INTRODUCING THE LADIES

As I have introduced the two new ladies it's time you met the older ladies:
BERYL:
Beryl & Daisy where our first chickens we got them at 2 weeks old from Allenscroft Primary School.
They are Hy Line hens and were destined for a life as battery hens had not Kerry the school secretary persuaded us that we must have chickens.
Beryl is definitely the boss.
She knows when we're eating toast and will come to the patio doors and stare at you.
DAISY:

Daisy is the most affectionate chicken, she likes being cuddled and has a soft spot for Jack. Here they are taking 40 winks together. Aaaaarrrrrrhhh cute.
We recently noticed that Daisy is very short sighted and can only really see out of her left eye. Chicken specs are needed can anyone help?






DOTTIE:

Dottie was the first of our Cream Legbars, she's a slightly sickly chicken, quite small, shy and lays an egg every two weeks! You know it's her egg as it's very tiny.




ETHEL:
Ethel is also a Legbar she is a lot bigger than Dottie and has the floppiest comb which almost completely covers her left eye.






Cream Legbars lay lovely blue eggs. Here's the first one Ethel layed next to a brown one of Berly's

BLACK ROCK CHICKS.

Last Saturday I decided to go get two new chickens. Here they are all snug in the pet carrier on the way home.








I got them from Oak Meadow Farm check out the website if you're looking for chickens, ducks, geese, quails or pigeons: http://www.oakmeadowfarm.co.uk/forsale.htm

We've named them, Tina Turner & Grace Jones.....black rock chicks...get it?

Grace is the darker of the two, has black legs. She's the quite one.








Tina has more brown feathers on her chest and white legs. She managed to escape from her temporary coop on the second night turning up at 6am the next morning. Tina is very fast & very confident.

EASTER CAMPING

We decided to ignore the bad weather forecast and get Millie on the road for our the first camping trip of the year. Glad we did as you can see from the photos.....no rain!

We headed for Dyfi Valley in Wales. Oscar and Woody love Ynyslas beach, it's perfect for frisbee there's so much space for chasing each other and when your feet get too hot there's so much water just to stand in and cool down.


The first night we stayed at a campsite in Borth next to Borths very own AnimalArium, with a beautiful view of a leopard pacing up and down in a very small cage and a dawn chorus which included a Kookaburra & Peacock . Don't think we'll stay there again no campfires and dogs to be kept on leads. Wasn't all bad it was a lovely sunny evening and we used the Cobb Oven for the very first time: http://cobb-bbq.co.uk/index.asp If you want some gourmet camping cooking it's a must have.
Check out this meal, Shropshire lamb chops and the very best purple sprouting broccoli courtesy of our neighbours Ken & Rhoda. All washed down with cans of Firsty Ferret and Ginger Beer.

Next day we enjoyed a morning walk and breakfast of bacon and (No. 69) eggs on the beach.

We then moved on to one of our favourite campsites just outside Machynlleth close to The Centre for Alternative Technology, next to the River Dyfi - campfires allowed and dogs can roam free!

Le family Chilton joined us that afternoon for a full Sunday roast cooked on the Cobb: Pork loin, with broccoli, baked potatoes, carrots and gravy for five quite some feat that! Looking forward to the next trip and planning the meals right now.

SURPRISE SURPRISE

The asparagus are starting to show themselves, what a lovely surprise.

RAISED BEDS

We finally got six raised beds in at the allotment today. Made out of old scaffolding boards they're looking good! Just got to fill them with some top quality compost.

VOICE OF THE BEEHIVE

Hello Everyone.
Ming was very busy yesterday setting up her beehive. We are really looking forward to the bees arriving. Obviously with the fruit and veg this will be really good for our garden and we should have even more food than usual.
The chickens are very curious about the new structure and think it may be a new block of flats for them to live in.