Rosie catches up

Rosie (our Minorca) has been flirting with the nest box on and off over the last few days, looking up at us with a 'What?' look in her eyes if we opened it whenever she happened to be in there. So, I've been scrutinising the daily egg, wondering if it looks any lighter or different in any way - just in case it was hers.

I needn't have bothered.

It couldn't have been more different to Maisy's. In fact, I think they qualify for first prize in the Eggs That Are Polar Opposites competition. I always knew that Marans produce dark brown eggs and Minorca's white eggs, but I wasn't expecting the difference to be so obvious from the word go.

I don't think we'll have any problem identifying who's pulling their weight.. do you?

Gardens can be scary places..

Especially if you're like me and haven't a clue what you're doing. I try my best, but I don't generally get things to grow with any great degree of success (unless you count weeds). Mr G, on the other hand, gardens with flair. He seems to instinctively know things like what to plant where, how to lay the garden out, what 'companion planting' means in the vegetable beds and whether or not we should pluck some blossoms off the pear tree in order to ensure a decent crop. Things that a couple of years ago would have sounded like a foreign language to me (and sometimes still do).

Last Summer was a bit of a wash-out (read 'rained for 3 months solid') so I felt fairly disheartened at the end of it when none of my shrubs or flowers fared well. However, a couple of small successes, like last Summer's bumper crop of courgettes and peas and this year's gorgeous display of tulips, has given me the impetus to carry on and sow some more seeds.

Our vegetable garden now consists of three large beds, in which we'll grow potatoes, onions, peas, courgettes, sweetcorn, carrots, pumpkins (if the rats don't keep eating them like last year - even they had it in for me), garlic, spinach, rocket and a few other salad bits. I've sown some of these already and it's exciting waiting for the first few shoots to appear.

I'm also aiming to create a sea of scented flowers near where we eat outside this year and have sown tons of cottage garden-type flower seeds in two large beds. Some of these have started to pop up already and we've put some netting over the most vulnerable bed in order to keep the hens from eating the lot. Here's hoping that even some of them survive so that I don't totally lose faith in this gardening business.

One of the things we decided to add to the garden last year was the orchard. It consists of about 10 apple, pear and damson trees and some of these are starting to break out into the most lovely blossoms. Fruit trees are easy.. all you have to do is leave them alone to do their business. Even I can manage that.

On the hen front, Maisy and Rosie are becoming increasingly chilled out in their new home. Maisy is laying daily eggs for us and it's fabulous to find one still warm in the nest box in the late morning. Rosie is becoming positively slutty, allowing JP to pick her up and walk around the garden with her in his arms and generally following us around wanting to know what we're up to. Yesterday, when we were sitting at the table outside, she wandered over, jumped up on the table and even went as far as to try to get at my tea.

I'll have to have some words with her. No-one messes with my tea.

Rosie and Maisy have arrived...!

After a fruitless trip to the Poultry Fair at Myshall a couple of weeks ago, we finally got our hands on two birds to get our little flock started. They came from a reputable breeder in Laois and weren't on the list of breeds I had shortlisted, but they're winning me over more and more every day. Rosie is a black Minorca and is proving to be a fairly plucky little lady. She's always the first scrambling out of the hen house in the morning for breakfast and it's usually her little head you'll see peering out of the hedge first when there's any grub on offer. Yesterday, she tried to climb the steps to the slide but skittered off abruptly with her wings flapping 'like a helicopter' according to JP when she couldn't make it to the top step. Maisy, on the other hand, is a lot more reserved. She's a Cuckoo Maran, with round haunches, who waddles swiftly out of sight if we come anywhere near. The two of them have been gradually venturing out further into the garden every day and seem to be enjoying the range of worms and slugs on offer. A couple of our neighbour's hens have wandered into the garden now and again and have even been audacious enough to try to nick Rosie and Maisy's feed, but they're learning their lesson slowly but surely. JP will happily pick up one of them quite firmly and throw them out of the enclosure if he sees them at it. It's funny how he's becoming really interested in them.. he asked me to read the whole 'Keeping Chickens' book to him last weekend. I'm not sure if the attachment is really there yet though.. he keeps asking if we can kill Maisy and eat her as she looks so fat. Hmmm...

Over the last few days, I've noticed Rosie and Maisy becoming more and more chilled out.. often nestling down together in a quiet spot and watching the world go by. They never leave each other's side and it's quite endearing to watch. On the subject of eggs, in case you're wondering, there aren't any. The two of them should start laying soon, although the breeder reckons he's missing a daily egg since he sold them to us. I still haven't seen any though, but hopefully they won't be too far off.

In the meantime, we're just enjoying getting to know them. We should have some more to add to the flock in about 2-3 months. A friend of ours bought a box of chicks on an impulse two weeks ago and is raising them at the moment under lamps in his garage.. two have been ear-marked for us and he might be getting some more soon. Can't wait! I'm beginning to understand why people find this poultry business so addictive...

Chickenopolis

We’re one step closer to having our own little flock of hens in the garden. This weekend, our friend Mr H (sometimes affectionately referred to as ‘God’ in relation to all things DIY) built a lovely little hen house for us and then came around to help Mr G to build the enclosure on Sunday. It was a glorious day and Mr H’s son, A, who is JP’s best friend (they’ve known each other since they were bumps) came around and he and JP didn’t stand still all day other than to eat, pee or guard a goal. I was holding fort in the kitchen while the men did manly things like sawing timber and hammering nails into chicken wire. Lou Loo pottered around in the garden and came in for company every now and again. Our neighbour’s hens decided to see what all the commotion was about and spent a lot of time investigating the new enclosure and generally getting in the way.

On Monday (due to St Patrick’s Day on Tuesday, we were all off), JP, Lou Loo and I spent the morning painting the hen house. I have to admit to calling Mr G in after a while though to remove Lou Loo, as all she was really doing was dunking her brush into the paint and then creating a trail of big blobs on the ground on the way to the wood. She meant well, but it was getting a bit messy and I was heading towards a bad mood. Mr G took her inside and brought me a big mug of coffee. JP wandered off a little while later to play inside.

The air was still, the coffee was strong and hot and I was getting a job done in peace... not bad for a Monday morning.