Bantams and Pullets

Thanks for all the lovely comments yesterday, the new birds are settling in well although they are all still very bedraggled with all this rain.

I've just been moving Mother Goose (the hen) and her Gosling children to the Eglu, the little broody run was proving too small for them already.  Lovely Hubby is going to make them a Goose House with a roosting bar for Mum when they are a bit bigger but for now the Eglu will do fine.

Campfire, you asked what is the difference between a bantam and a pullet, well a Pullet is officially any chicken that is less than one year old, when they reach one year then they are known as a hen or a cockerel. 

A Bantam is usually a small sized copy of a larger bird, lots of pure breed chickens have a Bantam counterpart, which are around a third to half the size of them.  Although there are now some true Bantams these are mainly bred for showing, and are very fancy birds.

Bantams are brilliant birds for smaller back gardens as they are quieter, make less mess, eat less and won't decimate your flower and veggie beds.  They lay gorgeous little tasty eggs, but you do need to use two for every one hens egg called for in a recipe.  They are friendly, cuddly little birds and usually make great pets for children.  Some cockerels can be aggressive though as they seem to have 'little man syndrome', so stick to girls if they are for children.

So there you have it, I have Bantams, Pullets, Hens, Cockerels and a lovely little trio of Chinese Grey Goslings.  We're all very birdie here in Berkshire at the moment.......Lol.

Sue xx

Buying Birds

It's been a busy weekend, Saturday saw us bright and early setting off for the Smallholders Sale in Thame to buy some new birds.  We didn't expect to buy as many as we did but there were some lovely birds and in my opinion I think we got the best of the bunch.

Mum was with us for her first ever auction and she even had a bid, securing the beauty above for just £5, he's a Mille Fleur Pekin Bantam Cockerel, and in memory of our brave boy that died, with his sons, protecting our flock of hens from a fox, our new cockerels name is' Caldwell the 2nd'.  We've decided our main cockerel will always carry this name.

We also couldn't resist this particular hen and her little brood, they aren't chicks, but goslings, three Grey Chinese Goslings to be exact.

They're going to end up looking like this.....that will give their Mum a surprise!!

We also got ourselves six more Lavender Pekin Bantams, 2 boys and 4 girls, at the moment they are refusing to come out of the henhouse in all the rain, and to tell the truth I don't blame them one little bit.  They are just 8 weeks old and gorgeous friendly little bundles of fluff.  The big girls are all treating them very well, which is a huge relief, Caldwell 2nd seems to already exerted his authority over the flock and brought about a calmness.

We also bought 5 Sussex, 4 Black Marans, 2 Light Sussex, 1 mystery white bird, she looks like a White Star, but she has pink rather than yellow legs so we'll see how she looks when she's a bit older, she was hatched with the 2 Light Sussex and gave the owners a bit of a surprise, so I guess she could just be an albino Light Sussex!

So a total of 23 new birds to add to the 15 we already had, making a grand total of 38 birds, made up of 35 chickens and 3 geese. 

A happy and successful day at the Smallholders Sale.

Sue xx

A while ago I entered a Giveaway over at Sarah's Blog ........and I was lucky enough to win it.

So look what turned up in my mailbox this week, all the way from Australia, I'm so lucky.  It's a lovely book and when I get back from taking my Mum home this weekend, I'll sit down with a big mug of coffee and look for inspiration to make Lovely Hubby a special vegetarian meal to celebrate us being back together.

We don't like to be apart, but it's worth being apart sometimes so we can enjoy being back together all the more!!

Simple pleasures. 

Thank you Sarah for my book and for paying to send it all the way to England, I'll think of you and raise a glass to you as we tuck into meals made from it.

Sue xx 

A Wet Week

The rain has been coming down steadily all week, along with the cooler temperatures it has not felt a bit like Spring.  The only thing that is benefitting from all this wetness is the pond, the level has gone up nicely, and all the lovely pond lilies are bursting into flower and the pond life is thriving.

We have all sorts of life in and around the pond, insects of many varieties, frogs, toads, newts (including loads of babies) and our five main residents the Koi Carp who are flitting backwards and forwards having the time of their lives.  It's a shame the pair of ducks didn't stay but I think the pond was just too close to the house and the noisy barking dogs for their liking.

The greenhouse is looking good with half the tomatoes in situ......

.... well I thought it was half until I potted on the tiny seedlings and discovered that, as usual, I have planted far too many.  I see lots of bottling going on in late Summer, preserving the goodness that is the lovely taste of tomatoes for long into the Winter months.  We have just a few jars left of last years harvest, in the form of sauces and simple tomato juices.  Not bad timing, we should just about run out at the fresh fruits appear.

As you can see my little greenhouse guard dog was in fine form when I was working in there the other day.  It's always nice to have company when you work.

Sue xx

The Chicken and the Egg

A brilliant infographic from Pru over at Moss and Mouse.

If you love your health and you love chickens you should know where your eggs come from and the conditions they were produced in.  To give you an idea of size, Barren Battery hens have about the size of a sheet of A4 paper to live out their lives (14 months in the cage), Enriched Battery hens have an extra space the size of a postcard tagged on to the A4.  Neither they or the Barn hens ever see the light of day!!

Barren Battery Eggs are no longer produced in this country it has been illegal since the start of the year, although a few farms were slow to meet the requirement, they were quickly spotted and made to follow the law.  But you can see from the poster how many eggs are imported into this country each and every year.  These eggs as well as being sold by the box are also used in manufactured products, cakes, biscuits, quiches etc.  If it doesn't say Free Range Eggs on the box your goods come in then they most likely are made from imported Barren Battery hens eggs or at the very best Enriched Battery hens eggs.

The choice is yours.

My choice - the eggs from my girls.   The new girls are just coming in to lay now and we are getting the little half sized and soft shelled practise eggs, and eggs laid as the girls are out and about in the grass, you can just imagine the thoughts that rush through their little heads as an egg pops out and then another one the next day!!

While we have not been getting many eggs I have been buying some from the local shops, my choice then - at the very least Organic, if I can't get them then I don't buy eggs!!

I have never bought eggs since finding out this information when my children were small, and then as hard up as we were, I NEVER bought eggs from Battery Caged hens again.  We ate half as many eggs but always at the very least Barn Eggs, now after seeing a Barn I couldn't even do that.

The choice really is yours.  I'm just telling you my choice.

Sue xx

A Washout..........

Yes, the weekend has been a washout.....but in the nicest possible way.  My brother and Mum came to stay on Saturday and we went for a lovely meal at a local eatery.  After a lovely evening of watching tele together and catching up on chat we all retired early.  It had been a long drive for them and a busy working day for us. 

The plan on Sunday morning was for us to vanish briefly at the crack of dawn to do a Car Boot sale and then come back for a cooked breakfast together.  The rain had been steadily pouring all night and was still pouring when we all got up, so we decided on a nice cooked breakfast together all around the table before Graham set off up the motorway back to Manchester.  But we were thwarted by a power cut just as I finished laying the table. Lovely Hubby called the electric company and they said there was a serious fault in the area and power would not be back until around 11am.

So in true British style we raided the cupboards and fridge of all the breakfasty things we could find, a nice picnic style breakfast was then assembled of homemade jams and bread, cereal, fruit and yogurt and orange cordial to drink.

Boy did I miss my Aga!!

Just as we finished and were sat chatting the power came back on, just after 9am, clever repair men finished it nice and early.  If we had only known we would have waited.  So I packed Graham off with all the ingredients for a nice cooked breakfast for his tea instead!!

The afternoon was spent watching this.......The Royal Flotilla.  It started off very promising with the rain holding off but as our skies darkened here so did the skies on the television and the rain hit them hard.

We felt quite guilty sat in the warm watching the proceedings as the participants got wetter and wetter, but it was a brilliant afternoon......

... some of us missed most of it.

But still the little boats sailed on until the finale with the Orchestra playing and the singers singing for all they were worth on the last barge as rain poured down on them.  So patriotic. We do do events well in this country.

My favourite bit of the Flotilla, seeing the Queens reaction to the little War Horse tribute, Suky's favourite bit.....sleeping cuddled up to Daddy for 2 hours.

Hope you had a good Jubilee Weekend, we've been rained off the Car Boot Sale again today, so we'll have to unload the truck and do indoor jobs instead.

Sue xx

The Veggie Patch

Beautiful Chives, happy in their tyres.

Yesterday I finally remembered to take the camera over to the veggie patch to take some pictures.  it looks really good now that we have managed to get all the wood chippings down, although they are sharp on the old knees if you forget your kneeling mat.  Everything seems to be growing well in this wonderful sunshine. I love my little patch.

An overview of the patch.

Strawberries in the bed closest to us.  Lettuce, Mixed Leaves and Radish in the wooden bed to the left with Salad potatoes at the far end of it.

Mange Tout Peas with their twiggy supports, and under the net tunnel my Spring Cabbage.  Closest to the camera Main Crop potatoes.

Beetroot, inter planted with Radish at one end and Turnip at the other.

In the foreground - French Beans with Mixed Leaves and Spring Onions in the bed just seen.

A bed of Carrots.

Lots of planting done and just about enough space left to plant out what's ready in the greenhouse.  I am intending to fill any spaces with radishes and other quick growing crops.  This year I want to plant along the lines of filling all the soil to deter space for weeds, a la Alys Fowler and everything she spoke about when we went HERE for the day.  Better more food for our tummies and for storage than having to spend time weeding every day.

Off to potter in the greenhouse for a while, I'll show you what I've been up to in there tomorrow.

Sue xx