Right, let's have a few cheerful posts, shall we, after such a maudlin run of woe? A few days after we'd taken Skippy & Daisy to their new home, we took ourselves off to the seaside for a couple of days. This was the first time we'd been away for more than one night since 2017, so quite something. The weather was glorious, and we didn't do very much at all, just wandered between hotel and beach and cafes. It was great, and being somewhere else, even just for a couple of days, was just what we needed. A couple of weeks later, we went on another trip - our first proper holiday since 2016. We only booked it the day before, and were delighted to get a little holiday flat overlooking the sea in Scarborough. We slowly remembered what it was like to be on holiday. We rarely do anything dramatic, so it was a lovely week of wandering along the beach, ambling around town, pottering between cafes. Perfect. We travelled about a little bit while we were there - a day up in Whitby, and another day in Bridlington (and a trip to the dentist, but we're trying to forget about that one). It was only a few days, but it was so restorative. We were lucky with the weather - it wasn't sunny for the whole time, but it was warm and dry and the sun made an appearance. It was just so nice to be somewhere else, well away from everything that needs doing at home.
I'm not sure we'll manage another holiday this year, although we might take a couple of short trips to visit friends in various places. I've missed being able to do that.
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This is my last chicken memorial post, and the hardest to write. Bessie Chicken was special. Bessie came to us way back in February 2019, less than a year after we moved here, and only five months after we started keeping chickens. She'd arrived with two others, Rusty and Beaky, and all three had spent the first 18 months of their lives in cages. I wrote about them when they first arrived here. We put Bessie on the ground when she first arrived, and it seemed she couldn't quite believe it. It took all of thirty seconds before she started pecking and scratching the ground, trying to flick the earth into her feathers, her first ever dust bath. Bessie was pretty lively from the start, picking fights with our older chickens, Mildred and Maud. But she was affectionate, and was the first to jump up onto Peter's knee, and that remained her favourite spot. Young Bessie was curious and eager to explore, but she was always fond of a nice comfy sit down, and always appreciated a blanket or a cushion. After we'd had her about 18 months, Bessie got ill. Our local vet didn't know what to do, and in desperation we found a specialist chicken vet, quite a distance away, and they brought her back from death's door. She ended up with a hormonal implant to stop her laying (which was causing her all kinds of problems). She had several implants over her life, and quickly became our most expensive chicken, although we didn't begrudge her one bit. She even had a home visit from the vet, when they got caught in an avian flu restriction zone so we couldn't travel in. Bessie, Beaky and Rusty were a happy bunch, and I'll always remember how much time they spent hanging out under the swing seat together, lying in the dappled shade on a pile of hay. We lost Beaky in July 2021, and then Rusty in November of the same year. Such a sad time. Bessie and Rusty had a special bond, and Bessie even had a special little noise she made sometimes when Rusty came to sit on a knee with her. Bessie lived to be almost six years old, and it almost seemed like we'd have her forever. Several others who arrived after her died before her, but eventually, her time came too. So that's the end of chicken keeping for us. I don't think either of us will forget Bessie as long as we live. Well, we won't forget any of them, but Bessie was with us for four and a half years, and she was so special.
She lived for another 18 months after we lost Rusty, and she never made that little noise again. I like to think of them reunited now, along with all their other beaky pals, in the Great Dust Bath in the Sky. The start of May was grim, and I barely took any photos at home at all. We were reeling from the loss of both Sunshine and Budgie at the end of April, and in early May, Bessie became ill. Bessie was almost six years old, and in the four and a half years she'd lived with us, we'd brought her back from the brink of death several times with antibiotics and hormonal implants. This time was different. She didn't seem to have an egg-related problem, and we'd already decided that, given her grand age, we didn't want to put her through another week of catching her twice a day and feeding her tablets, traumatic for all of us. She seemed to have had a stroke, and we made the difficult decision to have her put to sleep. I'll do a special memorial post for her separately - she was such a special chicken, and we are very sad. We'd already decided that, once Bessie died, we'd pass the two younger ladies on to another home. Yet another hard decision, but chickens are much happier in a flock and I really didn't want to end up with one on her own. We'd only had Skippy and Daisy for a few weeks, and while they'd started to calm down after their horrid early life in the battery cages, they hadn't fully settled in here yet. I put a call out in a hen rehoming group, and found them another loving home to go to, with a small flock of rescue hens and a family that will dote on them. Driving them to their new home and leaving them there was not a fun experience. The family was very kind, and I have no doubt they will have a good life there, but giving away a pet isn't something I ever want to have to repeat. So that's the end of chicken-keeping for us, for now, at least. We've said we'll reconsider next spring, but personally I don't think this is something I can go through again. The pain of losing them, and the distress of months of avian flu lockdown each winter, is too much. But we'll see when the time comes. In other news, I finally finished building my greenhouse shelves, including a low bench that I can sit on when the weather is a little inclement. This was the perfect idea, and I've spent a lot of time out here already (in fact, I'm out here right now, typing this!) Right at the end of the month, I managed to plant a few seeds. I have no idea whether any of them will have time to grow properly, but I did want to try.
There's no other homestead news to report for May, and no other homestead photos. The start of the month was spent mourning the end of our chicken adventures, and then we abandoned the homestead to go to the seaside for a while, which I'll post about separately. There was also IronMay, a charity exercise challenge which took up a lot of time and energy - but again, a story for another post... Sunshine and Budgie came to us in November 2021, along with Poppy, who we lost last year. They were rescues, rehomed through the British Hen Welfare Trust. Sunshine was enthusiastic and boisterous, with a pecking technique like a small child playing Hungry Hippos. Budgie was a calm, cheerful presence, always in the middle of things, never pushing and shoving. Sunshine loved digging, and was always quickest to spot a worm. She was usually first out of bed in the morning, and always came to inspect my work when I cleaned out the chicken house. Budgie was fond of all treats, but was the only one of our chickens to have been fond of a banana. They both had longer with us than they had in a cage, and I'll always be grateful for that, although they still went far too soon. Losing them both within the space of a fortnight was heartbreaking.
I'll think of them now, up in the Great Dust Bath in the Sky, reunited with Poppy, and Bunty, and Bonny. Miss you little beakios. Yes, I know, it's June. Things have been rather traumatic around here of late, and with one thing and another, I've never quite gotten round to writing a post. Still, can't put it off forever. There might be a flurry of catch-up posts before I try to get back into posting more regularly. So, April. The chickens April was a dreadful month. I mentioned in my March update that Sunshine Chicken hadn't been well. It looked like she was on the mend and then she died on the way home from seeing the vet. A couple of weeks later, Budgie Chicken got ill - different symptoms, so we don't think anything contagious. She didn't respond to medicine, and we had to have her put to sleep. I'll do proper memorial posts for them later, but in the meantime, here they all are, enjoying some freedom after the avian flu housing order was finally lifted. By the end of April, we were just left with Bessie, and the two youngsters we'd rescued in January -Skippy and Daisy. We were heartbroken at losing Sunshine and Budgie in such quick succession, and weren't sure how much more we could take. Bessie was almost six years old, a vast age for a rescue hen, and we knew we didn't have that much longer with her. We made the difficult decision that, once we lost Bessie, we'd rehome the younger two. It wasn't something we wanted to do, but we didn't want to ever be in the position of only having one chicken, as they do much prefer to be in a flock. Anyway, maybe you can imagine where this sorry tale is going... but I'll keep the rest of the story for May's post. The garden The garden was largely neglected in April, between a flurry of chicken illness, several work trips away, and various other life happenings. One thing I did do was clear out the greenhouse - a much-needed task. What a mess! I turfed everything out, and dismantled the shelves, which were originally part of our old plastic greenhouse, and which didn't really fit properly into this one. Then I started building new shelves from an old pile of pallets. It was a good plan, but the first one was difficult to get through the door, and I realised I wasn't going to have to start building them inside the greenhouse. Tricky. I didn't quite finish in April, and therefore I also didn't sow any seeds. The rest of the garden was ignored, although the apple trees put on a good show of blossom, and the willow dome started to fill out. Christmas Two Er, yes. We celebrated Christmas in April, having largely ignored it the first time round given various illnesses. The Christmas tree was still up, as I refused to take it down until something more cheerful happened, and we invited some friends round for Christmas dinner. They gamely turned up with a chocolate chicken and some festive Easter eggs, and a jolly time was had by all. All told, I was pretty glad to see the back of April this year. Still, amidst all the turmoil, the weather turned, it started to feel like spring, and everyone had at least one good dust bath.
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Hello!Sit down and make yourself comfortable. I'm Jenni, and I write here about our new foray into country living, which includes growing food, knitting, baking, wandering around the fields, and seeing which local cafe serves the best cake. Categories
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