Wednesday 18 March 2009

Picture festival

Finally, some photos!

Eggs collected from the nests in my apron - aprons have a lot more uses than one might think!

Strawberry plants sending up new leaves for this year's growth - some promise of the fruit to come in the summer.

This is Goldenberg, one of our favourite Orpington-type hens.


And here are some of the heavy, bred-for-table birds. We haven't eaten any lately, but the FH's fingers are itching to get plucking again, so one of their numbers will be up soon!


And here, amidst the chickens, is the turkey. Looking more and more like a vulture these days, we all have a soft spot for the turkey!

And here is the one who thinks he's the Boss of the hen house! He is a fine bird, and we think he is a Silver Sussex. He makes an efficient alarm clock these lighter mornings...
This is Goldenberg again!

The closer two garden beds are the ones which I have recently dug over, and the furthest one has the broad beans which were planted last Autumn. The tubs in the background, recently weeded, are home to the fruit trees. They are all in bud, which is a positive sign!

And this is Shadow, the cat who came to stay. She loves the sunshine and luxuriates in the warmth of the sun - she is often to be found under the verandah on a bed of hay or straw.

And finally, a Dutch bantam having a dust bath!











3 comments:

Colleen said...

The children and I were watching some hens do that dust bath, just the other day. We were wondering what that was! We're only waiting for a time when we can all gather around the internet to learn more about that behavior.

So, you have a rooster again? No complaints from the county council?

I want chickens!!!

Morgan said...

No complaints - yet! The FH has his eye on him for a dinner, though, so he may not live long enough for us to receive complaints...

They love to dust bathe and do it whenever there is any soil dry enough to use - it helps to keep them in good condition and they seem to love it as much as I enjoy a good hot bath in the tub!

Morgan

Greentwinsmummy said...

I emptied some woodash out into the pen for my girls today,they throw themselves into it & croon & gurgle with happiness! when you see the joy a hen takes from a dust bath you realise even more how wrong it is to keep them inside dont you.

What breed are your table birds? I looking for some eggs to hatch but the only ones on Ebay were Black rocks. We ate our cockeral last year,he was a charactor but my crikey did he crow! I had never had one before(he hatched lol!) & niavely thought they crowed once......... ah what a lesson I had lol! He crowed at 3am on a full moon it was good as broad daylight out there,I jolted awake thinkng what the bluddy heck is that & then DOH! ahhh I know lol!!!!
GTM x