Undoubtedly, a lot has happened in Chicken Corner this past month, and similarly to the current events beyond this empire’s borders, there have been some dramatic ups and downs. To mention only a few gritty stories, seven chicks hatched on Easter Sunday and we’ve got broody hens coming out of our ears.. and I certainly haven’t the faintest as to where some are actually nesting!
In more pressing news, I have considered - taking precautionary measures before disaster strikes - to implement a ‘lockdown’ due to a far more visible (yet classically cunning) threat, the sly fox. During Sally’s and my regular evening stroll, we spotted the orange, white tipped fiend crossing the field. It was a big’en!
In that instance I thought “it is time..” (no not an appropriate time for Lion King quotes!) No, I thought, its time to get those eye-sore-inducing construction panels back up on the last chicken run, otherwise, in one attack, the fox will have cleared out over 80% of our feathery population. Agreed, I didn’t like the statistics either, so, a couple of days later I started de-nettling. “What?! De-nettling?! In a time of crisis, your ‘go-to’ is to start digging?” – quote avid, yet mortified reader.
Well, yes .. yes of course. In the Second World War, “Dig For Britain” was commonly bill boarded all over the place and like any life-threatening situation, we take our duties very seriously. So after an hour’s uprooting on one’s own, GJH joined; he dug and I pulled the roots out.
Fun fact (note to self – conventionally, this will not be in any way ‘fun’ and is not ‘factual’ either, but by the by, here I go anyway..) Nettles are very clever and simply love to grow along the boundaries of wired enclosures (maybe they’ve got a thing of metal), or in any inaccessible location where we allow them to grow.
Actually that is not entirely true, because Monty’s field has loads of nettles right in the middle of it, (excuse my deliberate intervention but, *insert re-wording, ‘nettles grow where we are too lazy to dig them up’ (* Avid reader gasps, even more mortified).
In essence, the lockdown was the well-needed kick up the backside required in order for me to actually remove the nettles and improve Chicken Corner’s aesthetic facade. Look how vain lockdowns make us! Yet, to keep encouraging nature, I didn’t uproot the non-stinging nettles because bees and butterflies love them. We’re not complete barbarians you know!
Implementation of the full parameter structure continues, as the gate is yet to be correctly hinged. All the chickens are still wandering the orchard freely.. (*reader gasps again). I guess you could say I’m ‘playing it by ear’ but right now my ears are blocked with broody hens!
Stay Safe chicks! x
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