Category: chicken stuff

chicken stuff · foxes in my garden · garden stuff · general stuff · spring · wildlife

my foxy friend

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)18 Comments

Earlier in the year I posted a picture of the fox peeking through our garden fence and she’s been a fairly regular garden visitor ever since. When I first got a good look at her she seemed quite sleek and almost plump but more recently has seemed thinner, and thinking perhaps that food might be a bit scarce I’ve been offering her a meal whenever she turns up – she seems particularly fond of leerdammer cheese 🙂

She mostly visits after dark, but for the last few weeks she has been arriving earlier in the evening and sometimes in the early morning too (much to the disgust of the chickens). When she arrives in the garden I open the back door and throw a little food then stand very still and as a result she has come to tolerate me being there, only a few feet away – though always with a watchful and suspicious eye on me as she eats and tensed like a coiled spring ready to run if I make any sudden moves. I’ve no wish to tame or inhibit that wild instinct, it is a well honed survival mechanism and she needs it, but I will offer a small meal now and then to share the privilege of her company.

This morning she visited early and was content for me to take some pictures and while editing them on the computer just now I had a light-bulb moment. Can you see what was spotted in the last blurry picture there? The outline of swollen teats on her belly is a giveaway sign that she’s was fatter and then thinner because she’s just had a litter of cubs!

I’m under no illusion though about why she visits – she’s very clearly focused on the plump and juicy feathered meals strutting up and down my chicken run. But if she’s thrown a little food she graciously leaves them alone for the rest of the day and the chickens remain safe, though unsettled. They only get to forage under supervision now and the rest of the time are safely enclosed in the brilliant chicken run that H built – still predator proof after 10 years. There are definite signs though that the chickens are not happy about the interloper – I’d call this a protest wouldn’t you? …

We also have a lot of small garden birds visiting our little patch at the moment and on occasion larger ones too – I’ve had the pleasure of seeing this heron ungainly balanced on the roof opposite – I think one of my neighbours has a pond that he’s eyeing up. It is such a privilege to have wild creatures as a regular garden visitors and I’m hoping that in a month or so that the fox might bring her little ones along to frolic on the grass – I’ll try and have my camera ready if she does 🙂

Well, I have had a nature filled week and am off to fill my weekend with knitting. Hope you have something nice in store for your weekend x

 

chicken stuff · general stuff · summer

messy life

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)60 Comments

Sorry to have absented myself for so long. Lately life has felt a bit like my project bag here – a big old tangle of things with lots coming unraveled at the same time!  Life is sometimes a bit messy and I’ve not felt that I’ve had much of any interest to share with you here on the blog.

On the positive side I’ve been resting my elbow (which is much improved by the way – thanks for all of your good wishes), and working on a new pattern which I’m desperate to share with you but need to work on a little bit more before I do.

Recently we’ve had a tantalising taste of summer weather and I’ve so enjoyed being out in the garden with my knitting and my radio again. Everything is growing so well (I’m watching the first of the courgettes swelling daily and they’re almost ready to pick). We’ve had some beautiful sunsets too, which have amused Toby while he’s been bouncing on his trampoline – it’s hard to get him to stop at bedtime now that the evenings are long and lovely.

Hattie Hen has gone broody (very unusual for a hybrid breed I’m told) so she’s just sitting on her imaginary clutch of eggs. I keep moving her out of the nest box so that at least she is visible to the other two and in the late afternoon they often go and sit with her in the corner and keep her company. Hopefully she’ll get bored of sitting soon but for now we’re down to two eggs a day.

Not much else noteworthy has been happening on our patch. Hopefully I’ll be back soon with some news of a new pattern, knitting projects and the usual unfocused mix of family life – the happier moments at least!

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PS: I’m trying an experiment and am currently replying to comments that are left directly here on the blog – not sure if I’ll be able to keep up with it but will do my best 🙂

Thanks for dropping in to visit, see you soon x

 

chicken stuff · crafts & knitting · garden stuff · summer

Puffed out

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)72 Comments

Firstly, thanks so very, very much for all the wonderfully kind comments on the previous post about Tobys hair. I was so touched to read them and wish I could share them with Toby and have him understand all of the lovely compliments you gave him.

Secondly, sorry to not have been around much recently. I seem to have done something to my elbow and it’s needed some rest as even typing for more than a short while has been a bit painful. Scraping down the chicken run every few days probably hasn’t helped but I think making these puffs may be the main cause…

A couple of weeks back I decided to start a cushion to match the blanket that I’m slowly working on (see below) and I’ve always loved Alicia’s Sunshine day afghan, so that seemed the perfect choice of pattern. Once I got going on the puff making I became a bit hooked on them and made lots in one day. The following day I paid the price for my puff over-indulgence with a very sore elbow and it’s taking ages to feel better.

Needless to say this project is now having a snooze at the bottom of my knitting bag. I really like how it looks and hopefully I’ll be able to pick it up when my elbow doesn’t hurt so much. In the meantime small bursts of knitting seem to be OK, which is a relief as I’d get incredibly grumpy rather quickly if I wasn’t able to knit!

And here’s where the crochet blanket is up to so far, but with my sore elbow it will be a while before it gets much bigger.

In other news, the garden is blooming. My squash and courgette plants are now in their permanent home and growing fast. The kale and broccoli are all doing well under the netting but the poor bean and pea seedlings have been decimated by slugs who come out to munch on them each night. Still most things are faring better and the chives are exploding like little flowery fireworks.

The chickens are happy and laying an egg each most days – evidently I need to make more things that use eggs as we’ve built up quite a stock! You’ll see there’s a particularly large egg in the middle which I’m pretty sure is a double yolker as we’ve had a few already. I’ve not yet been able to work out which of the ladies is laying these but I don’t remember having any with our previous hens so these are special.

The weather this week has been all over the place, sunshine one minute and huge cloud-burst downpours of rain and hail the next – not fun if you get caught out in it but the rainbows after the storms have been especially bright and lovely.

Next week is school half term break but I hope to be back with some knitting news once we’re back into our term time routines again. Until then, thanks for visiting and best wishes for happy times x