Mulch

I struggle with February. Considering it's the shortest month, it can go on, and on, and on.....

Not helped by the weather. I'm definitely at the 'outdoorsy' end of the spectrum and go just a little [more] bonkers with too much rain-induced incarceration. It was drying up quite nicely then a weather front strolled by and flattened all the crocuses and turned the garden back in to a swamp.

The poor hens. I've had a bit of a sad time these last few weeks on the poultry front, having lost Esme to rat attack a few weeks ago, then Peggy to a kidney infection last week, then my other Buff Sussex bantam Gloria to another rat a couple of days ago.Two of my layers are going to friends of my parents as they recently lost two of their free-range hens to a dog attack.

However, it's a good time to take stock of things and given the state of the ground, no bad thing that the coops are rather sparsely populated. I asked my local tree surgeon if he had any spare chipped waste; he did and kindly dropped off a half load:

All seven runs now have a deep layer (about 4-6") of mulch. There are some laurel prunings which concerned me but having watched the hens closely as they scratch around, they've not been eating any of the material, just pecking about. My hens are experienced rangers and foragers so I'm presuming common sense will prevail. In my investigations as to toxicity of plant material and chickens, I was surprised at the number of things undesirable or even downright dangerous that my hens seem to eat without a problem.

So, with spring around the corner, and the promise of restocking with some traditional utility breeds and rearing some chicks from my remaining Buff Sussex bantams now that Beatrice is laying, I'm not feeling too bad about my recent losses.