The great grey beast of February was how a favourite author of mine once described this month. Christmas is now a memory and seems so long until the promise of some sunny warmth - it really is apt for many. It's my birthday soon mind (and Mrs C's just a few days before that) so February's really not so bad for us. Except of course the getting older, somehow that part has long since ceased too be amusing.

That said January wasn't so pleasant for The Naughty Chicken house. We lost not one but two of the girls. Somehow we always seem to lose them in twos. First Penny the ex-batty bird fell, ill. She went quickly, we couldn't get the poor little bird to eat or drink and she died not long after midday. It does seem unfair her time was so short, but at least the inquisitive little bird had some time to discover eating grass and ransacking gardens even if it really wasn't enough.

And then the end of an era...Wilma chook the last of the original Naughty Chickens died last weekend. She was five years old, not so bad at all for a hybrid and she had indeed been looking older and older recently. Not that it stopped her jumping up to get at the corn from your hand, or even dented her desire to be first out of the Eglu every single morning no matter what (the old girl did like to get first troughings at the feeder each morning...and seconds...and thirds...).

She had been at death's door twice before over the years and it seemed certain on each of those times that we would lose her so it was in part a bit of a relief that she went over night in her sleep at least she wasn't ill. I should have known something was up. The night before when we moved the birds from the nest box (as we have to do EVERY single night) she seemed particularly against the idea off moving to the point that I had to pick her up and move her onto the roosting bars myself. I sort of wish I'd given her one last night sleeping in the best box material...
I don't wish to dwell too much she had a good run.

Onto other things and snow is forecast tonight. We have an amber warning from the Met Office which might well mean nothing happens at all. We are going to see Snow Patrol tonight though...I really am being serious.

This does pose the problem of when to clean the chickens out...today when it's now somewhere around -5 to -6 or tomorrow when there could well be a good covering of snow. Hmmmm choices, choices. I'll start with breakfast and we'll see where things go...
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