Icing on the cake

Well, the icing for the cake IS done.    I cna't post a pic, as it contains pictures of my Aunt and Uncles.  It looks fine.     The printer is much faster than the old one, and it works wirelessly,  which is fab.  It's so fab that I'm thinking about not stashing it away in a cupboard.... but I don't know where I'd put it.

I'm up to my fingertips in a spreadsheet for the rest of the arrangements.

It's going OK.  I've spent hours washing up.  We got all the party stuff down from the loft, so I've been washing the plates, 'glasses' and semi disposable cutlery.  And the platters.    I also bought some chiller platters from Cater Speed, who offered inexpensive next day delivery, and the base price of the items was the best I'd seen.    I can see that these chiller platters would be good to use anyway,  so I'm wondering where I can store them so I have easy access.

All the new glassware has been washed, by the dishwasher.   I've borrowed fold up tables.  DB brought round some fold up chairs,  a massive coolbox,  and some other bits.   Our electric cool box is plugged in so it gets really cold. The ice maker has been churning out ice for 2 days now.  I've also frozen some large tubs of water,  so that normal plates can stand on them and keep cool.

I've had one food delivery,  and I'm going shopping tomorrow to buy the salad type perishables.  I've placed a panic order for Sunday morning, which contains frozen snacks.... this means we can heat them up quickly if we're running out of food,    or keep them if we don't.

The lady at a local cafe is making sandwich platters, for a very reasonable price.   Sandwiches aren't difficult to make, but they are time consuming.   And this way, we can collect them on Sunday morning so we won't have to worry too much about fridge space.

DB also lent me his breadmaker, so I can make two loads of dough at a time.  I know I could make the dough by hand more quickly but this way the dough can be doing its thing quietly while I'm getting on doing something else.  It also means I can make the dough later in the evening, rather than having to start early in the day.  My wish list of breads is quite long. 

It feels really odd buying in the food rather than making most things ourselves.    If it was just for a few people,  I'd be doing most of it,  but there are just too many.

I expect it'll be OK.

Time flies

The bank holiday was meant to be a calm, quiet, relaxing interlude for me, leading into a potentially busy week.  It didn't work out that way.

DH was away,  and Other Chap (OC) was away,  so I've been going to do the allotment chooks each day.  It's been good to see them. I wish I'd thought about it more carefully,  I could have wormed them as I'm seeing them every day anyway.

The Littlees have at last developed a taste for green veg, so I've been buying loads to make sure they have plenty. 

Small Person and her family popped by on Friday so that I could finish her leggings (see previous post).   They were off on holiday.

My Friday evening was meant to be me watching my new box-set,  Once Upon a Time, Season 7. I planned to start watching in the early evening, and then to keep watching until my eyes could take no more.

I started watching the first episode.
And then I had a phone call from Small Person's dad, my cousin.   Their cat had come in and had obviously been hit by a car.Their vet was just closing, so they were sent to the emergency Vet,  a few miles down the road from me.    The cat needed to be anaesthetised for the xray,  it had eaten when it dragged itself home,  and so the xray couldn't be done until Saturday morning.   They were due to go on holiday that day.

No problem. Happy to help.  Cat could come here, assuming he was OK to leave the Vet.

My Saturday was spent phoning the emergency vets, to see if the necessary xray had taken place, and fitting in everything else around that.   The Vet explained that they had had some emergencies come in, and they would do it at 1. Then 3. Then 7.   Each time I was told that someone would phone me when it was done.

I later realised that these were, literally, emergency vets.   They take over a practice overnights and over bank holidays,  and they provide an emergency service for lots of surgeries in the area.   This meant that every animal that came in to them was an emergency of some sort.

DH popped home on Saturday,  and immediately set to work getting our summerhouse ready for looking after the cat.  He's not castrated (the cat, I mean),  so we had to protect the walls and the floor, just in case.     We excavated the loft to find a cat basket that had not been recently used by our cats,  and we also found some VetBed which was new and unused.   And a litter tray.  And cat litter.


On Sunday morning, I phoned again and they confirmed that they had now done the Xray. Cat had a broken pelvis,  an operation was unnecessary (there was nothing that could be operated on), and he just needed to heal.  I could collect him that afternoon.  Phone again at lunchtime.

While I waited I started pressing the grapes that Small Person's parents had given me.  A previous, test, pressing had shown that 1kg of grapes would yield about 950g after de-stalking,  and this would deliver about 860ml of juice using the slow juicer.    I did the whole bag,  a lot of grapes,  and stood the jugs of juice in the fridge to settle overnight.

I collected Cat, and installed him in his temporary accommodation, and tried to do some stuff relating to the upcoming party.

On Monday, I got up early to do the chickens so I could sort out a few other things.

I bottled and pasteurised the grape juice.....

, and I attempted to make grape jelly.   It didn't set, and I haven't had any Certo (pectin), or any enthusiasm,  to reboil it.


I went to Ikea, to get some cheap glasses for the upcoming party.   I will never again go to Ikea on a Bank Holiday.     Their stock system leaves a lot to be desired.  Usually items show as "in stock", "low stock" or "out of stock".  Some of the things I wanted were "in stock",  but when I got there they were no where to be found.  The two assistants I asked for assistance were no assistance at all.  I ended up having to go round again, scrutinising the displays and taking stuff off the displays to try and get what I needed.

I don't think I've ever spent so long in an Ikea.

I had planned to pop in to Costco on the way back, but Costco had closed by the time I finished.

This morning,  I had to get up early and get back to the emergency vet to collect the cat basket.  They'd denied having it,  which is why we had to excavate ours,  but it turns out they did.  Cat was due at his own Vet today, and I wanted to use his basket instead of our bag (better structure for a cat with a broken pelvis).

I also had to go and buy some more cat litter and a second litter tray,  and run some more errands including seeing to the allotmenteers.

The Cat's Vet apppointment took some time, and I was relieved to get home.  I need to go to Costco, but I just can't face it now.

I still haven't unwrapped the new edible ink printer, either.  That was delivered last Thursday.  I may have to forgo the icing on the cake.

Fabrications

I haven't managed to get a photo of all the recent makes for Small Person.  Here are two she tried on today.

This first one is Cora Culottes by Made for Mermaids. She loves this particular style, and I've now made her....5?. pairs.  She loves the way they drape and look like a skirt.

And here she is in a pair of LoveNotions "Leggins"

Unattended Fabric

This is what happens when I leave fabric unattended...

Matting

I was cleaning the tops of some of the wall units.  Ever since I was a child at home, I've lined the tops of cupboards with wallpaper to protect them from the stickiness that is inherent in kitchens.  These days we don't use a deep fat fryer, so it's not quite so icky sticky,  but it's icky sticky enough.

To keep the paper flat I use old, out of favour, coasters.    I line the (few) open shelves as well - those that stuff is displayed on rather than in constant use,  and I put an old placemat on the shelf as well.  It looks marginally better than lining paper,  they are easily cleaned, and they are easily disposed of when they become uncleanable.

I smled to myself when I unearthed this...

.. I guess it must be getting on for 33/34 years old now.  I loved that picture back then.  It was very popular, and  I think I probably had that as a picture on a wall in my first house.   The mat is in susprisingly good condition.

While I was up there, I found two mats belonging to this set, also in surprisingly good condition:

That snail one was from a set of 4, I had to buy 2 sets to have enough.  I don't know what happened to the others.  These were also from my first house,  and I think it was when I started to have my own identity.       These didn't get replaced because they were grotty,  I think we moved house and I bought some new ones.

I suspect that I was a bit more careful of my placemats back then,  or I didn't use them much (we ate out a lot), or maybe I just changed them frequently.    It took me many years to paint the new kitchen in this house,   I just had an expanding number of tester pot swipes on the walls.  

I've lost count of the sets of placemats I've had and ruined.

  
My current table mats have been in use for... I don't know.  I've been semi retired for 12 years, and the mats were well established then.     I looked at them with a fond sadness today,  as I realised that they are all peeling, or stained, or damaged. 

They are by Rob Scotton, and they've been really really well used.    I don't think you can see the damage too well in the pic. 










I'm going to retire them, and get some cheapy ones to replace them. 

Housewifery happens

My middle stepson and his lovely family are coming to stay overnight shortly... and two weeks after that, a horde of my family (some of whom have never been to my house before) are coming for the day. 

There are a lot of family members, so it's entirely likely that furniture will get moved.

Cue: housewifery.

It's been forever since I last did it, so I might as well do it and then forget about it for another age.

I started at the end of last week, in the sitting room.  Sofas have been moved and vacuumed behind,  skirting boards dusted.  The fan cleaned. Top of pictures wiped.    There will, no doubt, be an accumulation of debris and detritis over the next couple of weeks,  but not enough to embarrass me unduly.

Then the downstairs bathroom and lobby. I've reviewed all the magazines and chucked a load.  Then the upstairs bathroom.  It's fully tiled, and I washed the tiles this morning. . I do realise that there isn't really any 'furniture; to get moved in either bathroom,  but the bathroom needs to be sparkling.  Do it now, then swish and swipe just before visitors happen.

I'm now doing the kitchen, which was a bit accidental.  I only meant to clear it up a bit, it's become a dumping ground over the last couple of weeks as various projects are finished and new ones started.  Somehow I  found myself cleaning under the coffee machine, which led to a behind the coffee machne clean, which led on.....   I've even hoovered up some cobwebs from the ceiling,  and I feel bad about that.  I like spiders, and I try to maintain a spider friendly house: clean cobwebs are not usually removed. 

I've resisted emptying the kitchen cupboards, but I'm ruling nothing out at the moment.  I suspect it may depend on how long it takes me to finish the kitchen.

I'm trying to pace myself.  In my younger days, I'd have done a mega long day of non stop vigorous cleaning.   Now,  I just don't care enough.  I do care,  I just don't think it's as important as I once did.

But I'm still cleaning.

My daughter in law will ask me if I've cleaned.  Last time she came, we made a pact that we wouldn't do it just because the other is visiting.     I would still have tidied. And I would still have cleaned the bathroom,  and cleaned their bedroom.   But I wouldn't have done this level of cleaning if it wasn't for the other visitors.

Anyway.

That's my break time over.  I've only done one quarter of the kitchen, and I'd like to get at least half of it finished today.

   

Activities

What else have we been up to?

I'm not sure I can remember everything.  Apart from chicken activities,  :
- we made some chocolate and Hazelnut spread in Thermy.
         - And then the following week, we made 3 more variations.  

- we made a courgette cake for Small Person's Mum's birthday.
- I made a test pair of Cora Culottes for Small Person,
    - followed by four more pairs
- I made a new pair of leggings for myself, but I haven't put a waistband on them yet
- I made a birthday card for Small Person's Mum

- I got SmallPerson to make a card for her Mum

- We played Cat-opoly.  A lot.
- We've watched the Back to the Future trilogy, which Small Person loved

I can't remember what else.

Next stage

We managed to last until Monday before taking the babies down to the allotment.   We waited until then because Small Person was going to be here, and we knew she'd want to be involved.  She messaged me each day over the weekend,  asking if we were moving the chicks that day and, if so, could she come too. please.

The move went well,  and they seemed to really like the new space to explore.  It has better shade than the garden at home, so was great for the good weather.  We went back down again at dusk, and were really pleased to see that they'd all managed to put themselves to bed.

They seem happy enough.   We've had to work at getting the Girls to remember to fly up;  the Boys haven't forgotten.

We know that Orange, Black, BlueBoy, Penguin and Brownie are Boys (Brownie is a miniature version of his Dad).   We know that Violet is a girl.  We think that Pink and Red are Girls.  

We don't know about Number Six.

The garden at home is very empty, and very quiet.

Stone the crows

Well, crowing happened.

Blackring and Brownie have been learning to crow for some time.  We knew both were boys, so no surprises.   lue Boy also started recently/       Sadly, Penguin has also started to crow.  When DH told me, I thought he might possibly be mistaken.  I saw and heard it myself shortly afterwards, and many times since.

Meanwhile, on top of the Gazebo has become a place of interest for the boys.

Small Person took the news about Penguin quite badly,  but she recovered herself by the next day.  We've already been telling her that Number Six is looking a bit boyish.... we haven't mentioned that we both, separately, thought we'd seen himher crowing.

Only once.  Each.

Goodby Dillys darling

Dillys died today.

Dillys, and her twin sister Phyllis,  were hatched in 2014 from one of the Welsh Black harem girls and our gorgeous boy Henry.    Unlike all the other black offspring,  they had flat ('normal') combs instead of pea combs.  She was, like her sister,  large, bolshy, inquisitive and friendly.  Always pecking for attention, always tripping us up for treats.

She had been off colour, on and off,  for a little while. We'd seen her a few times (not when it was this hot) with a blue tinge to her comb,  and each time we've thought she was probably going to go, so it's not exactly unexpected.   She looked a bit off colour again on Wednesday, and DH gave her some Nutridrops... but this time,  it was the last.   I don't think it was particularly the heat, although I guess that might have been the last straw.

I can't find many pictures of  her (them).   I found this one, which has both of them in.  I can't tell them apart in the picture... I often couldn't tell them apart unless they were both in front of me at the same time.  In case you can't see the combs, one of them is on the left eating from a fruit bush;  the other is in the foreground looking at the slab.

I guess flat combed chicks are more likely, now that our cockerel is a Vorwerk.They'd have to go some to be as cheeky as Phyllis and Dyllis.

I haven't told Small Person yet.    I'll wait until we are chatting tonight.    I would bet that, after she's interrogated me on the details of what happened and had a bit of a reminisce about Dillys,   she'll ask me whether it means we can keep more girls from this year's hatch.

Poor babies

The chicks are really struggling with the heat. 

CHickens dont sweat.  They lose heat through their combs and wattles.  If it's really hot, and they can't lose enough heat through the combs and wattles,  they pant.  They are coarrying around feather duvets, and they often have to lift their wings up to try and let some air flow in.

Most of the chicks have no combs or wattles yet, so the ONLY way they can lose heat is panting.  Sometimes, this isn't enough... you may remember that we lost one to heatsroke last week.    Our chooks have a gazebo, a tree, and some other shade.  They have an electric fan.  WeThey have waterers which are re-filled twice a day (so the replacement water is cooler). 

Recently we added two shallow troughs (one was a cat litter tray we bought to use as a chick dust bath, the other was a washing up bowl which is usually used when the allotmenteers need a bath).   A small amount of water,  we tried getting them to stand in them initially, but that didn't work.  Now we use them as additional drinkers, with water refreshed seveeral times a day.    We throw in some sunflower seeds (which the chicks love, but which are far too fattening for them), so the chicks have to dunk their faces to get to them.

Yesterday it hit 35 degrees and the chicks were struggling.    Small Person and I ended up giving each chick a quick bath,  just enough to get them damp.     In the aftermath of the bath, none of the chicks were panting, and they all looked quit ecomfortable.    Of course it wore off, so we ended updoing it several times a day.

I tried using a sprinkler on mist (as recommended by FlytesoFancy), but the chicks were too afraid of it.  

Today, I've put bottles of frozen water in the troughs, to try and keep the water cooler for longer.    Of course the chicks didn't like this change... but sunflower seeds in the water meant it wasn't long before they were trying to stand on the bottles to reach in to the water.

We've got a small area of shrub which they don't currently have access to,  and I've been busy pruning the bay tree so we can get some netting round it.     Then they can have that, and hopefully that will be enough for them to withstand today's temperatures without repeated bathing.  I've done them once today so far.

We tried feeding the chicks some tiny cubes of cucumber, but they didn't want to know.   Small Person sat for ages in with the Big Girls feeding them cucumber.

Rest of the week

It continues hot and, apart from a welcome short drizzle last night, no rain.

PinkComb is still with us.  Several times a day I've been picking him up, bringing him in, and giving him a drink from a syringe.  Up until yesterday, he drank every time.   I've also been massaging his crop, as I think he has a bit of a blockage.

Yesterday he didn't want to drink from the syringe, and he seemed quite perky.

I'll keep an eye on him, of course.

It's now easier to tell who is a boy and who is a girl.  If the 6 black chicks,  PinkComb BlackRing and OrangeRing are boys;  purple ring is a girl;  I'm not sure about RedRing and PinkRing.    Of the others,  Brownie is a boy,  Number 6 may be a girl (although that might be wishful thinking),  and Penguin...well, I'm not sure.

Penguin, Number 6 and Purple Ring spend a lot of time together. 

Black Ring, the least hand tame, likes to climb on the coop and then fly out of the run. 

They don't look like chicks now, they all look like tiny chickens.

Back in the Big Girls coop, Poppy has given up being broody.  She has been out for a couple of days, and is being completely vile to Faye.  I'm guessing that Poppy has slipped down the pecking order to fourth, and doesn't want to bottom.     It gave me a tinmely reminder of how difficult it is going to be if I decided to add more girls to their flock.

Poppy can't help it.  She endured torment from monster hen Milly (something I very much regret not dealing with sooner).     She did not tke kindly to the introduction of Faye, Sasha and Fleur,    and I suspect that the nastiness may have affected them too.

Yesterday and this morning

Later on, another bird - PinkComb, a boy - seemed a bit listless.  I picked him up, but he wasn't particularly warm so heatstroke seemed unlikely.  I gave him some yoghurt (laced with AviPro), which he refused to eat,  and I attempted to give him some vitamins.  I ended up wearing the vitamin drops.

I put him back in the run.  He was eating and drinking a bit, but didn't look right.

This morning, he was OK, but not quite himself.  I made up the dog crate for him,  but he's not letting me catch him (which is a good thing I suppose).

I've been scrubbing and disinfecting all drinkers and feeders in both the Chick area and the Big Girls area.    I've bought some Coxoid, just in case we need it.

It's not licensed for poultry, but it used  to be the thing that chicken keepers used.    I'm not sure whether to dose everyone, just in case.

They've all been sitting around this morning.  That's not unusual,  but it is worrying when I'm in a state of anxiety.   

In an attempt to get them to do something, I  refilled the dust bath. Fresh sand, fresh woodash, fresh topsoil.     They all attempted to get in.  At the same time.

PinkComb was in the midst of the dustbath, and he's (mostly) wandering around with the others and is eating and drinking.

Stressful day.

So. Very. Sad.

One of our chicks died yesterday.

I could see that she wasn't right. She was sitting away from the others, and kept moving away when any of them came to keep her company.

It looked like heatstroke,  so I did a cut down version of the usual stuff.  She was very warm. Chicks are very warm, but she seemed warmer than 'normal'.   I thoroughly wetted a towel,  with warmish water, wrapped the chick in it,  then wet a small rag and put it over her head.  I unwrapped her so she would feel the cooling effects, and rewet it.  I put it underneath her.  I checked her over to see if I could see any signs of injury, and I checked her vent in case there was blood.

I was loathe to do anything more dramatic. I wasn't sure she could cope with being more thoroughly wetted.     

I squirted some water in her beak, using my smallest syringe. I mixed some Avipro ith a tiny bit of yoghurt which she ate.and then put her back outside. I put a wet towel next to her so she could lean on it if she wanted. 

An hour later, I got her out again, and repeated it.   

A little later she took herself up to bed.

And then I heard a scuffle from inside the coop, and I knew she had died.

Poor little poppet.

Benched

We moved the chick bench into the chicks enclosure,  so they'd have something to jump up and down from, and somewhere to congregate off the floor.

We had a discussion about whether to put it in or not.  The reason for the discussion is that Wash had adopted the bench and really liked stretching out on it, and it seemed mean to steal it back from him.

But, steal it back we did.

It's been a great success.

I might see about getting another one for Wash.

Photo call

They are starting to turn into young chickens now,

Brownie

Penguin

Brownie, PinkComb, and 3 of the other black chicks

Number 6

Shade

It's so hot! 

33 degrees Celsius yesterday.


Everywhere is tinder dry.   We've rearranged the Big Girls area so that they have the back fence and shrubs, andthat's where they spend most of the day.  It's pleasant and cool there.     They have a waterer there too, so they don't have to go back in the Run to get a drink.

It was more problematic for the Littlees.  We'd been putting up the table shade, which casts a shadow over part of their run for most of the day.  I'd put some special greenhouse shading on the run, which blocks the heat but lets the air in.

Then I'd had to put a shade shade on the run.

Then I'd added in some pram shades, but they were a bit dangerous. All these things only helped shade the run, not the free range area.

In the end we excavated Myshed to find the gazebo, and it for them.   It's something like 3m square, so it covers a good part of their area.   They also have 3 watering stations.

Can't do much about the grassm though.

Jumpy Uppy

Small Person (I really must come up with a better name for her now) came after school earlier in the week.     She sat in the run and played pick up chicks (holding each one correctly and giving himher a treat as a reward),  and then she decided to try and teach them JumpyUppy.   She wasn't quite clear with her arm, and ended up being mugged by a swarm of small chickens.

Since then, I've neen training them to do jumpy uppy myself.  They are getting the hang of the flying up,  but they have no concept of taking turns,  and the opportunist ones interpret any bit of arm as an invitation.   We've probably got 6 or 7 that are happy to jump up now.

It came in handy today because Penguin escaped.   I brought the treat bowl out,  offered my arm,  and heshe gently landed on my arm and got carried back.    No drama.

My arm is quite badly scratched, because the little ones have such sharp claws.

I've also done pick up chicks as well, to make sure they don't lose that skill.

They really are a lovely bunch.    

Brownie is six weeks old tomorrow, Penguin is 6 weeks on Saturday,  the other 2 earlies are 6 weeks on Sunday.     The rest of the bunch are 5 weeks old now.

Time to stop putting the hen on overnight.

Beddy Byes

It's continued to be unbearably hot.

A few nights ago, we decided to see if the chicks would take themselves to bed.  7 managed it, 3 did not.  The following night, 9 managed it and 1 did not.  It has continued like that for several nights now.

The sleeping positions vary.  Some nights they are all on the floor,  some nights 7 of them pack on to the top of the hen.     I've still been putting the hen on before  I go to bed, because it gets a bit nippy at 4 in the morning.

We've tried teaching the straggler to go up the stairs, but she just isn't getting the hang of it. 


Today, after I mucked out.  I  decided to put the roosting bars in.  I don't want to force them to sleep on roosting bars though, so they also have a flat nest box as an option,   plus the top of the hen.  It will be interesting to see where they choose to sleep.

This morning

I was expecting to be woken very early by Faye.  I hadn't closed the pop hole, because of the heat.   Usually this means they get up at about 4am, and Sasha and Faye start whingeing straight away.  This morning, there was nothing until someone - Fleur I think - started crowing at about 6.   She stopped after a few goes,  so I went back to sleep.

DH went down to make a cup of tea,  and I got up at about 7.45 to see what the Sasha Situation was.

She as alive.  She looked reasonable, although not right. She refused food and water.  Her tail was up, but her wings were down.  I picked her up and she felt cool.  I took her out to the run, and watched to see what happened.

She went to the drinker and drank.  Quite a lot.  Then she stood for  while,  and then she jumped up on the garden chair which acts as one of their many perches.    I left her there.

She's been OK during the day, and her wings are returning to their normal position.  She's a bit quiet, so not completely well,  but she looks OK.

We've left the Intensive Care suite made up in the kitchen.