Today was a lovely sunny day and very warm for March. My husband dug over the veg plot and dug in the girls matured manure. He then netted half of it to keep the cats off but only had enough net for half. We will get some more net as soon as possible to do the other half. We are fed up with the neighbourhood cats using the veg plot as a toilet!
The veg plot is ready for planting
While digging the veg plot my husband gave the girls any worms he found so they had a good time. I then dug over the girl’s run which not only turned up a few more worms but they just love scratching and pecking in the freshly turned soil.
I have dug over the run for the girls
They love to scratch
And peck
Dotty has learned a new trick. The girls have stripped the hypericum of all the leaves they can reach. They would jump up and grab what they could so the level without green went from neck stretching level to jumping up level.
The bottom half of the hypericum has been stripped
Dotty has now found a new way to reach more leaves. Dotty is the only one of the big girls that can jump from the ground to my shoulder and she does this every morning when I walk through the gate. Pepper and Bluebell are too heavy for this big a jump and jump on my back or shoulder if I stoop or bend down.
Dotty has now found that if she jumps up into the hypericum bush and then bounces up and down on a branch, she can snap it off. Once on the ground the girls rush over to strip the leaves.
I worry she might hurt herself and it’s not exactly doing the bush much good either. I wouldn’t mind but I give the girls greens every day.
She has bought down a few of the bigger but dead branches and every morning when I go in there are stripped twigs on the ground so I know she has been at it again. Who says chickens are stupid!
Today Amber is completely back to normal after her soft shelled egg yesterday. I am going to continue to give crushed egg shell every morning in their mash or treats until Amber is laying normally again.
The one thing that gives me hope is that last summer she also laid two soft shelled eggs then normal for a while then another soft shell then normal from then on. I hope this pattern is just repeating and now that she has once again laid two soft shelled eggs then normal then another soft shelled egg that she will now continue to lay normally. I won’t know until her next egg but I am really hoping that this may pass now as it did before.
The girls have all enjoyed the sun and the extra worms today.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Awe, such happy chickens. I turned the compost this weekend and put a big shovel full around a bunch of plants. And then girls helped me spread it around. Honey found the biggest grub I think I’ve ever seen. She ran around with it for quite a while before chocking it down. So good times were had by all.
Mine do that too. One will get a big worm and run round the run with it while the others chase her. I always think it gives them exercise at the same time.
I also dump a pile of earth in the middle of the run and they love to scratch in it and spread it around.
We had a dig about as well but as you can guess Bluebell went and hid ..Silly girl!
Shadow did not quite get the hang of it but she is getting there .Clover used to be first at the worms but I think she is getting on a bit and Bonnie is beating her to it .It would be nice to have dry soil though as ours is thick clay and still water logged.
The gardens here have a lot of clay but we were lucky in that when we moved in the previous people had added a lot of top soil and really improved the soil. We have continued to add compost and it’s got better and better. It is so nice now that the run is dry at last and I have opened up the roof panels in the run.
As soon as I go in with a fork the girls crowd round me. Dotty and Pepper are fastest though and get the lions share of worms.