RIP Buff the Chicken

Posted by louisa on Friday 10 June 2011 in chickens | 10 comments

Buff, our buff Leghorn chicken, died overnight last night.

It wasn’t unexpected – every day for the last week I’ve gone down to the run and been surprised that she was still alive.

On Wednesday, after a good few days in isolation with her own protected food supply, she did look a bit brighter but yesterday seemed to fade again. When I checked on her yesterday evening, she looked like she’d gone but when I touched her, her still bright eyes bounced open and she bwarked a bit to let me know she still didn’t like me, no matter how much time I’ve spent looking after her and giving her treats over the last few days.

Buff wasn’t the friendliest chicken, in fact she was a bit of a pain in the bum – not laying for ages and being noisy – but it’s still sad that’s she’s died. She was a pretty pure breed leghorn, with a fabulous floppy comb and her eggs, when she deigned to lay, were pure white.

She’s buried in the wooded bit of the garden.

May – end of month review

Posted by louisa on Thursday 2 June 2011 in goals, meta | 5 comments

Another month that seems to have lasted ages but in a good way. Lots of long weekends too – but enough stuff going on to fill them with. I meant to write this post yesterday but was in the garden ’til past 10pm — so much to do!

Goals in 2011 progress

Things are still progressing in the garden – but slower than I thought in some areas. I only had my first fully homegrown salad last week – compared to regular salad from the garden in April last year. (I’m saying “fully homegrown” because we got two tubs of living salad from Lidl at the end of April and have cut-and-come-again from them several times – really been good value for money but not the same as growing from seed.) I’ve successfully taken cuttings from two perennial herbs too, so that’s another step – and I realised I should make that goal more measurable by coming up with a list of applicable plants/shrubs.

We’ve baked a good few times so are probably almost on track for the “once a week” goal, I’ve been making more stuff from wood so again improving those skills, and we went on a “learn to fly-fish” course while we were in the Lakes the weekend before last, which obviously isn’t the same as fishing in the North Sea but again, steps in the right direction. I like the idea of trying out the various different styles of fishing – see which one suits us/me best.

Not great goal progress but not bad :)

Mini goals

I set myself a few mini-goals this month – just a to-do list for myself really. Out of the five goals, I managed to complete one of them (pressure cleaning the coop) and half do two others (spent a lot of time looking at phone options and have decided I have to go see some in the flesh now; and, also I’ve sorted through nearly all of our kitchen cupboards). The other two things have been, um, forgotten. Will have to add them to my next to-do list…

Buy less than 12 items of clothing in 2011

I actually bought something this month! I bought three second-hand but BNWT bras on eBay – they are pretty but the focus is on functional, and they’re all replacements: I ripped one bra at the start of the month (not sure how), which spurred on my purchases, but earlier in the year had mentally retired two others because they were old and uncomfortable — so they’re on my exemption list.

Perhaps that purchase sated my previous “want new clothes” desires as I haven’t really been bothered about looking/thinking about buying anything else. Still no new clothes for six months now!

I really hate red mites

Posted by louisa on Thursday 12 May 2011 in chickens | 7 comments

Last night, our chickens gave us a bit of a scare.

The chickens are generally very good at taking themselves to bed in good time. I think with the exception of a hen or two on one or two occasions when there has been a disruption late in the day, they all tuck themselves away well before dusk. They’re so good that we generally don’t feel the need to check on them every night. (If they are left out, they’re relatively safe in the reasonably fox-resistant run anyway.)

So, anyway, last night. As I was going to bed, I heard a chicken clucking considerably louder than I should have done – she was clearly out of the coop and a more than a little perturbed. Remembering a story from my chicken keeping course, my first thought was “fox!” — had one got into the coop and scared them out? We ran down and looked around but couldn’t see any problems. We put the (mostly asleep) chickens back into the coop and then went to bed ourselves – but I was worried that I’d wake up to the aftermath of a fox attack – a night of anxious dreams. Now though, I suspect the culprit was equally red but a lot smaller.

In the same way the chickens are good at taking themselves to bed, I consider myself pretty good at keeping on top of red mites. I dust the chickens with powder regularly and keep a close eye on the coop – checking & cleaning all the regular spots just about every day. The problem is that I focused on “the regular spots”… When I got down there this morning, the chickens were all mingling in the run as happy as normal but when I started to poke around the coop, I realised there was quite a red mite infestation — in the regular spots, in the litter, in the nest boxes (which hadn’t been a problem before). Not a good situation at all.

May’s mini goals

Posted by louisa on Friday 6 May 2011 in meta | 4 comments

I’ve noticed a few fantastic bloggers set themselves mini monthly goals in addition to their bigger year/multi-year ones and for the first time, I’ve got some tiny frugal/simple living goals I’d like to do too in addition to my 2011 ones. This is more of a to-do list for me than for anyone else really but advice/tips are always gratefully received :)

1. Clean & replace the sealant on the office windows & door. And check the opening window and door’s insulation is fine while I’m at it.

2. Pressure clean the chicken coop inside and out. Something I’ve been meaning to do for a while to get rid of the green-ness and other grime.

3. Sort through the kitchen cupboards. Been meaning to do this for a while but Shoestring Alley’s recent experience of doing it has spurred me on. I’m going to use my findings to influence near-future meal plans and a possible an “eat only from the pantry/garden” week next month.

4. Buy/find and fit a long (retractable) washing line. I’ve got one of those rotating ones which is great and I will continue to use most of the time, but a long straight line would be better for big bedding. I think I have some line somewhere from putting up our little line in the old house so will use that if I can find it. I’d like it to be retractable (either by design or manually wound around a hook) if possible too.

5. Get a better mobile phone deal My contract is up next month – it’s pretty cheap and is a decent deal already but I think I can get a better one. It’ll also be a chance to stretch out of my comfort zone by having to barter/negotiate with someone — I hate doing that.

Have you got any mini goals for this month?

April – end of month review

Posted by louisa on Tuesday 3 May 2011 in chickens, growing, less than 12 clothes challenge, making, personal finance | 5 comments

April feels like it’s lasted forever – it’s not dragged in a bad way, just seems about four years since the end of March and the drama production (which finished on 9th April).

April has been a glorious month – gorgeous weather just about every day. *Too* glorious – there haven’t been any April showers around here and it’s mighty dry. I don’t want May or the summer to be a complete wash out but I wouldn’t mind the odd wet day.

Goals in 2011 progress

Since we’re a third of the way through the year, I’ve written a full update on my personal goals over on my blog. Out of the 11 goals and five sub-goals listed over there, I’ve completed one goal (and one sub-goal), six (and two) are in progress, and four (and two) are still to do.

I haven’t really made any separate progress on my additional Really Good Life goals – am reviewing them now to see what I can do over the next month.

Buy less than 12 items of clothing in 2011

Amazingly, I’ve still not bought anything – I’m genuinely shocked! I’ve online window shopped a couple of times – adding things to my basket but then forcing myself to wait until the next day to actually buy it. Each time I’ve been less enthused to finish the order the next day and just closed the tab instead. Saved a lot of money!

After March’s drawers sort through, I went shopping in my wardrobe for shirts in April – reminded myself what I had and found out what fit and what didn’t. I actually ended up getting rid of half the shirts in my wardrobe but have worn the remaining ones more since then so I actually feel like I’ve added to my options by doing that.

Growing stuff and the chickens