Thursday, April 29, 2004
Saint Catherine de Sienne
Chickens. When we moved to La Lohuas in December 2002, we inherited a menagerie of goats, rabbits, some chickens and a goose. The children who stay in the gites love feeding the animals and we have the additional bonus of free range eggs. A while back Caroline bought a few more young chicks to increase our egg production. We now have 8 chickens and regularly get 7 eggs a day; until the beginning of this week. The nest boxes have one or two eggs, but somewhere they are hiding their eggs. When we don't have guests staying in the gites we let the chickens roam. We've got about 4 acres, so the have plenty of space. The eggs also taste better, with rich golden yolks, when they are free to explore. The problem is, we think they have found somewhere else to lay in the grounds. The hunt is on !
After removing the green gates Caroline came up the idea to make some new railings that match the existing ones infront of the house and gites. These would temporarily replace the green gates and provide Caroline with something to hang pansies and geranimums on. So, off to the workshop to practice welding. I bought an electric arc welder a while ago, but haven't had any call to use it. I just spent half a dozen rods and nearly two hours cursing and swearing trying to weld. All that seems to happen is the rods stick to the work or the weld is so weak I would be better off using superglue. Argggg! More practice needed I think.
The veg patch is coming along nicely 
