Spring chicks!

OK, this isn't a photo of spring chicks.  I've tried to insert it in the appropriate place in the story, but it insists on popping up here. Sorry.  Do read on for explanation!

This is where the blog begins.  They're here.  Hurrah!!!

The robin eggs have hatched.  We discovered them around 5pm on Friday 30th March.  We've only seen 3 that we dare look at, as being very careful not to disturb by our presence!  The parent bird (seems alarmingly solitary, but then all robins look the same don't they? or is that 'robinist'?) still sits on them quite a long time in between feeds, but 2 days since hatch-day and there's still a parent and still chicks (not sure how many).  Photographs that I've tried to take so far haven't come out, as chicks still low down in the nest, and the nest is positioned so as to be very protected under the shelf.

When we get piccys I''ll let you know!

On another bird front, my hens have a new hen house.  I'd been getting fed-up with the ark. It was 5 yrs old, and although still sound/solid, had a few leaks here and there that this winter I covered up with a tarpaulin.  This made cleaning the hen house a bind, but kept the birds dry.  I was also worried about mites for the coming season, and the house was too big as it was designed for 6-8 birds, and I only ever intended to keep 3-4. (The hen-house was a house-warming present from my dad when we moved here - thanks Dad!).

So I'd done a little research on 'tinternet, and instead of a fashionable 'egglu' from 'omlet', I found a couple of suppliers of recycled plastic housing.  One in particular took my fancy as they were established to help farmers recycle their plastics, so there's a rural theme going there.  I've plumped for a maxi hen loft from Solway Recycling.  Downside was they're in Scotland, so the eco value of recycling is lost  somewhat in the transportation impact.

Anyhow, the house arrived safely last Monday, and I locked up the old house and strawed the nesting boxes and laid newspaper and wood-shavings for the roosting area.  Perfect. The size is just right, and the plastic is more portable (hope it doesn't encourage thieves...) so easier for me to move around and clean out.  However, you can lead a hen to the hen-house, but you can't make it roost.   It took 3 nights of me chasing the hens around the old house, catching them, and thrusting the into new abode before they 'got it'.

What to do with the old house?  Well there's the beauty of 'freecycle'.  I advertised it in as honest a fashion as possible, and had 5 potential takers.  The first turned out to be a time-waster, but the second was delighted and managed to arrange collection the next day.  This was a bit of a pallaver, as     we needed to lift the 6ft x 4ft x 4ft ark over the wire fencing surrounding the hen's enclosure and then over the post and rail fence at the end of the garden, and finally, onto the roofbars of the volvo estate.  See start of this blog!

The old and the new hen houses!

Better go now, getting dark outside, and another frost likely.  The last week's unseasonally warm weather has brought the forsythia out quite gloriously, the colour contrast with the skies this week has been very eye-catching...

So a new month, and my new hours at the library start tomorrow - next 6 months will see me at the library Mon 2-7; Tues 10-12 & 2-5; Thur 2-5; Fri 2-5 and Sat 9.30-12.30. This will be interesting as we start Easter school holidays as well.  I may well be worn out next blog. Think kindly of me if I make too many mistakes!

Thanks for reading,  enjoy the spring, enjoy the weather, enjoy the holidays, enjoy life and keep it sweet. :)  Kat