Chicks Go On Stay-cation

These shots must have recently been taken secretly by evil poultry-atzi and little did Doris realise that whilst she perched in the sun Lord Snowcorn was busy snapping her and her pals enjoying their stay-cation this year.

Below, one of our girls is spotted looking for a space to sunbathe and she's brought her straw-mat to lie on.

 Dust Bathing Beauties: 2 of our girls have found their bathing spots below and to the right, is it Hetty fanning the dust around to stop sunburn?  Much better than anything leading chick-brand Henique can supply.

We've had to censor the following photo of the girls with their tops off but you get the idea.

Look out Lord Snowcorn, you've been spotted!

One of the girls is spotted at the "Come and Perch" Cocktail Bar.  We think it's probably Ginny as the sun isn't yet over the yardarm.

Later that day, bottoms up as the alcohol starts to kick in.  They probably started on the Vodka Giblets, which is never a good sign.

Chicken Run?

Are the hens making a run for it this morning?  This photo was taken from our roof top and we don't think the hens realised that their escape plans are being closely monitored from above!

New housemate:Maizy

The Ladies have a new housemate. At dusk a little field mouse appears from the adjacent compost heap and helps clean up the run. It is very insistant that all the food should be cleared away at the end of the day! Although the gender of the mouse is currently unknown, it has been called 'Maizy' after it's favourite food. The Ladies don't seem to mind their new house-guest, but Moss is most excited about Maizy's presence. She spent all last weekend staring at the base of the run hoping to say hello. Hmmmm

Attila the Hen

This entertaining programme was on the radio yesterday... you can still 'listen again' for another 6 days by clicking on the link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00zsdsb

'The most beautiful birds in the landscape', according to the aptly-named Mark Cocker, the ornithologist featured in the programme. Not quite as mad as the man from Suffolk who walked 10 miles a day to feed 400 feral chickens living on a roundabout! Other stories include problems with red mite (and worse) ...and the destructive impact of chickens on rhubarb.

Home at last

Today we picked Flo up from the vets and placed her to rest in the garden. It was a beautiful sunny day and the garden was full of birdsong. We said goodbye and have erected a headstone in her memory. It is lovely to have her back with us - in the place which she loved and looked so serene in during the last few moments of her life.

Flo has been put to sleep

This morning Flo had not improved and by lunchtime her eyes, which are usually yellow, were red and her comb, usually red, was purple. She was shaking and very wobbly. Just before we went to the vet we put her in the garden for a bit of sunshine and fresh air. She spent a while drinking and look quite serene.

The vet said she was suffering heart failure, probably caused by a tumour in her digestive system. She would not recover from this and she was already on her way. She was put to sleep at 12.50. We made the decision to keep her body at the vet for a week, just in case any of the others display similar symptoms and we need a post-mortem. We will collect her in a weeks time to give her a proper burial in the garden.

Flo had a good time over the past four months. When we first got her she had one tail feather and lots of lice. She became the tallest of the girls, with many tail feathers, and she loved playing catch with grapes - she would run circles with a grape in her mouth.

It is just such a shame that she made it through the harsh winter and didn't make it to spring. I just wish that we hadn't been giving her un-necessary tablets over the past few days which would have caused her some stress.

Good bye Flo-sie x

Flo

Flo is very ill.

Since roaming in the garden on Thursday she has become very quiet and has a loss of appetite. On Sunday her crop was swollen and if it was pressed she would vomit. We took her to the vet yesterday and she may have Sour Crop - she is under a third of the weight of the others. She has been put on a course of tablets and is going back for a check up tomorrow. She picked up yesterday after the vet and was eating spagetti and porridge.

Today however, she is refusing to eat anything. Not even grapes! She is shaking and very wobbly on her feet. She is very thin and refuses to come out of a box. We have given her some food via a syringe every two hours to try to build up her strength. She is sleeping at the moment - but if she continues to get worse later today we will call the vet again.

Please keep your fingers crossed for her.

Spring chickens

Yesterday was a delightfully warm and sunny day, and so the chickens celebrated by having the afternoon roaming around the garden. Here are Ginny and Flo "helping" with the weeding in the border.

Ginny has had a recurrence of her cough, so Paul and Kate took her to the vet. He was impressed with how healthy she was generally (despite the cough), noting her 'shiny feathers' and 'well muscled' physique. All that jumping for cabbage and running around the gardens has obviously paid off! Unlike last time Ginny's cough appears not to have affected her personality. Since none of the other birds have got it, they are probably immune.

Ginny is now on a course of tablets for the next two weeks.

A Long Time without aTweet

The Chickens have not abandoned you, they still live and they still lay!

Let it snow (again)

Yes, the chickens awoke to another white-covered landscape. This time neighbour Jo was hugely entertained by the early-morning sight of Paul in his dressing-gown poking the sagging roof of the chicken-run... bringing snow down on his head:

'You look like a snowman', she laughed from the back bedroom window

However she brought home two bags of straw from the stables in the evening, so the chickens will be warm for the next few nights. And, finally, Paul's Christmas present slipware egg-holder arrived (of which more tomorrow). A three-egg day today, so not bad production for mid-winter.

All is well, albeit cold and damp again!