chickens and cricket

Well, summer made an appearance today, and what a difference that makes. (It is to be hoped it will linger a while...)

The kids and I were in the garden, scraping moss and weeds off the patio, in anticipation of the garden furniture coming out (yes, August, and everything to do with summer is still in the shed!). Joshua decided to try his new cricket set, which was great for about five minutes, but even playing to Stretton rules, he and his sister were unable to reconcile some crucial decisions. Joshua became victim of a well-aimed body ball from Celine, so that was the end of that. Mercifully perhaps, as one of our new hens had nervously made her way over, and was directly in the line of play!

I haven't written about our new 'girls'. Now that all poultry is safely re-located and their compound is fox proof, beyond reasonable doubt - I decided to re-stock. After a 'family and friends' excursion to select and collect our birds, I introduced six new pullets (mix of allsorts) to the chicken pen on Saturday. They have settled, remarkably quickly, and once their 'confinement' had passed, which imprints their new home on their navigation systems - the girls were on the loose.

Henrietta (pictured above) is proving to be trouble already. I blame it on the influence of her namesake, Henry. I chose this hen for my husband's birthday present. I did give him the choice between a chicken or a wheelbarrow that he had already bought! Sad really - maybe it's the product of a joint account and twelve years of marriage. I just about remember being a young, single, career woman, searching every high street jewellers, for exactly the right gentleman's watch for my darling Henry's birthday. Now it's a chicken, but carefully selected all the same.

Back to our idyllic English evening: chickens, cricket and children playing, with the drone of tractor and mower in the fields, as Henry bravely cuts the grass for hay. We have waited and waited, and wondered whether there would be any chance at all this season for hay-making - but now the decision has been made, we have to hope for at least three or four dry days in a row.

Time will tell...