Establishing a pecking order
Now that they’ve settled into their new surroundings, the chickens are starting to work out who should be queen of the coop. So far Barbara’s heading for a swift coronation.
We can’t quite decide whether she or Margot is the largest, but they both outsize Gerry, who quickly established herself as our favourite and is paying a heavy price as a result: she seems to have ended up at the bottom of the pecking order. Margot steps on her head when she pecks corn out of the grass, and Barbara sits on her as she hunkers down in the corner for a dust bath.
Margot, meanwhile, is also the focus of Barbara’s beady eyes, and whenever she goes to drink from the water trough, Barbara pushes her to one side and robs her chosen drip nipple right from her beak.
Much though we might like to step in and sort things out, this is something they’re just going to have to work out for themselves, but it’s lining up to be dumb Barbara on on the throne, meek aloof Margot second and lovely Gerry kissing all four of their scaly little feet.
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The strawberries have been our big success story this summer. Surprising, really, as they have been a dead loss in years gone by.
May saw a slight fall in the number of eggs laid by our three hens. That was unexpected, but there are some possible explanations.
A flapjack in essence, this is very quick and easy to bake and uses store cupboard ingredients, so you can keep stocked up on everything you need and make a new batch whenever you want some.
The apricot tree is looking distinctly sorry for itself and now, with a gust of wind, it’s lost two of its only four fruits.
We had a very good demonstration of why it’s worth growing your own this week, even when vegetables are so cheap in the shops at the moment. Here it is.
