Our Quail Chicks

Meet Amber, Sleepy and Squeeky Cheese.

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Chickens & Quail

Via pinterest saved from Fuji Arts

So, it has taken me more than a month to really get "into" 2016.  Not sure why.  But now it is all go here at Ash Cottage, plans are being hatched.  Our 4 lovely hens; Astrid, Agatha, Anoushka and Ashleigh have proved to be a complete success.  They have so much more character than I ever expected from birds, they have pecked the dogs into some semblance of respectful behaviour and are fun to watch when you're out in the garden.  They have laid all winter and proved their worth in eggs, entertainment and manure.

We let them out to free range most mornings, but they also have a large secure run with their house that they return to without fail at dusk and which they like to hang out in, even when the door is open for them to leave.  So well behaved are the "A-Team", as we like to call our girls, that we are getting more chickens.

I have just reserved 7 chicken hatching eggs for early next month.  I am going to start raising Black Copper, and Silver Blue Marans.  The later are quite a rare variety, in this country anyway.   They are a French breed of chicken, quite large, good for both meat and eggs, which are a dark brown in colour.  And aren't the chicks cute:

The garden is going to be busy this year, because I've just purchased an incubator and my first clutch of Japanese quail hatching eggs too.  Japanese Quail are a relativly large quail and also good for both eggs and meat.  My eggs came in the post from  C& S Quail Company  in Devon.  

It was quite an anxious wait, but they all eventually arrived safely and slightly more than I was expecting.  So, I am conducting a bit of an experiment at the moment.  I have half my eggs in a typical incubator:

 And the others are in a make-shift version of an incubator on the top of the Aga.

I'm not expecting all to hatch, but with any luck in about 12 days time I should have a dozen or so little quail chicks.

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Ladybird Tuesday - The Story of Houses & Homes

Ok it's been a while, but we are back on the case with Ladybird Tuesday linky started on the Being Mrs C blog, take a look at her posts here.  I admit that I am a little obsessed with houses and homes at the moment because we have just moved - oh the stress and strain.  And, as a result I am launching a new blog Mrs Fox's Den for all the inevitable posts about our house and garden and it's renovation.

The Story of Houses and Homes 

Written by Richard Bowood with illustrations by Robert Ayton is a Ladybird Achievements book first published in 1963.

"Man must have a house, for shelter from the weather to provide a safe place to sleep with protection from his enemies and to make a home for his wife and children."

Starting with cavemen and ending with a modernist home in the country this Ladybird book spans the history of houses in the UK.

From Norman Castle to Elizabethan half-timber homes, it looks at the history, materials and technology of the British Home:

However, it presents this history primarily in terms of the architecture with a relatively limited amount of social commentary.

There is mention of industrialisation leading to the horror of slum dwellings and this then being cleared to make way for modern council homes.

The beginning of our wonderful planning system with The Better Homes Act, which Parliament passed in 1875 giving local authorities the power to insist that every house built had to fulfil basic conditions.

But it is primarily focused on the homes of the wealthy and the changing architectural styles.

It's interesting that the author is clearly subjective in his opinion of these houses and primarily on an architectural level.  He is a bit of a Prince Charles in his opinions, in the thrall of classical architecture, the Queen Anne Home being the high point of architectural beauty in the UK.  He expresses genuine distaste for the Victorian Gothic style and traditional Victorian parlour - one of the few interior illustrations in the book.

So, with the move to our new home imminent I'm also starting a new strand on the blog; Mrs Fox's Den is a personal story of our move to a little country cottage with an acre of land.

The rest of Mrs Fox's Ladybird Tuesday posts are here and if you have a collection of Ladybird books, please do feel free to join in.

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