Moving in...

We had a busy weekend last week up at the plot of land. We finally got the chicken coop finished and settled the chooks in on Saturday morning (after a night in our flat - big, smelly mistake!). They seemed very pleased with it and although we now realise that they can in fact jump out of the run whenever they like, so far they are choosing not to. They are three lovely ginger-coloured laying hens named after our sisters; Jenny, Lucy and Kelsey.

Unfortunately yesterday when we went to check on them, Kelsey and Jenny were looking a bit snotty around the beak and generally sad and mopey. Of course, I panicked a bit and got straight on the internet to check the symptoms and had fully convinced myself that they were all going to die (the usual ''headache + google = brain tumour'' situation). First thing this morning I went round to the farm supplies place where we bought them and the guy said that sometimes it just happens with a change in environment because they dont sleep or eat well and get a bit low on defenses, so we have to give them medicine for a couple of days. Hopefully they´ll be ok!

We also got started on the veggie plot and although the raised bed is less than beautiful, we´ve got some good, nutritious earth in there and have planted (in accordance with the moon phases) tomatoes and peppers straight away. From the 15th we can plant some beets and onions and then in a few weeks, at the new moon, all the leafy stuff like herbs, broccoli and lettuces. We´ve also tried to match up the veg with the right herbs and neighbours to encourage growth, deter pests etc. I dont know if it´ll work but we might as well give it a go.... although I´m starting to think that maybe less love and care gives better results. We went to such lengths with our hens; designing the house, painting it with non-toxic oils, choosing the perfect roosting branch, selecting the special hens who were imported from Cali etc etc etc. And they still end up sneezing snot all over the place! Our neighbours have happy healthy hens running about, eating scraps and living in the trees - no sneezing at all.

Tony and Eddie also built a retaining wall out of tyres which will hopefully give us a lawn-type area up by the house which can be a chicken and veg free zone, somewhere to sit out on the grass with a beer perhaps. We are just waiting for the builder to render the wall and then we can get the earth in to level it all up.

The builder still hasn´t got organized with the quote for the next stage (walls and electric and water piping) but he´s supposedly coming round in half and hour with the details so we´re hoping that we´ll be able to get started straight away!