[Snoop]

The Benny Hill session must have been a lark. Did the girls sing the accompanying music?

[New shoot]

The Benny Hill session must have been a lark. Did the girls sing the accompanying music?

It started playing in my head after a few minutes      He's still sulking this morning.  I got 'The Look' when I let him out 

[New shoot]

Foghorn's diary

Its a bit quiet in the coop at the moment diary.  Patsy and Eddie decided to go broody    Mum tolerated it for a bit, then even when she chucked them out of the nest box for food and drink, Patsy was a bit half hearted about eating.  Mum grabbed her up, told her off for getting too thin and took them both off to the sin bin, where there is nowhere to nest.

She says they are both eating like horses now, so that's OK, but they are still making broody 'chuck chuck' noises, so they are not trusted to come back for a few days yet 

No problem getting the other girls to eat    We know the sound of mum's car so we start up as soon as she parks.  By the time she opens the back door to check on us all, a reception committee is waiting 

We all suck our crops in and try and look half starved.  It usually works 

Alphie's diary

Well we have new neighbours as Patsy and Eddie, the terrible twosome, are installed next to us.  Naomi is not best pleased and if we get let out, she patrols the edge of their run menacing them 

Eva and I are usually far too busy looking for stuff to eat.  Every plant is worth investigation and if you can't reach what you have your eye on ........... well no problem, just use one of the special pecking platforms mum has dotted around the garden 

Eva was supposed to be on lookout duty, but I still got yelled at for being too close to mum's treasured gingko tree      When I jumped off and took a peck at her prized olive tree, I got chased down the garden    You wait till she realises I have spotted the figs on the fig tree and that the pecking platform it is in, is right next to the grape vine   

[nerdle]

Pecking platform  as funny as his posing log.

[surbie100]

Patsy and Eddie are stunners.

Hope Alphie's not about to come a cropper with his Grape Expectations. 

[New shoot]

Foghorn's diary

Big run clean out today, so we got fresh new bark chips and mum set our favourite perching branch back up.  The girls love to line up on this on a lazy afternoon for some dozing, preening and generally watching the world go by.

We have our summer sunshade up now and doesn't it tone well with the posh new coop.  All in all, life is pretty sweet over in our corner   

We got chucked out into the garden while mum did the run.  She always digs it over and we like to help a bit too much    She gets fed up of falling over chickens and nearly spearing them with the garden fork.  We love the garden, so no hardship there 

Mum's been doing a lot of pruning recently and has stacked up the big branches in corners.  I asked why and she said it was for wildlife.  What  ........... as in bugs and stuff    Course, we rushed over to check it out but we couldn't find the way in.

I was not impressed, but mum says its a refuge for wildlife away from the tiny terrors and their beaks and claws, not a buffet for us.  Humans !  I ask you, what is the point of that ?  She held firm and said no go, so we stalked back to the run and demanded mealworms off her instead 

Alphie's diary

Well Naomi is broody and even more tetchy than usual, so me and Eva are keeping our heads down   

Mum is getting a bit fed up with her and threw her and us out into the garden.  We had a good scratch around, then made ourselves comfortable on our bench.  Mum says its a people bench, but we think differently 

I stood guard while the girls did some major preening.  Mum came out with a coffee looking like she wanted to sit down, but we had squatters rights and she had to go and find a seat somewhere else 

[nerdle]

Bench poo isn't the kind that can be easily brushed away either.  They reserve the non removeable type for the bench

[New shoot]

Foghorn's diary

It was a lovely sunny Sunday morning here today and we got let out for a garden wander    We usually move as a team down the garden, scratching up those bugs and slugs and having a fine old time.  We got to the end today and I noticed a couple of the girls were missing, so went to look for them.  I found them sunbathing together on the grass 

Naomi and Eva were in their run looking over in distain.  I even heard Naomi muttering about brazen hussies flaunting everything they had got.  Well Old Girl, my silver laced dottie, really is a very elderly lady these days and she can't always keep up with the rest of the gang when they go on a forage.  She appreciates a bit of time out sun worshiping, but it seems Eddie has decided that is not such a bad option either 

Mum then made a big mistake by coming out to sit on the bench with a cup of coffee.  Of course we were all convinced it was something for us and came to check it out.   

Eventually, after we had inspected the cup and decided it didn't smell like anything we wanted, we left mum in peace and wandered off.  A  quick tour of the other side of the garden and we get back to the gate of our run, where we normally stand expectantly waiting for meal worms. 

Of course, we could just walk in, but why would you, when you can all stand around looking at one another and acting like you don't know where the way in is.  Well at least until a treat is chucked your way to entice you over the threshold 

[sunshineband]

They have a very contented look about them, don't they? 

[devonbarmygardener]

I do think you have some of the happiest hens in the world New Shoot

Our girls fight like crazy since their clipped beaks grew back (they were rescued from a caged bird egg farm).
Do you think the cockerel keeps them calmer??

[New shoot]

Do you think the cockerel keeps them calmer??

Neither Foggy or Alphie like fights and will break them up, even going so far as to chase and grab a hen themselves, if they think she was out of line.

Doesn't always work mind.  Old Girl will turn and face Foggy and see him off.  He gets a definite 'uh oh' look on his face before he has to beat an undignified retreat    

I do think you have some of the happiest hens in the world New Shoot

Thank you   

[New shoot]

Alphie's diary

Aaaaahhhh this time of year is great diary.  Over the last few weeks we have had overgrown courgettes, the cabbage leaves mum has been pulling off the cabbages she is bringing home from the plot, the odd squishy tomato and raspberry, windfall apples and as much perpetual spinach and chard as we want.

There was a special treat today though.  Mum takes our old run litter to the plot to use as mulch and gets all sorts of odd things growing where we have missed bits of food.  Most gets pulled out, but she left these and they turned into oats.  We were very impressed and picked them clean in no time 

There were loads of slugs and worms in the garden and we stuffed outrselves with grass, but there is always room for my favourite - grapes !  Mum thinned then to make them bigger and it worked on some, but there are still some small pippy ones that she usually gives to us.

Well I am full, but I'm sure I have room for a few of them 

We all waddled back to the run after that lot and the girls are now lay in the sun looking contented.  I'm just so stuffed I can hardly keep my eyes open.  Wassat !  No I'm not asleep Naomi, I'm just resting with my eyes shut 

[New shoot]

Foghorn's diary

These dark mornings aren't making it easy to keep my diary up.  Hold that torch still girls, I want to get this done before we get let out 

Mum was clearing the raised beds at home yesterday, so we did pretty well for treats.  We have been eating the chard all summer, but we got the bonus of the whole plants with the rootballs to scratch through, so I soon got the girls organised into a production line of chard shredding   

There are feathers everywhere at the moment as some of the girls are moulting.  Mum cleans them out of the coop, but says she'll sort our run litter out once they are done.  Mabel in particular is looking less than pristine.  Well mum said she looked like a right scruffy little madam, which I don't think she was best pleased about.  I told her she is still beautiful but her beak was definately put out.  Not enough to stop her getting her share of the treats though 

Hang on.  I'm sure I just heard someone moving around in the house.  That means they are up and we will be out soon    Make sure that torch is hidden away girls and get ready to make some noise 

[sunshineband]

That gave me a chuckle this morning, the idea of them with a torch

[Snoop]

Brilliant.

With Foghorn's fine comb, hand-held torches must be the only option as head torches would be out of the question. I wouldn't mind knowing who deals with changing the batteries, though. They're always such a dreadful fiddle.