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The Kitchen Garden |
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Diary
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September/October 2002 |
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The Kitchen Garden Church Lane Troston Bury St. Edmunds Suffolk IP31 1EX 01359-268322
What happened in:
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The annual moult is nearly over and still some of my older ladies are looking a little disreputable. It seems they've paid scant attention to their toilette, either by sitting on cracked eggs and then dust bathing - inventing the avian equivalent to plastic coating - or by just not quite being able to reach that last rather important bit of their anatomy. So
today, a bright autumn scorcher, one by one they've been caught
protesting. I previously assembled the basin of warm soapy water
(bubbles courtesy of Baby Bath), sponge and snips, next to a low chair.
Clad in a long apron with waterproof backing and a pair of yellow
marigolds, hen on lap I've cleaned up their derrieres, sponging, and
where necessary snipping feathers and finishing with a dusting of red
mite powder (from Battle Biotech, phone 01953 456363 for stockists) for
those with unwelcome guests. Scratching slightly I've had a shower and my elderly hens are parading the orchard in their new finery, the indignity of their forced wash and brush-up a fading memory.
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