Carol's Chickens

Yesterday (Sunday) was our annual village show. We took our car for the classic car section.  We decided to set up a little table with our vintage crockery at the back of the car and put out some of our business cards. We thought it would be a good chance to promote our vintage crockery and our afternoon tea service.

The three of us sharing an allotment also put some of our produce in the competition.We entered biggest sunflower head, Fattest carrot, longest bean and heaviest marrow.

T had been growing long carrots but we found there wasn’t a longest carrot section so we entered fattest instead. T also wanted to try for biggest pumpkin but the pumpkin plant grew so long it was like Jack’s beanstalk but sadly didn’t produce any pumpkins.

It was a beautiful sunny day which meant there was a good turn out and it was very busy. We bumped into most of our neighbours and chatted to lots of people interested in classic cars.

After lunch the vegetable tent was judged and we won three, firsts, which was not bad for our first year. We got a first for our biggest sunflower head, our fattest carrot and our heaviest marrow. We were thrilled and it meant each of the three of us sharing the allotment plot got to take a rosette home.

Tea table at the back of our car

Tea table

Our car

First for our biggest sunflower head

First for our fattest carrot

First for our heaviest marrow

The sunflower head was heavy and the boys had to use a saw to cut through the stem and it took two to hold the head. But the marrow, which strictly speaking, was an overgrown courgette, was really really heavy! Afterwards we all argued about who should take it home in as much as no one  wanted to take it home!

We hefted it over to D’s classic camper van and abandoned it next to it. D is good at making a quirky use of odd things.

We all vowed to do even better next year. It was just the most enjoyable day.

I could tell that Spangle thought she wanted to lay again today. She wasn’t happy with the nest boxes though and was searching on top of the nest box next to the store cabinet. I realised that she wanted her crisp box.

I retrieved the crisp box from the shed and this time remembered to put it on it’s side to give her more tail room. Spangle stepped straight into it.

Spangle standing in the crisp box

Spangle sitting in the crisp box

Spangle now has enough room for her tail. She sat in there for about an hour and then went back into the run. I checked and once again there was no egg. I would say that only one in three times of sitting does Spangle actually lay an egg.

We have had quite a few girls that have laid only occasionally but Spangle is the first to actually sit in the nest box so often. It’s as if she thinks she needs to lay and sometimes when she comes out with a shout it’s as if she thinks she has laid.

It’s very odd. Spangle is a lovely, quirky, girl.

Ebony went broody three days ago. Marmite has been broody for three weeks and Smoke has been broody for four weeks. I think Smoke is beginning to come out of it as she is staying out for longer when I get her out for a break.

Having three broody girls is clogging up the nest boxes when the other girls want to lay their egg, even with Marmite and Smoke, sharing a nest box. Yesterday Ebony was in one nest box while Marmite and Smoke were sharing the nest box next door. Jasmine and Spangle both wanted to lay their egg but these two girls won’t share.

Jasmine and Spangle were doing a lot of shouting as they both wanted the third nest box. Jasmine finally took possession of it.

Spangle settled on top of the nest box next to the store cabinet. When I have moved the nest boxes out to sweep behind them I have twice found a broken egg behind this nest box. I think this is due to Spangle laying there and the egg rolls down the back of the nest box. Spangle likes to be higher up to lay her egg and in the past had laid an egg on top of the store cabinet. I have left it blocked up ever since.

I decided to try to resolve this issue yesterday by giving Spangle a crisp box as a temporary nest box. I put it on top of the nest box and Spangle happily settled in to it.

Broody Ebony

Broody Marmite and Smoke

Jasmine in the third nest box

Crisp box nest box

Spangle in the crisp box

I realised when I took this photo that there wasn’t enough height for Spangles tail. Spangle has the biggest tail of the little girls. I have used a crisp box successfully in the past but now realise that I must have turned it sideways to give more height.

Spangle looked so settled that I didn’t have the heart to move her. She only lays an egg once a week or once every two weeks and has false alarms in between so I was certain that she wouldn’t lay anyway.

True to form Spangle came out of the crisp box giving the egg shout but when I checked there was no egg. I am used to this with Spangle. Jasmine laid the only egg of the day. I put the crisp box in the shed for next time it is needed.

We collected Vanilla along with the other four amigos last August.

Vanilla in February this year

Having only had Vanilla for a year, what she will be most remembered for, was her relationship with Flame. Twice this year Vanilla played the part of chick to Flame. It happened when they both went broody at the same time. The first time was in April this year. I took these photos when I had closed the nest boxes to try to break them out of this behaviour.

Vanilla posing as a needy chick in front of Flame

Vanilla pushes herself underneath Flame

Mother and chick behaviour

I didn’t think this would be likely to happen again but in August this year it did. We were also experiencing a heat wave and I had poured water over the patio area to cool it down. Again I had closed the nest boxes to try to break this behaviour which wasn’t ideal in a heat wave.

Flame and Vanilla do this again

Vanilla and Flame together in the shed

At bedtime this was how I found them. I had never come across this behaviour before and it was even more surprising that it happened twice.

I found this behaviour frustrating at the time but now that I look back at the photographs I can see that they looked very cute together.

Vanilla may have only been with us for a year but this is what she will always be remembered for. She had a very unique relationship with Flame. Vanilla had a good year with us. She was our best serama egg layer.

This morning when I went out to the chooks Vanilla was missing as well as the two broody girls. I assumed that she would be laying an early egg. I checked the nest boxes for the broodies and then checked the chicken shed.

Vanilla was dead in front of her roost spot. We have only had Vanilla for a year just like Apricot last year. She is our fourth girl to go at home and we buried her in the chickens’ strip next to the other girls.

I realised that the chickens’ strip had got rather overgrown

I have cleared the strip and we buried Vanilla here

I have planted some fox glove seedlings over her

My husband made a fourth cross for Vanilla.

Tomorrow I will do a tribute to Vanilla when I have collected together some photographs of her. It is so sad to lose these little girls after such a short time but I console myself with knowing that she had a good year with us.

The two broody girls continue even though it’s now been two and a half weeks for Marmite and three and a half weeks for Smoke. When Ebony wants to lay her egg the broody girls share the nest box next door.

This morning Flame also wanted to lay her egg. Despite the third nest box being empty Flame decided to share with Ebony.

The two bigger girls share a nest box

The two broody girls share a nest box

Four girls share two nest boxes

The third nest box is empty but it is quite cute to see the girls sharing.

The leek seed heads on our veg plot have been dramatic all summer. They have now come to their end so my husband decided to cut them down and put them in our enamel jug in the kitchen and see what they do.

I arranged them and took a photo but the corner of the kitchen was a bit dark so I photographed them on the table by the back door to show them off properly.

A jug of leek seed heads

In the kitchen

A bit later my husband visited the allotment and bought me back some wild flowers.

Another jug of wild flowers from the allotment

And some poppies

The poppies are so fragile that I put them in a separate little vase. The flowers are so pretty and provide such a lovely splash of colour.

We have a thriving, breeding, colony of slow worms in our garden. This summer we have seen them in all different sizes. We have seen small ones, medium ones and really big, fully grown ones.

This morning I opened the back door and there was a tiny, baby, slow worm.

Baby slow worm

I took a photograph and then slid it onto a piece of paper and moved it to a flower bed. I thought it was a bit vulnerable out in the open. It is a joy to see these little critters every summer.

Our garden is full of bees. We have something in flower nearly every month of the year so there is always something to attract the bees. At the moment it is the sedums that are busy with bees.

It is difficult to get a photo that shows how many bees because they are so small and so busy but there are dozens of bees on each sedum.

Bees on the sedum

There are four bees in this shot.

Close up of the bees

I love to see the bees busy in the garden.

Our friends and allotment sharers (who live opposite us) have been on holiday for two weeks. For the first week they went abroad and then a day back home and then off to the lake district in their camper van.

We were in charge of watering their pot plants although the first week we saved them from drowning and the second week we watered them.

They invited us over for a drink with them on their day home before setting off again. They gave us a sweet little gift of a bottle stopper.

A holiday gift, it’s so pretty

On the day they got back the second time my husband collected some more wild flowers in his water bottle and took them over to them to welcome them home. My flowers are still going strong so my husband will pick some more for me when they begin to fade.

More allotment wild flowers

My husband is rather good at making these little wild flower arrangements.