Elderberry Wine

On Sunday, we made elderberry wine, using elderberries from the garden (much loved by the chickens, but we're hoping the wine will make us love them too), and a hedgerow wine making kit like this one here.
It's now sitting in a demijohn on top of our fridge, making satisfying bubble noises every few seconds.  Quite a chatter-box actually!

We sadly lost Big Bertha late last week.  It seems silly, but these chooks have come to mean a lot to us, and we weren't really ready to say goodbye.

Rose is now top-bird, with the new chooks all doing as she says.  But she's very gently about it, and hasn't unnecessarily bullied any of them yet.  She's looked down these past few days, so we're not sure if she's just missing Bertha, or going the same way herself.  She's over 3 yrs old now, which I think is quite good for an ex-batt.  Anyway, she's hopefully enjoying the run of the garden and we know she's loving the elderberries, because it makes quite a mess of the hen house, if you know what I mean! :)