Last night at dusk we found a lovely white egg in the chicken coop, right where Matilda had been huddling moments before. I quickly got in there before the chooks had time to investigate because we thought it might have a soft shell. It was just hardening up! What a wonderful surprise in the evening. 🙂
I also found a rather rushed white egg in the nest box today, so I think she may have laid again. This one is also very white, and was obviously more soft shelled. Hopefully she will get the hang of the nests soon!
Meanwhile, out in the garden I discovered that the fruits on the Native Frangipani we have growing in a pot have done the most amazing thing!
The bottom of each small pear shaped fruit has opened up, revealing these papery seeds. Each one is like a really big parsnip seed. I wonder if they will float down and start sprouting in our lawn?
We have been running with two chooks in our hen-house since last summer. Raven (a pure-bred Australorp) has been the boss of the house, but she has only had Harriet (our Barnevelder hen you can see in the background of that shot above) to keep in place. Now we have introduced two new young hens to our flock! Please welcome Matilda and Rose:
Matilda, in the coop doorway
Rose, perching
Matilda is a White Leghorn. Isn’t she beautiful? Her comb and wattle are quite well grown and nice and red, so she may start laying soon, if she isn’t already. We think she could be about 24 weeks old. Rose is a Rhode Island Red, and a bit camera shy. She looks a bit like a kiwi at the moment because her tail feathers aren’t grown in. Her wattle and comb are less well developed, but she is possibly older than Matilda. We will see!
It’s lovely to have new additions to our flock, which was just too small with only our two grown hens. Whenever Harriet goes broody it was quite lonely for poor Raven, who would go adventuring in the orchard all by herself. This morning we heard a positive chorus of good mornings when the chookies all woke up together! The new girls found their way onto the perches all by themselves, which was great.
We also introduced two new coop items: a PVC pipe feeder, and a drum waterer with nipples. The new girls know how to use the new features, but the older birds are suspicious, so it means the young hens are avoiding being pecked at the water and feed stations. Win!
Matilda checks out the orchard.
So far we have let them out a little and Matilda has ventured into the orchard with the others (they weren’t terribly impressed at being followed!). Rose is perched up in the nest box at the moment, chilling out, and keeping a wary eye on the floor below. Hopefully she will feel comfortable soon.
Update: I’ve already had to scoot Matilda back into the enclosure with the broom! Only out for a few minutes, and already she has found the weakness in our orchard covering! I’m still shaking from the fright. It’s not the same when your regular chooks get out, you know they will come back! Eep! Time to pull forward the plans to build a hoop-house over the orchard to cover the gaps!
This year I managed to create more handmade gifts at Christmas time, and over the year for various birthdays. The idea is for me to replace a gift I would normally have purchased (using a budgeted amount) with a personalised hand made item. I have a lot of nieces and nephews to buy for, and although it can be easier to go into a shop and just plop down some cash, I find I want to avoid gifting gifts made from plastic, or with batteries, or that just add to a meaningless pile of junk that goes in a drawer, or a pile under the bed.
So, sounds great in principle, but the first year I tried this, it was harder than it sounds! At least, for me. I spent the last week before Christmas madly sewing and stuffing toys, but I managed to give one softie to every niece and nephew on my list!
This year I started earlier, and avoided (some!) of the craziness. These are some of the projects I completed for various people. All of these I am very pleased with, and I think they were well received. Evie loves her lap quilt! And I totally desire Izzy’s pincushion and needle book. It was quite hard to give that one away!
Isobel’s door quilt
Isobel’s pincushion and needle book
Inside Isobel’s needle book, showing scissor keeper and pockets for doodads
Simple Crafty Life 