Carol's Chickens

When work begins on our path the builders are going to start at the top by the chicken run and work their way down to the front drive.

The bricks from my chicken strip will need to be removed and the path may be a bit wider here. The chard was looking really shabby as I have picked it death but the dandelions are so robust that they stay good however much they are picked.

I decided to pull up all the chard and give it to the girls and replant the front dandelions to create a single row leaving plenty of space for the builders to work.

The chard looks pretty sad

The chicken’s strip is now just a single row of healthy dandelions

Barley and Butterscotch are first to the chard

Speckles and Emerald join them

They are joined by Toffee

Peaches and Barley are enjoying the chard

An hour later there were only the roots left.

Elsewhere we have pinned back the planting

More plants tied back

We expect to have some damage to the plants but they will soon recover, however if we can save some of the planting it’s worth a try. We can’t wait to get this done now. Work will be starting very soon.

When we moved here nine years ago there wasn’t much in the garden. There was the concrete garden path which zigzags up the garden. It was rather ugly but practical. It would have cost money we didn’t have to change it so we just lived with it and we liked the fact that it zigzagged as it gave the garden it’s basic shape.

There were a few large shrubs which we still have today and the rest was a sloping lawn. Bit by bit we took the lawn out and planted the garden. We had our cabin put in to work from and then the patio area behind it and later in front of it too.

As time went by we added the chicken run and last year a new garden shed and new chicken shed at the top. The garden is now lovely but the once practical concrete path has cracked and become more and more unstable. It is no longer practical and is even more ugly.

At last we feel it is time to change the path. It is the last job on the house and garden that needs doing and we feel that the time is right while we are still earning.

Last year we got a quote but decided it was too expensive. We put off doing the path for another year. This year we have got another quote and it is a better one than last year. It’s time to get this job done.

Our garden path

It’s cracking up

Parts of it are like crazy paving

Even the steps are cracked

I thought I would take some before and after photos so this is the path before work begins.

The steps have wooden edges

We are going to have Indian stone on the path and brick instead of the wood on the steps. We will have block paving for the edges instead of the wood at the sides.

The path by the front door

We will have the block paving to edge the front too instead these concrete edges.

Front steps

The steps will be paved and have brick in between.

Front wall

We are going to have the top layer of bricks removed from this wall and the grey engineering bricks on top like the ones on the right hand side of the photo. This will really smarten this up.

Edge of front steps

The grey engineering bricks will top the edge of the steps too.

The path going up the garden

The steps beyond the veg plot

The path up to the top of the garden

The paving stones will go up to the wall but have the edging stones on the left.

Steps up to the top patio

It will continue to the top patio. The reason we haven’t had this done before now is that it is such a long stretch from the top of the garden all the way down to the front drive.

It will look amazing when it’s done and at last we will have a path to be proud of. It will be the finishing touch to the garden and will be safe to stand on without  rocking. We can’t wait to see it finished. Work will be starting soon.

I have charted the progress of the path day by day but if you want to skip to the finished path click here

I wanted to give this post a positive title rather than a negative title because happily I feel completely in control of red mite at this stage of chicken keeping.

I didn’t really want to write this post because I have dealt with red mite before and been through the highs and lows of it all and didn’t want to go on about it again but during a recent visit my son Steve, a former chicken keeper, said that he felt I should do a blog post because it could help other chicken keepers. He said even if it just showed that any one with red mite isn’t doing anything wrong, it is a part of chicken keeping that will rear its ugly head at some stage.

When we had a conventional wooden coop we had the dreaded infestation of red mite after the first couple of years. I did all the things advised to get rid of it. I battled long and hard with it and eventually got it under control. In fact I thought that I got rid of it, even though I had read that you never really get rid of it, you just keep it under control.

Last year we changed over to the chicken shed. When we broke up the old coop to dispose of it we realised that there were still red mite in the overlapping panels which we couldn’t reach with treatments. We realised we would never have eradicated it from the old coop.

I had hoped that the new shed wouldn’t get red mite. Steve visited to see the new shed and said that there was no reason that the new shed wouldn’t get red mite too. I had to admit that I had spotted some straight away. Not so surprising really as we as we used some bits from the old coop in the new shed. We used the same perches and the automatic door. They could have been transported from these items or from the girls themselves.

From the very start with the new shed I checked every morning and any red mite I saw were squashed. I then scrubbed the perches with soapy water and dried them with kitchen towel.

Luckily they have only ever appeared on the perches and I have never found them anywhere else. They must need to be close to the girls, which was anywhere in the small coop, but in the chicken shed is just on the perches. There are not many places to hide but I did notice that they gathered around the wooden brackets which supported the perches. We removed the wooden brackets and replaced them with metal brackets a few months ago.

New metal brackets for the perches

We sealed the brackets with silicon and also the joins in the shed corners. Still each day I would find them around the brackets. They were pin prick sized so probably newly hatched and only needed a pin prick sized hole to hide in.

I smeared vaseline around the brackets and on the ends of the perches. This really helped and caught any that were on the brackets and stopped them from being able to hide behind the brackets. Then I had my best light bulb moment. Instead of cleaning the perches with soapy water and drying them I bought some wet wipes and now keep them in the chicken store cabinet. Every morning when I poop pick the chicken shed I then use the wet wipes to clean the perches. I rub the perches all round and this gets rid of any red mite and the blood from them and also any mud from the chicken’s feet or poop or general dust and dirt.

It is quick and easy and means the perches are not wet. I also use them to clean the walls of the shed without making them wet. The perches are now clean all the time and the mites have dropped in numbers from finding twenty to fifty at worst (in this shed) to finding ten, then single numbers until now when I am finding three or four.

This is why I say that I have it under control. I am now finding such a small number that anyone not as well tuned to looking for them as I am would think that they had gone. I check the perches three times a day but only find a few in the mornings and they are really tiny. I will continue to clean the perches every morning with the wet wipes as it only takes a few minutes and I feel this is really getting rid of the mites and is keeping the numbers down to next to nothing.

When I clean out the chicken shed I always hoover every surface in the shed to get rid of dust and cob webs.

Henry goes in to clean the shed

The girls carry out an inspection

Emerald joins them to make sure it’s up to standard

Speckles is first to inspect the new shavings

The girls are inspecting

Toffee joins them

Butterscotch is otherwise engaged

After a long post about the tedium of red mite I thought that the girls “helping me” clean out the chicken shed would be a bit of light relief. I am happy that I have red mite under control and the wet wipes make keeping the perches clean really easy. This is one of the best ideas that has occurred to me recently so if it helps anyone else that is a good job done. I am all for finding easier ways to clean and keep the dreaded red mite at bay.

The girls love chilling in the sun together and I love the way they stretch out their wings in the sun. Emerald, while moulting, prefers to sit in the shade and is as usual on the other side of the wire and Butterscotch is in the nest box being broody.

Sun bathing

A heap of sun bathing chickens

Wings soaking up the rays

This sight never ceases to make me smile.

I am just realising how many different roses we have in our garden. This is a rose that was in the garden when we moved in but it was hidden behind the shrubs.

We pruned back the shrubs to allow the rose to be seen and it has grown a lot in the years that we have been here. It has tiny blooms but is another rose, that like the standard rose, flowers right up until the first frosts.

There is actually more of this rose spilling over into our next door neighbour’s garden than in our own garden but they are happy to enjoy it too.

This rose has lots of small, pale pink, blooms

It rambles amongst the shrubs and up into the twisted willow tree

It has bountiful clusters of blooms

It has the tiniest blooms of all our roses but it is very pretty and long lasting.

Emerald has been going through a tough moult but she is now coming out the other side. She is still dropping feathers but many more have grown back in and she looks almost back to normal.

At her worst her face was so pale that it was white but now her face and comb are pink again.

Emerald three weeks ago

Looking really shabby

Emerald today

Her face is pink again

Her tiny comb is pink

Other news is that as suspected Butterscotch has gone broody again. The most disappointing thing is that she appears to have lost some of  her head feathers already and it is only day one.

Broody again and missing head feathers

I caught Barley sat in the nest box with her and chased her out. I wonder if she goes in with her to pull her head feathers out. I don’t understand why this happens every time she goes broody. I haven’t seen Barley touch her head feathers while she hasn’t been broody and yet as soon as she goes broody it starts up again.

I did say that things were going too smoothly lately. I feel so frustrated that Butterscotch’s constant broody spells keep setting her feathers back again. If this is the worse problem we have it’s not the end of the world but it sure does frustrate me!

Butterscotch is looking good. She is nearly fully feathered at last. She has now been laying over a seventeen day period (twelve eggs) so will probably go broody again soon. I just hope that doesn’t mean she will start moulting again. It would be so good if this time she would keep her feathers. She has been moulting on and off for a year now.

Butterscotch is looking good

She is even getting her crest back

The back of her head is filling in

Fluffy bottom

I just couldn’t resist adding this photo. Butterscotch has the fluffiest bottom of all our girls.

Butterscotch takes a dust bath

It is so good to see her with feathers again and if it were any other girl I would know at this point that the feathers would be there to stay but with Butterscotch I can’t be sure. Last time she was this well feathered she then went broody and moulted them back out again. I do wonder how many times they can grow back in one year.

I have never before come across a girl who in the same year drops her feathers, grows them back in then drops them again and grows them back in once more. Please Butterscotch, can you keep them this time!

A few years ago I took up hula hooping as a form of exercise. I graduated from a light beginners hoop to a heavy exercise hoop. After a while I fell by the wayside. I found it tedious to hula hoop for ten minutes at a time. Ten minutes can seem a long time with nothing to occupy the mind.

Also it took up quite a bit of space and once I had put it away in the cupboard I couldn’t be bothered to get it out again. Then when I hadn’t done it for ages and got it out to try again it bruised me around my hips. This was because I went straight back to the heavy hoop and the bruises then put me off once more as it was too uncomfortable.

Recently we haven’t had much time to go for walks like we used to and on the odd weekends when we have had time it has been raining and I was beginning to feel the need for a different kind of exercise.

I thought of the hula hoop again. It needed a different approach. This time I decided to stick with the light hoop (for now anyway). I tried to think of a place that I could store it where it would be easy to pick up at anytime. I hit on the idea of hanging it under the patio umbrella. I used a meat hook, of which we have many, for hanging kitchen utensils in our cabin.

I decided that any time I went into the garden and had a few minutes to spare I would hula hoop. I would just do a few minutes at a time so that it wouldn’t be tedious. As it was easily to hand I could do a few minutes several times a day. Anything must be better than nothing at all. Suddenly it became fun again.

I could grab the hoop each time I went into the garden and just do a few minutes. It’s making me feel better as I am getting exercise without it taking up much time but it’s much more regular. Any exercise must be better than none at all and it is making me feel better about myself.

My hula hoop now hangs here

I hula hoop four or five times a day

To my right

To my left

And right again

Now I am enjoying it again and it seems the easiest and quickest exercise possible. Also it moves the middle, which lets face it, is the bit we all want to target the most.

I am really pleased with the simple idea of hanging my hoop from the patio umbrella which has suddenly made it so accessible and therefore so easy to do. A very small, light bulb moment, has made me feel good and that in itself is a good thing.

Yesterday afternoon the girls were snoozing together in the sun.

The girls are dosing together in the sun

Except for Butterscotch who is trying to get her egg laid

And Peaches who is pecking around on the patio

All is very calm and chilled in the chicken run at the moment. I hope I am not tempting fate!

I was going to update on the rest of the garden roses when they reached their peak but got too busy and now they are just going past their best.

I decided to do this post before they went over completely, starting from the arches and working my way up to the chicken run.

Rose over the arches

We have now trimmed off the long branch on the left of the photo as it was spoiling the shape.

Close up

This was once a standard rose

This rose was a gift for my fiftieth birthday (six years ago) and was originally a standard but we have let it get a bit wilder. I quite like the more natural look but we have actually pruned it already this year as it was getting a bit out of hand. This rose continues to flower until the first frosts usually in October or November.

The rose next to the chicken run

This rose gets huge

A bit closer

Close up

My husband has been tying this rose back today as it takes over but it is really thorny and doing anything with it is a painful job. It was one of the few things already in this garden when we moved in nine years ago and it does make a good screen from the neighbours.

I have never had many roses in previous gardens but roses seem to like this garden. In fact this garden has more roses than any other garden we have ever had so I thought that I should celebrate them.