"Summer time and....

....the living is easy" to quote one of my favourite Gershwin songs. However it's probably only true for cats and chickens....sigh.  These photos were taken last week before Autumn hit us with gales and 2 inches of rain in 24 hours at the weekend!  Above is Button who, being a canny cat, has found the warmest part of the garden - the compost heap!

Brown Hen having a well deserved snooze after laying eggs and scratching for worms.

 These are some of the young(ish) chicks also enjoying the sunshine. (This summer the hens have hatched 30, yes 30 chicks between them!)

 While the real babies of the flock are learning to forage for themselves

Snoozing among the flowers

This is one of the oldest of the chicks (Light Sussex breed)

 

While the hens and cat snooze *I* was busy digging up dinner!

Drama with hens....

OK it's more me being a Drama Queen than the hens it has to be said, and all ended well in case you were wondering. But this morning I went out to feed the hens (and barn cat, Charlie) and found the hen that I knew had hatched eggs yesterday was out sunning herself and her chicks. Fortunately Charlie is more keen (at the moment) on tinned cat food than the two legged ball of fluff variety - particularly as he'd have to get past a very aggressive hen. So I fed him and turned my attention to the Mother Hen and her chicks.

She has some very cute ones, my favourite are the brown fluffy ones that look like sparrows! These must be her own eggs, the others will be eggs laid by other hens.  Because that's what hens do - they appropriate eggs! Or at least several hens will lay eggs in a nest and one will decide to brood them.

 Well I was trying to count the chicks and thought she had nine, but it's hard to tell as they kept running about! Anyway I left them some food and left them to their sunbathing.

Later this afternoon I heard the strimmer working outside and looked out to see my neighbour strimming the grass near the henny house which had got overlong. It was actually getting difficult to get into the henny house - human OR hen, never mind chick.  But I was rather alarmed as I knew that the older chicks that hatched about five weeks ago often hid in the long grass.

These chicks have now been abandoned by their own mother and left to fend for themselves. This isn't as bad as it sounds, as the hen teaches the chicks to feed themselves at only a few days old. But of course they no longer have the hen to protect them from predators.  So they seem to stay, quite sensibly, around the long grass.

So I trotted down to speak to Neighbour and asked him to stop while I located the chicks. "Oh" he said "it's OK there are three of them in the hen house.".  Here's the drama queen bit - because of course I said there should be NINE. "Nobody move" I said and started looking for chicks in the grass.  Then I went into the hen house to check on the hen and chicks and...... it was a DIFFERENT hen with completely different chicks that also look only about a day old!!  This hen had been sitting in the barn....... So I do a few more histrionics of "Oh god, oh god, where are the chicks" and went in search of the other new brood..... they were with the hen who was rather indignant and standing in the barn. At which point my neighbour told me I couldn't count because she has ELEVEN chicks, not nine as I had thought..... All were well so I then had to hunt for the adolescent ones - they were hanging about in the other barn, rather like adolescents hanging about on a street corner..... I suspect ASBO's (anti-social behaviour orders) to be served on them any day now.....

Anyway with all livestock accounted for (9 five-week old chicks, 11 day-old with one hen, 3 day-old with another hen, and the rest of the flock), my neighbour then continued to strim the grass to at least enable week chicks to get into the henny house, but leave enough of the cow parsley and long grass for them to also hide from predators......

I am going to lie down in a darkened room after all that excitement.... and await MORE chicks as there are at least two more hens brooding somewhere in the barn (completely inaccessible.....).

The cockerel, meanwhile, is strutting about and giving me a look which clearly says "Harumph and you thought I wasn't a working model!".  I told him it was the hens that had done all the work and to take the smug look off his face....

Meanwhile, having a final check of the hen house just now, here are the adolescents on their perch with the new mum below, you can just see the head of a wee chick peeping out from under her chest.  The other new mum is back where she hatched her chicks tonight. I'm hoping, if all is quiet tomorrow, she'll take them into the henny hoose too.....

Sunset

Last night was a spectacular sunset. The photo above was taken at 22.50!  I'd missed the earlier actual setting of the sun which was about 22.20 but the sky stayed a wonderful colour for some time to come. The white in the middle of the picture is cow parsley - it flowers much later in Orkney compared to in the South of England. I love this plant, it always reminds me of my old pony, Badger. We would arrive back in the stable yard with him dragging an entire plant, complete with roots, proudly in his mouth! It was always just at mouth height for him and he could never resist and tasty cow parsley plant!

Tonight there is due to be a lunar eclipse but after a lovely sunny day it is now clouding over - sigh. So it's unlikely we will see much in Orkney.

Meanwhile, I found one of my hens had died during the night. Poor thing. She was one of my Light Sussex hens, large with beautiful soft feathers. She had seemed to be unwell for a while in that she wasn't hanging about with the other hens but often on her own. No idea how old she was - I've lost track of the ages of my hens - they remain in glorious retirement here long after they have stopped laying! It's the least I can do for producing an egg a day for most of their lives.

However the hens were soundly told off the other day. I had put some bedding plants still in their boxes out in the garden to "harden off" while I was away in Westray.  I came back to find a lot of the plants had been "nibbled" and the hens had even eaten the polystyrene! I dread to think what THAT will do to them (or the eggs!).

 Needless to say, the hens completely ignored my scolding as they carried on even when I had planted the tubs up!  And yes I do blame the hens and not the cockerel - he just seems to follow on behind, rather than "leading the way"!

That was Spring.....

Today we are back to wet and windy.....sigh.  Still it was nice while it lasted! I was talking to an Orcadian at the weekend and he said one year he slept in one morning and missed Summer..... oh I do hope it's not going to be that kind of year.....

Anyway as you can see from the photo the chicks are doing OK. The mother hen is looking after them well. She takes them out during the day into one of the byres where they can scratch about for wee insects etc. She gathers them to her during rest period.  I count them each day and there are still nine (originally I thought there were only eight but no - there are nine! Hard to count when they keep running about!). I can't tell yet how many hens or cockerels there are. I'm not very good at "sexing" chicks - they almost have to be at the laying or crowing stage before I can tell ;-)

My little chickadees.....

I've had a couple of hens "gone broody" for some time now. To be honest I lost track of dates but was sure they were well past their hatching date if the eggs were ever going to hatch.  I was giving one hen in particular till this weekend and was then going to take her off the nest. I know this sounds cruel but hens tend not to feed much when sitting and I have actually found a hen dead on the nest (hidden well among the hay) because she didn't come to feed. 

Anyway - this hen clearly heard my threats and got on with the job of hatching EIGHT wee chickadees AND got them from the nest several hay bales high along to the henny house last night!  I was SO surprised to see her AND the chicks snuggled into the corner of the henny hoose.  I shut them all in last night with the hens and cockerel and investigated this morning. All seem to be doing well.  I don't have anywhere else to keep them so they will have to take their chance and hope that the Mother hen takes good care of them.  I fear for them as there are ravens and hooded-crows around - sigh.  But to be honest quite a few will be cockerels and if I save them now it just means that they will end up in someone's pot in a few months time.  So.... I shall let Mother hen get on with it.

She IS a good mother.  Here she is gathering her brood under her. She makes soft chook-chooking noises and the chicks just snuggle under the duvet.

You can just see little feet about to disappear into the cosy warmth. I think the other chick is saying "Hurry up! It's cold out here!"

 
The rest of the flock seem totally unconcerned to have little chicks cheeping around.  I have had to apologise to the cockerel (a Light Sussex breed) as I have never actually seen him "working" so was beginning to wonder what his purpose was.  He looked even more "puffed out" today when I went into the hen house - SEE I DO work! he seemed to be saying!

I have had a serious talk with Button and told her the chicks were OFF limits..... she gave me a look which seemed to ask "And it's OK for you to eat chicken and not me because....?"  I told her it was impolite to eat friends..... not sure that worked either but it's worth a try....!

Gardening can be a challenge....

.... in Orkney, what with the wind, the short growing season and my garden being so close to the shore with the resultant salt in the air etc.  Then add to that free range hens.... and it's a miracle that *anything* gets to grow in my garden! Though at least we don't have rats or rabbits on the island!

So.... in an effort to have *some* crops from the veggie patch it is necessary to erect barricades against my feathered friends...... however first I have to get the seed into the ground...... not easy with Henny Penny IV on guard!

Eventually they got fed up with being sworn at and wandered off for a bit of judicious grooming!

 

But then sneaking back when they thought I'd calmed down.....! Of course nets help keep the hens off but with a severe gale warning in progress it is necessary to protect the nets from being blown across the water with stones......

I'd made a cat's cradle of string for the peas to grow up, hoping that would keep the hens at bay... nope they did a kind of "chicken hopscotch" across the patch so I had to resort to *more* netting for now..... And Borage seeds now under a plastic container.....

Hopefully next year I'll get gates onto the garden to keep the hens at bay..... limbo dancing hens maybe? Irene of Breckan could teach them a thing or two about limbo dancing ;-) Now *that* is a story I cannot tell on my blog..... one must protect the (not so) innocent....tee hee!

Reminder of winter....

Today Spring has returned, but last week I went back into hibernation as we had strong gale force winds, sleet, rain, snow and it was really cold!  But today there is some blue in the sky, temperatures have risen and there is NO WIND! 

Spring is a busy time of the year for the crofters and farmers on the island with lambing due to start in a couple of weeks for most people.  Lambing is much later in Orkney/Scotland than down in the South of England because of the climate.  Although some people in Orkney will lamb in sheds earlier than lambing in the fields.

The cows are beginning to calve now too.  Most of the cattle are still overwintering in the byres, but as they calve are often released into the fields.  I love seeing the fields become populated with the lambs and calves. It's just like watching kids playing! 

Tonight we have our island community association AGM were we look at setting dates for events throughout the year.  A few things in the pipeline for Spring with a couple of course planned, one on Archaeology (not much discovered on Graemsay but will be interesting to hear some history) and one on photography.

Anyway I'll leave you with some pictures of the weather this last week!

At the top of the page is the approaching weather, below, it's arrived!

 The hoy Hills glowed in the dark!

But the snow didn't settle on Graemsay, just on the neighbouring island of Hoy and the Orkney Mainland! It looked quite odd - the hens and button enjoying a respite of warm sun one afternoon.

Knock Knock.....

I was quietly getting on with work the other day and I heard a tapping at the front door.  I opened the door - nothing..... just the hens on the grass scratching about.  Hmmmm did their air of concentration look a little too studied?  I closed the door and went back to my work.  A few minutes later there it was again.... tap..tap... tap.... I opened the door - just innocent looking hens...... O-kay...... back to work.... tap... tap... tap.... I thought "Right girls you're not going to get the better of me THIS time!!"  So I snuck out the back door and round to the front where the girls were all clustered around the door!  On closer inspection they were pecking at the putty at the bottom of the door guard!  I'm assuming the linseed oil attracted them or something.  I muttered darkly about consequences if my door leaked this winter and they wandered off to perfect their air of innocence......

New hens.....

This week three new hens arrived!  That takes the total flock to 11 - one light sussex cockerel and 10 hens (one maran, two regular brown , three light sussex, one pure white (origin unknown), and these wee girls).  The new hens are cross breed but have beautiful irridescent green feathers as well as black and deep rich brown ones.  Two are very wee and are still cheeping, while the other one is beginning to make "chook-chook" noises.  Of course they are being bullied mercilessly by the others, including the ones that only arrived a couple of months ago!!  Real "pecking order" being enacted in the henny hoose right now!

As there are no foxes on Graemsay (or indeed in Orkney) chickens can live completely free range, and mine sometimes go down to the beach which is a few yards behind the hen house.  However this flock seem to prefer the garden- particularly when I'm digging.  I have to be careful that I don't impale a hen on my garden fork as they are so eager to grab the worms in the newly turned soil! 

Henny Penny is not happy that I've stopped for a break!

They are rather a nuisance in the garden as they nip all the young shoots, and dig up seeds so I have to net everything if I want a decent crop.  However I do love to have them "chook-chooking" around as I work and they are real characters.

The Big Fella is getting ready for a dust bath, but the girls are still hopeful of more worms. Um... they look slightly startled as I sneezed while taking the photo!

 
However a lecture is due as the girls are laying eggs where I can't find them!  Not all are laying, but I was getting two eggs a day, which was plenty for my needs. However the last couple of days I've had none so somebody is slacking or sneaking off somewhere!  Time to hunt through the barn again.......

Carrot fly deterrent?

While out in the garden over the weekend I was busy working up a sweat when I noticed Button lazing in the sun beside me, and Red Hen sitting preening herself. So I read them both the riot act and insisted they did some work. Serves me right...... Button clearly put herself on carrot-fly deterrent detail...... Not for the first time it would seem - I'd been wondering why one side of the fleece covering over the carrots was sagging.... I have now found the answer!



Red Hen wasn't much better - she was eating all the worms which do so much good in the earth and turning her beak up at all the slugs! So I abandoned her to her preening once again and settled for beer traps for the slugs. So *that* is why I was to be seen wandering around the garden with a can of Tennent's lager in my hand!! Well at least the slugs will die happy...... Though I had to ensure that the bowls were secured under the netting otherwise I had visions of tipsy hens and a boozy Button on a Saturday Girls' Night Out bonanza!

Anyway - the garden is coming along slowly. I'm pleased with it so far as it's the first year for the walled garden. The grass has settled down nicely and I just *love* my new ride-on tractor mower! The veggie patch is planted up with peas and beans, potatoes, onions, carrots, shallots, courgettes (or they might be marrows - I lost the seed packet!), radish, lettuce, chard, spinach and strawberries. Some things are doing better than others - but that's gardening! There's a *lot* of grass at the moment and eventually I hope to add some flower beds to it, but for now it needs to be "easy care" and I need to save my energy for weeding what I have!




The flower border has some sticks which I'm hopeful will turn into trees (willow, rowan, birch, ash) as well as shrubs and perennials.




Note: For those of you interested in reading about other remote parts of Scotland, you may enjoy this website : Kilchoan "is a remote Scottish crofting village at the westernmost end of the Ardnamurchan peninsula, a two-hour drive to the west of Fort William."

Assistant gardeners

My hens love accompanying me when I'm gardening. Despite having very small heads and therefore even smaller brains, they know there will be plenty of worms for the picking. The wheelbarrow is also a useful spot to perch while one does a little grooming.

Junior, the younger of the cockerels, however, prefers to do little more than pose handsomely for the camera. He's a young Light Sussex Cross, though does look very "Light Sussex".



And this was another photo from last weekend when the sea mist (haar) finally began to roll away.



Note: Inter-isles flights are operating in Orkney today, and also to Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh, but not to Shetland or Inverness. Though with increased volcanic activity in Iceland who knows how long that will last!

I was sent this link courtesy of my friend, diane, some fantastic volcano pictures - click here

April Showers - and gales......

It's been a mixed bag of weather this last week. Temperatures are warming up, and yesterday (Easter Sunday) started with rain but ended up a beautiful mild sunny afternoon and evening. However today we are back to wind, grey skies and rain.

But I made the most of the sunshine yesterday and was out transplanting "perennials" from the border at the rear of the house to the new borders in the walled garden. The rear border has been populated with rosa rugosa, willows, fuchsia, hebe and other fairly tough shrubs which are all now growing together and filling in the gaps. I'd started planting perennials there a year or so ago in preparation for the walled garden, so it's satisfying to be able to split and transplant clumps of plants. Though it will be some time before the walled garden borders look anything but sparse - sigh. Each border is 100ft long - that's room for a lot of plants!

As ever, the hens were in attendance. During one of the more windy days last week the "gate" keeping them out of the garden blew down, so the girls came in and helped me with the gardening. At one point I was lifting a clump of cornflowers with a garden fork underneath the plant and a hen on top of it!

The new cockerel is as yet unnamed but is much more amenable than the last one. At least this one is scared of me and runs in the opposite direction when I appear. Maybe he's heard the stories of what his fate will be if he doesn't behave! Anyway the girls seem happy with him. Though he did spend two days in the pen with the bull. He managed to get in OK but couldn't seem to get *out* again - clearly not the brightest of specimens..... Junior, the younger cockerel was hand reared before I got him and is very friendly and lets me stroke him. So hopefully all will be well again.

Below Junior doing the poultry equivalent of "Nah Nah, Nah-Nah, Nah" on the fallen garden "gate"

Hens with the new cockerel

A successful transfer took place last weekend (after much racing around - by other people, not me!) and George is now in his new home and behaving himself. He has a larger flock of hens and couple of other cockerels to keep him in his place and so far he hasn't had time to be aggressive to any humans.

Meanwhile his replacement is a very shy chap. The hens seemed to take to him very well, however this morning I found him in the barn with the bull while the hens were in the henny hoose with the Young Pretender (a young bird that was thought to be a hen, but isn't!). So not sure what's going on there. Maybe the new chap was having a "Grumpy Old Men" style chat with the bull disgruntled at the "youth of today"! As the weather has been so poor this weekend (wind, rain, cold...) I haven't had chance to see how things are with the cockerels and hens but at least the new chap has a warm barn to sleep in if he has been feeling "hen pecked"!

The clocks "sprung forward" last night so we are now in British Summer Time - hmm wish someone had told the weather - it's now SNOWING!

Below are some eggs from the hens - for those who haven't experienced eggs from free range hens - yes that IS the colour of the yolk, a much richer yellow/orange than barn or factory hens. The taste is completely different too, really delicious.

On the Transfer List.....

Gorgeous George, my Light Sussex cockerel is on the transfer list...... He can be seen in the centre of the picture above. I've had him a few months and he is beautiful, however this last week or so he has become very aggressive towards me. I fear he may think I'm a little red hen, being small and with red hair! Anyway I've been having a bit of a battle with him when I go and feed the chickens in the morning and it is getting beyond a joke - I have several bruises on my leg from him nipping me with his sharp beak. Fortunately I wear a fairly robust coat as he has jumped up at me with his feet too. My chickens are completely free range and he doesn't seem bothered any other time, just first thing in the morning at feeding time - but that's bad enough!

Anyway, it had been suggested I try controlling him by spraying a strong vinegar solution at him so I will try that. But I suspect he will either need to move to a new home where he will be less of a danger, or....... chicken soup may be on the menu. Sorry George but you've broken the terms of your employment contract! Have you not heard the expression "Don't bite the hand that feeds you"........

Note: I've just come back from feeding the chickens. George was on his own and was fine with me, but when the hens all ran up to me he got aggressive. So he clearly thinks I'm another cockerel that is threatening his harem, or just a threat to his hens. Though the hens don't looked afraid of me at all and chatter around my feet. Clearly Chivalrous George has not heard of "Womens Lib"!

Autumnal musings.....

Nothing much to say at the moment. I'm afraid I'm still battling some Evil Virus that has been circulating around the island along with other colds etc. Hardly anyone has avoided one or the other. Some days I'm feeling better, then seem to relapse into feeling "wabbit" (a wonderful Scottish term for feeling exhausted and unwell and nothing to do with Bugs Bunny, nor indeed Jonathan Ross). So apart from working and sleeping I'm not doing much....sigh..... This will therefore be a rambling "autumnal musings" type post!

Time check - in Orkney today the sunrise was at 0818 and sunset is at 1537. Whereas in London sunrise was 7.30 and sunset will be 1603. Quite a difference over even a few hundred miles. That always amazes me. I mean I *know* all about the earth's curve etc etc, but still fascinates me.

It's also getting to the time of year when the "Merry Dancers" make an appearance (local name for the Northern Lights). I've signed up with "Aurora Watch" which is run by Lancaster University and I get an email warning of potential activity so I can remember to go out at night and take a look! We do get displays throughout the winter, though not on a par with those seen in about 2003 which were fantastic, with brilliant reds and greens shimmering in curtains across the sky. More recently the displays have been white shimmering lights on the northern horizon. Still beautiful, but not with the ethereal beauty of the reds and greens.

I love the quality of light at this time of year, that lights up the interior of the house with a soft sunlit glow. Those days I treasure compared to grey dark days. Though to be fair we haven't had to deal with the weather extremes of those south who have been battling appalling conditions of torrential rain. We've had lots of rain and it's very wet and soggy underfoot but otherwise it's been a pretty good autumn so far, with some intermittent gales.

A lot of birds have either migrated or fallen silent for the winter now. There are still lapwings around and various birds along the shore but very few calls are heard. I haven't seen an Oyster catcher for ages though they are resident here all year round. Meanwhile the blackbirds and sparrows have been enjoying the rose-hips from the rosa rugosa.

Georgeous George, the new cockerel, has finally found his voice. Though, um, I think he has been reading the wrong script as it sounds more like "Twit-Twoo" thank "Cock-a-doodle-do"..... he also doesn't seem to want to perch at night and instead crouches down in the corner of the hen house. I keep putting him on the perch once it's dark - oh no really please don't ask...., but he persists in sitting down on the floor. I fear for his health as the floor tends to be damp but - well short of tieing him to the perch there's not much I can do!!

The regular brown hens who have been here all summer are being really horrid to the new hens - they pull chunks of feathers out of the new girls if they so much as dare look at the food till the regular brown hens have finished! Gorgeous George seems to enjoy escorting the brown hens around, and the new Light Sussex hens tend to still stay near the hen house. I'm hoping once the new hens mature they will move about as one flock. That has certainly happened in the past.

And here is a picture of Button, as Rosie wanted to see her markings more closely. She is a very pretty cat with lovely soft fur. She was a rescue cat from Westray (via Cats Protection) and has been here a whole year now. She is very entertaining (apart from when she brings home her lunch - still alive).

New chickens!

This week saw additions to my flock of hens. Well if the three remaining hens I had constitute a "flock"? Three new hens arrived from a local breeder. They are "Light Sussex" (the large variety not bantams). They are very pretty, young and just on the point of lay. I also got a cockerel, having said "never again" only a few months ago. But I found even the regular brown hens going "broody" and sitting on clutches of eggs this summer so thought we all might as well get something out of their efforts! Hopefully in the summer there will be some chicks running around again - but I may need to rig up a pen till the chicks get bigger as I fear for their lives with Button on the loose. However she has the sense to be very wary of the hens anyway, and in the past I found hens to be very protective of chicks so fingers crossed.

The cockeral is quite a handsome chap but I have yet to hear him crow. He went AWOL the first day I let all the hens out together. I think perhaps he'd been hen-pecked by the old hens and the new ones and did the chicken equivalent of going and sleeping in the spare room for a day or two! However clearly the testerostone has kicked in and I saw him trying vainly to get old and new groups of hens together. I have no doubt he will succeed - I think he's the George Clooney of the feathered world..... Hmmm think I've just found a name for him.... Gorgeous George!

And the new girls have wasted no time and are settling in to laying eggs - but I think maybe only one of them is producing at the moment. However nest boxes have been inspected and will hopefully be found "acceptable"!


The hens can be completely free range as there are no foxes on the island. I do tend to shut them in at night and drop the "escape hatch" to reduce draughts, and also to encourage the girls to lay in the henny hoose rather than on the top of the hay bales in the barn! So far the new hens haven't ventured far from the corner of the hen house but I'm sure they will soon be following Georgous George and the other hens and exploring the beach, fields and garden, not to mention playing "chicken" by sitting on the corner of the road just below the house.Fortunately there isn't *that* much traffic about, but when it's the ferry run the road can get a bit busy..... sigh.

Ouch!

One of my hens must be walking about very gingerly after laying the egg on the left - it's almost square! Well OK not quite, but it IS considerably larger than she usually lays (see egg on the right). Poor thing!



And these are my first "tatties" from the garden! Pink Fir Apple variety (though I am assured they ARE potatoes). I think they should be renamed Prolific Pink Fir Apple - this is just the crop of two plants!