Hello and welcome to The Compost Bin. I'm Compostwoman and I live with my family in rural Herefordshire. We have nearly four acres of garden and woodland, all managed organically and to Permaculture principles, which we share with Chickens, Cats and assorted wildlife. We also grow a lot of our own food, run courses in all sorts of things and make a lot of compost!

I am a Master Composter and have spent more than a decade as a volunteer Community Compost adviser with Garden Organic and my local Council.
I'm a self employed Environmental Educator so I run workshops and events where I talk about compost, veg growing, chicken keeping, cooking, preserving and sustainable living. I also run crafts workshops and Forest School/outdoor play sessions in our wood.

We try to live a more self sufficient lifestyle here, as best we can, while still having a comfortable life and lots of fun.


To learn more about us click on the About Compostwoman tab and remember to click on the photos to make them full size!


Friday 21 August 2009

Meet the new girls!

I am putting together a post which will catch up with the doings of all the chickens at Compost Mansions, but the latest biggest news is I have 2 new pullets!

We went to Poultry Park a few days ago and I bought 2 POL Warrens, and 3 fertile cream legbar eggs to put under Ruby Dorking (who is broody). Ruby has accepted these eggs so we shall see what happens.

The new girls (still, as yet, unnamed...but I think one will be called Ginger Too) are very pretty and are ensconced in the Eglu and its run for a few days under quarantine. We have made a separate enclosure for them around the Eglu and I have this evening just let them outside the Eglu run, for the first time.



They came from a grass enclosure with no shrubs or soil or leaf litter, so seemed a bit baffled at first




but then started to have a good old furtle around and peck at worms in the sunshine,

making little "quarks" and croons in a contented chicken-y way.





They are both happy to let me pick them up as well, which is nice :-)



I love my hens :-)

I plan to get another 4 or 5 hens and am still musing on breeds....but I am happy to have another couple of ginger hens as to me they are what makes a smallholding! Probably because that's what we had when I was a child.....and it is nice to look at them and remember Ginger doing the same stuff :-)

Compostman is resigned to more chickens, now I think (grin)

8 comments:

  1. What a beautiful pair of girls you have there. We are still talking about getting some ourselves. Me i would get them tomorrow but F still wants to think some more, LOL.

    Margaret

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  2. Love your new additions. Someday I hope to have some ladies of my own.

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  3. A big welcome to the new girls!

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  4. What a beautiful pair! Welcome to the latest residents at Compost Mansions!

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  5. Really pretty ladies! I'd be lost without my hens too :) xx

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  6. What gorgeous girls, chicken keeping is contagious isn't it. I am already yearning for more and have another henhouse on order than can take 24!! As I only have 13 at the moment it seems a shame not to give some more a good home doesn't it?

    Sue xx

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  7. Chickens!! I am so looking forward to getting my own, been waiting a long time!

    Your newbies certainly look like they are enjoying their new surroundings, hope the settle in well!

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  8. Lovely girls! I'm thinking of adopting some next year but I'm not sure. One of our neighbours who has a huge lot behind our garden keeps chicken, ducks, geese, goats and sheep. This year was the first year she had hatchlings and I'm afraid many came to a sad end from my cats :-( At least, apart from heads and feet, they ate them but I'm concerned the cats will stress out any chicken I might get (even in an enclosure). My neighbour keeps some Mechelse Koekoek (Mechelen Coucou / Coucouc de Malines) in her gang; they are big chicken/hens, very good layers and make superb meat if you can bear to slaughter them...

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Hello! Thank you for reading my blog and for commenting. I try to reply as quickly as I can and I really appreciate your interest in my life and doings here in The Compost Bin.

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