A Plea from Miserable Maudey...

Hello lovelies-

I have a problem that would love you to help me with...

Maude the Chicken is laying soft eggs. I don't mind her not being productive, she is after all, my pet and I love her whether she's laying me delicious breakfasts or not (obviously I would prefer the egg ended up in my tum rather than the run floor though!)but I just want to be sure it's not something that I am doing wrong. I don’t mind her being useless if she’s just going to be one of those awkward types but she looks like she’s in so much pain when she’s laying a softie...

So here are the clues-

She laid one wonky egg a couple of weeks back, since Sunday she’s been laying eggs with paper thin shells which obviously don’t hold up and the eggs end up being eaten to smushed about. She laid a hard shelled egg last night, in the run, but it was really rough and the colours were very patchy.

Mildred is laying fine, she doesn't like doing it as it interferes with her "pretending to be a human" activities and reminds her of her poultry status, but she's laying good eggs.

We recently moved the run from grass to bark chippings.

I changed their brand of layers pellets a few weeks ago, they haven’t noticed.

My dad has started feeding them bits of bread in an effort to train them to sit on his shoulders, I suspect this is a reaction to his narrowly missing catching an escaped parrot to keep as a pet a few years ago.

She is now laying softies in the evening, out in the run. This is not like her. She loves hanging out in the nest box. She has always been a bit of a funny one for this, when we let them free range she immediately makes herself a little nest under the hedge and stays there cooing.

I know lots of my lovely followers are chook mad too so if you have any ideas as to what’s up with my little Maudey and how I can help her I’d be dead dead chuffed and send Maude round in person to thank you with one of her special cuddles.

In which I become Handy Andy...

It feels like I'm always starting these posts with an apology- but I am, once again, sorry for taking so long to post. Work is taking up more and more of my life and I'm dreading going back to university again next year- no weekends! agh!

Anyway- an update from my weekend:

New Chook House:

Maude and Mildred's rampage of the lawn is over. We can no longer sustain their destructive digging tendencies by moving the eglu every day so we have built them a permanent patch. Normally, this would be a precision engineered, long time planned and expertly carried out Boyf job- not this time. The dad and I took a little trip to Wickes and built the whole thing ourselves- we're feeling pretty pleased with ourselves. The chickens weren't too impressed at first but seem to have settled down now. I'm so impressed with my handiwork, if that Ground Force was still about, I'd no doubt be employed to take over from Tommy Walsh...

We're a little worried about Maude chicken who has generally been looking a little down in the dumps and is laying soft eggs. I'm starting her on a regime of calcium supplements and cuddles so hopefully she will improve- watch this space!

I spent a bit of time at the allotment and came home with the usual bounty. We're pretty over run with chard, but I have no idea what to do with it- any tips? I bought a griddle so I can cook and store some courgettes in oil according to a recipe I found ages ago- again any tips welcome here!

I can't get over how many sweet peas we're bringing home! Once a week I totally strip the bushes and I come home with pots full and then a week later the bushes are full again. They really are the most wonderful flowers- I'm going to try and grown perennial ones next year as well as saving the seeds from these fellas.

I've also been taking cuttings from next doors hydrangea- with permission of course. I absolutely love these plants and the cutting a took a couple of years back is growing well in the garden.

Of course, alongside all this hard work and harvesting there was a bit of time for some rest and relaxation. Although not for my old dad...

...every time he sits down, his little friends appear waiting impatiently for snacks!

I hope you all had a lovely weekend too! Monday comes too soon eh?

Foraging for Jam...

Last night whilst out walking Alf the dog with the Boyf we came across a hedgerow full of raspberries. This particular spot is always overflowing with blackberries in late summer but I've never seen raspberries growing wild like this before. The hedgerow lines an allotment site so I assume that the bushes have escaped from someone’s fruit cage and grown like mad!

The school children had got there before us and munched their way through the easy to reach berries- no worries, I sent the boyf and the dog deep into the nettles in search of bounty.

We came away with a fair few, topped up with some of the strawberries from the garden we had enough for a jar of yummy jam!

I’m very pleased with my free hedgerow bounty! It was yummy on my toast this morning!

A gift from a friend...

This morning I got the dreaded work to find this on my desk...

A wonderful gift from a lovely work colleague who I often chat chickens and communes with (we all need a little dreaming to help get through that mountain of paper work..)
And all because I gave her a box of Maude and Mildred's eggs. (Those girls are starting to earn their keep!) It's a book I've always meant to get round to buying as it's such a classic and canonical work for wannabe Good Lifers. I'm desperate to get home and read it. What a lovely start to the day...

A little progress...

As I'm swamped with pre- PGCE schools observation, I haven't had much time for the good life lately (I hope this is not a taste of things to come..)

So here is a little update from the allotment...

The broccoli I thought had been destroyed by the slugs is making great progress. I was so surprised to see the lovely little florets and promptly steamed them and ate them with lashings of butter! yummy!

My sweet peas which are growing in reclaimed tyres- thanks KwikFit- are looking absolutely beautiful! The trick with sweet peas is to pick all the time to keep them flowering, well I'm running out of vases! They're just so beautiful and smell so lovely, I've got them all over the house making me feel all summery.

Also I finally got round to starting off my wildlife area. The wildflowers I've been planting are growing well but not blooming yet, apart from the stunning lavender which I don't think you can ever have too much of! I've also got perennial cornflowers, more perennial sweet peas, marigolds, budleia, meadow flowers, grasses and teasels. I think it will really come into it's own next year. I sunk my council approved healthy and safe washing up basin and filled it with rocks and rain water. I also surrounded with with logs and old roots and sticks and things so hopefully something that likes eating slugs will set up home there soon!

I hope you're all enjoying the sunshine!

Holly x

Alf the dog...

My name is Alfie, mostly Alf, sometimes Alfington Dogsburry...those humans are so silly. I am four years old and I’m a labradoodle. My mum tells me that a labradoodles are a bit wimpy and I have to wear a coat when I go out in the rain, but I think that’s just because she doesn’t want me to get the carpet muddy.

I spend my days living with my five humans and two chickens, if I play nicely and don’t bash about I’m allowed to play with them but they get in my way when me and dad are playing catch. And they poop in the garden. Animals. I pretty much love cheese and maltesers and I refuse to eat my dinner without gravy on it- imagine! I sometimes eat grapes but only if the chickens are eating them, I don’t want to miss out.

Sometimes I'm allowed to watch TV after my walk

I sleep. I sleep a lot. On the carpet, on mum’s favourite Laura Ashley blankets, on the sofas or on my mum and dad’s bed. They don’t seem to mind unless I’ve been swimming...

Where I live...

I'm sure, like me, you all enjoy a bit of Countryfile on a Sunday evening. It's my cup of tea and a cake programme...

Anyway, if you watched it this weekend you would have seen my little town on it. Box Hill and Denbies Vineyard are literally right on my doorstep and while I couldn't really care less about the Olympic cycling, wine...wine I like.

While I was watching the programme, I just thought, wow I really am lucky that I get to live here, surrounded by all this beautiful countryside. So when Alf the dog and I went for our walk at Denbies Vineyard last night I took some photos to share...