Carol's Chickens

I have done a lot of jigsaw puzzles since the beginning of lock-down. Some I have really enjoyed and found quite addictive. Some have been really difficult and I struggled but didn’t give up. These were the ones with lots of sea or sky or both. I had to sort the puzzle pieces by shape rather than colour. They were lent to us so not of our choosing.

The best ones have lots of detail and colour and sometimes I can’t resist fitting a piece each time I pass by. A jigsaw usually takes me between one and two weeks to complete.

Having run out of jigsaws I bought two when our local charity shop opened up again and have been saving them for when the weather isn’t good enough to be outside.

I have now learned a lesson about choosing jigsaws. Don’t choose jigsaws that are of paintings. They need to be either photographs or drawings such as the humorous cartoon ones we did earlier in the year.

For the first time I have had to give up on a jigsaw and I don’t give up easily. This one was out on the table for two weeks and I just couldn’t get going anywhere with it.

I thought it was pretty. I realise now that it is so hard to do because it is so fuzzy. I completed the outside on the first day and after two weeks The few bits inside were all I managed to fit together. I just could not get started anywhere and had to admit defeat and put it back in the box.

I have now started the jigsaw that I bought at the same time as this one. Unfortunately it is also of a painting. It isn’t as fuzzy as this one but it still has a lot of subtle changes in colour and has no hard lines.

I have been doing it for three days and after starting quite well I have now ground to a halt. I feel I probably could complete it but I am not sure that I want to.

I will leave it on the table for a few more days but if I can’t get going with it I will give up again. Jigsaws should be fun and enjoyable not an endurance test.

I will never ever buy a jigsaw of a painting again. It has been a lesson learned.

Although all of the girls mix happily together they can often be found in three separate groups.

The original four seramas like to congregate on top of the wooden shelter. They can often be found there either having a group preening session or just hanging out.

The chicks can be found anywhere in the run perching together but quite often are inside the wooden shelter.

The three bigger girl’s favourite place to perch together is the branch perch above the ladder.

Yesterday the four seramas were again on top of the wooden shelter while the chicks were inside the shelter just below them.

I just missed the three bigger girls on the branch perch as after I had taken the first couple of photos they jumped down to see what I was doing. There is always the possibility of treats!

Sometimes Shadow and Sugar use the perch in the shelter and sometimes they like to use the plank at the back. Either way they seem to really like the shelter. They are such a sweet pair.

Shadow and sugar love to perch and they have managed to find every single perch in the chicken run. The least used perch is the branch perch behind the hatch. The other two branch perches have the ladders leading up to them.

However the chicks have even found this perch.

After I had taken the photos of the chicks perching Speckles posed for me on top of the small shelter.

Speckles was the first of the girls to moult and she is now the only one looking pristine and with a full tail. Salmon still looks a bit tatty and Spangle has only one remaining tail feather.

It will be good to get all the girls completely feathered up before winter.

There is now the colour of autumn in the garden as well as the chill in the air and the shortening of the days.

Shadow and Sugar continue to be a tight pair. They have settled in really well and now mingle with the rest of the flock more than they used to. They have also come to enjoy all the treats.

I am very happy with the way these two lovely girls have fitted right in with the flock.

Before lock-down happened we were slowing down towards eventual retirement.

Fairly soon into lock-down we made the decision that we wouldn’t resume corporate lunches but would just continue with afternoon teas and vintage crockery hire once things returned to normal if they ever do!

Then a couple of months ago my lovely husband was diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration of the eyes. At this point he decided that he wouldn’t return to doing afternoon teas either but maybe we would just do the vintage crockery hire.

Another month later at his monthly check up his eyes had worsened and he had to have the first of three monthly injections in his eye. At this point we made the decision that we would be fully retired.

The positive thing is that he won’t go completely blind as he will still retain peripheral vision. The condition means a loss of the central vision. There is a dry type and wet type. The wet is caused by blood vessels leaking and can cause lasting damage. The injection turns it back to the dry type. There is nothing else that can be done.

It can worsen slowly or quickly and the scary thing is that it has been quick. This has been a shock.

My lovely eldest son is helping us with ways to move forward. He has ordered us both a new phone so that we can learn to use it together and eventually learn to voice activate it. He has sent us a Google Home which is voice activated and a Google Chromecast which will connect to the television and we will get a bigger television eventually.

We are lucky that we don’t have to worry about money. Our mortgage is paid. Because of his age my husband has his pension, he is eight years older than me, but I won’t get mine for another six years however we are now spending much less because of the current situation.

I sold most of our catering equipment on eBay before lock-down. I then put it on hold. Now that I have run out of stock my eldest son suggested I look for free stuff on Facebook Market Place. I have picked up three free lots and am selling the items on eBay. This has become my job now. I will also sell the vintage crockery but I can’t bring myself to do that just yet as it is too sad.

This has been a difficult time of adjustment for us. I feel that as I have my small group of regular followers who I consider friends that it would be good to be honest and explain our current situation. We are trying to stay positive.

Sugar and Shadow are growing up so quickly and their feathering is changing slightly. Sugar has some very fine, biscuit colour brown, in amongst her white feathers now. That’s okay as she can be white sugar with a sprinkle of brown sugar.

Shadow has the grey in more of a patch pattern than a block pattern. Both girls are very pretty. It’s difficult to show the brown among the white on Sugar’s feathers as her white colour gives off a glare in the light but I managed to get some close ups while the pair were perching.

They are such an adorable pair of girls.

Three weeks ago I put our chillies on a rack to dry out. This was the photo of them back then.

To my surprise they have changed colour. This is the photo of the chillies today.

I think they look quite beautiful. As they can be used as they are or ground to a powder I am going to leave them longer to see if they dry out some more.

An update on our pickles. The gherkins which we pickled in a mixture of brine and vinegar have turned out really well and are very similar to shop bought ones.

The runner beans have been a work in progress. I cheated and used pickling vinegar for them which can be used cold and so seemed a more simple method. When we tried them about three weeks later they were lovely and crunchy but so sour and acidic that we just couldn’t eat them.

I will never use pickling vinegar again. I googled and followed instructions for if your product is too sour. I drained off the vinegar and added quite a good amount of sugar and left it for a few days to dissolve. I then added it back to the beans and we tried them. They were still so sour that they were inedible.

Next I drained them again and poured over them the vinegar from a used jar of pickled onions. I thought that this would mean that the vinegar would be right.

The only thing is, that now, the beans taste just like pickled onions. They have the same crunch and with your eyes closed you wouldn’t know you were not eating a pickled onion.

It isn’t really what I would call a success as I am not sure of the benefit of beans that taste like pickled onions but I guess it has been a learning curve. Drying chillies and pickling are a first for us so it’s all experimental really.

I have learned a few lessons about vinegar and I think that is the part that we need to get right. It’s a shame about the beans as we have two jars of them and I think they will take a very long time for us to eat. There again there was such an abundance of beans that it wouldn’t really matter if we didn’t eat them

The chicks have been so fast to learn. I had decided not to help them to perch at bedtime. I thought that there was no rush to move them on to the next stage. They would have to run the risk of being pecked by the other girls and I felt they would stay warm in the shavings.

However the chicks had other ideas. It has only been nine days since I put the flock together and by the fourth night the chicks had learned to go in the chicken shed by themselves.

Only three days later I was surprised on checking them at bedtime to find that the chicks were perched next to Marmite. They have perched next to Marmite for the last three nights and I haven’t seen any pecking which is really good.

For some reason the flash on my camera doesn’t seem to be working properly so the photos are not great but it gives the gist.

Smoke is always at the opposite end of the perch. I think the other girls stay away from her as she pecks. Speckles is sometimes in the corner at the back as she is here and sometimes in the corner with Ebony and Flame on the side perch.

The girls have been in this same order for the last three nights. I am so pleased at how well the chicks are doing. I was surprised they had started perching at bedtime without my help but these two girls like to perch.

During the day they have found all the perches in the run and can often be found perched together in various spots. Well done girls!

The chicks are really growing up and learning new things every day. They have now learned to dust bath in the soil rather than the pine shavings.

One of the chicks favourite spots to chill is the big wooden shelter. Sometimes they sit side by side on the perch and sometimes on the platform at the back.

They look so cute sitting in here. This pair are totally inseparable.

The chicks are growing up fast. They have now explored the entire run and have discovered both ladders and the branch perches above the ladders.

They also spend time in the big wooden shelter and have found both the perches and the platform behind the perches.

After four nights of me showing them into the chicken shed they started finding their own way in. They are pretty quick to catch on.

They have also learned that they can jump on me. Sugar was the first to jump to my arm then down again then on to my shoulder and down again then on to my back. Shadow not to be outdone also jumped to my back.

Unlike the other girls when I tried to tip them off onto the nest box they wouldn’t budge. I ended up putting my fingers in front of their feet and one at a time they perched on my fingers and I lowered them down.

A few days later when I was crouched down Sugar jumped on to my head. She jumped down again on her own. This is so funny and sweet but we have yet to get a photo.

Only Ebony and Flame are still laying and they are laying less often so both food dishes now have growers pellets in which I crush a bit to make them smaller for the chicks.

Smoke has gone broody once more after eight eggs in twelve days. I am happy to leave her to it as there are only growers pellets on offer at the moment.

Seramas are supposed to moult a bit at a time but Salmon is moulting quite heavily. She is dropping feathers all around the run and in the chicken shed. She has dropped a few tail feathers. She does have pins on her head already and I am hoping that she will be feathered up before the weather gets colder.

We have had Shadow and Sugar three weeks tomorrow and they have settled in really well. They are very adventurous and quick to learn and totally at ease with me which is lovely. We have a very happy and settled flock.