The Saga of Dora the Dove

Poor Dora (or it could be Dougie but it looks too pretty) flew into our bathroom window yesterday evening and fell onto the back door step. To add insult to injury she was then set upon by 10 angry chickens determined to finish her off!

Alan caught Dora whilst I shut the velociraptors back in their run and we inspected the damage. Poor thing had a nasty looking wound over her breastbone - either from the impact or chicken damage, I'm not sure which. Plus she had lost all but one of her tail feathers. We both agreed that it would be best to put her out of her misery, but gutless cowards that we are, neither of us had the heart to wring her neck. So I made her a nest in a laundry basket, added some mealworms and a bowl of water with poultry tonic and shut her in the shed for the night.

This morning I opened the door expecting to find a dead dove, but no - she seemed to have rallied a bit! Her wound looked a bit dryer and she was standing and looking quite bright eyed. And she had eaten some mealworms! Thinking that she may be getting stressed shut in the shed, I took her to the birdtable at the bottom of the garden and put her there under the cover of the trees. She seems to have gained strength throughout the day and by evening she was motoring round the garden, pecking at bugs and drinking. I went out as it was getting dark and she was hiding under the shrubbery. I caused her a bit more stress as I had to catch her with a fishing net (big improvement over this morning when she just sat and let me pick her up) and I parked her on a branch in the conifer tree at the bottom of the garden (don't want next door's cat to finish her off!). I've just been out with a torch and she has managed to climb a bit higher and is now roosting.

What a little fighter she is! I really hope she makes it!

Happy May Day!

The last two weeks have been quite stressful - to cut a long story short, my husband lost his job two weeks ago. He has worked really hard and starts a new job on Monday. It is such a relief that he is in the kind of job where his skills are in demand. Although it has been stressful and worrying, that is nothing compared to those who have lost jobs and are unable to get another. I have several friends whose partners are in IT and who have been out of work for months. I can't imagine how that must feel.

Thought I'd share this picture with you - chickens going back to their roots! As the weather is now a little warmer Bella and Ruby have taken to roosting in the branches of their run. You wouldn't think it, but they do look quite cosy don't they?

Warm and Sunny at last!

Isn't it lovely to have some warm weather at last! I got home from work, rushed upstairs to get changed and went straight out into the garden. I haven't felt like doing that for ages now! Just a pity we don't have the allotment yet - it would have been lovely to take the family for a group dig before tea!

The lawn has dried out so I raked all the bark and stone chippings off that the chickens have scattered over the winter - lo and behold, I do still have a lawn! It survived the ravages of chickens and children and is not looking too bad at all!

I did a bit of tidying on the veg patch (I did manage to brave the elements a couple of weeks ago and did most of the work and planted some seeds, but it has been abandoned since then) I didn't realise how lovely broad bean flowers smell until I got close to them!

The children and the chickens appreciated me digging up a few weeds from the flower bed as well. I did take a picture of the children poking dock and dandelion leaves into the run, but blogger has now gone on strike!

And after moaning to friends about the children bickering, tonight they went straight into the garden after school and played together like little angels until bedtime! Typical LOL!

What to do in the School Holidays

I know it's a couple of weeks late, but some are only just ending their 'Easter' holidays!

We took the boys on some great days out! First trip was to Thomas the Tank Engine Land at Drayton Manor. Expensive, but worth every penny just to see their excitement!

Oldest son took me on the roller coasters for a treat!?

We took a picnic that we ate in the car, but the weather stayed reasonable and we all had a great day out.

Next up was the Butterfly Farm at Long Sutton. We visited with my Mum and Dad who had great fun teaching the boys how to use the zip wire LOL

This is a great place to visit - great value for money and loads to see and do. The childrens playground is wonderful, with three great slides, a wooden fort, the zip wire and lovely, solidly built and well maintained climbing frames. I recommend taking a picnic, even if it is cold and wet - they have two long polytunnels kitted out with picnic tables. Lovely and warm on a chilly but sunny day!

There are loads of exotic birds and animals, including a racoon family; the indoor tropical butterfly house is amazing and the real treat - a demo of the birds of prey. We had a beautiful owl sat on the seat next to us and the buzzard nearly took my Dads hair off, clipping his head with it's wing tips!

Snow and Allotment pictures

I can't believe the weather! We woke up to snow again today! Now normally I'd be the first to get excited about snow, but this is pushing it - what I would really get excited about now is a spell of nice hot weather!

But I have to admit it looks pretty - these grape hyacinths were outside my neighbours house, they look lovely with a frosting of snow.

After church we went for a wander to the allotment site. There is no access to the site yet - once that is sorted, I think we can start work on our plots. At the moment, this is the site. There will be 20, 10m x 10m plots. I am stood on the edge of a ditch bordering the north side of the plot. You can see the fence of the south and east borders. Just out of shot to the right is the west border - a tall hedge between the field and the road. Although you can see houses from this viewpoint, what you can't see to the left of the picture is open fields as far as the eye can see! (although I am sure that will change in the future).

The place I stood to take the picture is a plot of land between the allotment site and a bridle path - it is owned by a friend and is likely to be built on one day. I asked her this morning if she would be averse to renting some of it out for me to keep chickens and possibly pigs on. She sounded quite keen - it is just lying fallow at present. Haven't a clue how I'm going to go about this, but it's a plan for the future! Watch this space!

Allotment News!

So excited today - I've just found out I will be allocated one of the new village allotments when they open, hopefully in May! I won't be able to put chickens on (I was hoping to keep a few broilers there) but no matter, I will finally have space to grow all the larger crops that I can't fit in the garden - potatoes, brassicas, onions. And hopefully some fruit bushes as well. I can't wait! (can you tell I'm excited?)

Happy Easter!

Well what a sight to wake up to on Easter Sunday! It was trying hard to snow all day yesterday, and we did have a few flurries, but I didn't expect it to stick like this! The children can't wait to walk to church in it!

The poor chickens were in darkness as the snow had covered their run roof. So I let them out - normally they race out, but they look a bit bewildered today don't they?