Impeccable breeding
Impeccable breeding A
t Easter we bought some hens, having lost our old girls to a fox one glum winter’s day. Our new hens are rather beautiful, being a range of breeds such as Cream Legbars (which have fancy hairdos and lay pale blue eggs), pretty Lavenders and Speckledies. Wrapped up against the biting north-easterly wind and sleet that lashed the flat field where the chicken shed stands, our boys settled the hens into their new home and then came back inside looking extremely pleased with themselves. Without a word they disappeared into another room for a couple of hours and then returned to the kitchen with a proposition. “We’ve got a business idea,” said Louis. “We’re going to hatch chicks...rare breeds...and sell them,” Monty continued, placing a blue folder containing their business plan on the table. They then laid out for us pictures and information about all the birds they were planning to rear. They had drawn charts and spreadsheets and calculated the cost of everything from an incubator
In this month’s diary, Vicky Radtke watches amazed while her enterprising sons create a hatchery for rare poultry and heat lamp to the chick crumbs to feed them. Rare breed hens are delightful to look at, they lay eggs with beautiful coloured shells, both inside and out, ranging from khaki and blue to pink and chocolate brown. Their meat has different characteristics too, the Copper Blue Maran being prized for its flavour in England much as the Poulet Noir is the champagne of table birds in France. “We just need an incubator to get going,” Louis said, and smiled winningly. “You’ll have to earn the money for it then,” said Dave. Rather than going all droopy and despondent, as
The Tin Drum cafe bar and restaurant: Second Avenue, Hove, 01273 747755. For more info visit www.tindrum.co.uk SEVEN DAYS
country mile
l These beautiful pastel eggs led the boys to hatch their cracking scheme
has been known to happen, the boys promptly disappeared again to hatch more plans. The next day they cycled down to the village shop and handed out leaflets offering their odd-job services, filling an appointments diary with jobs for the week. I was alerted to all the jobs that suddenly desperately needed doing around our house too...my copper pans were a disgrace (£1.50 a pan), my garden sheds would be a joy to work in if they were sorted out (£15 a shed), and maybe even painted for an extra tenner? And then there was their car valeting service, a fiver for inside – an absolute bargain considering the state of it – and a fiver for the outside. I was slotted in to the appointments diary. The following morning the boys were up bright and early. I could hear a bit of clanking around outside but I lay in bed enjoying a peaceful read and a cup of tea until Monty called up from the bottom of the stairs, “Could you take us to the village shop quickly? We’ve got Beth’s motorbike to clean at ten o’clock.”
Outside they were waiting for me in the old land-rover. We rattled down the road and pulled up outside the shop. “We’ll just get our stuff out of the back,” Monty said. “Okay, put it over there, under the yew tree,” I suggested, thinking their bucket and sponge would be safely out of the way of turning cars. I waited and watched as they unloaded long-handled mops, cloths, a bucket full of cleaning products, my vacuum cleaner, an industrial pressure washer and an extension lead! “Thank you. You can go now. Oh, and pick us up in half an hour...Please.” A fortnight later a brand new incubator hums gently on the landing keeping an assortment of different coloured fertile eggs at the perfect temperature until May 1, when we should hear the tweet of chicks emerging from their shells and stage two of the project begins. l For more adventures with Vicky and her family as they enjoy life in the country, see Seven Days Magazine, on Saturday, May 25, for the next Country Mile Diary Saturday, April 27, 2013 19
t Easter we bought some hens, having lost our old girls to a fox one glum winter’s day. Our new hens are rather beautiful, being a range of breeds such as Cream Legbars (which have fancy hairdos and lay pale blue eggs), pretty Lavenders and Speckledies. Wrapped up against the biting north-easterly wind and sleet that lashed the flat field where the chicken shed stands, our boys settled the hens into their new home and then came back inside looking extremely pleased with themselves. Without a word they disappeared into another room for a couple of hours and then returned to the kitchen with a proposition. “We’ve got a business idea,” said Louis. “We’re going to hatch chicks...rare breeds...and sell them,” Monty continued, placing a blue folder containing their business plan on the table. They then laid out for us pictures and information about all the birds they were planning to rear. They had drawn charts and spreadsheets and calculated the cost of everything from an incubator
In this month’s diary, Vicky Radtke watches amazed while her enterprising sons create a hatchery for rare poultry and heat lamp to the chick crumbs to feed them. Rare breed hens are delightful to look at, they lay eggs with beautiful coloured shells, both inside and out, ranging from khaki and blue to pink and chocolate brown. Their meat has different characteristics too, the Copper Blue Maran being prized for its flavour in England much as the Poulet Noir is the champagne of table birds in France. “We just need an incubator to get going,” Louis said, and smiled winningly. “You’ll have to earn the money for it then,” said Dave. Rather than going all droopy and despondent, as
The Tin Drum cafe bar and restaurant: Second Avenue, Hove, 01273 747755. For more info visit www.tindrum.co.uk SEVEN DAYS
country mile
l These beautiful pastel eggs led the boys to hatch their cracking scheme
has been known to happen, the boys promptly disappeared again to hatch more plans. The next day they cycled down to the village shop and handed out leaflets offering their odd-job services, filling an appointments diary with jobs for the week. I was alerted to all the jobs that suddenly desperately needed doing around our house too...my copper pans were a disgrace (£1.50 a pan), my garden sheds would be a joy to work in if they were sorted out (£15 a shed), and maybe even painted for an extra tenner? And then there was their car valeting service, a fiver for inside – an absolute bargain considering the state of it – and a fiver for the outside. I was slotted in to the appointments diary. The following morning the boys were up bright and early. I could hear a bit of clanking around outside but I lay in bed enjoying a peaceful read and a cup of tea until Monty called up from the bottom of the stairs, “Could you take us to the village shop quickly? We’ve got Beth’s motorbike to clean at ten o’clock.”
Outside they were waiting for me in the old land-rover. We rattled down the road and pulled up outside the shop. “We’ll just get our stuff out of the back,” Monty said. “Okay, put it over there, under the yew tree,” I suggested, thinking their bucket and sponge would be safely out of the way of turning cars. I waited and watched as they unloaded long-handled mops, cloths, a bucket full of cleaning products, my vacuum cleaner, an industrial pressure washer and an extension lead! “Thank you. You can go now. Oh, and pick us up in half an hour...Please.” A fortnight later a brand new incubator hums gently on the landing keeping an assortment of different coloured fertile eggs at the perfect temperature until May 1, when we should hear the tweet of chicks emerging from their shells and stage two of the project begins. l For more adventures with Vicky and her family as they enjoy life in the country, see Seven Days Magazine, on Saturday, May 25, for the next Country Mile Diary Saturday, April 27, 2013 19
