This is the season of growth and the amazing power of nature. The budding and unfurling of bright green leaves, masses of fluffy white blossoms preceding the fruit on the plum and apricot trees. Birds are EVERYWHERE, their songs trilling high above the noise of everyday life, keeping an eye out for a potential mate and then collecting little treasures for their nests – the smallest most amazing pieces of architecture especially considering they only have a beak to work with! Lizards are constantly scurrying away as we disturb their morning bask in the sun, forcing them back into the leaf piles or under a pot. The blue tongue lizards are awaking from their winter apathy and have given the MOTH a huge fright when he was clearing out the shed – coming face to face with what at first sight looked like a huge snake! But Spring is primarily about newness and birth and the continuity of hope. It’s easy to get a bit gloomy in winter but it is hard not to be happy when life is in full force everywhere around you. 

In very exciting news our little chicks have started to hatch. The first few have successfully cracked through their shells and are drying out in the warmth of the incubator. It’s a bit of a madhouse in there to be honest with 27 eggs potentially becoming chicks in the space of a few days! They are cheeping away happily but we intend transferring them to their new brooding pen this afternoon to make some room in the incubator for the next lot of babies and to get the first born some food and water. I am ridiculously excited for our newcomers to The Meadow and despite dire warnings from the Chook Man about potential death and disaster I am keeping positive and hoping we will be able to provide them with what they need in the absence of a mother. Speaking of which, can you believe one of our hens is actually SITTING ON EGGS! The whole reason we used an incubator was because there seemed to be little to no interest in the girls doing it naturally but nature works in mysterious ways and the hormones are now definitely in working order in the chookhouse! I’m not sure how many she is sitting on as you cannot get within coooee of her without her pecking you (she is one very protective Mum to be) but we think it is only one. We were going to try and slip a couple of other eggs under her but to no avail so we will just let nature take its course.

The little heated pen is now all ready for our new babies

The saying “where there is life there is death” has come true for us this week. We have often had small birds fall down the main chimney in the old part of the house and into the firebox (luckily always when it wasn’t lit) and have rescued probably 4 or 5 since being here. They are just a bit shaken up but fly off happily into the garden to recover. When I heard the tell tale scrabbling noises last Thursday I presumed it was the same scenario but there was no bird in there which confused me. Maybe it was stuck halfway up? I tried to find the opening to the firebox with a broom handle but with no luck – I have no idea how the previous birds have entered the box! Our farmer neighbour thinks this one must have fallen into a side box on the chimney which has no access. Sadly the scrabbling has continued for 6 days now with absolutely no chance of us being able to help the poor little thing. It is excruciating listening to it continue to struggle and makes me feel so helpless. We are going to get someone in to sweep the chimney and then put some wire over the top so this is NEVER EVER repeated.