NEW BIRDS IN THE FLOCK

Today we added to our dwindling flock of hens.  We went to Sa Pobla market, where there is always a chap named Rafael who sells hens, pigeons, cage birds, guinea fowl, turkeys, guinea pigs and rabbits.  His farm is in Ariany which is about a 20 minute drive from us here in Sa Pobla, but I usually wait till market day to buy from him.  I was only going to buy one hen today, as I was expecting them to be quite expensive (it's been a while since I bought any new ones).  It turned out they were much cheaper than I thought, so I bought two hens at point-of-lay and 3 pullets, 2 female and one male.  I'm not really sure how you tell whether they are male or female at such a young age but Rafael seemed to know.

So I quickly put the makeshift pen together for the pullets as they are still a bit small for the bigger hens - they could be damaged by pecking hierarchy! I call the makeshift pen our 'patchwork coop'!  I just used what I could find around our small farm.

Here are a few photos.

The new hens & pullets

Checking out the hen house!

Admiring her new surroundings!

The crazy, make-shift mini coop

Jess making sure I tidy up!

As I am writing this, even though during the day it is still like summer with temperatures topping 29 - 31 degrees C, I can see, looking out of my window, that the sun is already disappearing and it is only 18:10 in the afternoon/evening.  So Autumn is here, but you wouldn't guess it during the main part of the day - which is wonderful as it means extra beach days.  I will just leave you all with that thought.

THE MINI AND THE GIANT

Since the last post, we have had a steady succession of eggs (only one or two per day).  Some have been broken and found lying on the open ground, but near the hen house.  Some have been found in the hen house but on the floor and some, much to my happiness, have been found in the nest boxes.

We were finding a few eggs that had very soft shells so we've increased the hens intake of oyster shell and that seems to have done the trick.  As the hens are quite young still it is normal for eggs to be a little strange at first.  

For the last week J has been unwell with high fever. Now that is gone, but he has been left with a nasty head cold.  Needless to say he hasn't been to school since last Friday, so I took him to see his teacher and to explain that he wouldn't be participating in the School Christmas carol concert tonight at the church. 
I picked up his school report, which I have to say was excellent, and his polystyrene guitar (Paul MacCartney's Hoffner bass replica), that I made in a hurry a couple of weekends ago.  


Just as I was leaving the school, I had a hurried phone call from C saying the hens had laid again.  On our return home J and I went to the kitchen to view the eggs - 2 of them, one small, just like the previous ones and one - extra large! yipppeeeeee.  Bigger eggs!

The mini and the giant!














I am hoping that some of the eating oranges are nearly ready to pick, but we only have two trees of them, the rest of the grove are juicers.  The mandarins are ready, maybe another day or two.  Lots of them this year.

Last night I began making vol-au-vents for a 'do' we are going to on Saturday night at mum's.  I finished them this morning, I have no idea how many there are, but they are mini so I know there are more than 100!

Mini vol-au-vent order.









This morning C cooked a full breakfast using two eggs that were laid yesterday afternoon.  But the bacon fought back, much to his consternation.  That'll teach him to cook in last nights sausage fat - deary me!

C fighting with the bacon!

 J's fresh boiled egg, yummy.






So we are almost ready for a more basic Christmas this year.  We have had to tighten the reins considerably due to lack of work, but we shall be together and we'll be having a big family dinner on Christmas eve at mum's as well.  Everything else will be normal here as we have the animals to look after.  If the weather is good we will go off for a country walk with Ruffa - or perhaps a bike ride.

A couple more photos:

C closing up the coop after checking for eggs this morning.

Just before dawn with Venus as a bright dot.  It's a bit grainy as my mobile isn't good with photos!