Some pictures to end the year with

I spent such a chilly but happy half an hour with my lovely critters today. Friends old & new. What a wonderful year I've had with them, full of treasured memories to keep forever.

As this year closes I'd just like to send HAPPY NEW YEAR wishes to you all. I hope 2010 will be full of love, harmony & happiness & I look forward to sharing new adventures with you.

........... Oooo, and don’t forgot to make a wish on the full BLUE MOON on New Year’s Eve. It's magical you know.

Why I do it

Some readers of my blogs in recent days may wonder why do I do it? Why do I keep so many animals? It seems to have been one trial after another, one heart break after another. Yesterday the sun was out & as hubby & I took a wander around our little field I took some pictures that I think capture just exactly why I do it.

From reading other people's tales I think I am quite lucky to be able to keep all my animals together in one space, but 99.9% of the time it is a happy, peaceful place. It is my sanctuary, my church if you will. I don't believe in a traditional 'God', whatever that might mean, but I do believe in a Life Force that you sense if you only open yourself up to it. I can sit on the grass amongst my animals & feel at one with Mother Earth. I can feel the breeze across my face & feel at one with the Air. I can watch my ducks happily splash in their ponds & feel the joy of the Water element. The passion I feel for each & every one of my animals stirs Fire in my veins. It makes me feel whole.




If you look in a duck's eyes you can see a spark, if you look closer you can see the intelligence there. You can see a joyful lust for life. There's poetry in the lines of a duck, in the beauty of it's feathers. To see a duck become both graceful & playful in water is to smile with your heart.

To watch a hen is to instantly feel more attached to the earth. To enjoy them happily free ranging in the grass, feed on a handful of grain & then present you with a perfect egg is to begin to understand the bounty that Nature provides. The fluffy, frilly petticoats of a hen & the way she will sit tight on that egg until it hatches makes me feel my own Motherhood more strongly.

To raise a bird from a tiny ball of fluff to a large, powerful, magnificent creature like a goose is to witness life's miracle. To remain close to that bird & know you will always share a special bond swells your heart with love & pride. It is to be treasured far more than any trinket.

To win the trust & respect of a larger animal like a goat is a truly glorious thing. To have that animal look up at you with that trust showing in their eyes is humbling. To be able to run your fingers through their coat & know it calms them & gives them pleasure is in itself surely one of life's greatest pleasures.

I am a Mother, a Wife, a Daughter, a Sister, a Friend. These things are dearest to my heart. But my love of animals is part of my being, my very fabric, & always will be.

My fabulous, furry, four legged friends!

Things have been fairly quiet over the last few days with our ducks & hens, apart from the sad loss of hen Chicken Licken after a short spell of illness.

Even though we have had quite a few chickens come & go now it always saddens my heart to lose one.

Puddles is much recovered & is doing a wonderful job of playing foster mum to the rescued Mallard ducklings. Jess is all healed again & seems content with her ducky friends for company, so for now she remains is the back garden happily digging & shredding & uprooting things she shouldn't!

The weather this weekend was glorious & sunny, so I decided to make the most of it & spend some time in the garden with the dogs. I feel that I haven't properly introduced them yet, so here goes:-

The youngest at 2 years old is Mabel, an impish Jack Russell/ Yorkshire Terrier cross. She was looking a bit scruffy so I got the brush & comb out together with the scissors only intending to trim the fur from around her eyes. She was being so unusually good about being groomed that I decided to trim a bit more off here & a bit more off there, until - oops! - I had managed to just about trim her from head to toe! It was the neatest of cuts but I thought she looked gorgeous when I'd finished, just like a pup again!

Before....

and after!

Mabel is diminutive in proportions, but she has that big terrier attitude, believes she is indestructible & will kill anything that is smaller than her given half a chance! On our dog walks she has been known to kill & then drag a rabbit home with her, then spend the rest of the afternoon crunching it up in the front garden with blood & gore all around her chops! She has also been known to disappear down rabbit holes & not come out for more than an hour, once getting stuck & having to to be dug out, so now she is strictly on the lead on our daily countryside walks & the rabbit population is much safer for it! On the flip side, she is a loving little thing, me being her favourite person in the whole wide world & being curled up on my lap being her most favourite place in the world.

Our oldest dog at the age of 10 & looking like she needs a hair cut herself is Polo, our Westie.

Apart from brushing her I leave her grooming to the experts at the grooming parlour. She enjoys having a bath & loves the hair dryer, but isn't so good at being clipped! She especially hates having her paws touched by anyone - a bit bothersome when it comes nail clipping. I don't know how they placate her at the grooming parlour (& it's probably best that I don't know!) but here is a picture of her looking much prettier after a haircut:

Gorgeous, isn't she? In 10 years she has been through a lot with us & that makes her very special. She is faithful & fearless but even at 10 can be very wilful & when the crops start growing in the fields will, if not watched like a hawk, disappear after rabbit scents & not return home until she is quite ready! She has never caught a rabbit & in fact is completely trustworthy with our own pet rabbits, preferring to kiss them on the nose rather than savage them as Mabel might, but does love a good scent trail to follow!

At 6 years old our next oldest dog is Maggie, my beloved Border Terrier.

Maggie is my constant companion, a beautiful girl inside & out! She is playful, fun loving & affectionate. She gives the love she is shown back ten-fold! She is the type of dog who feels your moods intuitively & knows what her response should be to make you feel better. I can't imagine what life would be like without her by my side, so I hope we will enjoy many more happy years together.

And last, but by no means least, we have Meggie, our Border Collie / Whippet cross lurcher.

Meggie came from the Dog's Trust, Evesham, & is a special, but complicated girl! After being rescued from the streets she did not get on at all well with kennel life at the Dog's Trust, but was thankfully taken on by a wonderful foster mummy who looked after her for about 2 months before she eventually found her forever home with us. When we first had her she was clearly frightened of men & it took quite a long while for my husband & 3 sons to completely gain her trust. She had some strange habits due to her deep insecurities & would steal all sorts of objects from food packets, to glass bottles to cuddly toys & hide them all in her bed. She would panic if any strange males came to the door & would cower in the corner of the kitchen & wet herself. She was also a terrible food thief & we quickly learnt that anything edible must be kept out of her reach. Right from the start though you could look into Meg's soulful eyes & know there was something special that just needed reaching & with lots of patience & love we have unlocked a beautiful, loving dog with an awful lot to give. She is just the softest, cuddliest of girls & I can't imagine how anyone could have been cruel to her. I often wish I could climb inside her mind & erase any unpleasant memories she has so that she is no longer haunted be an unhappy past. Look at her here with middle son:

She loves her cuddles that's for sure!

We still have a little way to go with her. She can be unpredictable with dogs & people she doesn't know, especially men, so we have to muzzle her for safety's sake when we go for walks. Now she has her confidence back she can make herself big & scary when she feels threatened as the Parcel Link delivery man will tell you!! But taking on Meggie has been a rich & rewarding experience & when I look at her sprawled out on the settee with all four legs in the air & that lop sided grin I that know it has all been worth it!

So know you've met them properly & I'm sure there will be lots more doggy tales to follow...

Three Counties Show

Carrying on with my news from last weekend, we finally got around to going to the Three Counties Show at Malvern on Saturday. It takes place not that far from us, but in the six years since moving down this way we have not been. I think hubby was quietly worried that I'd come away with new animals, but I reassured him that I'd been reliably informed that you couldn't buy any of the animals on show. (Oh dear!)

As soon as we got to the showground I knew it was going to be a good afternoon. The intoxicating combination of the sights & smells of the fair mingled with the sight & sounds of the animal shows brought an immediate child like rush of excitement & I practically skipped through the gates! Hubby followed dutifully on behind, but immediately cheered up when he spied a stand selling proper local cider! The first thing we came to, after passing several stalls selling everything from the latest fandangled mixing/grating wonder machine for the kitchen to exquisite hand carved garden furniture, was the sheep shearing contest. After some waiting, finally the white coated judges stood with clipboards at the ready while the shearers stood at their marks & sheep bleated frantically - and then they were off! Sheep after sheep were pulled through to the platform, sheared at lightening fast pace & before they knew it were 'naked' & dispatched through a gate with bewildered looks on their faces. The competition was obviously being fiercely contended & was a proper serious affair, but I couldn't help but be more on the sheep's side & be pleased when a shearer got a 'kicker' to struggle with.

As it appeared there were going to be several heats, then semi's, then a final we decided to wander on round & see what else we could find. There were row upon row of stalls & information desks, tents full of crafts & antiques & lots of vans selling every possible kind of refreshment from crepes to chips, from Italian coffee to beer. I had a surprisingly good coffee in a cardboard cup & after trying to resist Hubby succumbed to the temptation of that local cider.

A bit more wandering & we finally found the judging rings for the sheep, cattle & pigs. We had missed the sheep judging but were able to meander up & down rows of pens with every kind & colour of sheep you could imagine, some boasting rosettes for 1st, 2nd or 3rd place. My favourite sheep was one that looked like Dougal the dog from the Magic Roundabout.

Then a tantalising glimpse through a gathered crowd of some fine specimens of pigs being trotted around the ring by proud children, before moving on to the cattle.

I know for the people involved in the breeding & showing of the animals & the judges who preside over them it's a very serious, respected business but I couldn't help giggling a bit at the very English pomp & ceremony of it all. Bulls all clean & shiny being turned this way & that for the judges with clipboards measuring & feeling & poking & staring. No dignity in it all for the normally fearsome bull with a ring through it's nose! So on we went.
We came upon the main arena just in time for a spectacular sky diving event:




Then onwards for the animal welfare stands, including the Retired Greyhound Rehoming stand which we stopped a while at as my Mum & Dad recently adopted an ex-racer called 'Nervous Jane', a lovely girl who is now enjoying a very pampered retirement. I also spied the Droitwich Ferret Rescue stand, which was a particular draw to me as we adopted our two gorgeous hobbs Flowerpot & Nipper from them. They had a cage with a very pretty albino jill & her five 3 week old kits on display. They were just the cutest little furry munchkins imaginable! Hubby wandered off anticipating my pleas of 'can we have some more please' & enjoyed the more macho displays of wood cutting skills & birds of prey.












A quick rest of our feet & some chips to feed rumbling tums we carried on around until we found ourselves back at the pigs where the judging had finished so we were free to have a closer look. I am particularly fond of pigs & it was probably a close run contest between the squeals of the multitude of pigs & my squeals of delight as I rushed from one pen to the next in piggy heaven!



However, despite everything we'd seen & all the thrills, sights, sounds & tastes of the day hubby knew that I was a little disappointed as something was missing. We were just starting to think about heading off home when hubby saw on the sign we were studying to locate our car park a tent labelled with the magic word 'Poultry'. Hurray!! I grabbed hubby's hand & we weaved at speed through the throngs of people towards the promised tent & after a bit of head scratching & going around in circles we finally found it. Poor hubby knew he was doomed as soon as we entered the tent and were greeted with a large sign to the left with the fateful words 'Poultry Sales'. I tried to keep my excitement inside & dutifully look at all the fancy breeds in their cages, some of which were frankly just peculiar.



Then I could bear it no longer & pleaded 'can we have a look plllleeeease?' Being the wonderful hubby that he is he let me browse the birds up for sale, everything from bantams to huge cockerels, & a couple of hens caught my eye until we found them ..... a pair of Aylesbury ducks! I'm especially enthralled with ducks at the moment, having hand reared our Muscovy ducklings & hubby had to agree they were gorgeous. So there was nothing for it but to desperately attract the attention of one of the salesmen & get a SOLD sign up pronto before anyone else snapped them up. Then they were ours & I was beside myself! I hugged & kissed hubby, who then added to my excitement by then going to the on site cash machine so that we could also buy one of the hens that I fancied, a pretty 14 week old Crested Cream Legbar. Well my experience of the Three Counties Show couldn't have ended more perfectly as we headed back to the car with boxes of protesting birds!! (To the horror of hubby the lady who wrote out our receipt told me that there would be another poultry sale at the Autumn Show later in the year!)

Here are some pictures of 'Daisy' & 'Seymour', who quickly settled in with our Khaki Campbells.

Ducks are generally peace loving creatures I find & we were able to introduce them straight away without any of the difficulties you can encounter when introducing new poultry to an established flock. But we kept 'Izzy' in our back garden until all the hens had roosted for the night in the hen house & then quietly slipped her inside when it was dark enough that they couldn't really see her. This seems to be the most successful method of introduction we have tested & was recommended to us by the Domestic Fowl Trust. It is apparently based on the idea that hens have poor memories & will except the new hen as if it has always been one of them when they wake up the next morning. In practice it doesn't work quite as neatly as that, but it certainly prevents the 'new girl' being attacked.

Izzy the new arrival peers shyly out of her box

Izzy has integrated well & Daisy & Seymour have also made friends with the ducklings now they are in the field. I even think that Chalk sees Daisy as a bit of a mother figure as she was following along behind her today & copying her every more - very sweet! So the family has expanded yet again & all's well in our happy little world of creatures :-)

Here come the girls!

As the cage they were in, inside the chicken house, was getting a little small for them it was time to let our pullets out with the rest of the hens. It was a bit nerve racking as we weren't sure how it was going to go, but first one little head popped out...

One of the 'Dolly Birds' peers out into the big wide world

Then a few emerged.....

Here come the girls!

Then after a little patient waiting they were all out into the evening sunlight, exploring this big new world of grass & wide open space replacing wood shavings & cage bars. They were quite skittish to start with & if one was spooked they would all scatter in all directions. But as they calmed down they proved to be friendly little things, gathering around me as I sat on the grass & letting me pat their backs like little puppy dogs! They are about 14 to 15 weeks old now we think. All eight of them are cross breeds and as they are hard to tell apart they are collectively known as the 'Dolly Birds'. Only one of them stands out as her rear is a lot paler than the rest, so she has been named 'Dolly Parton'.

'Dolly Parton'

The other hens were distracted with bread crumbs by my middle son whilst the little ones were released, but so far the older birds have shown little interest in them. The only problem we had was that when we tried to put the ducks away for the night the 'Dolly Birds' had all gathered by the pop hole blocking their way, so we literally had to shove them up to get the ducks in. Today the young 'uns have spent half their time inside the chicken house & half out with the rest of the birds & fingers crossed the only squabbling has been between themselves.

Here are the rest of the hens that they share the house with:

'Hattie' the Rhode Rock, lowest in the pecking order before the pullets

'Bella' the Bluebelle hen

'Chicken Licken' the Black Rock

'Mother Hen' the Lohmann Brown

'Dottie' the Speckledy hen

'Fanny' the Welsummer hen - the prettiest

'Annie' the Amber Star

'Belter' (front of picture - crossbreed), currently top of the pecking order

'Clara' the Light Sussex hen

'Chicken Tikka' (cruelly named by hubby!) the Cuckoo Maran

'Ginger' the Goldline hen

'Twinkle' the Speckled Star

'Ellie' the Light Sussex Star

And looking after all these girls is Rodney, our bantam cockerel, who has seen the number of hens increase rapidly since we bought a larger hen house recently (nick-named 'Chateau Des Oeufs'). He is about 6 or 7 years old now & starting to look weary so we are letting him see his time out before buying a new cockerel as we don't think he could face up to the competition.

Chateau Des Oeufs (note the roofing felt has been removed from one corner of the nesting boxes by very naughty goats!!)

I do love my chickens - there's something really homely about them. We get an average 10 eggs a day from them, which will increase as the pullets reach point of lay, but to me that is just an added bonus of keeping them. Being a bit of a mad old bird myself, I would have hens as pets even if they didn't lay!