Squawk, Flap, Thud, Crash, TInkle

I was upstairs, pressing some fabric.

I heard the panicked squawk and flap of Faye, which told me that she was downstairs in the kitchen, DH or one of the cats had come in, and she was flapping about panicking.  I put the iron down.

Then I heard a thud, a crash, and the sound of glass being smashed. I hurried downstairs.

I saw Fay run out of the kitchen in to the garden;  DH ws stood in the middle of the kitchen, looking at a smashed glass.  A glass vase was on its side on the windowsill.  A glass piece he'd made was in the sink.

He'd come in from the garden, Faye had seen him and panicked (as she does). She decided to fly up to try and get out through the kitchen window. Unfortunately for everyone, the window wasn't open, so she hit it, bounced off it, knocked the vase and the glass wave off the windowsill,  panicked and flapped, and her wing hit a glass on the worktop  which then smashed to smithereens on the floor.


She was fine.

It took some time to clear up.

September

For a week after the party, we dined on leftovers. These were the leftovers that couldn't be frozen, and resulted in some interesting combinations. No cheating, no takeaways.  Mini kievs and chips, for example.

It seemes like a good challenge to continue for another week,  so we made sure that all our meals came out of the freezer or cupboard.  I won't pretend it's hard,  we're fortunate to be well stocked.

The third week started, and we continued the challenge.  This week was easy, because it started with a roast chicken - one of ours, of course -  on the Sunday.  And monday.  And risotto on Tuesday.  And asian-inspired chicken pittas stuffed with leftover risotto on Wednesday.  We could easily have had chicken for another two days, but we also gave the cats roast chicken as a treat each day for a few days.

I had to buy butter, as I'd run out of butter and spread. I can't make my own as I don't want to risk going to Costco until the challenge is finished.


We cook from scratch mostly.  I found a jar of vindaloo curry sauce in the larder, so we had that with pork yesterday.   There are a several packets of fajita spice mix,  so I'd better start on them otherwise we'll end up with a week of chilli pork.


Its not really an exercise in economising, at best it's just a case of deferring payment.  As soon as it's over, I'll order a load of beef,  for example.    However, it will make us eat those things that have been lurking at the bottom of the chest freezer,  and not just eat the same things all the time. 

It's not difficult, we've got lots of different things in the freezer to choose from (at the moment anyway).  I'm trying to vary what we take out. so we don't end up with having a week of sausages for example.

We've been mainly having rice or pasta (apart from the roas dinner week when I was using up the huge bag of Marfona potatoes I'd bought to bake for the party.  A bit of a tastebud saver they've been!

We're going to try and continue for another week.




 

Chicks

 And here are the Chicks pics that Small PErson kindly forwarded

Blue Boy

Violet, Red, or Pink (can't tell)

NUmber Six

Penguin (this is a month ago)

8 of the 9 sharing a dustbath (this is a month ago)

Allotmenteers

Following the phone debarcle.  SmallPerson kindly sent me back some of the photos I'd sent her, and sent me some of her own.

The square pics are hers. no idea why she chose these particular hens to snap

Big Bird (She was huge, and the only yellow chick in her hatch, h2014)

Bertie and one of the harem girls

Camilla, not great conformation but lovely nature h2014

Ping, Pong, Norah, Harem, Harem, Barbara, harem, Bertie, Camilla, Big Bird. Phyllis inside shed. 2 girls missing, broody.

Ping, Pong (h2017) and Norah (h2011)

Barbara (Norah's daughter, in case you couldn't guess) (h2016)

Bertie and some of his girls

Still broody

Sasha,  my Appenzeller Spitzhauben, is still broody.   

I was more than a little surprised that she went broody at all,  her breed isn't prone to it and she's never shown broody tendencies before.

She's stuck to it.  She comes out once a day, like a seam train thundering out of a tunnel.  She screeches, boks, runs around, gets on one of the perches, has a broody poo, stuffs her face, runs around, and then goes back in.

She lovingly moves the eggs - there were some in there when she went broody, and I foolishly left them there after she'd sat on them for a couple of days - with her chin.  Mostly, she ignores whats going on outside.

When I give the others sunflower seeds or corn, I throw some near her nest box. She ignores it, until they start landing inside. Then she sometimes pops out, eats them, and then goes back in. All in a flash.

It's lovely having her broody. All these weeks we've had no morning racket or rumpus.  

She's changed shape.   She was tpical of her breed: skinny, upright, small.   Since she's been broody, she's 'tipped over' like a typical hen.  She looks fatter,  more content, less wild eyed.

She's also let me cuddle her, which is odd.

It will be interesting to see whether she reverts to breed when the broodiness is over.

Tubular bells

I've been trying to clear up for...well... a long time now. 

I usually mange to get reasonably clear, clean and tidy every so often,  and then it slips.

I suspect that I don't really care... or I don't care enough.

It's been 2 weeks since the party,  and I haven't quite cleared up from that yet.  It's mostly cleared.  The party stuff has all been washed and boxed and packed in the loft.   Space had to be made for it, so that's why it took longer.      The SummerHouse is tidy, but there are still bags of crisps in there,  and bottles of pop etc.  Out of sight, out of mind.

So of course it was entirely sensible that I decided to organise my stash of A0 patterns.

I'd made a test pair of Cora Culottes for my Great Niece, Ava (GNA).    We decided she needed them a little bigger, and she asked for them to be longer, so I made a second test pair.    I also decided to tracee a new size of leggings for Small Person:  she has grown since the last new sizing in January.   I suspect these new ones will be too big,  but we'll see.

I thought I might make GNA a circle skirt.  I got out my A0 Halla Twirly Girl pattern,  but then remembered I had another maker's pattern somewhere.

So, I emptied out one of the 2 enormous tubes which contan A0 patterns I've had printed but haven't yet used.     I peeled through the sheets and sheets of A0 paper,  but couldn't find it,  so I opened the second tube.     I decided I should write on the outside of the tube which patterns were in it.

I wrote down the first load,  rolled them up, and attempted to get them back in the tube.

On impulse,  I decided that I should bite the bullet, fold each pattern and put its own A4 labelled envelope.  This would mean that I could access them easily.  This seemed like a great idea.   I'd be more likely to use the pattern if I didn't have to deal with all the unrolling and curling first!

It took me one day and two evenings to complete.

I'm not kidding.

I labelled the back of each sheet, and the envelope.  I folded and enveloped each pattern.  I sorted,  I

updated my pattern catalogue.   My neat labelling needed some help, so I scrawled on each envelope to indicate whether it was a child/girls/ladies/mens pattern,  and what type of garment it was.

 I then looked for a storage solution,  found it,  and ended up scrawling over each envelope again, as the storage solution required the envelopes to be landscape.   Some patterns burst out of their envelopes (Bella Sunshine Amelia, I'm looking at you!) because they had so many pages of options.

I've got 35ish envelopes.  I had a bit of an "oh dear" moment, when I translated this in to cold hard cash. Not the printing particularly.  the purchase cost.

Some of the patterns have been used many many times (Halla Leggin's, Love Notions Leggings, Made for Mermaids Cora Culottes, Halla Twirly Girl skirt). Most of them have not actually been used. 

Yet.

Of course.  the ones I haven't used are all the ones that were in the tubes.  They aren't in tubes now,  though, are they?  So I think I should get on and make some.  Or one or two.

Or one.

But I am going to use them.  Or should I say, I am going to use them.

In fact, I'm going to use one this weekend.

Smashing

I dropped my smartphone and smashed the screen.

It flickered, and crazed, and the display went wonky.

A not-too-far-but-far-enough away Samsung shop had a screen in stock, and would fit it for me if I got there by 3.30pm. It was a 45 minute drive, I should just make it. 

I jumped in the car, and set off.

En route, I wondered if I should have uninstalled some of my apps (or wiped the device).

When I got to the shop, the lovely lady took my phone and said they were going to wipe it before they started.  They hadn't mentioned that on the phone, and I hadn't realised they would do that.   They could back it up to the cloud first, but that was taking too much time, so I told them to go ahead and wipe it.

Later, at home,  I found my backup from two days previously.  And then I found that my WhatsApp hadn't backed up for the last month.  Flipflop.

Still, I had my backup of my contacts and my SMS.  I synched, only to find I had the settings the wrong way round and, pouf,  all my contacts and my years of SMS were gone.

This wasn't going well.

In the end I located an older backup of the contacts and the text messages, and used that.     Small Person kindly sent me the photos I'd sent her of the last few days, to fill that gap.   Messenger and Facebook were fine.

I hadn't deactivated my banking app, so I had to phone them to get access on my newly wiped phone.  I never phone them.  I couldn't remember my security details.  They were fab. Really helpful, despite being mega busy because of the British Airways breach.

Of course I then had to set about changing my IDs and passwords, just in case.  All my email passwords, all my devices.   All the other accounts that run my life.    And then the various website passwords. That was tedious in the extreme.  

That will teach me.

Party Pooped

The long planned and awaited family party happened on Sunday.  It was lovely!

The weather was wonderful.   We had two gazebos butted up together on the 'lawn' and chairs and tables all over the place.  The buffet was laid out in the summer house, air con on,  with everything on special thermo platters or stood in tubs of ice.  The IceMan, our ice maker,  had been working all day every day for about 3 days to produce the ice.    We think he's almost paid for himself now,  when we look at what we would have had to spend to buy the ice in.

We started at about noon,   and carried on until about 11.30pm.   My niece and her family reluctantly had to leave early evening because she had to work,  and my eldest brother had to leave because he had a prior arrangement.  

We didn't think about photos until some people had already left.

A few people were unable to make it,  so we had an overabundance of food.  We froze that which was safe to freeze (the backups that were stored in the fridge),  and provided party platters for people to take home with them.

My other lovely brother had provided one of the gazebos, most of the chairs,  one of the coolers,  loads of soft drink, some wine,  and lots of moral and practical support.  He, DH and I had a review the day after, so we know what worked, what worked less well,  and what we could do to make it even better next time.

Which is just as well as we'll be doing it again for my parents Diamond Wedding anniversary next year.

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.