Spring shots

A good example of a Brown Sussex pullet - gone to a new home now via the auction on Sunday. Mine were the only BS in the auction, and they didn't make terribly good prices - I think that is because they are such a rare breed that people don't know about them. They are lovely birds, decent layers and quite docile. I love them!

And here are three more of them. They love to perch on this ladder-type construction in their pen. When you get one on each "rung" they look funny, but the one at the bottom had just jumped off her perch and mucked up that shot!

One of my two Barred Plymouth Rock pullets. I don't particularly like this breed as I find them a little bit boisterous but they are a means to an end - I need them for the Brussbar breeding programme, so I have to have them. I need to keep them for a year, so I might just breed them straight this year, and have a few to sell later.

And this is the pullets' unrelated husband. He and his family are about 2 weeks older than the girls, but he is the only one left. I took a chance on him and put his brothers in the pot, as one of them had a habit of going for the back of my legs as I walked away from them. This is the best-natured of the three of the cockerels so he got the reprieve!

The pen of mixed layers. There's Goldenburg in the midst of the Light Sussex! She is four years old now and still going strong. The LS are a mixture of five older hens and all the pullets that their eggs produced last September. The cockerels are gone as all I want from these are eggs to eat.

Some of the seeds I want to get sown this week - courgettes, tomatoes, peppers, kale, and cucumbers.

The FH has put these Kestrel potatoes to chit in the verandah....I thought that they had to be somewhere dark, but they seem to be working. He has some huge black pots to put them in, so they will be going in soon too.

Blossom on the plum tree - has yet to produce a plum, and there is a noticeable absence of small creatures to pollinate it, so I doubt that there will be any plums this year either. It does look gorgeous though! Excuse the overgrown lavender in the background.

And the apple trees are just coming into leaf - they do it the other way around with the leaves coming first and the blossom later.

Showing you all my hard work with the fork, digging this lot over. Three beds done and three to do - that one top middle is where the strawberry plants are and it is in dire need of weeding before they start to grow....they have already started to grow!! I need to get on with that.