Chicken's Day Out Part 1

I took a video of my chickens as they came out of their home for the first time. They were rather nervous stepping out into this strange new world. It took a while for all of them to come out. They have a little chicken-size door built just for them as the 'in' and 'out' of their house. I have a 'big' door, just for me.

Watercolour Ideas

My first experiments with watercolour painting was when I was small, (under ten). My favourite Christmas gift was always a new tin of paints. In those days I had to learn about how water soaks through paper, about painting on dry paper, about painting on wet paper, and even painting colours side by side without them blending into each other. 

Shirley Trevena tells us her experiences about experimenting with watercolour painting. I'm sure her experiences are more profound.

Enjoy her video.

The Magnificent Sky

One of our sons takes great photographs. I'd like to share some with you.


Today's photos are of the sky. The clouds and the sky give us an ever changing canvas of colour. If you were doing a painting, sometimes you would think 'No, I can't do it like that.' But there is nobody to tell the magnificent sky if a picture is right or wrong. It runs on an ever-changing script.


Thankyou Mr Sky Artist.

Photos of the magnificent sky by Bevan Vahland

The Pros and Cons of Keeping Chickens

Rhode Island Red Bantam Chick about six weeks old

 

Pros

 

Having had chickens in my life for many decades, naturally I am going to think of more pros than cons.

 

The obvious benefit of having chickens is that they will lay you eggs. Have you ever seen hens in laying cages by the thousand? Not a pretty site. The poor hens are so stressed out. They often have few feathers. They can barely move and are often pecked by the other stressed out hens in their tiny wire cage - wire floor as well. They cannot roost or sleep comfortably.

 

If you keep your own chickens you can really pamper them or just plain look after them. They will have a much better life than hens in commercial egg laying facilities and you are not subsidising caged birds by buying their eggs.

 

Chickens will provide you with fertilizer for your garden. They will also eat all your table scraps with relish.

 

Chickens will help control insects in your garden. They love to snap at flying insects, or peck up earwigs and bugs.

 

Chickens will help control weeds in the garden and willingly do lots of the digging for you. If you have a bed that needs turning over, just start it off and the chickens will bring it to a fine tilth. They are very good at that.

 

Chickens are also much better than dogs on New Year's eve. Many dogs can get very frightened by all the firecrackers going off and demand lots of attention inside the house. Chickens will sleep right through the noise.

 

These wonderful two legged creatures are happy to be outside. They don't 'need' company from humans. So long as all their needs are met they make no other demands.

 

And you don't need to take them for a walk.

 

My flock of chicks and hens provide me with lots of enjoyment - just standing watching them can put a smile on my face. They love to have a talk back also.

 

Today I heard one of my neighbours clucking and talking to the hens over the back fence and later in the day another four year old neighbour was calling out to the hens - 'Hey Rooster' over and over. He loves them too. He and his sister love to receive gifts of an egg occasionally or some feathers and a real treat is to come and visit the hens.

 

If you are going away for a week or so you can leave enough food and water for them. Just get a neighbour to collect the eggs every couple of days and everybody will be happy.

Cons

Well, I can't think of many.

 

Oh yes, those occasions when I have to clean out their cage.

 

And on the long summer evenings, I have to go out three or four times to locks the hens in because they just won't go to bed. They love the garden too much.

 

You do have to watch where you walk in the garden because they do leave little blobs of fertilizer around the place. If there are too many of these, just let them out for an hour or so in the evenings. You don't have to let them out at all if it doesn't suit.

 

Well, looking at the arguments set out above, it looks as though its a good idea to keep chickens.

 

I do have lots more pros tucked up my sleeve.

 

 

 

 



Visitors to My Back Door

There are some new flowers flowering in the garden at the moment as it's springtime here in Australia.

I try to keep a photographic record of all my flowers but sometimes miss a few. Here are my latest.

A fuchsia, lobelia and buddleia. They are all looking lovely at the moment.

Fuchsia

 

Lobelia

 

Buddleia

 

The butterflies like the buddleia. Each year we get more butterflies.

 

Visitors to My Back Door

Yesterday when I opened the back door a butterfly flew right in and in the evening as I came back from feeding the chickens I spied a sparrow flying out the back door. He must have been having a look around as I keep the daily food in there, all sealed. So he missed out on some easy tucker.  

 

Every afternoon my little bantam hens come visiting about four o'clock. They must be feeling a bit peckish. They get a handful each of corn or seeds then off they go for a couple of hours until it's time for their evening meal when they come back again.

Rose Design to use in your Folk Art Painting

A Rose Just for You

Here is a rose drawing you could use in your Folk Art designs. It's a delicate rosebud just like the bud in the header of my blog.

The rose in the header of my blog is a photo from my garden as are the other two photos there. let me  know how it turns out for you.

I hope Santa comes your way soon. Happy Christmas.

House Painting

We have just had the painters in for nearly two weeks. The outside of our house had not been painted for a long time. It's amazing how the walls get dirty from the rain and garden soil, insects and spider webs.

I have a very busy garden and many, many plants had to be cut back severely to allow the painters to get to the walls. Lots of the remaining plants came off the worst for wear as well.

But I can't complain too much because the house needed to be painted. Now it looks fresh and clean. I console myself in the thought that in twelve months the plants will have grown back. It will also give me the chance to remove some and replant with something new.

Sorry to disappoint you if you think the above picture is my home. It's not.

You may like to see some photos of my garden.