Friday, March 28, 2014

Brooding


One of our three beloved chickens - Joyce - has spent the last month and a bit brooding. I had no idea what this actually meant and when she first retreated to the coop to sit in her box, we were worried. She hunched in on herself and fluffed up all her feathers. She emitted sad little noises and her comb was red-hot. This is not good, we said to ourselves, certain that one of our previously happy little crew would not be with us by morning.

Then we did a little bit of reading. This was brooding, in which a chicken imagines that she needs to stay in her nesting space all the time to hatch eggs. Really kind of sad, when you think about it, guarding and nurturing eggs that don't exist or aren't hers (because, ironically, they stop laying). Poor love. And she would not move, except under considerable protest, when I lifted her out of the box and into the yard during the day. Otherwise she wouldn't have eaten or drunk any water. This went on and on and we read some more - leave her be, she'll come out of it in no more than three weeks. Three weeks passed, then four and nearly five. Oh, my aunt said, you just dunk them headfirst in cold water! That snaps them out of it! We were horrified at the thought of little Joycie receiving such torture, especially in her delicate and rather melancholic condition, but eventually it had to be done. Prolonged brooding has its own consequences.

And so it is that she has now emerged back into the yard to resume her daily frolic with her coop mates, Gladys and Jean. She is now moulting - an after-effect of brooding, apparently - but it's good to have her back. Unfortunately we have now had to build a little enclosure for the chickens (hence the chicken wire above) because they were gradually digging up the entire garden but even in a slightly reduced space, they still seem to be having a lot of chickeny fun!

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Hello



Erik Werenskiold, On the Plain

Hello! I am truly so sorry to have been away from the Wood for so long. Suffice it to say that 2014 has not been the best of years for our family so far.

But we persevere, because it's all we can do. It's all any of us can do. I am literally taking things from one day to the next at the moment, never looking too far ahead, and so I thought it would be good to take a look at what I am doing right now.


Reading:  Phillipa Gregory, The Red Queen


Listening: Wardruna (LP)—“Runaljod – Gap Var Ginnunga” (this translates as Song of Runes - The Gap was Yawning) and The Young Tradition (song), “Lyke Wake Dirge


Eating: Homemade custard—my hubster is the best cook!


Watching: Vikings, season 2...Hey Ragnar— Boo, Hiss!! Also, The Returned...genuinely creepy


Making: A knitted poncho for Joyce, one of our chickens (poor baby is moulting badly)


Dreaming: Of mysterious Norwegian forests


Enjoying: The slow arrival of autumn

So, what's occupying you right now? 

Feronia x