Carol's Chickens

We are getting to know our car and so far we are very pleased with her. A few friends and neighbours have  been round to admire her. Yesterday my youngest son and his fiancee visited to have a look at her and we gave them a spin in her.

Us girls took the back seat and it was really roomy and comfortable and was a very smooth ride.

For insurance purposes we had to provide photos including right side, left side, front, back, interior, milometer and engine. So I thought I would show some more shots of her.

We have renamed her Febe

Her previous owner named her Connie. I have always liked to try to name our vehicles from the letters on the number plate so she has now become Febe (pheobe). I think it really suits her.

Milometer

Engine

This is the engine after my lovely husband spent some time cleaning it. The car is serving it’s purpose of giving my husband a bit of a hobby as well as being a vehicle for us to have fun in.

We have also joined the morris traveller club so we are really getting into the whole spirit of it. It has given us a whole new interest and I feel we are going to have good times ahead with Febe.

I know that I have done a few posts about eggs recently but I am still amazed by our eggs and couldn’t resist another one.

I am amazed that Ebony and Flame are still laying so late into October. Dandelion continues to lay her tiny eggs and Cinnamon has just laid again after a two and a half week break. I am amazed at the size of this egg. Cinnamon always lays quite big eggs for her tiny size but this one was bigger than usual, maybe because it’s the first, after a break.

The latest eggs

They were all laid on the same day so there was no doubt who the eggs were from. On the left is Flame’s white egg, next is Ebony’s egg, next is Cinnamon’s egg which isn’t that much smaller than Ebony’s egg and on the right is Dandelion’s little egg.

I am amazed at the difference in size of the little girls’ eggs especially as Cinnamon is smaller than Dandelion.

We are still getting a plentiful supply of eggs from these four girls and can eat as many egg based meals as we like without running short. I can only imagine how many eggs we will be getting next year when all twelve girls are laying. We will be able to give some to friends and family once more.

We have our car and we are thrilled with it. It is two weeks since we looked at it because of both us being busy and then the sellers being away. We found ourselves with an unusual day off yesterday as we both had no lunch deliveries. We contacted the owners of the car and they were okay with us going to collect it at half past one yesterday.

The lady that owned her was sad to see her go but also glad that we had contacted her to collect at short notice so that she didn’t have time to dwell on the car going. She had owned and looked after the car for ten years but felt that as she was no longer driving her regularly it was time to let her go.

We took my van so that my lovely husband could drive her home while I followed in my van. He was both excited and nervous of driving her for the first time on an hours journey home but it went perfectly.

Once home my husband took me for a spin in her and we filled her with petrol. We then parked her on the drive with my van behind and were pleased to find that both vehicles fitted with a good six inches to spare behind my van. It is unfortunate that we have to have the large bin on our drive too but we need it for our business.

Our, new to us, car

I photographed it at the owners property as there was more space than there would be on our drive.

Morris traveller

And here she is on our drive

We are going to buy a waterproof, breathable, cover for her but it is forecast to be dry and sunny for the next week so we have time to sort that out.

We feel sure that we will have a lot of fun with this car. After twenty years of driving vans we now have a car for ourselves and for pleasure instead of mostly for work. We intend to drive her and enjoy her and look after her as best we can.

I love seeing our flock all together. When I started my chicken keeping journey I thought that I would be happy with just three girls. Over the years it changed into extending the run and extending the flock.

I now love having a flock of twelve and can’t imagine having just a few girls. I especially love those moments when they all come together.

Last night I thought that I would try to capture this when giving out the bedtime corn. As I go up to the run I always talk to the girls and the entire flock run to the bottom end of the  run to greet me. As I walk past the side of the run the girls follow me up.

I go through the gate and the girls crowd around my feet on the patio area. I have to be very careful where I place my feet as I try to move through the girls to the cabinet for the corn.

I usually scatter the corn out into the run so that all the girls can get a share but last night I sprinkled a little on the patio area and quickly snapped a few photos.

Our flock

It’s difficult to get all the girls in shot and Ebony is only just in the foreground.

Having some bedtime corn

What a colourful little crowd the flock is. I scattered their corn into the run and they quickly hoovered it up. They then spend some time scratching to make sure that they haven’t missed a bit. I love to see them like this.

Dandelion’s latest eggs seem to get tinier and tinier. I am not complaining though. I would much rather she lays tiny eggs and remain looking happy and healthy.

Dandelion’s latest two eggs and on the left one of Flame’s

I used a fifty pence piece to give a size comparison.

In my hand

They are such sweet little eggs.

Fried eggs

We eat them alongside Ebony and Flame’s eggs. Don’t they look cute in the frying pan!

Last night the silky girls managed to join the bigger girls at bedtime. I think as it is getting colder they don’t want to perch on their own. Last winter all the little girls joined the bigger girls on the back perch for the duration of winter.

The line up was a bit different then due to changes in the flock. This is the first winter for the silky girls and the amigos. I think the five amigos are a large enough number to keep each other warm.

Last year on the back perch were Emerald, Speckles, Rusty, Freckles, Dandelion, Cinnamon and Apricot.

This year we have Speckles, Ebony, Flame, Dandelion, Cinnamon, Sienna and Jasmine. It’s the same number but different girls due to losses and new arrivals.

The line up at the back

I notice that Dandelion has still managed to perch as far away from the silky girls as possible whilst Cinnamon is in between them.

The five amigos

I have also noticed that is always Spangle who ends up with the outside position.

With two bigger groups perching together I am happy that they will all keep each other warm. I think they have it all nicely sorted out before winter arrives.

This plant has been in bud for three months from tight buds to almost all open. It’s been unbelievably slow.

Starting to open

These were the buds after two months.

Almost all open

These are the flowers after three months.

As open as I think it will get

I have forgotten what this is. We chose it for a bit of height and didn’t realise it would take so long to flower but late summer colour is always welcome. It has quite a delicate look about it.

Last night when I checked the girls at bedtime Cinnamon had joined Dandelion with the bigger girls.

The silky girls

Cinnamon joins Dandelion with the bigger girls

Ebony and Cinnamon appear to be wondering what on earth Flame is doing!

The five amigos

I sometimes wonder why the silky girls are not so popular, but in fact, they don’t get bullied or chased and they are at ease within the flock it’s just that they are not favoured. It’s lucky that have each other and they remain inseparable.

Dandelion and Cinnamon have been with Speckles the longest and as Speckles accepted Ebony and Flame as kindred bigger girls it seems that Dandelion and Cinnamon accepted them as part of their group too.

The silky girls came along a lot later than than Dandelion and Cinnamon and so are further down the pecking order and then the amigos later still so they are at the bottom of the pecking order. The odd thing is that Dandelion is happy to seek out the amigos company but not the silky girls.

I guess like us the girls have preferences as to which characters they want to spend time with. I am reluctant to say Dandelion likes or doesn’t like another girl within the flock because I know we can’t humanise the way they think or feel but it’s definitely obvious that Dandelion doesn’t favour the silky girls.

As the silky girls have each other I don’t suppose they are bothered. It is interesting that within a bigger flock these groups have their own cliques and yet as a whole they are a happy flock and get along together harmoniously.

Three weeks ago Dandelion laid a long egg. She looked a bit down for the day before she laid it but bounced back once she had laid. I have no idea why she laid such a big egg for her as she normally lays tiny eggs.

The next egg she laid was in between the bigger egg and her normal size. The following two eggs she has laid have been back to their normal tiny size and she has looked back to her normal happy self.

Dandelion is only laying two eggs a week at the moment and Cinnamon hasn’t laid for ten days. All the little girls are dropping a few feathers.

As Cinnamon hasn’t laid for a while I don’t have an egg from her as a comparison so below is Dandelion’s long egg and then I took a photo of yesterday’s tiny egg with Ebony and Flame’s egg. To my surprise these two girls are still laying almost every day.

Eggs

Dandelion’s long egg is on the left, Cinnamon’s is next, then Ebony’s  and then Flame’s on the right.

Dandelion’s latest egg

On the left is Dandelion’s latest egg which is her usual size, Flame’s egg is in the middle and Ebony’s on the right. No wonder Dandelion wasn’t happy about laying the bigger egg. I am pleased that she is back to laying her tiny eggs as she looks much happier.

Dandelion

And here is Dandelion looking lovely. She has a lovely red face and comb. She is looking great.

After twenty years of driving vans we have decided that we would like a car. The main reason is that we would like to be able to take our grandchildren out or even just collect them when they stay with us rather than them having to be dropped off. The disadvantage of vans is that we can only have one passenger.

The thing is neither of us has any interest in modern cars. Suddenly it came to us that what would suit us is a classic, vintage, car. We only need a car for local journeys, for fun and for collecting the grandchildren. It doesn’t need to be a workhorse as we have the vans for that.

We started looking through classic car magazines and my husband was taken with the idea of getting a morris traveller. He found a garage an hour away that works on morris travellers and rang them. It just happened that the man at the garage services a morris traveller for a lady that was thinking of selling hers so he put us in touch with her.

The lady was ready to sell her car after owning it for ten years. Her and her husband had just bought a camper van. They had retired and wanted to travel and she no longer drove her car which she felt was sad for the car. She wanted £5000 for it which was very reasonable if it was in good condition. She said we could go and see it on Saturday.

As we had no lunches to deliver on Friday, giving us an unexpected day off, we decided to to visit a classic car garage that we had found in the magazine that was also an hours drive from us. It didn’t have any morris travellers but had some really lovely cars.

I totally fell in love with a black A 30. It was small which I like, sort of like a bubble car and in good condition. It had spent a long time in someones garage and was in the process of being brought back to it’s best and was also £5000.

I could have bought it there and then but I knew my husband really wanted a morris traveller and we had one to look at the next day so we said that we would bare it in mind.

On Saturday we went to see the morris traveller and it was in really good condition. The lady had looked after it and had all the paperwork for it’s history. It is 52 years old and had had an M.O.T. each year, most recently just a few months ago. We said that we were really interested but would like to think it over for a few days and then would give them our answer.

We thought about it and decided that much as we liked the A 30 this car was much more practical for us. It had more space and the seats fold down to give loads of room in the back. We could even deliver our vintage afternoon teas from it.

The timing of them wanting to sell and us wanting to buy felt like fate.

We contacted them and agreed to buy it but the couple are away for a week and we have a busy spell coming up so we agreed that we would set a date to collect it when they return from their trip away.

Our drive is narrow but long so the plan is to move the pots from in front of the wall to above, in front of the windows and put the morris close to the wall and then my van in behind it. We will buy a water proof, breathable, cover for it.

Our vans

My van is on the right and could pull further up the drive to leave a space behind it, although it would be the other way round because I would park my van behind the morris, but it gives you an idea of the space.

Vans from the other direction

Looking from the house you can see that we have space for another vehicle. At £5000 we feel that we can’t lose on it. Parts are easily available and inexpensive and classic cars have such simple workings under the bonnet that they are easy to fix if there is a problem. We also have joint AA membership.

We are feeling quite excited at the prospect of owning a classic car. I will photograph it once we have it. We are looking forward to it.