Has Anyone Seen a White Chicken?

Thursday 19th January 2012

Another grey start to the day. Today was an excellent day. Lots of different jobs.

Chicken Wings
I started with the chicken wings. Time will be soon when the chickens cannot be allowed to have free roam in the veg plot. I hope instead to be able to let them wander in the meadow and orchard, but this will not work out if they are still eminently capable of hopping any fence up to 6 foot high. Also this week they are being treated for worms and are supposed to only eat the treated food (as far as possible). Four birds in particular, beautiful girls who have completed their moult and have a beautiful set of new feathers, have hopped the fence every morning even before I'm up. Clipping their wings is a simple process, no more painful than clipping your toenails, as long as it's done properly. It's actually better to only clip the feathers on one wing, as this affects the birds flight balance. Otherwise they just flap really hard. Three hands help in this task, one to gently hold the chicken, one to spread out the wing, and one for the scissors to snip off most of the primary feathers - not too short though, otherwise it's like cutting too much off your toenails - painful for the chicken.
The first chicken, Mrs Brown, was no trouble. Chestnut was next and was n problem as she's always been the friendliest and tamest. After that, the rest had cottoned on to what was happening and quickly scarpered off without even eating their morning food ration. I managed to take one by surprise later in the morning as she sat to lay. The rest will have to wait. This is no problem, as it will be better to do it once all their feathers have grown back in anyway.

Has Anyone Seen A White Chicken?
As if to celebrate it's evasive manoeuvres our youngest hen, Chick of Elvis, completely vanished this afternoon! I searched everywhere, counted the others several times, searched the whole farm again. Nothing! Surely she couldn't have been taken by a predator. I'd been outside all day and would surely have heard the commotion or found a scatter of white feathers. Maybe she's wandered into one of the dykes, or even over the road, tempted by the sound of Don's lone bantam cockerel.  Surely I didn't spook them that much this morning?

A Pile of Ash

Last week a professional team moved in to lop the giant Ash trees in Don's garden. They even put traffic lights on the road for a few hours. Don was left with a huge pile of logs, branches and brushwood and has been busy the last few days loading his tractor trailer with the smaller pieces and preparing for the monster of all fires. He very kindly asked me if I'd like some of the medium-sized logs to cut up for our wood burning stove. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I changed my priorities for the rest of the morning. Don is very generous and let me take a whole trailer full. I didn't want to take advantage. Ash makes excellent firewood as it will burn green. Like any wood it is even better left to season, and provides a welcome temporary home and shelter for a wealth of wildlife. The wren and robin were hopping in and out of the woodpile within minutes of me unloading it.

The rest of the day was devoted to pottering around, pruning and tidying up, a spot of weeding, a bit of digging. I even got a line of old raspberries and miscellaneous fruit bushes dug up from the rough ground along the dyke, where a previous owner had planted them and then forgotten about them. This is a job which had been on my list for quite a while. They are dormant at this time of year, so it's a good time to move them.

A New Nest

The final chicken feed of the day. The chickens appreciate some wheat or, as a treat, mixed corn before they go to bed. Incidentally, feeding chickens too much corn is apparently a bit like feeding a teenager too many McDonalds. So "corn-fed chicken" may sound a friendlier way to eat chickens but access to pasture, weeds and insects is far, far better. "Free-range" does not guarantee this, not by any means.

As I opened the shed I noticed a bundle of white feathers perched snugly between the hay bales and the wall of the shed. Chick Of Elvis! Sat on 2 eggs. She scarpered when I got close, but returned later to lay a third egg. She didn't stay on the eggs, but has clearly decided not to use the luxury facilities I have done my very best to provide. She would not stay to pose for photos, but here's her new nest site.

The Trees Arrive
Too late in the day to get started, 430 trees arrived along with an equivalent number of stakes and guards. Thanks to Lincolnshire Council's Hedgerows and Small Woodlands Grant, these cost me a fraction of how much they would otherwise. A little job for the weekend then. By the time they're planted, I will have introduced over 700 trees to the farm!