Before we have them there is already a problem. One of the unwanted chickens, confusedly named Duck has popped her clogs, fallen off her perch, is no more. Shame about that as we were looking forward to giving the chickens some care and attention. Now all that is left is Lola who apparently is a lonely bird (chickens are sociable creatures). It's sad but that's life. We'll have to rethink and possibly, once we've quarantined Lola to ensure she hasn't any health problems (we don't know how Duck died) we will have to get her two young playmates (younger than her so they won't pick on her).
Monday, 6 February 2012
Sunday, 5 February 2012
In the bleak midwinter..
Did you think I'd forgotten you? No, I've still been here, making the daily trip to lock the chicken's door for the night (no sign of our new hens yet, we have to wait till the people who don't love them anymore can bear to part with them). We've been tantalised by the most common yet rarely seen of garden birds - the teeny tiny wren who keeps mistaking Luke's bicycle chain or some strips of silicon from the hen house as juicy worms. The wren is often found darting in and out of the dozen pots I have planted up with spring flowering bulbs. I can't quite imagine summer yet as we are being blanketed with snow. However I have green leaves bursting forth from the pots and this lets me know that Spring is around the corner and in ten weeks time we should be really enjoying some early colour. At present we have the lone brace narcissus in the front garden, like a beacon of what is to come plus snowdrops and deep purple crocuses pushing their brave little faces upwards to the winter sun.
No sign of the fox but he must be around. As I always say, "Never underestimate the fox". A hunting relative of ours told us that when people bemoan their bad luck that the fox just happened to be passing when they had forgotten to lock their birds up safely on just one night were kidding themselves. "What they don't realise," he told us, "is that the fox has been around every night since first finding them there and he's just been waiting for the opportunity to get them". So, our girls are under strict curfew and once on their perch the locks are all double checked and their hen house door closed firmly for the night. With hens comes responsibility.
Saying that, they have both been out for a dust bath today. They do love a roll in the dust to coat their feathers and clean themselves up. Silly old things.
No sign of the fox but he must be around. As I always say, "Never underestimate the fox". A hunting relative of ours told us that when people bemoan their bad luck that the fox just happened to be passing when they had forgotten to lock their birds up safely on just one night were kidding themselves. "What they don't realise," he told us, "is that the fox has been around every night since first finding them there and he's just been waiting for the opportunity to get them". So, our girls are under strict curfew and once on their perch the locks are all double checked and their hen house door closed firmly for the night. With hens comes responsibility.
Saying that, they have both been out for a dust bath today. They do love a roll in the dust to coat their feathers and clean themselves up. Silly old things.
Saturday, 28 January 2012
New friends for the hens
Oh dear, what have we done? We've agreed to take on a pal's unwanted chickens, 'Duck' & 'Lola'. Having already owned a chicken named Lola and having almost the same story as The Kinks' namesake (she was sort of a he - a hermaphrodite chicken) we are a little unsure what to expect. Also, our girls are so settled together now that we dare not introduce more hens.
We've had troubles with bullying over the years. Although Shakira is the favoured chicken out of all the ones we've owned she is a bully and the noise they can make when squabbling means we are likely to get an anti social behaviour order against us. As Buck Bucky is the boss of the two and a much more placid and just leader, the equilibrium is maintained but add another hen to the mix and ker-pow! So these two unwanted hens will be coming with their own hen house (in a strange twist it's the hen house we actually bought for our girls when we were moving house and had to temporarily re home them with our pals. Once our girls were reclaimed and Luke had rebuilt their original house we gave the bought hen house to the people who had 'babysat' our hens and they got their own hens, Duck and Lola). Now they don't want them any longer we are getting them as a package, probably in a week's time. So, two new hens and a new hen house to site. We'll put them far enough away from our original pair of lovely ladies so they don't freak each other out. Shame really as I have the main shape of the borders just as I want them now and a ruddy great hen house plonked where my herbs are will trow the whole thing out...., but two more chickens...., although it's not the Quails that we had dreamt about it's still new mouths to feed and characters to love...., ahhhh!
We've had troubles with bullying over the years. Although Shakira is the favoured chicken out of all the ones we've owned she is a bully and the noise they can make when squabbling means we are likely to get an anti social behaviour order against us. As Buck Bucky is the boss of the two and a much more placid and just leader, the equilibrium is maintained but add another hen to the mix and ker-pow! So these two unwanted hens will be coming with their own hen house (in a strange twist it's the hen house we actually bought for our girls when we were moving house and had to temporarily re home them with our pals. Once our girls were reclaimed and Luke had rebuilt their original house we gave the bought hen house to the people who had 'babysat' our hens and they got their own hens, Duck and Lola). Now they don't want them any longer we are getting them as a package, probably in a week's time. So, two new hens and a new hen house to site. We'll put them far enough away from our original pair of lovely ladies so they don't freak each other out. Shame really as I have the main shape of the borders just as I want them now and a ruddy great hen house plonked where my herbs are will trow the whole thing out...., but two more chickens...., although it's not the Quails that we had dreamt about it's still new mouths to feed and characters to love...., ahhhh!
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