Wink comes home

Yesterday was a red letter day, because Wink arrived to take possession of the annexe. She’s going to take a few months to move in completely because she’s lived in her present house for over thirty years and there’s a lot to sort out, but it’s her place now.

Although there isn’t much furniture in there, it looks very nice and it’s comfortable. There’s an absence of cooking utensils but that doesn’t matter as, at present, she’s eating with us. After the anxiety and misery of the last few months; not that this is over and done with yet; it’s a joyous new start.

But for now, she’s making lists.

Out in the garden, there are the three mother hens. I’m not a great namer of hens but, if I do, I go by personality. I decided that Polly Garter was not the hen previously known as Slapper, but that Slapper was her whiter sister, so the two names stand for the two hens. If anyone is British and the same age as I am, they might well remember the Blackberry Farm books for small children. There were various animal characters, such as Walter the Duck, who always wore a scarf round his neck, and there was Mother Hen and Mary, her only chick. So any female lone chick has to be Mary.

A couple of days ago, i decided to let them out of their coop. Polly Garter had started to lay again, which is a sign that she’s had about enough of devoted motherhood. She and Mary poked about in the flowerbeds at the edge of the kitchen garden all day, to be joined by Little guy, the small and annoying cockerel, who is chased irritably by all the hens and snapped at by Jenga his father. Polly Garter was friendly to him though, so he adores her and is proudly protective.

I’d been worried about what would happen overnight, but it was fine. I went to water the greenhouse and PG and Mary were in there. So I quietly left and shut the door, reckoning to water in the morning. Next day, however, when I opened up, PG trotted out and Mary was too nervous to follow. I couldn’t persuade her out. I left it a bit but, in the end, I managed to cajole PG back into the greenhouse and, an hour or two later, the two of them left together. All has been fine ever since. The other chickens have accepted the two of them and, though they spend much of the day by themselves, they come to be fed and roost in the henhouse.

Tomorrow, Wink will meet baby Perdita for the first time. We are really looking forward to a family get-together in the garden.

4 comments on “Wink comes home

  1. Blue Witch

    It must be wonderful to have Wink with you now. Hope her move is smooth and not too traumatic. Living between 2 houses isn’t easy, I know only too well! But at least she has you to feed and water/wine her.

    Reply
    1. Z Post author

      She has a very small garden and her neighbour is looking after it, and I’ll water the tubs here. Otherwise, I hope that there won’t be too many difficulties. She intends to do a lot of turning out, so that she only moves what she wants to keep.

      Reply
  2. Blue Witch

    Yes, and it’s amazing how long that sorting out takes. Perhaps it won’t hit her the way it has hit us, as she is moving to a place where she has you, but there is a definite cognitive dissonance between sharing one’s life between two places.

    Reply
  3. Z Post author

    She does feel at home here, of course, so that helps and we’re making her very welcome, of course. She’s making lots of lists and notes at present, there’s a lot to arrange. I hope she won’t find it too hard.

    Reply

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