Nest Eggs!

Last week we had some new girls move in with our current flock. They’re settling in well but haven’t quite worked out where to lay their eggs yet. Went out this morning to collect and found this lovely little pile of beauties waiting for me!

They’re scratching around and getting used to their new surroundings, but we still need to make sure they are in the coop at dusk before shutting the door. They need a bit of extra help to find the pop hole and to deal with the pecking order.

Learnings:

• The best time to introduce new hens is in the evening. When your flock has gone to roost, introduce the new girls into the coop while they are all drowsy. If you keep doing this each night, until the new ones know where the coop is, they will all merge together as one happy group. 
• If you have trouble with the pecking order, and the older birds won't let the new ones into the coop, try shutting the coop door and introducing the new girls through the nest box lid.
• Young chickens will not naturally lay eggs in the coop - you'll need to search out the eggs in the undergrowth! They will learn eventually...

Comma Butterfly and an Afternoon Stroll

A stroll on a local beauty spot yielded a whole host of bugs and butterflies to admire and capture on camera. This Comma feeding on some comfrey was one of many. 
Absolutely beautiful, and look at that gorgeous furry body...
 

Learnings:

Take time to be still on a country walk, and just observe. There’s so much out there to discover if you’re quiet enough and patient enough to wait.

A Summer Walk

Beautiful day for a lunchtime stroll and we came upon this lovely damsel fly by our local river. Not sure what species it is, do you?

The First Rhubarb

Some beautifully tender stems of rhubarb from the veg plot today. They'll go in a puff pastry pie to share with friends tonight.

Cheeky Sparrows

A quick weekend break away saw us in North Wales where a whole host of sparrows were outside our window feasting on the bird seed we put out. Managed to capture this one with the camera in between him diving down for the food!

Tree Fungus

A lovely winter’s walk today and we spied some interesting tree fungus. Does anybody know what type it is?

Strawberry Jam

The last of the strawberries going into some lovely jam.  

Learnings:

Strawberries need a lot of pectin added as they don’t contain much themselves.