Recycling milk bottles

 First, you take an empty, clean plastic milk jug, cut the side off, cut through the handle and hey presto....

... a water bowl that hangs on the fence for the birds to drink out of, as modelled here by Gladys.
Easy to clean or just rinse out.

 And when they get too dirty, as here, where the geese and ducks like to constantly wash their beaks in them, you can change it for a new one and then put the old one in the recycling box.

Also, cut the bottom off and use as a scoop for food etc.

 Scoop up the food and use the top as a natural funnel.

Poor old Dusty is still hogging the nest box, I've had a few more eggs in the Eglu and down in the duck house by the pond this week. Even the ducks have made a new nest under one of the giant plants by the fence.

The chickens and ducks are not happy this week, they are on 'Marriages' pellets with Flubenvet for worming. This means no treats as they have to eat nothing else but that for a week. Luckily, I can still eat the eggs and I have still given them their meal worms because I felt sorry for them.

Baby chicks are all out surviving in the 'tractor'. Much as I miss watching them while out in the kitchen, it is a lot less smelly now, and cleaner. You would not believe how much dust and fluff they produce, and how dirty they made the window from splashing water and kicking up food, dust and poo! Anyway, they now have lots of room to fly around and chase each other and fight over who is in charge.

We went to the auction at Oswestry showground today, not to buy anything, just to look. There were some weird looking birds there....

 Asil

 Transylvanian Naked Necks

 Polish

 and a Polish Frizzle.

.... and some pretty ones...

Hamburgh Gold Spangled

 Cream Legbars

 Millefleur Pekins

 Light Sussex

Welsummers

Hope I have labelled those all correctly. I could have bought loads of them, they were so lovely and then there were the goslings and the Mummy duck with her ducklings and so many Bantam chickens that were so cute.

Maybe next year, for now we still have twenty eight chicks to look after, many of which are cockerels and will need to be separated eventually. As it is, Legless and Godzilla, our Orpington chicks, were facing each other down this afternoon while Boris watched. Lots of staring and ruffling of feathers, even a peck. Well, they are twelve weeks old now so we may even hear them crowing soon. At least it seems we have one girl in Boris.

Quick egg count before I go -

Chickens - 30

Ducks - 15