Damp, Drizzle and Dead Hens

Another four days of drizzly damp weather descended this week and finally it is beginning to take its toll on the animals. One of my younger hens died on Monday the 15th. She'd been fine the night before but when I went to feed them all her wings were drooping and within a couple of hours she'd passed away. I dug a grave in the garden near the back door andMishka and I held a Tangi for her before the rain chased us inside.

Thursday night it was so humid and hot I slept on top of the bedclothes with the cats positioned at the far reaches of the bed. However at 4am it became quite chilly and by the time I got up the wind had turned southerly so it became a pantyhose day. Everyone seemed fine but this morning one of the second family of chicks has droopy wings so I will take her out later and check her over to see if it's anything more than the cold
change responsible. It would have to be the cute black and yellow chick as well!


The mornings dawn in a sea of mist towards the hills in the east. The sheep graze or sleep depending on the temperature until the sun rises high enough to dry everything off. The wheat paddock next to me was harvested recently and the grapes are beginning
to ripen on the vine over my front pergola so it definitely feels as if we're skipping summer and heading into Keat's season of mists and mellow fruitfulness. Prosaically it's also the season of toadstools, mould and facial eczema.