New Blog Address

The Family Blog
John has set me up a new blog. I will continue to add to this copy the posts from the new one to here for anybody who is still reading it. The new address is http://www.johnstevenson.co.uk/blog/ . Hope you still enjoy reading no matter which site your reading it from.

Short But Sweetcorn

Letting The Girls Out

Most mornings when I go to let the chickens out I never see anybody else, and some mornings, like yesterday it can take an hour to walk from one gate to the other after talking to everybody. John the secretary was waiting at the first gate for the container to be delivered to the retainer plot yesterday. We had a chat about having two classes from the Blurs school in to see the chickens and how the allotment should have better links with the school. Being my normal short morning visit I let the girls out and made to leave. I then bumped into chicken George who was planting flowers in a bed along his fence. I stopped to see how he was and said hello to the man with the fancy dog when he came by. Then nearing the second gate I saw Jeff from the school and finally found out what the containers stuck in the ground were for (show potatoes).

Preparing Sweetcorn Field

Last year we had 60 sweetcorn plants at the top of lotty with a path in between the two plots and called it sweetcorn alley. This year we have decided to plant even more sweetcorn as it lasted nowhere near as long as we wanted it to, and instead of sweetcorn alley it will be called sweetcorn field. having finished everything I needed to do at home I made my way back to lotty in the afternoon to carry on with the planting that we started on Saturday. Once again by the time id finished chatting I only had around twenty minutes left, so I got stuck straight into what I was doing. As soon as the greenhouse door was opened and id gone to the hut to find the seeds the chickens were straight in there. I tidied up the floor a few weeks ago, so I was quick to get the chickens out before they made a mess again. After going shopping on Sunday we now have plenty of compost an seed trays, so I could plant to my hearts content. Firstly I picked out all of our sweetcorn seeds and there were exactly enough seeds to fill three seed trays, totaling 120. It was getting a bit late by this point but I was determined to get a little more done and hastily popped in a few shallot seeds.

Not wanting to go back after picking up the Blur from school meant having to put the chickens away by myself. The Blur is usually a big help with this but on my own I have to prepare well. I take a slice of bread which lures the girls (and boy) down to the run, then while they're busy eating I go round to the front of the coop and lay three canes between the fence and ramp to form a small fence. I round the chickens up the other side of the coop and being slightly puzzled by the little fence they hop straight into the coop. This usually work fairly well, but yesterday the cockerel decided it wasnt going to stop him, so he hopped over taking two of the canes with him. Luckily this was still enough of a barrier and the girls went straight in. The cockerel wasnt too much of a problem as once he'd seen the girls were all in he hurried in there himself. Seeds planted, chickens put away and everything put away I made it to school right on time. I will be back there this afternoon as I still have a long list of seeds that need planting this month, and the sooner they're done the sooner we can eat good, free food again.

Lots Of Planting

A Bit of Shopping
After a bit of breakfast at McDonalds we popped into lotty quickly to let the girls out then headed off to the farm to get a few supplies for the chickens. This time we also had to pick up some chick crumbs as we have eleven eggs incubating at home and they'll be needing food when they (hopefully) hatch later this month. Back at lotty with everything put away I made a start on cleaning out the coop and took the first load of soiled straw up to where John was making a fire. It wasnt burning as well as we'd hoped so I had to wait a while before carrying on with it. The chickens had a bit of fun hopping in and out of the coop from the open side panel.

More Planting
Last weekend we planted three rows of potatoes, two of carrots and two of beetroot which felt good as I was worried we wouldnt be getting everything out soon enough. Having had a quick look at my monthly seed planting spreadsheet I found that so much of it was due to be planted this month. So while I was waiting to get the wheelbarrow back the Blur and I went into greenhouse one to decide what we would plant today. Seeing that there was a packet of cucumber seeds the Blur thought we should plant them first. We wanted to plant some sweetcorn but as we'll be needing around 100 we have to go and buy some seed trays too plant them in as we do not have enough individual pots, and it would take too much compost.
Having just bought a bale of straw the Blur put our blanket over it and made a comfortable little seat for us. While I filled the pots, watered and covered the seeds the Blur wrote the labels and put the seeds in each one. So we now have cucumbers, yellow courgettes, green courgettes, Italian and beefsteak tomatoes, pumpkins and peas all potted up in greenhouse one.

The Trouble With Chickens
Whilst the Blur and I were inside, John was outside preparing a bed for more strawberries. He came into the greenhouse a few times to get more plants and ended up with around 32. This done he went into the hut and returned to find the chickens scratching about on his strawberry bed. Not wanting them to get demolished by the chickens he made a cover using some canes and netting, but unsurprisingly Penny who can wriggle herself through almost any gap to get what she wants was in there like a shot. I bought a bag of onion sets this week so John took the planting of these as his next job. After digging over another patch he let the chickens have a little scratch around in it before planting. Once they'd moved along he raked it over only for Rita to start playing around on it again. It was nice to see the cockerel joining in with them this time though. John did manage to get the onions in though and we now have 50-60 planted along with the others that we have done from seed.

Some Little Jobs
As well as the planting there were a few other little jobs to be done. Firstly I gave the shed and food bin a bit of a tidy up as there were empty bread bags and food containers in there. I also raked up the straw by the compost bins as the girls had been kicking it about (I think making a mess with straw is one of their hobbies). John watered the seeds in greenhouse two and weeded around the broad beans which have shot up this week. We also had a game of piggy in the middle with the Blur. Having been stuck at home most of the winter she told me she was looking forward to being able to spend more time at lotty running around when its a bit warmer.

Never Ending Work
Having eggs incubating at home means we are going to need a new coop to accommodate them. We have a pallet which I can use to make the base and a few other parts and tomorrow hopefully we'll get the other wood I need to finish it. The new coop at home will also house the cockerel as and when needs be as he is not supposed to be living at lotty. We have a long shopping list of lotty items, one being chicken wire so I can extend the run upwards so the chickens cannot escape, and alot more compost if were to get everything we want planted. I have Karlas class and the other year five class coming to lotty to see the chickens next week so I need to have a bit of a tidy up and write down what im going to say to them.

Its been a lovely day, and the weather was pretty much on our side even if it could have been a few degrees warmer. Thank you John and Blur, I look forward to the fun were going to be having as summer draws closer.

Gone Walkabout

Lotty @ Home
After having a look in greenhouse two on Saturday and realising that the seeds hadnt made an appearance we decided it was time for new tactics. We put as many of the pots as we could and brought them all home in the hope a bit of warmth would help them along a bit. The first thing I had to do was to find homes around the house for them all. We now have tomatoes in the living room, peppers, chilis and aubergines in the bedroom and onions by the front door. I havnt really been checking them too much as its always a bit disappointing when nothings happening, but as I was cleaning yesterday I noticed a very small shoot in one of the tomato pots. I hope this means our plan is working and we can bring more home to start them off.

Another Break In
On Tuesday I arrived at lotty to find a wooden pole and some of the white foam wrap just outside of the hut. I couldnt understand why they were there but didnt really thing too much of it. It wasnt until David came along and asked that I realised we'd been broken into. The pole was the hand rail from next to the hut which had been pulled off. They couldnt break the lock so they removed the pole it was locked around to make enough room for them to squeeze through. I had a quick look but despite things being moved nothing was missing. They had been to quite a few plots but the only thing taken seems to have been the eggs from chicken Georges coop.

The eggs not being the only thing to go missing that day, after only a few minutes of letting the chickens out Penny went missing. They've been doing it quite often lately which may be due to the cockerel. Marge being Pennys best friend was making her way along the fence so that she could join her in the adventure. The cockerel didnt seem to like this too much and was constantly crowing for her to come back.

Despite spending half an hour looking for her, I eventually had to leave, and once again by the time I got back she was milling around as if she'd never left. Whilst I was there that morning I thought id ask chicken John to have a look at the cockerel as id noticed a lump on one of his wattles. He came in to have a look and said it was nothing to worry about, but that I could put a bit of savlon on it if I really wanted to. He did have a little check over of him and said he was a lovely looking boy. He did advise me to only cut one set of flight feathers the next time we needed to clip his wings. The cockerel is alot better behaved now and is usually the first one into the coop at night now. The dynamics of the group have changed slightly now but the girls never seem very happy when cockerel tries to mate with them, iv so far not seen a successful try.

Getting Ready
The Blur and I went over to lotty this afternoon to clean out the coop, although the Blur did more sitting on the swing than actual helping with it. Greenhouse one was in a bit of a mess after the chickens thought it would be good to throw the straw everywhere and today id had enough of it. After cleaning the coop I took the wheelbarrow over and raked up what I could of the mess. I managed to keep the girls out whilst I was doing it but Alison, wanting to have a play in it climbed up onto the wheelbarrow and began the to kick it all back onto the ground. Luckily she didnt make too much of a mess. I put the straw onto our fire place ready for tomorrow and covered it with the wheelbarrow so it would all still be there in the morning.

The final job of today was to dig over part of our large new patch so that tomorrow i'll be able to start planting some carrots. As soon as the spade hit the ground the girls were surrounding me ready to gobble up any worms I unearthed. I was hoping the cockerel would come and join in but he stayed on the outskirts pecking at grass. I hope next time he'll get the picture. It wasnt long either before the Blur came down with a spade and wellies on to give me a hand. She wasnt quite sure of what she was supposed to do but she tried her best and it was lovely that she wanted to help. Im hoping now that the weather will be nice enough for us to spend a bit more time there, and we can really start getting our seeds sewn.

The New Arrival

Lotty Wonderland
With a good few days of snow lotty has been a winter wonderland for the Blur. As with plenty of other schools hers was shut for a day and we thought we'd spend some time at lotty where we had an abundance of snow. After letting the chickens out we came home with a plan for the afternoon. Once we'd had breakfast with John we packed a bag with a flask of tea and an assortment of clothing for the snowman we planned to make. The chickens were increasingly disinclined to leave the coop, so as a treat in the cold weather I made them a huge tub full of hot porridge. The girls tucked straight into it and seemed to enjoy having something warm, if I were them I think I may have warmed my feet up in it.

The blur and I got on with making a snowman, but having forgotten to take a carrot with us we had to improvise and use one of the huge bolts left over from building the coop. Once it was finished we had a quick sip of tea and prepared for a snowball fight. The Blur managed to fall over a few times mainly due to running over the tarpaulin and once in our carrot plot which is covered in rotting apples. She didnt hurt herself which is the main thing and a few days later I also slipped on the tarpaulin. We'll both have to be more careful.

Our New Boy
After putting alot of thought into a conversation John and I had a few weeks back I decided it would be nice to have some fertilised eggs and hatch them. This would mean either buying some already fertilised or getting a cockerel. The latter was chosen as the best idea and I rang Goldsmith farm to see if they had any cockerels. We were told if we wanted one we'd have to let him know quickly as they were due to be culled. On Monday night John suggested we go and get one for my Birthday on Tuesday. With the same feeling of excitement iv had the last two times we left to go and pick up our first cockerel. We had to wait in the farmyard for the farmer and took the opportunity to check out the boys. There were some huge cockerels there but I think id already decided which breed I wanted. Just as the farmer came down the cockerels started crowing along with the guinea fowl, and I had a moment where I thought what are we getting ourselves into. But there were around thirty cockerels there and we would only be taking one.

My first choice was a medium sized Black Rock, but I changed my mind when John pointed out that he had no tail feathers and pointed out a larger boy who looked in better shape. We'll know for future reference that cockerels need slightly more space than a cat carrier offers. Nevertheless he did fit and soon we were heading back to lotty. Having not already chosen a name we carried on thinking of possible options, mine being stink bomb as he smelt rather strongly of farmyard. On arrival at lotty I let him out to meet our girls for the first time. There was an initial few spats with Rita and Alison who knew they would have to show him who's at the top of the pecking order, but he did seem to take more of a shine to the grey girls. We didnt get long to see him as we had to attend a sports event that the Blur was taking part in, but by the time we got back the girls seemed to have adjusted to having a man around.

On Wednesday I decided to see if I could get the cockerel to eat out of my hand as the grey girls had been happy to do this by the second day. Far from playing ball he refused to approach me and took off at top speed if he thought I was heading his way. Putting him to bed the second night was eventful. We managed to get him into the run but he wouldnt climb into the coop. I thought it would be easier to just pick him up, but he took real offence to this and made a run for it. The Blur and I chased him for twenty minutes until he'd backed himself into a corner in the shed. I decided that if he was going to be like that I would carry him to the coop upside down by the legs.

I had a look at a chicken website which explained how you could tame a cockerel, and went off to lotty with a few ideas in my head. If he wanted treats he would have to take them from me so with a bit of food in my hand I positioned myself between him and the girls with their treats so he wouldnt be able to take any. This try was unsuccessful and I removed the bowl as soon as the girls had finished with it. Once again putting him away was a challenge. This time I managed to just hold onto a few feathers before he flew off over into the next plot. I stroked his back and talked to him gently until his pupils grew bigger and smaller (a sign of excitement in chickens) then put him into the coop once he had stopped struggling against me.
We finally decided to call the cockerel Griff after Family Guys Peter Griffin, as it was the first name suggested that I felt suited him. The girls have been escaping again lately, and from talking to one of the men men at lotty it seems Griff may be a more sensible chicken than id thought as he'd been trying to get the girls back in.

Not wanting anymore bedtime dramas from him I made the decision to clip Griffs wings. So as soon as the coop door was open I picked him out gave him to John and quickly got them cut. It was the best thing we could have done. I decided to ease off him a bit today and let him have a few bits of bread once he'd walked down to the run nicely with the girls. As we put the girls in he made to fly onto the coop, but with no flight feathers he landed on the ramp and walked straight in. It was lovely not to have had to chase him round and im hoping this will be the way of things to come with him.

Thank you John for Griff and lets hope he does his job and makes us some chicks very soon.

Sunshine And Snow

Saturday Sunshine
The weather having been pretty bad lately means we've not been spending so much time at lotty as we probably would have liked. But Saturday morning was absolutely lovely. We were only really there to let the chickens out but we stayed slightldayy longer to enjoy the warm sun. The girls seemed equally happy, and whilst the other three were busy eating Marge and Betty were worming their way under the Charlton Heston shed to get the dry soil for a dust bath. We have now had to ban the girls from the greenhouse as they have pulled the bale of straw apart and strewn it across the entire floor.

As I mentioned before the seeds in greenhouse two were eaten by a mouse. We had put the strawberry seeds under glass so they havnt been touched, but as yet there are still no shoots and its been alot longer than 10 days. There is no progress from the potatoes as yet but the onions have really started to shoot up lately, so im hoping they'll survive through the bad weather.

The fox we saw a few weeks ago showed his head a few more times. The following day when I was letting the girls out he was outside of our gate, but he ran away when I got too close, though I did notice he was limping. I told Geoff and he said that an injured fox would be desperate for food, so I had a couple of days worrying he might try and grab one of the chickens. Iv not seen him for two weeks now but its made me slightly more aware that the dangers not just there at night.

Sunday Snow
Now Sunday was a complete contrast to Saturday. Lotty in the morning was freezing and we hastily made our way home for a cuppa after letting the chickens out. By the time it got round to putting them away it had started snowing and John suggested we take the car (rather than me and the Blur walking round like we normally do on a Sunday). Wanting to not get too cold we took the car right up to our gate where John noticed we had a flat tyre. So I put the girls away while John changed the tyre. I dont really like putting the girls away on my own because they tend to play up. But iv found I can make a fence around the coop door so there is only one way for them to go. Unfortunately theres no running water at lotty until spring so John had to rinse his hands of in one of the water butts which now contain freezing water.

Winter Wonderland (Just Not For The Chickens)
By Monday morning the snow was well and truly settled and there were a good few inches of it too. Rita jumped straight out into the snow and then hastily ran under the coop where there was no snow, but she didnt stay there too long and made her way up to the hut. The other girls all took one look out and decided they wanted to stay in bed a bit longer. I thought id stick to the same routine and let Rita have the Sunday dinner to herself. It took twenty minutes before the rest of the girls ventured out but they still didnt look to happy about it. For once I left the greenhouse open as its the only inside place they'll go during the day.

By bedtime they were all quite eager to get into the coop, even Ali surprised me by not being the last one in like usual.

The Blur and I did have a little play in the snow. In the newly flattened retainer plot we built a snowman and the Blur let me swish all the snow from on top of the greenhouse onto her. She also made a little snowman on the bench which unfortunately was gone by this morning.

There may not be as much snow today but it was still enough to give the chickens problems. Once again Rita was the only one who wanted to come out but she had some difficulty walking. With every step she took the snow gave way under her and she had to flap about to keep balance. The others did eventually join the outside world and found that flying was a better way to get around than walking, I tried throwing bread for them but they didnt seem very interested for once.

What was nice this morning was seeing all the different animal footprints in the snow. Most were from cats and foxes and there were little lines where I assume mice or rats had run along, but there were a few bigger footprints too which I would like to think came from a badger as they seem too big to be anything else.

Tidying Up

Keeping An Eye Out
Having decided we wanted to spend a few hours at lotty first thing yesterday morning we set off with a flask of coffee for me and John and a bag of things for the Blur to play with. As we got through the main gates we noticed Geoff the teacher stood at the top of the lane. We drove up and stopped to tell him we'd be down in a minute to see him. He told us he was having a look around because he'd heard some strange noises and he thought it might be from a fox, to which John said yeah theres a fox right there. It was walking up the lane towards the car. Once it got a bit closer and realised we were there it quickly ran away. The blur made a point of coming down to the school plot with me in the hope she would see it again. On our way back we saw chicken George (I have just found out that his name is really Pete.) He told us that he'd just seen a fox walk past and we told him that John was still in lotty looking after the chickens in case it came into our plot. Having been back in for a few minutes I glanced over and noticed the fox walking along our fence. The chickens noticed too and one of them started to make a rather loud clucking noise. Slightly later on we heard the same sort of noise from them again and John said they must have see the fox, but I told him one of the girls had just laid an egg and was announcing the fact to the world.

Work To Do
Our main reason for spending the morning at lotty was that we had some tidying up to do. As always John started by lighting a fire while I emptied the Charlton Heston shed and took things out to put on the fire as and when I found them. The Blur spent her time between talking to me in the shed and poking the fire with a pole, and as it turned out she really hadnt needed a bag full of stuff to keep her amused. We had three black bags of shredded paper in the shed and as I went to pick them up I found out that the bottoms of two had been eaten away. I told John that Henry Mouseowski had been in finding things to build his home out of. As id seen the mouse I had only assumed it was him until after moving more things out I discovered evidence of a rat having been there. He doesnt seem to have touched anything other than the paper and a sheet of white insulating stuff, but I very quickly found a bin to keep all of the chicken food in. Talking about it at home John said we'll have to put some traps down, which I did protest about for a bit but I can understand why its necessary to use them and will have to try and get some.
When John had lit the fire he got started on emptying the hut so that could have a sweep through too. We have so much stuff in there and looking at it outside I kept wondering how we got it all in there and how John was going to fit it all back in. But he did manage it and it looked lovely when it was finished.

Stolen Peas
Around Christmas time we planted a few seeds and put them into greenhouse two. I didnt check on them every day because I didnt want to be disappointed when there was nothing there. But I had a peek in at the beginning of the week and to my surprise there were peas that must have started to shoot a few days ago. It was very exciting and gave me some hope for the other seeds. Two days later I went back in to see how they were doing only to find that they were no longer there and in the soil it looked like some one had just poked their finger into it. I know this is a sign of a mouses work so I was none too pleased with Henry and his family. I usually dont have a problem with the mouse as he usually just takes a small amount of chicken food and has a little sleep in the coop, but I think we may now have to take measures to stop him.

Alis Adventure
The most amusing thing to have happened at lotty yesterday was Alis little climbing adventure. Whilst I was starting on the shed I turned round and noticed Ali on the ladder half way up the pear tree. We watched as she tried to work out what to do, and realising the only way was up she slowly ascended the ladder and sat under the Blurs seat. I was slightly concerned she wouldnt be able to get back down but John assured me that she was a bird and although it may not be quite flying she would be capable of fluttering herself down. The Blur stayed and watched then came back to report that Ali had just walked down the tree trunk which is at an angle. I was relieved that none of us had had to go up and rescue her.

The buildings of lotty look alot better now and for some reason I found myself wiping my feet before I went into the hut. The only time we had to amuse the Blur haad been when John gave her a tennis ball and she decided she'd like to play fetch with it and John and I took a few turns at throwing it as far down lotty as we could. Thank you John and Blur for a lovely morning at lotty.