Ive got Henrietta, Bramble, Belle and Bourbon, Ivy and Holly, and May and June. Those gone before are Spice,Clara, Alice, Clarice, Biscuit and Cookie. Have you got names for yours yet?

My girl Bourbon has become broody. She's pulled out almost all her chest feathers and she's ensconced in the nest box and she bit my husband when he went to collect the eggs. I took the eggs out from under her and she's still in there. Should I turn her out and close the pop hole? I know from other ...

http://gallery.cheltenhambears.co.uk/img/gallery/chickens/lg/May-and-June.jpg These are my two latest ladies. They're about 17 weeks now, and Ive called them May and June. June has the light neck feathers. They are lovely girls, and settling in very well. http://gallery.cheltenhambears.co.uk/img/ga...

I think I'd also be worried about red mite. It would be very difficult to get rid of. At the price of them why dont you get an omlet cube. Easy to keep clean, and no red mite. Also fox proof.

I was away last weekend, and when I went back to the allotment on Wednesday evening I was delighted so see that everything had grown, and there were loads of pea and peabean flowers. The potatoes are starting to flower. Beetroot, swede, onions, spinach and chard was all doing really well, and my her...

They are beautiful. Is the Daddy a white sussex too?

At the moment it is Ivy, my Amber star. She's really sweet, and bottom of the pecking order at the moment. She would be a house hen if I gave her the chance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_62IcibY61o " onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ive been busy at the allotment over the last week or so. Im quite into herbs, and my herb bed has spread rather. Most of the herbs are in pots and the pots are planted. Then I can move them or bring them into the greenhouse in the winter. The potatoes are doing well. My peas and pea beans are doing ...

Bee update. The swarm of bees swarmed again. I found them under the hive! So I got out our fifth hive and repeated what I'd done the first time with the dustpan, and put them in it. In the evening I went and checked all the hives. My hive had 3 queen cells, and I removed 2 of them and closed that hi...

I was told by my vet 4 weeks withdrawal, you can eat them after that I'm sure, Ive never heard of never eating the eggs again.

He should contact your local bee keeping association Davina, they may do what ours does which is a 6 week course on bee keeping, then they rent out a hive and throw in (not literally) the bees for free. That's how we started. We had our hives on the local apiary for two years until we'd taken a very...

I was up at the allotment yesterday, and the warden rang to say some one had said there were bees all over the fence between plots. My oh had said the bees in my hive had been flying around the hive in a big cloud, and he had retreated to a meeting he had to go to at work. I raced round to have a lo...

I wear what ever I have on to go in my chicken's run, no special clothes. I have boots and slip on boot shoes which I wear in the run, but I do nip in, in my slippers sometimes. When poo picking , and also for cleaning the girls out, I have my marigolds. I am thinking of getting new girls, but one o...

A couple of pictures of things growing on the plot. http://gallery.cheltenhambears.co.uk/img/gallery/allotment2013/lg/fig.jpg Fig http://gallery.cheltenhambears.co.uk/img/gallery/allotment2013/lg/yarrow.jpg Yarrow http://gallery.cheltenhambears.co.uk/img/gallery/allotment2013/lg/sweetcorn-and-courge...

Decided this morning I would start weeding my plot. I dug weeds out of one path, and then gave up digging and used my hoe to weed the fruit cage. I didnt feel I had got that much done, but it did look a bit better. Im hoping to go again tomorrow and weed my onions, and another path. I hate weeding!!!