The bird house. 2012 gallery, Brahmas, Araucanas, Marans and our first home hatched chicks.

A gallery of the year 2012 in the bird house: Brahmas, Araucanas, Marans and the first chicks hatched here at home.

The bird house. Chicken breeds, my favourites.

Notes on the breeds I keep and like: Australorp, Araucana, Brahma, Marans and Sussex. Size, egg yield, egg colour, breed history and my own experience of each.

The flower garden. Medicinal plants in the home garden

Notes on the medicinal plants growing in my own garden: yarrow, lady's mantle, calendula, raspberry, nettle, rosehip, cowslip, peppermint, lemon balm, lime, goji and echinacea.

The bird house. Autumn and the young cockerels, copper black marans and lavender araucana.

In October we sold our beautiful Brahma rooster and brought home a young Lavender Araucana cockerel, and in November a Copper Black Marans as well. Plus one very odd egg.

The bird house. Must and two new chicks.

Eight eggs went under Must. One broke, two were rotten, three chicks died in the shell and two hatched. Next time I will listen to people who know better.

The bird house. A new clutch to hatch.

Pruun would take neither the new nest nor the eggs, so Must went onto the clutch instead, with two months of brooding already behind her. Now we wait for chicks.

The bird house. Our first home hatched chick.

In mid June I put four Araucana eggs under Must. Two hens ended up brooding the same four eggs together, and one beautiful, very busy chick came out of it.

The bird house. Spring.

The hens are enjoying their freedom in our ornamental garden, scratching around the compost bin and sheltering from the sun under the spruce hedge.

The flower garden. A wonderful year for berries and apples.

A bitterly cold spring killed half of what I planted out, and yet it turned out to be a glorious year for irises, raspberries, blackcurrants and apples. Pictures from the 2012 garden.

The bird house. New birds in my coop.

I decided to add a few other breeds to my flock alongside the three Brahmas, and came home from Lutsu farm with three new beauties that lay pale blue eggs.

The bird house. Brahmas are good brooders.

Brahmas are good brooders. That is what the internet said about these hens. It did not put me off the breed, because why shouldn't they hatch a couple of chicks in the spring?