Chickens in the House la la lalahhh!

Sorry it has been a while since the last post, but to put it mildly, there has been a lot going on.  First of all, last weekend, we went to the Smallholders Show at Ardingly.  It was a lovely summer's day and there was a great deal to interest us.  Besides the goats, sheep, rabbits, Llamas, ducks, geese and turkeys there were, of course, chickens.  Not just a few chickens, but hundreds of chickens in every conceivable shape and variety.

When we went over to Middle Farm a few weeks ago, the Salad Queen set her heart on Blue Haze (or Blue Belle).  Naturally, when we came across five fine looking Blues it was inevitable that we were going to go home with chickens that night.  So we set to buying feed and water hoppers, sawdust and hay.  Fully laden, we had our 3 chickens packed up in a box, carried by Big Al, and set off home to the accompaniment of gentle clucks (and occassional squawks as we went over sleeping policemen).  Safely home and tucked up in their coop for 24 hours, they became the focus of attention for all the other animals in the house:

As you can see, Big Al decided they needed a watchtower to protect them overnight.  Sunday morning, we let them out of the coop and into their run.  They were reluctant to emerge at first but they eventually plucked up the courage to come out:

Leaving them in the run, we went out for some lunch (as it was my birthday) and to get a Rhubarb and Blueberry plant for our fruit border.  On Monday evening, after we got back from work, we clipped their wings (one wing on each bird) which was a lot less dramatic than I thought it was going to be, there were some mild complaints from the hens at being picked up, but nothing more than that.

Having been clipped, last night they were able to get out and roam the garden:

As you can see, they are not adverse to getting up on the raised beds, which we shall have to so something about or else some of our precious veg will be dissappearing at a rate of knots.  They had a good roam about last night, although they were not keen on the squally showers we were having.  They tried a few grapes, pecked at the gravel, were not much interested in a snail and showed Ruby Cat who was boss.  All we then needed to do was then round them up at dusk:

Their combs are starting to colour up nicely and hopefully, in a couple of weeks or so, we shall have some eggs.  Today I have some jobs to do to tidy up the coop by hanging up their hoppers to stop them from making such a mess.  Other than that, they are settling in nicely.  So far, so good, as they say.

Meanwhile, our other project on the go is Roger, our VW Kombi.  Roge has been sat on the drive for the last 8 weeks going nowhere as his servo brake has done West.  After much to-ing and fro-ing, Roge is in the garage today and should be roadworthy again by the weekend.  Now then - do you think we can get  a coop in the Kombi for when we go on holiday?

Amber, the puppy (well, 7 months) was spayed yesterday, so is not quite feeling herself this morning, so it will be a gentle walk for her later (maybe once the rain has passed).  I also want to go and look at some vines - I read last night that grapes can prosper inside a conservatory (The Wife is not convinced) and to get some sand for the hens for their sand bath.  So, another busy but positive day.