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I have always wanted chickens. When someone in the
octopush club said he had some spare (he accidentally bred a whole nest)
I asked to borrow a pair for a week.
We didn't feel able to cope with the responsibility of keeping them
permanently (let alone keeping kids), so this arrangement was perfect.
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The chickens were tiny and would not stop moving. They were
difficult to photograph. They are like worm eating machings. After a couple
of days I learnt how to catch them and would let them out in the garden for a dig
around.
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On the Friday morning I heard squawking from the cemetary.
They had crossed the fence and big black dog was having the time of its life
chasing them around the vegetation. I snatched one from in front of its nose
just in time,
but the other didn't reappear for an hour, and was eventually found by
the dog owner (who'd taken her dog back home so she could help look)
pecking between the gravestones.
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The local fox found them in the night.
Yes, I only used a crappy record cabinet as a hutch and I have
since heard many long lectures about making your hen house
fox-proof. But it's still pretty sad what must have
happened while I was asleep. I only got three
eggs out of them too.
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Earlier on, Becka uprooted most of the privet bushes
They are out of fashion and take nutrients away from more interesting
plants.
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For a change I did something in the garden
(as long as it's unskilled). It took about six hours with someone's
home shredder that could do a twig at a time.
We have the roots to burn later.
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Also, there is this sycamore tree in the corner
that had to go. Our friend, a landscape gardener, had time to
do half of it one afternoon. He made the job look easy.
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The chainsawing is just to bring down the trunk
and break it into pieces that aren't too heavy to carry. The branches are
brought down with a handsaw.
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I tried doing the other half myself and a whole load
fell on the pavement. People kept walking underneath as I was doing it,
sometimes even looking up as they passed. How did we ever evolve as an
animal from the trees with this lack of sense of danger?
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Earlier on, Becka planted all those attractive
sewer pipes and made them into a herb garden.
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