Baking and Doves.

Home baked bread.

A few weeks ago I spied a roasting tin in Lidls for about £26.
Now, in the usual scheme of things, £26 is a fair amount for me to consider spending on kitchen goods, so I hummed and harrd and finally got told to "For Gods sake! Just buy the damn thing!"

Naturally the idea was to use it on the log burner as a small oven, but I was unsure if it would really do the job. Other experiments tended to end up with soggy under cooked tops where condensation gathers on the inside of the lid.
So last night I finally had the oppotunity to put it to the test.

After pre heating for a while on the log burner, I put the ring part of cake tin inside, so that the baking sheet wouldn't be touching the bottom.

Lid went on and the whole thing sat there on a ticking over flame for about an hour and 20 mins.

Result? Perfectly cooked loaf, well risen, firm base, browned but not over cooked top (something that I often struggle with in my little oven.

And the best bit? It was cooked for free!

The log burner had been lit for hot water and cooking that evening.   

Perfect, no?

Dave the dove.

So we have a new pet..... possibly temporary, although its looking more and more likely that he's here to stay.
Oliver saw Dave (as they've called him) on the ground about 2 weeks ago.
naturally, I told him to leave it, his mother was probably still feeding him and he'd be fine.
A few days later Owen and Alfie came home from school, clutching a soggy dove.
They'd found him flailing about in the burn.
So I popped him in a box to dry off and rest, gave him some chicken food and left him in the bathroom, thinking that is he survived the night, that we'd let him go in a few days.

A quick facebook with The New Ark confirmed this and so the next day, I started to work with Dave to get him ready to fly properly. This means "dropping" them from a few inches to start, so that they flutter to the ground.

He was soon flying from my hand to his box quite strongly.

He was soon in need of more space so he could practice his flapping without having to wait for me to get him out, so I fitted out the dog crate for him.

Dave showed a lot of interest in going outside, getting more unsettled so on Saturday we decided to let him go.

....and off he went.

He flew strongly and we were pretty pleased with a job well done.

During the day he came back to the garden twice and when we drove down the lane to go shopping he was down the end messing about in the puddles.

As there were other collared doves very near we though that was that.

When we came back from shopping though, we were startled by a bang at the window.

Dave had flown into the window that had his cage on the other side.

He waited patiently outside (no, he wasn't stunned!) for me to go and fetch him in, and this happened.

he ate.....

......and ate.....

Then slept for about 12 hours.....

Since then, he's showed no interest in going outside again, preferring to come out of the crate for a fly around the kitchen twice a day before going in his cage for food....

So.... oops :P

  

Harsh lessons.

Woke up this morning to carnage.

We've been very lucky with out chickens in the past, we've had them for around five years and never had any trouble with predators before.
But last night the fox saw an oppotunity and took it.

I thought we'd lost all four, Gatsby and the three hybrids we'd been given a few weeks ago, but as the sun got higher I found Gatsby wandering around, missing feathers, no tail anymore, a few scrapes, at least one nastier wound, but very much alive.

We've washed him off, cleaned up his wounds with salt water and purple spray.

Right now, he's in a box on the windowsill next to me, making the occasional sad noise.
All his wives are gone.
Can't help but feel desperately sorry for him.

Owen was upset and cursed the fox.
I pointed out that it was useless to blame the fox.
Chances are it was a vixen and some youngesters, the wounds Gatsby have could have been serious had an experienced fox caught him, they look to me though like a youngster grabbed him then let go as he started to fight back.
Foxes have to eat and the harsh winter probably depleted the usual abundance of rodents and rabbits down by the burn, what else can she do but look further afield.

The pen they were in was not fox proof.

Its my fault the fox got in, not the foxes fault for taking the oppotunity

Today will be spent mostly ramping up the security on the other chickens run and house, and hoping that Gatsby pulls though.

****************  Update!!  ******************

Sorry I didn't update this sooner but I was busy!

Not only did Gatsby survive , but one of the hens did as well!!

We found her late afternoon, very sore and scraped with a damaged wing, but very alive!

Over the last couple of days the pair of them have done really well, so fingers x'd for full recoveries for of them!