best laid plans of chickens and men

Well, I haven't posted much this month because my plan of not having chickens until the summer didn't last.

When a friend said that she needed a home for her chickens 'cos she was moving home, I jumped at the chance. Well, they'd have been homeless without me. So I now have 4 hens and a cockeral.

Which means more work for me. But hopefully a steady supply of eggs and a serious reduction in pest insects, snails and slugs.

Chickens are supposed to be brilliant at eating things that are bad for the garden, so we'll see. If I can keep my chickens out of the new veggie patch (that I haven't made yet, its on the list of things to do!) then hopefully I'll get to eat more of my own veggies rather than watching the slugs eat my veggies.

Oh, and if I can keep the fox away obviously.

pete

you never know what you're going to wake up to

As a small holder I like to think I'm in touch with the weather. I can smell the snow coming, I know that those clouds will bring. Ha! Not a chance.
These last two weeks have shown me you never know what you are going to wake up to. Two weeks ago it was blizzards, then the very next day we had a spring like day. It was warm, the birds were singing, everything had defrosted. It was lovely. The following day I woke to more snow. Where did that come from?
Three days ago, I fed the horses at 10pm under clear skys. There were millions of stars up there and Mars was shining bright. I knew I'd wake to frost and ice. Nope. The temperature hadn't dropped below 4°C all night. Yet, the last two nights it was lovely and clear again and -5°C over night. In fact, today as I was working in the horse shelter the mud was freezing while I was out there.

As I sit here typing, its -1°C outside. Will it stay frozen over night? There is a full cloud cover and the weather man says rain or snow. But I know not to try and predict anything. Who knows what it'll be? I'll just have to deal with it when I get up tomorrow.

pete
inthehills