Feathered friend of a different variety

Isn't she pretty?  Our new(ish) addition to the family.  She wandered in (must have heard about the good conditions here) and settled in quite nicely thanks very much.

I've heard that peacocks are wanderers and have asked about the place and advertised, but no one seems to have missed her.

She looks funny out grazing with the other hens!  She seems to be quite fond of our little bantam rooster too ... hmm.  She has already gone broody and sat on some eggs for a few weeks - to no avail!  They are large eggs about the size of large duck eggs.

I've heard too that they are quite noisy, but that is probably the male - as usual.  She does have a funny call, but we aren't too close to neighbours, so they don't seem to mind.  For me, it is a bit of an alarm clock - right when I should be waking at 5am.

cheers for now
Wendy

thanks for all the comments - good to know there's someone out there!

Is Your Tea Cosy?

I was having my morning cuppa and having a quick look at some blogs when I happened upon Suzanne's Enchanted Moments.  Her lovely post this morning invited us to show off our tea cosies.  So I decided to play along - why don't you?

This is my one and only cosy, which I picked up at a garage sale for 20c!  It's lovely and looks nice and cosy on my red teapot.  

 

I have always planned on knitting a tea cosy, but until then, this one certainly does the job nicely.  I'm not so sure that I could do such a nice job!

Seems like a good time too to say Thanks for all your great comments on the  coffee post!

Phoebe  - yes they are pretty, and even prettier in flower.  Note to self must look for an old photo of them in flower.

**Anne**  - I just like them for the look of them I think Anne.  I think it would take a mountain of work to produce enough beans to grind.  Then again, I think I'm just lazy!

Liz - yes the red beans are ripe (I think).  Starts off green and goes into red then brown.
thenewgoodlife- I'm learning as I go too.  - The education would have been even more informative if I knew a bit more lol!

Rose - I think I should too.  At least then I would really know where my coffee came from!

saving for travel - happy to encourage you to take a break SFT!

Ali - They are reasonably big Ali.  These are under some gums too.... can you move your tree if it's in the wrong place?

Andrea -  Good comment about the birds - I think it is mainly when they are in flower that the lorikeets like them.  Guess they go for the nectar over the coffee taste!

muppy - I just like the look of them too.  The foliage is so lush and the beans a lovely contrast.

Fiona from Arbordale Farm - thanks again Fiona, much appreciated.

Judith - You're right - very handy as a screen tree and a nice shade tree too.

Kim -.I think they'd be a nice addition to most gardens because of the shade factor too.

Bayside Rose - Happy to help. Thanks for your comment, just wish I could be a bit more informative!

and while I'm at it - thanks for the comments on the Old Chook and an Award.  Just wish that someone had another old chook photo!

Phoebe  - nice colour and such a stately old thing too.  I'd like to get some pb Australorps just for that reason.  Maybe next time.  Don't know how many for RIR's but this old girl certainly shut up shop some time ago!

muppy - you're more than welcome Muppy! 

Lyndel - you're welcome too Lyndel.  Just a bit of fun - now get back to the washing ... lol.

**Anne** - you are welcome Anne!  Your chooks may be old one day too.  The award is just a bit of fun, don't feel that you have to follow through!

Gooseberry Jam - yes we are all getting a bit grey here!  Hopefully one day you will have old chooks too.  No she stopped laying ages ago, pensioned off.

Rose - you have a great blog - keep up the great work on the Project.

Cheers for now - Wendy 

A Poultry Challenge ..... and an Award

We have a quite a few different hens - about  a dozen or so at the moment.  The majority of these are crossbred and now a few additional bantams as well.  Over the years these have been mainly red/brown, some Rhode Island Red background, and also Isa Brown.  I know that it would be wonderful to have only Pure Bred ones, but these suit our purpose of supplying eggs.

Every  couple of years, we will buy about 5 of 6 at Point of Lay stage (around 18 weeks of age). By this time, the older hens would have slowed down in the egg production and we have often lost a couple through natural causes (this includes old age, snakes - or often just found toes up for no known reason).

We have one very old hen.  Usually referred to as the old chook.  Not as a name, but more of a description.  On the weekend I had a good look at the old chook.   I had noticed lately that her new feathers had been taking a while to come through following a recent moult. 

However, when I had a really good look, I went back for the camera.

They are not new feathers coming through as I thought.  They are grey feathers!  The old chook has grey feathers!   (cue sounds of mirth, clutching at sides laughing). 

We all tried to think back how old this particular hen would actually be.  I googled the life span of domestic poultry.  Most sources named 6 years as being a good age.  Burkes Backyard  cites 2-10 years for cross-bred hens.  I am thinking that this particular hen would be somewhere in the 6-10 year mark. 

My challenge to fellow poultry enthusiasts is this - do you have, or know of an old chook.  If you do,  please write a post on your blog, perhaps with a photo, and link it back to this post.  I'd love to see some photos of other old hens who are living a life of grey plumed retirement.

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Now - about the Award!  

I'd love to thank the wonderful Fiona from Life at Arbordale Farm for generously passing this award over my way - and also to fellow recipients -  Little Piece of Green;  Hazel; Veggiegobbler and Just Like My Nan Made - so I was in great company.  I was thrilled to be included. I've not been blogging very long and have been astounded by the many levels that I enjoy it.  First and foremost of course would have to be the friends in the blogging community.

It is wonderful to read so many blogs and to get involved in them just by commenting and joining in on some many different perspectives. 

The Liebster Blog award is given to bloggers with under 200 followers. Here are the rules:

1. Thank the giver and link back to them.  Yes, ticked this one... thanks again Fiona.

2. Reveal your 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

Rose from Greening the Rose.  I am particularly enjoying The Rose Marshall Project.  Rose does the hard work on food investigation that every Australian consumer should read.

Muppy  amazes me with each post.  What she can do in the kitchen is nothing short of inspirational.  Her family certainly dines in style.

Anne at Ungardened Moments.  Her blog is full of colour and inspiration.  I always feel calm and peaceful after reading one of Anne's posts. 

KiwiFruit - What is not to love here.  The beautiful photography, Flopsy, Roller Derby Queen and the stunning scenery.  Love it all!

Lyndel of Vintage Retro & Simply Cute Shopping has such wonderful vintage style and so many varied collections.  A superb eye for op shop treasures.  I'm jealous!

It was definitely difficult to pick just five!  This is certainly a condensed list of many of my faviourites and five which seem to cover all the genres that interest me.  Oops - I seem to have forgotten all about decluttering!

So there you go.  Hope I've done everything correctly.  Not stepped on any toes or linked anyone who didn't want to be linked!

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Cheers for now - Wendy 

Don't forget about the Poulty Challenge!

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With many apologies - I haven't responded to all the lovely comments on the previous post.  This has been such a long post and I'm going cross eyed from all the links.  Will respond next time re the Coffee post. 

Chooks and Decluttering

Seeing it's the weekend and Duke is going back to work on Monday after a fairly long Christmas/New Year break, we (and I use the term 'we' lightly) have been getting a few things done around the yard.

We have had a lot of rain over the last 6 weeks or so, as has most of SE Queensland.  The grass has grown and lot on our small acreage and the mower has broken down.  Not a good combination.

However on the plus side of things, Duke has done a great job of decluttering the veggie garden in preparation for planting up for our winter vegies.

February is our hottest most humid most horrible month here (in my opinion anyway) and to me, the worst time to be gardening.  However, it's the best time to put in things like cabbage, lettuce, corn and generally things that can handle the hot weather and settle down to produce into the winter months.

So he got the old rotary hoe going and ploughed up our old veggie patch which was full of leftovers from the last season - old tomato plants, bean vines etc. and then covered it with several loads of mulch which had been sitting cooking away nicely for a few months.

Then the chook factory went into work!  Don't they love it - had a great time digging everything up and doing the work for us.

Unfortunately I forgot to take a before photo, but this is how the veggie patch looked back in May.  We mainly plant up the basics, things that through trial and error we find do well and grow easily.  Usually we manage a good crop of broccoli, tomatoes, pumpkin, beans, peas, lettuce, corn and sometimes cabbage.   

The chooks provide us with plenty of eggs, and although far from self sufficient, we certainly have enough to supplement the shopping.  We have always gardened organically and although some things have taken a while to get established, we are finally starting to 'get there'.

Here's a nice bunch of bananas just cut down today.  The joys of living in sub-tropical Qld!  I just wish we could skip the humidity.

Back into the housework tomorrow and into decluttering mode.  I am very pleased that I have been able to find a home for some furniture which we no longer use.  The items will go directly to a family whose home was totally submerged in the recent flooding - and they have no insurance.  That makes me feel good :)