Page 18 - ALG Issue 1 2023

the young plotters club Hello all!
I can’t believe the change in the weather! The hot summer sunshine has been replaced with constant rain where I live. It just feels like it’s been raining forever!
I have spent the last few weeks tidying up my plot and helping my dad get the chickens ready for their indoor stay, because of the bird flu outbreak in Britain.
From the 17th November, the Government have said that all poultry must be kept indoors because the level of bird flu is being treated as very high. So, I have been coming up with ideas
on how to keep my girls entertained whilst being stuck indoors. We have been donated old fruit and vegetables that people won’t eat, and I use them
to make vegetable kebabs for them
and hang them around their run, so they have to jump up and peck them. Hanging things higher up means that they must use their wings and neck muscles to reach the tasty treats. It keeps them active. I have also removed some of the things inside the house,
so they have more space to scratch on the floor and dust bath. They need to perform both these things to keep them clean and healthy.
Whenever I go into their house, I now have to stand in a bowl of special disinfectant to wash any nasty things I may have on my boots which would get trodden into their house. This helps to keep them safe.
They don’t seem that happy with me because they haven’t laid one single egg since the start of November! But this is a phase they go through each year so
I am hoping they will start laying again when I write my next article for you.
I have been turning over the mud and adding chicken poo to the soil to add nutrients for when I start growing again in the spring. It’s a smelly job, but I’m hoping all of the poo I have saved up will help grow better crops next year!
I haven’t had too much time to work
on our allotment’s wildlife plot as I had to go back to school after the summer, but I have plans on where I am putting things and I hope to get some of the flowers from Nottcutts Garden Centre who were so kind to donate us some vouchers. I am going to get some grasses and flowering perennials that are suited to the sun and like good drainage. I will be working on my project again in the winter and hopefully it will be finished by springtime.
Tom Wells
18 Allotment and Leisure Gardener