A Little Late But...

Happy St David's Day!

A little snack for when the boys came home from school after working sooo hard in the school eisteddfod all day. Have to say the Welsh cakes were more for Alfie as Harry is not that keen on them. At the eisteddfod Harry came second in the poetry competition and Alfie was joint third in the art section. Beam!!!!

I talked about an addition to our little patch here at Bronllan and I am now able to happily share that we have acquired six more chickens; these are white and very gorgeous! We fetched them on Tuesday from the free range farm from where our original six were bought. I asked Jon about the precautions the farm were taking regarding the avian flu and he was simply asked to drive over some special mats on the farm land. As we expected the lock-down to be lifted yesterday we were happy to fetch new stock in readiness and it was no problem for the farm to supply us so everybody was happy. 

The weather was biblical by the time Jon and the boys got back but we had the girls in boxes that the farm had readied for us. We stood in the shed and Jon clipped one wing of each of them and the boys ran backwards and forwards to the hen house putting them in and shutting the door after!  Here they are, well one missing round the back, out in the open the next morning, as the new directive has said they are able to be.

We have decided to keep them all outside. We use the same foot wear for going out the back and I should be able to put netting over the pond without too much trouble. We have a separate parking area so very few cars come into the back garden now.The enclosure has lots of trees in it and in summer should act as a good shelter from wild birds but there is no way I can cover it over. Our girls have always been free range - they were always let out of the enclosure into the main garden for a scrat around and they love it but we are not doing that just now. So that is how we are managing the situation. Egg production is, of course,on the up so we have ordered boxes so we can sell the eggs; with the help of Jon, the boys are going to build an honesty box to put at the main gate. We have said if the boys are responsible for the chooks, look after them, feed, change their bedding etc. they can have the money from the sales once they have taken care of the overheads - our aim is to teach them a number of skills with this exercise.

Yesterday I fetched two bales of straw and again didn't see too much evidence of flu precautions at the farm I went to, and I did say there were for our chickens.

To say the car now needs a good clean out is an understatement! A job for the weekend I think. I had time to give the hen house a good clean out and put the fresh straw in - the last two bales we had were bought at the beginning of May so really did last - before the boys were home.

Well I have a washing and admin day today so better get on with that or it will be lunch time before I know it!

Bye for now.

Lou.xx