, which allowed me to chat with Kate (Tall Tales from Chiconia) yesterday prior to her setting off for Brisbane for an operation on her spine. I’m sure those of you who know Kate and her blog will join with me in wishing her well… I’m hoping that next week one of my ‘three things’ will be gratitude that Kate is on the mend.

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by The Snail of Happiness on June 2, 2016  •  Permalink
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Posted by The Snail of Happiness on June 2, 2016

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