A is for Actual, B is for Battery, C is for Chickens

When Mater got her chickens she was told they could take quite a while to recover. They are ex-battery farm and so their first year of life was not the most pleasant.

Three weeks into their residence there are new feathers growing where they were previously bald but there are still surprisingly bright red and pink areas on chests and bottoms.

Rather uncomfortable to see as I can't help thinking of them as 'oven ready'.

There has also been some difficulties as the other five tend to pick on one. They have been separated for now but it's not ideal.

Within the next week or two they'll have a section of the garden fenced off for their use. Until then they have this rather extraordinary hutch thing to romp in. Plus of course the chicken house which has roosting poles and a nesting box in it. And now you see the reason for the egg picture in my last post.

I'd have thought they wouldn't start laying until they had settled in but they've been producing 4-5 eggs a day since they arrived. Everyone in the village has shared the eggy bounty.

As ever I am taking full advantage of my proximity to the cat, Artemis.

I have never known a cat wash themselves as much as this animal. When she comes in from a few hours hunting she'll settle down to 30+ minutes of all over cleansing. It also amazes me how tight a ball she can curl herself into since she's not a small, skinny thing.

So cute. She prefers to have a paw over her nose. But then don't we all.

Following some lovely weather on saturday it looks like the rest of my holiday here is going to be cloudy and rainy. Such a shame. I was able to take a few pics though when I went to a Boot Fair.

"Clouds Over the Caravan Park" although the view in the other direction is pretty good too.

I do adore clouds. And that grey sea we used to have in Herne Bay when I was growing up. And then a little undergrowth for the vegetarians.

Later this week I will be venturing to Bath with Mater to visit the American Museum and finally see all the quilts there that I keep hearing about. Festival of Quilts is only three weeks away so this will be a good warm up. Then after that...

Curtains. I know this is a blind, but I'll be making curtains for four smaller windows once I feel the Olympic Shawl has made enough progress.

Cluck cluck.