Well it's been all go this weekend. On Friday I decided that I was going to build a chicken run as I was obtaining 10 free, ex battery chickens. So Saturday morning came and off I went to buy some materials, just for the job. £120 pound later, with 14 posts and 75 meters of chicken wire I set about constructing the Hilton chicken hotel. By teatime I had dug a trench one foot deep around the parameter to keep the foxes out and knocked in the posts.

Sunday morning came and the weather was terrible, it was thrashing it down with rain, I felt like staying in bed but the chickens were coming on Tuesday so I had to motivate myself. Off I went down the plot at the shocking time of 8 in the morning. It wasn't long 'till I got moving and by dinner I had built the roof beams and fitted the door at the front of the pen, before long it was three in the afternoon and as I had to go to work I had to call it a day.

Well, with the weekend gone and only one day left 'till the chickens arrived I had to get a move on. So I finished off wiring the pen and by midday it was finished. I'm still waiting for the coop to arrive so I have borrowed a large fox trap to home them in until the coop arrives, which is still better then the appalling conditions they are use to in these battery farms.

Chicken day arrived and by eleven I was down the plot and waiting for the delivery of the birds. They were soon here and in better shape than I had imagined, a couple of them have their neck feathers missing, I believe this is due to them putting their heads through the cages to reach the food. Also one of them has a bright red behind where it has been pecked at for what looks like quite some time. I'm sure that after a couple of weeks and lots of worms and slugs they will be fine and back to their former glory

As an extra bonus I found two eggs in one of the delivery boxes. I put these on top of the pen and off I wandered to talk to my neighbour, (big mistake). The next thing I saw was a dirty big black carrion crow fly past with an egg in its claws! With shock and horror I looked over to my plot and saw a further two more circling my last remaining egg. Off I sprinted shouting my head off to protect my dinner. So on the first day I'm down 50% on losses, its my first lesson I've learnt in the art of keeping poultry.

I have been down to check on the veg after the harsh weather we have been having and all looks good


potatoes

purple sprouting broccoli

onions

Its alive