Indoor Days and Outdoor Days

The weather in Britain is less than predictable this time of year. Mike checks the BBC news at stupid o'clock in the morning when it's still dark outside to see what the weather's going to do. You can only have faith in the weather for up to 6 hours from the forecast, so checking the weather becomes like a compulsive disorder.

We cope by planning 'indoor days' - ie all the work that can be done inside when the weather is horrible, and 'outdoor days' - extra outdoor chores that are more pleasant to do when it's sunny, or at least not squally showers and hurricane-like winds.

Most days are hybrids, like today. A bit of outside and a bit of inside. But that can mean starting your day at 5am in order to fit in some outside time. It's nice being up though. It's half 9 in the morning now; I'm on my second pot of coffee, but I squeezed in a few extra outside chores before the winds and rain beat me.

This morning I found the first Barbu D'uccle chicken egg from this year's chicks -

And I found that my rat trap had worked -

Look at the size of her - she's as big as my hatchet! And fat from helping herself to the meat chickens' food.

The chickens are nonplussed by the weather and carry on their chicken business. Although Paula didn't make it (old age), the Barbu D'Uccle chick is recovering. She injured her leg or hip joint but was getting around fine. Then she started to go backwards and I couldn't understand why until I caught one of the young roosters showing her a good time - at least from his point of view. I think it was aggravating her condition, not to mention it was taking advantage of her inability to run away, which it what the other hens do when they don't feel receptive. The equivalent of a chicken headache.

She now gets her own day retreat with a personal food and water supply.

Our chickens have learned to recognise vehicles which have food in them. There is often wheat or pellet spilled in the back of the work truck or quad bike from feeding pheasants. The chickens offer a kind of valeting service and clean up the loose food. I've seen sparrows doing the same.

Or maybe she's waiting for a lift somewhere. Adventure chicken. They're smarter than you would initially think. As a child I lost more than one game of Tic Tac Toe to a chicken at the Aqua Circus in Cape Cod. I'm still harboring a grudge.

The little phoenix hen is still determined to hatch her small clutch of eggs. No sign of chicks yet, and I'm not sure when they're due. She's a sneaky sitter.

I would like to put some hay under her for her comfort. But I've tried that before and the hen thought the nest looked different and rejected the eggs. I guess if she chose to sit there in the first place she's happy enough. I can put some hay in when the chicks come.