Sweetie update! And an apology for not posting

***Apologies for no posts for a month, my computer died completely and Compostman has rebuilt a new one inside the case, reusing all the memory and hard drives so I got to keep all my stuff :) BUT it took some time. I have been up to lots of interesting things so I shall gradually post them up as and when I can - forgive me if it takes some time as this is a very busy time of year for me! ***




Great news! Sweetiepie the 8 1/2 year old ex battery hen is back in with her flock, back to being Top Hen and Hen in Chief again :)

She is laying 4 - 5 eggs a week, is generally causing mayhen around the place and is growing some beautiful new speckled grey feathers around the scab, where a month ago there was no skin at all. I am astonished at her recovery - and it just goes to show what amazing healing powers animals have.

She was apart from the flock for a month as she needed intensive care but she is happy to be back with them all :)

Hurrah!

Fox attack, again.

Have just come inside after burying 8 hens in the wood. One other hen is MIA, presumed eaten by the foxes who killed the other hens. Remaining 3 live hens (Yarrow, Marjoram and Nutmeg) are rather traumatised and unhappy.

We have never  lost so many to the fox in one go before, we had 5 taken in one go a few years back  but this was worse as only one hen was taken and the rest were hidden in the wood ditch for us to find - really  horrible to see :-(
2 of the "new" ex batts survived - Yarrow ( aka Limpy Hen) and Marjoram, also Nutmeg hen, because she is an escapologist hen and was in the garden rather than with the others. And I now only have ginger hens, - all my other coloured pure breeds and hybrid girls died.

I am SO sad, I am still crying now. Burying them was horrible. Especially Comfrey, Cumin and Marigold the ex batts. I felt I had let them all down, somehow. :-((((( by not protecting them enough from foxes.

RIP Lavender, Treacle, Cocoa, Cumin, Comfrey aka Flappy hen, Marigold, Pearl and Opal hens. I shall miss your feathery antics enormously.

(update Sweetie re appeared the next day!) 

Blasted foxes. Have just lost 3 more hens.

Blasted foxes.
Have just lost 3 hens to one. RIP Queenie the Blue Orpington, Vanilla the Cream Legbar and Pearl the White Leghorn.
They were killed right by the hen house, at about 3 pm this afternoon, with us around and about the garden! All other hens v.traumatised and 2 looking like they are in deep shock - may lose them overnight I suspect, they do not look at all good. Am so cross, and upset.

 I am very upset. I loved them all, Queenie was a bit useless in the egg laying department but was so pretty.

 Vanilla I got as an egg and Ruby Dorking hatched her out ( and then was killed by a fox - !)

 

 and Pearl was just lovely. 
 

am seriously thinking of giving up keeping hens - if they are going to be killed like this it just feels so sad..

Vanilla's mama Ruby Dorking was hatched out by Sweetiepie the Marans, who didn;t get killed by the foxes, today...despite being 5 and senile( even by hen standards! )

So am watching second generation of my loving care being killed, here...so sad.

I am SO fed up -

 

Fox attack - again!

We had a bit of a fraught day here yesterday...Compostman and I are a bit unwell, just a virus thing, shivery, tired, shaky sort of stuff...but we still decided to jointly clean all the (filthy) windows, him outside, me inside....as they have been annoying the heck out of both of us for a number of weeks... 24 windows later we were a bit shattered....so had a rest and then lunch. In the late afternoon Compostman  went out to plant more leeks, while I carried on with a major decluttering job in the guest bedroom AKA the dumping ground....as we are getting ready to clear it out for new floor, dry line the walls, a new window and  redecorate etc....it needs clearing out! THEN I heard a shout of "FOX" so I ran outside, to be met by Compostman carrying Coriander hen, who looked like she was about to pop her clogs....(that means die, in case anyone wonders!) He had seen the fox appear, by the bit of garden he was in, ( at 4 pm in the afternoon!) and snatch her...the hens had JUST been let out of their secure run to free range, because he was in the garden and close by...! Fox went off into the wood with Coriander in its jaws, so Compostman gave chase into the wood, whereupon Fox dropped Coriander and legged it.... All the other hens were OK ( phew...) as Compostman had the presence of mind to shoo them all into the Mega Hen Pen and lock them in. Coriander had a wound and was in shock I think, so I dressed the wound and put her and Cumin ( her fellow escapee from the commercial flock) into the Eglu for her to recover quietly overnight in the company of a friend.... Coriander and Cumin (ginger hens) with Lavender hen ( the grey hen) Coriander was still alive and looked quite perky this morning, but was moving rather stiffly. And thank heavens for the mega hen pen walk in run! Built by Compostman for my birthday in April, it means this time I was able to keep all the girls shut in and they still had room to roam. I gave them a load more wood chippings from the pile this afternoon and they were very excited to furtle around looking for worms and bugs. Compostman...my hero oh so many times over!

Sunday musings

Its been a beautiful day here, a lovely sunny, if cold Sunday. I raked up leaves, before they overwhelmed the daffs poking through underneath, then finished the PT tidy up and got some seeds and plants planted out in the raised bed in there...!!!!


Have been investigating various fence options, local reclaimation yard wants an arm and a kidney for
 ?Heras? fencing ( security /building site stuff...) which I wondered if I could use to make an enclosure against the fox...ut it also looks very ugly...

Wood and wire to make is also v expensive in "one off" quantities...IF I was building a house, the economies of scale would make it economic, ...but I am not..

So....looks like I am just going to have to buy something...which at least can be un bolted and moved around as flat panels, if we want to move the whole lot...

Or I could just get rid of all the hens, except for a couple....and keep them inside the existing house and run combination......which sounds quite appealing at the moment.....!

Only joking!

But..it IS a bit of a problem for us, I am having to clean out the hen runs more than normal, because they are shut in ( to avoid being eaten by the Fox...)

So I am spending lots of time ( I don't have) sorting it all out...sigh

A trip to the Orthodontist and other stuff

Back this morning from trip with CG to Orthodontist, poor child has inherited Mum and Dad's tendancy to huge teeth as well as our brains and beauty...( cough)

Hens all shut in runs all day today, have divided them all up so everybody has as much room as possible in the secure runs while I try to decide what to do. And don't worry about me showing fear to the fox..., I have taken to carrying the air gun with me as it may well recognise THAT as dangerous...also I shall kick it if it tries anything...and if all else fails I WILL shoot at it with the air gun ..even if it only stings it, it might make it think twice about yipping at me.....

Got email from lovely teacher at the school I worked at yesterday, apparently the children were running out at home time going "Look, Mum! I made a book!!!! Look I made some paper! " ....which was a lovely thought..

2 of the Yr 6 children gave me the books they had made, having written really nice things inside the covers about my teaching and Eco club ...which made me well up a bit as well...! I gave them some stuff I had made in return, as I didn't want them to leave the craft session empty handed apart from their hand made paper, ...just little cards I had made from bits of stuff..

Fox around again tonight, scared Tom and Tabitha cats witless...they came charging in, fluffed up to the nth degree....very scared..

Feel a bit under siege here, tbh...hens v disgruntled at being shut in, but better in than dead, I think...Must admit, have asked a friend if he fancies a trip up here with his rifle? .

Attack of the fox?

Saw the Fox tonight again, hanging around at dusk...so shot outside to lock in all the chickens, even though they were all inside the electric fenceing...

All hens present and correct at bedtime , including the wild rover Spot, who I managed to shut in tonight!
So...I decided to do a big swap around when all the birds were sleepy, later...so he and the 2 Legbars are then in the Eglu run for a few days and the others can come outside in the electric fence area or, stay inside the bigger secure run.

LATER TONIGHT UPDATE....

Tonight was a bit...worrying ,though..

I went out to get Spot the feral cockerel from inside the hen house to transfer him to another closed run and house. I did that and then opened up the big house and run where the other two ( recently ) gone feral Legbar hens were enclosed. Got one, shut door, trudged to Eglu where Spot was, put Legbar hen in with him.

Went back to get Legbar no 2...she flew out of the door as soon as I opened it!..and ran around in the dark squarking madly.....she got the other side of the electic fence and then, as I went to try to grab her...she and I froze because the fox was there...Foxy made a lunge for the hen , I shouted and Foxy backed off BUT just stood there, growling...about 6 foot away from me?

I grabbed Legbar hen, shouted again at Foxy and finally it ran off into the wood.....

All 3 Legbars are now shut inside the Eglu and run, where they will stay for a few days, and the other 9 hens will be inside the secure runs for the next few days as well..

Have NEVER seen a fox "square up" to a human like that before...it really wasn't scared at all....

a bit worrying TBH......

Of foxes......

6 pm ....Saw Foxy just now...grrr...chased it off by shouting....going to lock in hens asap.

managed to shut in Legbars yesterday but cockerel not having any and is still feral, up a tree all night....

It has been suggested I shoot the fox but bugger all chance of doing that I suspect, don't have suitable gun, so instead have got male large carnivore ( CM) urine being sprinkled along the fence, and am watching what is going on generally during the day, but if s/he (suspect she) can leap OVER an electric fence ( as happened Sat), I am a bit stuffed (and so will s/he be, with MY blardy hens!)

Don't have or want a dog....so apart from keeping the hens shut in the runs all day (not a great idea!) am a bit stumped as to what to do.....

The Fox was a beautiful animal though, really well groomed and glossy..
That would be due to being SO WELL FED, I guess.....

Oh well, Fox is just being a fox.....

I have been asked about shooting the Fox ? I only have an air gun for squirrels etc so have nothing which would kill a Fox ...even if trapped in a cage IMO...I don't think a .22 air gun pellet would go through a Fox skull, even in the eye?...guess one would need a .22 rifle? And not sure I want to, tbh

Really wouldn't feel comfortable about attempting to shoot a fox , even at point blank range, with a .22 air gun as would not want fox to suffer at all, even if the bugger DID eat my hens!

A SAD and REALLY rubbish sort of day..

Carp morning of utter carpness here, topped off with a second and third helping of even more carpness later in the afternoon...

I am rather sadly minus 6 hens today..a visit from Mr/Mrs/Miss/Master Fox,I think alas ....

I realised something was up after spotting a load of white feathers at lunchtime, searched for a body and found one dead hen( head removed and gone)who was Pearl the nutty White Leghorn, her decapitated body was still warm....

then gradually realised a number of the other hens were MIA... all this in daytime! near to the house!

Henny my biggest, softest, oldest hen, Ginger, Cinnamon the two newish Isa browns ( and ace layers), Bunty the newish Black Rock and another sweet hen, and Ruby the mad broody Silver Dorking, mum to the Legbars.....were all missing....

Not a feather anywhere from any of them, but no sight or sound all day so am assuming they have been got by (probably) a vixen and her teenage cubs....

Am very sad and dispirited by it all....

Have been to pub tonight, eaten and drunk far too much, have returned to open a bottle of wine, have watched "The day after tomorrow" and am going to go to bed soon..


My poor , poor hens......I shall miss you all SO much.

RIP my lovely feather friends.