Chicken dilemmas

If you have been reading my posts you would know Im having a dilemma of the girls all wanting to use one nesting box. I have a broody sitting on fertilized eggs and she wont let me near them. The other girls have resorted to laying on top of her.

Now after much consideration I decided to do a bit of a cage shuffle so I could put this girl on her own just in case the other girls hurt the chicks if they hatch.
I havnt many photos as I was quite busy.
So I put a thick jacket on and some thick gardening gloves so Miss Grumpy Bum couldnt peck my skin.
I lifted her whole nest of eggs with her still sitting firmly in place pecking away at me and the cord hanging from my jacket and I moved her to another smaller cage.
She sat firmly in place the whole time.
I went inside to answer the door and I came out and low and behold she was off the eggs ugh.
I checked her every 30 minutes but no she had decided to sit some where else.
So I thought let me see if I can get a silky to sit on these eggs , so in I went again and got Snowball my white silky and placed her in the pen with the eggs and grumpy bum.
About an hour later I went to check and ....

Sure enough Snowball is in the nest on the eggs and Beatrice {grumpy bum} is sitting besides her.
I have put some tin up to make this cage as dark as I can as they seem to like a dark quiet place when sitting on eggs.
This all happened yesterday , now today I have gone down and Beatrice has now taken place back on the nest I didnt get a photo as its pouring rain outside. But glad she is back on the nest again.
Talk about a chook shuffle

 My younger chicks had to have a cage shuffle to compensate all this, so my two black mottle belgium d uccles are here. They will always be in a seperat area as they are to small a breed to go with the rest of the flock.

 My two cochins are in another hutch until they get a little bigger then they can go in with the other girls. Look carefully Nala is on the other side of the cage.

 My newer girls have settled in nicely this is Gerti and super friendly

This is Sage she was a little naughty at the start but has settled in now.

Rosemary the blue lace settling in nicely as well, cant wait until her feathers grow back.
Its certainly been a busy week with chickens this week.

Menu plan Monday

Well its a pretty easy week this week as the kids are going to their Dads for a couple of nights and I am working afternoon shift so I will just be taking my dinner to work with me.

Monday = spaghetti
Tuesday = curried cauliflower soup
Wednesday = quiche and salad
Thursday = going out for tea
Friday = Apricot chicken
Saturday = baked potatoes
Sunday = Roast chicken

Other snacks to be made are
Stewed rhubarb as we had some from garden last night and it was just delicious.
orange cake
hedgehog
mint slice
golf balls

As I have no photos of these meals as yet take a tour of my garden x

 Lillies growing in the vege patch

 Broad beans are delicious at the moment

 Parsley going to seed

 The winds have knocked the broadbeans around

 My beautiful sweet purple grapes coming along

 Tomato seedlings planted, well some of them anyway.

 Finally my second water tank is up now to make a garden in front to grow something up them , maybe a passionfruit.

 Loganberries growing beautifully I hope they are ready by christmas as I have a few recipes I want to use them in

 Potatoes in abundance

 A few cherries

My new barrel with the lime tree growing in it and very small parsley seedlings growing around the base of tree
Hope everyone has a great week x

Things are getting a little crazy

They have resorted to laying on top of her . That's it I think I'm going to have to borrow a pen and move her as this is a little crazy girls 

Lemon Balm

Lemon balm has to be one of my favorite herbs, I have just recently potted some up for some friends.

It is a member of the mint family and is very easy to grow.

It is a very beneficial herb having anti bacterial and anti viral and soothing properties.

It is believed to sharpen memory ,it is calming and uplifting, it has sedative and mood elevating properties

Crushed leaves can be rubbed on the skin to help repel insects.

Chew it to freshen breath

Make infused oil add enough olive oil to cover leaves, leave in a sunny warm place for several weeks then strain.

Salve
Using the infused oil and beeswax {1 part beeswax 2 parts oil  ] warm the oil and beeswax, stir melt and combine.
Use on insect bites, wounds and cuts.

Make tea from the leaves its very relaxing

I love that lemon balm is attractive to bees

I also use lemon balm in my chicken pen to repel flies

There are probably many more uses but these are just a few of the ways I use it which makes it one of my favorite herbs.

Honey and coconut cake

                Honey and coconut cake
150g butter
1/2 cup honey
2 eggs
270ml coconut cream
1 cup coconut
1 1/2 cups sr flour

Cream butter and honey add eggs then coconut cream. Stir in coconut and flour mix well.
Pour into a round greased and lined tin. Bake for 40 mins on 180c

Icing
250g cream cheese
100 g butter
1 dessertspoon honey
add icing sugar to texture {I didnt measure this I just guessed.}
Super easy and yummy cake

I want that egg

What is it about chickens and their nests. I have 5 nesting boxes and they all want to lay in one nest.

That's ok but when you have a broody chicken laying on fertilized eggs it becomes a problem.

Last time I moved the broody chicken to a seperate area but she then got of the nest and I didn't want to move this one. Not that I can as she pecks me.

So now I have a problem , retrieving the eggs the other chooks are laying , well that's a task in itself with the reflex system, it's snatch and grab if you dare. 

Those two eggs I want but I can't get them while she is facing me . I have the fertilized ones marked so I can tell them apart. 

This girl is one snappy Tom. Usually my silkies you can lift them up get the eggs you want and pop them back no worries at all. This girl you only have to look at the eggs and she wants your blood . 

This picture is mild sometimes when I walk in they are sitting on top of her and she still doesn't move. Surely they will start to lay in other boxes soon. What is it with this one area . Do other readers have the same problem. 

Getting there

Last week for some reason I got no where fast. The housework piled up I have a list of things I need to do and would like to do but just need to get on top of the organization.
Last night while at work I wrote out my menu plan for the week and a list of jobs that need to be done. 
Yesterday I caught up with my ebay listings.
This morning I finally made the dogs something a bit tastier than tin food, although I get dog food extremely cheap through where I work like pedigree and dine but I really dont like the tin food for them their coats look awful at the moment. 
So this morning after work it was chicken mince,silverbeet from the garden, grated carrot, flaxseed oil, cheese, garlic, rice and carrot bubbling  away on the stove, phew did it stink. But Im sure they are all going to enjoy it even the cats.
As I got out of the car this morning I seen this in my front garden

Spiders are just so clever I loved this web.
I forgot to say I have 3 new additions to my hen house

 Sage the sussex

Rosemary the blue lace wyandotte

Gerti the plymouth rock, she is just beautiful and so friendly, these girls were given to me by a friend, they had been with a rooster so the top two have a few feathers missing from their backs. They are first year layers so I will be looking forward to plenty more eggs. They have settled in nicely after a bit of a pecking order session they had it sorted out.

Miss Nasty Pastie my silver lace wyandotte is very broody and no body can get near this nest. She has about 8 fertile eggs under her I cant even check them as she pecks me.
She isnt moving for anyone. Hopefully I have a bit of luck hatching these.