Cleaning nest boxes

Clearing out some nest boxes today, ready for their use this year and in two adjacant  boxes we found these old blue tit nests :-)

This one is made almost entirely from cat hair - and it looks like it is all from Tom Cat.

This one however has mainly thistledown as the lining  with a few white chicken feathers.

      -Isn't it wonderful how birds use anything which comes to hand beak?

Thank you for the good wishes for my rapid recovery from dental work, I am feeling much improved now :-)

Random shots around the garden

A good day to line dry some washing - I have a washing dolly in the kitchen to dry clothes on but I prefer to line dry if I can - you can't beat the smell of fresh washing!

Guinea pigs in their run in the Polytunnel.

Yarrow hen getting more feathers and her limp is getting better as well.

But oh! What a mess having her, Comfrey, Marjoram and Marigold  in the polytunnel! I will have to re arrange things, now some of the girls are getting feathers and are strong enough to go outside.

Dentist

Oww oww oww my face hurts. AND I am lighter in the wallet by many hundred pounds...insult on top of injury!

I have just (yesterday) had a molar tooth root canal filled. It had an abcess in it and was loose and kept on flaring up and causing me pain - so I finally got the money together to have it treated ( no work like this done on the NHS - they would just extract it and I wanted to keep the tooth)

Actually the dentist was very good and it didn't hurt anymore than the absolute minimum - but it was STILL a root canal treatment on a molar and it was still 100 mins of life I do not wish to relive. 

I was in a lot of pain last night!

So - I had a very long sleep last night and was left to sleep until quite late this morning - I am up and about now, face still hurting but better - so am off to do some outdoor stuff in the wood and with the hens.

 

Pruning - Compost Mansions style!

Some 30 m of the very over mature, very dead and tangled up front fence shrubbery. We spent yesterday morning doing this -

a lot of the bigger tree shrubs were felled at the weekend and dragged round to the sawing area  by the wood so we can get any firewood off them - there is a big bonfire patch there for twiggy material we do not either save for firewood or use as habitat piles etc - but all this tangled jasmine, rose, honeysuckle etc was no use for anything other than burning so that is what we did.

The ash will be collected up today and will go on the compost heaps or as a dust bath for the hens.

Sunny Saturday in the garden

We have started a major tidy up of the garden, with lots of the rather overgrown, mature shrubs and trees scheduled to get pruned...this is our idea of pruning! None of that easy stuff with secateurs and saws, oh no...we use a chainsaw and BIG ratchet loppers, to cut things down a lot...

it looks a bit brutal but it does need doing and the plants do actually survive and grow again! (As long as we don't have a month of snow and low temperatures, that is...)

Eglu set up with netting so the stronger ex battery hens can go outside and explore in safely.

Brave Coriander takes her first step "outside" a run.

Attilla the Hen takes her first step in real freedom.

Cumin was too scared today and decided to chicken out of exploring. Maybe tomorrow?

Update on the hens.

Am a bit run off my feet looking after the existing gang of 10 hens plus the 7 new ex batts.

I have just integrated the 3 new point of lay hens in with the existing flock of hens which is provng difficult - I did this to free up the Eglu for some of the ex batts  - but the old girls do NOT like the new girls and while Snowflake and Pearl are doing ok, Nightshade is very shy and is not getting enough food or water or respite from being pecked.

SO, I have had to add more feeders and drinkers into the Mega Hen Pen run so while the girls are all shut in they do not kill each other...

Also the 3 new girls do not seem to understand about roosting in the hen house and are settling into the nest boxes, which means I have to get up very early to clean out the poo, or the newly laid eggs are very dirty and I can't sell them...



The most feathery ex batts are now in the Eglu, and have names - Coriander and Cumin - and have been joined by the very bossy but rather bald hen now  called Attilla - because she was such a bully to all the other baldy ex batt girls in the polytunnel I had to move her out...

The lame hen (Yarrow) and the broken winged hen ( Comfrey) are doing ok in the Polytunnel - I open up the really rather tiny Broody ark first thing so they can wander around the polytunnel and talk to the other two baldy hens inside the big run in the polytunnel - these two are ok health wise but are weak and bald so need a bit of tlc and feeding up before they can go outside. I still have not named these two but am musing about it.

I am watching my new ex  batt girls  - and trying not to think about the disturbing behaviour they are all showing me - like the piling on top of each other even though there is loads of room and a heater so it can't be for warmth...and the hunched, head down postures when flapping their wings - even though there is no longer a cage around them to stop their movements. :-(

If I think about this stuff I get so angry I have to go off and cry...which doesn't help the hens at all..so I don't let myself think about it. Yet.

Meet the Christmas present hens

I have realised that I never got around to posting up pictures of my Christmas present hens from Compostman...so here they are :-)

We got them from Newland Grange near Malvern, a lovely place with beautifully looked after hens for sale.

This is Pearl, she is a White Star ( a White Leghorn)  and she lays pure white eggs. She is quite flighty!

This is Snowflake, she is a Light Sussex, a rarish breed. She lays pinky brown eggs and is very sweet.

This is Nightshade, a Silver Sussex ( yes, I know she is black!) She is very shy and sweet and spends a lot of time sitting on my feet. She lays pinky brown eggs as well.

My furry familiar Cassie comes with me to see the hens and comments loudly on all that I ( and they) do.

Snowflake and Nightshade are not amused!

Happy New Year

A Happy New Year to all my readers.

New Year Eve Sat 31st Dec 2011

Just come in from removing the electric heater and tent to keep the hens warm in the polytunnel.



We put this up last night to try to keep them warm, as they are so featherless and a few felt very cold.

We made a big tent out of wooden frame and tarpaulins over the two runs, with a low power heater inside so hopefully the poor bald girls felt a bit warmer 

Also have started dosed them each with vitamin drops which was VERY messy indeed. Got Compostman to hold them so he got spattered rather than me (hee hee lol)

Ex battery hens day 3 Fri 30th Dec

So, after the trip to the vet yesterday with broken wing and limpy ( why do I suspect those nicknames will "stick"? ) we started today with a couple of new routines..

Broken wing and Limpy having some food

 

Broken wing and Limpyin the nest box having a rest

In addition to the normal routine for the existing 9 hens in two separate house/run combinations (say hello, collect eggs, check food and drink and condition, later check for eggs, let out to free range, later still check for eggs, last thing feed high carb and protein food late afternoon, then an hour later shut in ( well before dark) and top up feeders and drinkers etc ..)

I now have the extra checking of 7 not so great healthed hens, including 2 who are really poorly.

So they need a lot more attention at the moment!

but...look at them doing proper hen stuff, after only 36 hours of freedom!