Cat Imprisoned

The cat has been confined to quarters. He is able to get out of the house via one cat flap into the porch but the flap from the porch to the outside world and his duckling killing fields has now been closed. His litter tray has been positioned in the porch also, for his convenience and pleasure, although he has already missed it once. I swear he does it on purpose! Anyway,so far the plan is working and, despite a few false alarms today, the duckling count remains at eight.
Elsewhere our chickens are starting to lay consistently. We have four at the moment and their names are Biscuit,Shelly,Chucky Egg and Sunday Roast. It took them a while to get going but we have consistently been getting two eggs a day for a week or so and we had four a couple of days ago. We have had them for about two months now and it took them a little while to get going. We have them in the back field in a pen about 5 metres by 3 metres. The fence is six feet tall and one foot into the ground. We have a nice garden gate as the entrance way and a recycled 8 by 4 shed as the chicken coop. I repaired both roof and floor with wood from pallets, re-felted the roof and then let Joanna paint it a nice creamy colour. Keith and I then spent a considerable amount of time designing and manufacturing a chicken hatch and ramp, all very high tech I can tell you! For nesting boxes we have used an old wine case which Father gave me and a Fortnum and Mason wooden hamper with the lid removed. The latter was donated by Allie who had obviously been saving it for just such an occasion. She had wanted to call the coop Bockingham Palace - well it is certainly fitted out like a palace. The hamper is a recent installation so we have had no eggs in that one yet but I am sure it is only a matter of time.
The ancestors went home this morning, Brodie's friend Tom has replaced them as house guest for tonight so much shooting of BB guns and Xboxing taken place this afternoon. The girls have been happily doing a new jigsaw and sewing their first ever line of bunting. They have made one triangular pouch so far which they are hoping to put Lavender in. I say hoping because I don't think there is any in the garden at this time of year but never mind it's the thought that counts. I seem to be rambling on now so I think that will do for today. Bunting update tomorrow, back to the sweatshop girls!!!