absent to present

 I have been absent  (see the bottom of the post for a brief explanation). Here's what I've been up to over the past few weeks.

Beach walks and enjoying our balmy summer evenings, although there should have been more walking.

Enjoying the company of our animals, especially Mumbai.

Mr Frizz (our rescued frizzle rooster) still hasn't regrown his feathers. But he's the loveliest, kindest rooster we could ask for, and he keeps the girls under control too.

The alpacas lost their winter coats.

Shiraz wondering what's about to happen to her.

Rounding Shiraz up again after her escape, while she's wondering what just happened to Chardonnay.

Telling her it's going to be alright, and will be over before she knows it!

I stopped to take photos of the wildflowers (from a packet!) that grow in a spot along the road from us.

I've not had much time in my studio since the Open Studios at the beginning of November  (which I still want to share in a separate post, along with my long overdue giveaway!)

After what seemed like non-stop sewing for six weeks in preparation for two craft markets (one of which I helped organise) it was nice to make something for myself. Although I do have to make sure how I display the cushion otherwise it can look quite rude!

Wishing you all the best for the season. A special thanks to my faithful followers who brighten my day with their much appreciated comments. Sorry I haven't been so good on the commenting lately.

Pohutakawa flowers - New Zealand's Christmas tree.

Footnote:  There's been a little grey dog called anxiety nipping at my heels. I've had to admit I'm not as tough as I thought I was. I've had to seek help - not something that comes easily. I'm trying to take things easy, which is not easy to do in this "silly season." We need to remember be kind to ourselves as well as others. xx

poultry collection

It's been a while since I've talked about chooks, way back here in fact. Since then there have been a few changes in our hen house.

The chicks which we got in December grew and grew. The two pullets, Wanda and Betty started laying at the beginning of July, right in the middle of winter.

Wanda in April

Wanda in July

Note Wanda's crazy floppy comb, a feature of Leghorns. Yes it flops right over one eye!

Betty in April

Betty in August

Unlike children you can have favourites with chooks, and Betty is mine. She's a Black Orpington, which is a very fluffy and friendly breed. She likes to visit me at my studio, she hasn't come inside yet but it's only a matter of time.

Lucky in April

Lucky in July, along with some of his admirers

Yes Lucky has grown to be a very large and handsome Leghorn rooster.  Unfortunately as he has matured he's also become aggressive to me and Miss L. Which is slightly frightening terrifying for us and not very good for his life expectancy if someone doesn't buy him off Trade Me - soon. Apparently it's a trait of light breed roosters, while heavy breeds such as Orpingtons and Barred Rocks are much more placid.

Along with these three, we still have Mumma Chook, their surrogate mother, and Molly the Silkie bantam. Molly went through a tough time a few months ago when the pullets started chasing her. Yes Betty, who is so perfect in so many ways, is a bully. The solution has been to remove a board that was under the gate, so Molly can squeeze out of the pen and free range. We feed her separately, she only has to compete with the goat for her food now.  She has also taken to sleeping rough by squeezing under the hen house. She now is quite happy and knows to keep away from Betty when the rest of them are let out every afternoon.

If you look carefully Molly can be seen behind Lucky

To add to the dynamics we also have a rescue rooster, Mr Frizz. As his name suggests he's a Frizzle, a breed which has unusual feathers that are curled backwards, so they always look dishevelled. But Mr Frizz has taken dishevelment to another level.

Unscrupulous people dump  roosters on one of the country roads around here. A couple of weeks ago we noticed a new trio there. After stopping to feed them the crumbs off the back seat of the car, Miss L declared we had to rescue the most bedraggled and unattractive rooster that I've ever seen. So armed with chook food, the washing basket and a piece of wood attached to a long string, the trap was set and the desired rooster was caught. I did feel bad that we left the other two behind.


























These photos of Mr Frizz don't really show his true sorry state. His neck is completely bald, and he's lost almost all his tail feathers, plus he's had both his wings clipped to stumps. I wanted to write this post with before and after photos, but realise the after photo is going to take a while.

Unlike Lucky, Mr Frizz has a lovely nature, will eat out of my hand and doesn't have the attack gene. He is confined to the small coop until I let the girls and Lucky out into the paddock, then he can have the freedom of the run. Sometimes one of the girls stays behind to keep him company.

So that's the politics of the hen house. Despite the ups and downs I get so much joy out of this motley collection of poultry. It's a great stress reliever to watch them out and about, only now I have to watch my back to make sure Lucky is not coming for me!

feathery friday

I'm taking a leaf out of Tammy's book, she has a regular feature on her blog Our Neck of the Woods called Feathered Friend Friday, and devoting a post to our feathered friends.

We have kept chooks since we moved back to Nelson 7 years ago. It's been a bit ironic as both of the kids are allergic to eggs. Miss L sometimes watches us eat a fried egg and asks us what it tastes like. Now that's hard, as I don't think there's anything comparable.  Hopefully one day they will grow out of the allergy, but at 10 and 12 years old now I'm not sure if that will happen. At least she has grown out of her dairy and peanut allergies.  

When we lived in Brightwater there was a council restriction of only having 6 hens and no roosters.  Since our move to the country we now can keep as many as we like, including roosters! We brought 5 chooks with us, two gold-laced Wyndottes who are four years old, so are getting on a bit and don't lay every day. Two Light Sussex who are three years old, and slightly more regular in the laying department, and are also very good at going clucky (broody). And Molly, a buff Silky, who we got for Miss L to have as a pet, but unfortunately she never became friendly, probably due to the bigger bossier girls chasing her a bit.

 That's 4 out of the 5 on the nesting box!! Molly the Silky can just be seen in the bottom left as a few fluffy feathers poking out! They all use the same box, I've never had any luck with getting them to use more than one so have given up. It's not usually this crowded, but the Sussex were clucky again! I could have got some fertile eggs for one of them, but I'm not to sure how they would be as mothers, as I've always had a bantam as a mother.

We were waiting for Molly to go clucky and get some fertile eggs, but that hasn't happened this summer yet. On Sunday while setting up my stall for the Christmas Fair I had a wander around the other stalls and a lady was selling two hens with 2 day old chicks, so we thought we'd avoid the 21 day wait and buy a ready made brood! We chose the Dorking-Araucana cross mum with 7 chicks, 4 white leghorns and even more exciting 3 Orpingtons - two blue and one black.

 Here they all are tucked under mum in their new house, which is an A-frame coop we have inside the main chook run. I usually use it for locking up anyone who has gone broody. After a few days of not having a nest box to sit in they usually un-cluck and get ready to start laying again.

 The mum is quite a large sized bantam, not much smaller than our other chooks which hopefully means she won't be bullied by them. Although we are planning on keeping a rooster if one of the Orpingtons is that way inclined.

I was going to write this earlier in the week, but thought no I'll wait till Friday.  But boy can things change over the space of a few days (stop reading now if you don't like sad-endings!). Yesterday morning while I was having my shower Miss L went to feed the babies, and came running back saying she could only see three of the seven chicks. So I grabbed some clothes and ran down to see what had happened. Yes there are now only three, 2 leghorns and the black orpington. We found two others dead in the coop and no sign of the other two. So I think a stoat or ferret must have killed them. We never had any problems with these horrible predators at our old house, but here there is lots more space for them to live in.  Its all been very sad, and especially as the kids were going to surprise their dad with them when he returns from two weeks away on Saturday. So now each night we have to catch Mum and the chicks and put them in a large pet carrier box for safety. Something she doesn't seem to appreciate, as she is very protective of her remaining babies, but it's the only way to stop this happening again. We will now get a trap to try and catch the culprits.

So as not too end on too sombre a note, here's Mumbai not wanting to miss out on anything in the chook run. He is constantly trying to break in as he likes to eat their pellets and also the plants growing through the fence. We had to make the pop hole for the girls to go out into the paddock, as we couldn't leave the gate open. What a silly goat!

departure time

Just rushing in to tap out a quick post. I should be packing! Today we drive to Christchurch which will take over 5 hours, plus stops! It's just me and the kids as the hubby has already gone across the ditch to Australia. On Friday we will get up very early and fly to Brisbane to join him for a week. There is much excitement ..... and a bit of trepidation on my part. Travel is a bit of a mixed bag for me, I love it when I'm there but the getting there I don't enjoy. It's the first time we have left the animals for such a long time, hopefully our new neighbours will cope!

There will be new sights and sounds, that's one of the joys of travel. I probably won't get a chance to blog while away, but will definitely be instagramming. If you want to follow along, pop over here.

Some signs of Spring

I've noticed a few signs that spring is getting closer. The early daffodils have been out for while, I have seen some early lambs, the days are already noticeably longer (I even gardened to 5.30 the other night).

But I think the clincher is that one of the chooks has FINALLY started laying.  It was soon joined by another, making our weekend breakfast a $25 affair (the price of a bag of layer pellets!)

So thought I'd better take some photos of the girls, but they were very weary of me creeping up on them with the camera, the next-door-neighbour's chooks were much friendler and more photogenic!

 

The hubby often curses the chooks lack of productivity, I have to admit that I did choose the breeds (Gold-laced Wyndottes and Light Sussex) based on their good looks rather than their egg laying ability.  I have promised him that when we move to the country (ie the "new" house that is now tenanted out) I will only get Brown Shavers like the next-door-neighbour's chooks (see below). We will no longer have a 6 chook restriction on us due to no longer being in a residential zone, so the "pretty" girls will be able to retire gracefully.

 I was supposed to post this entry two days ago before the worst cold front the South Island has experienced in 15 years swept over the island depositing snow where it's not normally deposited, therefore ruining my early spring prediction. We had no snow here, but IF we were living at the new house we would have, I didn't tell the kids that to avoid further disappointment. Here's some photos of the snow.