Integration for the poultry nation!!!

Chickadees are about 12 weeks today and I'm desperate to mix them with the main flock and give them more space.

They are showing signs of boredom like flying at me every morning when I let them out. Black pudding and glen coco are the main culprits.

 We set about making a separate pen within the main coop so they can just look at each other and still be safe. 

We then made sure they had water and food and moved them in. As soon as we put them down they started foraging and scratching around.

I'm I'll keep checking on them every hour or so as their still a bit small and could get got at!

The worms are in!

My big bag of wriggly worms arrived and the wormery is ready to go!

Cardboard for bedding!

 Mix with newspaper and dampen down with a water sprayer

Empty your wriggly buddies into the nest materials with the compost they come I and a bit of your own if you have some

Add the top tray with your waste food and some more cardboard the put the lid on and let them settle in!

Keep adding waste tray by tray and when you get to the last tray the bottom layer should be ready to go on your garden! 

1 + 1 = aghhhhh!!!!????

The other  weekend we went to one of my besties surprise party. It was lovely to catch up with nearly everyone I love (there were some absentees) and celebrate our friend. I had some chats to some other mums and most of them mainly wanted to know how it was to go from one child to two...I'd had some panics when I was first pregnant mainly about managing a baby and W, I was worried he'd be sad or feel left out, I worried I would feel too torn and not give the baby or W enough....thankfully the human race doesn't work like this and very cleverly allows you space for each and every child you don't love one more than the other; a question we've all wondered of our own mothers.

Time however is a different matter there are times when W needs me just as I've latched E on to nurse, or W wants me to read or watch something with him when I'm cooking. It has and will continue to get easier as they get older so it's just a question of managing expectations till then I think.

Things that make it easier are slings!! I wear E for most of the day, apart from coming down for some food and a change. When he gets a bit wriggly or bored then he goes down for a kick about on his mat with a few toys nearby. 

Now that E can be carried on my back it's even better as I can cook and wash up and bend down! When he's on my front it still feels like being pregnant so is a bit limiting but so nice for cuddles.

Not the happiest face but he was about to nap! The sling is a woven Yaro Wrap

We also bed share so I'm getting so much more sleep this time around so I feel less frazzled which means I have more patience for W. This doesn't work for every family but has been amazing for us.

W's age has made everything easier too he's nearly 5 so is a bit more independent from me and more understanding of E's needs he's also very keen to help and hold E and entertain him when I'm tied up with something. The downside to have such

 a gap in age is that W is desperate to play with E bit he's still too little, a friend with older kids also pointed out that when on holidays you won't be able to please everyone with whatever activity it we'll cross that bridge when we get to it!

Another oh shit moment...

A few weeks ago I had a Rayburn service booked and a sweep booked for the following week.. When they arrived they started poking around and making the Dreaded noises no one wants to hear.. Sucking in of air and tutting...after more poking and frowning they decided they couldn't touch it and it was classed as ID....  As in immediately dangerous!!

The whole of the stove pipe was blocked and at an illegal 90deg and Ray needed some new fire bricks. They also said they couldn't be sure what else might be needed until they took the pipe down... I could honestly have cried it all sounded so expensive.

They suggested that if the pipe work was to be moved around you may as well move Ray over to the chimney wall.

We had always thought that day was in a weird kind of place so it's kind of fated and forced out hand to jiggle it about a bit (although it's about 5 years earlier that our bank account would have wanted!)

Here is ray's original spot..

(The angle of the death-pipe just out of shot!)

Day One

Day Two

You can see the original arch of the fireplace from when the downstairs would have been one room... It huge!

This is now the third week of Ray being off and I don't like it! We're lucky I didn't book the service in January I couldn't have coped giving birth at home without the warmth of Ray! We have the back up boiler but the water doesn't get that hot and we wouldn't have managed to fill the pool.

The garden

Our botched together nursery coop!

The babies!

The Swiss chard has since been decimated by a few of the chickens after wilco left the gate open... His young farmers membership has been revoked

And some of the feathery ladies

Get out of my kitchen and Rattle those pots and pans!!

I've had a set of beloved pots and pans from my mum but they've been getting used less and less and ive been sad about them just hanging around the cupboards and in the spirit of the Marie kon method* I found a use for them somewhere else.

Wilco is very percussion inclined, it was bound to happen with 3 generations of drummers in the family, so daddio set up some outdoor drums for him!

We used super strong cord cut to size and will soon suspend the lids as well for some make do cymbals!

* the Marie kon method, put simply is to ask yourself if something sparks joy if it doesn't get rid! The book is  great and I've completed a massive de-cluttering because of it  

Chicks man!

About 4 weeks ago we bought 6 baby chicks from Welsh poultry gorgeous feathery 5 week old chickadees!! 

They are super funny and growing pretty fast they've moved from our lounge to the workshop and are now residing in their very own shed outside. In another 5 weeks I think they'll be big enough to be put in with the older mamas.

Wether they'll be able to keep up with Wilcos egg demand is yet to be seen...