20 June 2009

Chick update

This picture shows the clear difference that is now visible between the male and female chicks. Two of our dozen turned out to be males. I didn't want any, really, but will keep one of them, as everything I've read seems to suggest that hens are generally happier with a cockerel around to protect them (and of course it will give us the opportunity of raising chicks from our hens next year).


Two roosters is one too many, however, for the number of hens we've got, so we'll have to turn one of them into meat at some point. Not just yet, though... The chicks are growing nicely - here's a picture of one of the females, to show how big they're getting. They're about eight weeks old now.


The canna rhizomes that my father and his wife bought for me in May are now beginning to send up shoots. Apparently cannas are a traditional gift for Father's Day in Thailand. Don't think mine are quite big enough yet to make a favourable impression as a gift:


As you can see from the canna photo, it's been pretty wet here today. It was a shame, as Deseronto had its Waterfront Family Festival, which would have been much better attended if the weather had been fine. I did manage to win a (rather gaudy) trophy in the baking contest for my Bakewell Tart, though:


We were given 12 pounds of frozen raspberries by one of our neighbours this week and I turned half of them into raspberry jam on Thursday evening. I used the jam in the tart, so it definitely fitted the requirement for cooking with locally-grown food!

4 comments:

Heather said...

Good looking chicks you have there, Amanda! I am anxious to see how many roos we have in our bunch too! I am certain I have mope than two. We will see. Good luck!

Esther Montgomery said...

What an extraordinarily dramatic trophy!

Hope the mention on today's (26th June) Esther's Boring Garden Blog is ok. If not, let me know and I'll change it.

Esther

Helen said...

Ooooh. Bakewell Tarts. But no icing on top?

Amanda said...

Hi Helen

I have tried putting icing on this tart, but it ends up being too sweet, I think.

Amanda