Chickens, now she's done it! (cute chick content)
Discussion
Monkeylegend said:
Looking good Fermit, loving the porch on the hen house 
Thank you ML. And I see the jibe, but not bothered, as what I don't see is a porch next door 
Jesting aside, the playhouse is one of my favourite bits of the run. £100 (which is what we paid for it) is about the going rate for a second hand ship lap - which is what it is - shed of the same size. It has the benefits over that of having a veranda, which they love, an upstairs, and being far cuter. Excuse the childish colour, that was S's call.
king best, or I'll be giving them to the colonel' 
That looks brilliant. I love the Playhouse with veranda and chair, the Hay Loft is awesome! This is exactly the sort of thing I try to build but don’t have the skills or tools etc. I’ve managed a Catio with mini Playhouse extension. Your hens are very lucky. I’m very jealous. Sarah will love sitting with them, I’d watch mine for hours. No money can buy the entertainment they provide.
Gretchen said:
That looks brilliant. I love the Playhouse with veranda and chair, the Hay Loft is awesome! This is exactly the sort of thing I try to build but don’t have the skills or tools etc. I’ve managed a Catio with mini Playhouse extension. Your hens are very lucky. I’m very jealous. Sarah will love sitting with them, I’d watch mine for hours. No money can buy the entertainment they provide.
Thanks for the kind words, but you know what, I don't have any special skills, or tools, it was all completely improvised. With much swearing along the way. The hardest task was digging to accommodate 2 foot deep corrugated sheets around the perimeter, being probably 50% sandstone underground, that alone took 4 days! The sandstone didn't negate the need for this, there could be a foot of solid sandstone 2 feet deep, then soft soil for 2.RE sitting watching, you're not wrong. When S get's home from work we head there, I take a beer, and I simply sit on the logs watching them and getting the odd stroke of them. It's incredibly therapeutic.
As a side note, I hope all is well with you, considering recent sad news.
Here's one, which anyone who's had cockerels before may know. Today Billy Big Balls did his first crow. However, instead of 'c0ckadoodle doooo' it was more 'c0ckadoodle awwwworwor'. He did it multiple times, getting the first two sounds spot on, then totally ballsing up the last noise. It was hysterical!
Is this normal, do they need to learn it, or is he faulty?
Is this normal, do they need to learn it, or is he faulty?
They all do that Sir. I’ve had a few dodgy cocks in my time 
I’m ok thank you. Funeral a week tomorrow (I’m anxious). Have a new kitten and have extended my Catio with my rusty butter knife and bent spoon. Actually a few hours before my Dad passed away I had asked him if I could borrow his drill. He smiled, squeezed my hand and nodded. I love him for that moment alone. I know he’s now thinking ‘bloody make sure you’re careful with that and put it back with the drill bits in the proper order’.
I’m ok thank you. Funeral a week tomorrow (I’m anxious). Have a new kitten and have extended my Catio with my rusty butter knife and bent spoon. Actually a few hours before my Dad passed away I had asked him if I could borrow his drill. He smiled, squeezed my hand and nodded. I love him for that moment alone. I know he’s now thinking ‘bloody make sure you’re careful with that and put it back with the drill bits in the proper order’.
Gretchen said:
They all do that Sir. I’ve had a few dodgy cocks in my time
I’m ok thank you. Funeral a week tomorrow (I’m anxious). Have a new kitten and have extended my Catio with my rusty butter knife and bent spoon. Actually a few hours before my Dad passed away I had asked him if I could borrow his drill. He smiled, squeezed my hand and nodded. I love him for that moment alone. I know he’s now thinking ‘bloody make sure you’re careful with that and put it back with the drill bits in the proper order’.
Not as dodgy as this one, for the last few days he's been hell-bent on trying to shag his own mother I’m ok thank you. Funeral a week tomorrow (I’m anxious). Have a new kitten and have extended my Catio with my rusty butter knife and bent spoon. Actually a few hours before my Dad passed away I had asked him if I could borrow his drill. He smiled, squeezed my hand and nodded. I love him for that moment alone. I know he’s now thinking ‘bloody make sure you’re careful with that and put it back with the drill bits in the proper order’.
You're bound to be. It's a massive goodbye, to one of the two most important people in your life. Try to look after yourself, I've nothing astute to add, but take your dog out for plenty of walks, the exercise will help the mind. Oh, and make sure you keep those drill bits in order!
Some advice please, from anyone with greater experience than us. Tonight we noticed a chicken on the neighbours allotment (he probably has 30 hens?) hidden under shrubbery pretty lifeless, we first thought she was dead. We spotted her breathing, so cleared the fence, and picked her up. She's missing most the feathers on her back, and has two large maybe 2x2" wounds, beginning to scab, a little bleeding.
We've bought her home to try and nurse her back to health (said allotmenteer really isn't attentive to his birds, he wont clock her gone) she's in a dog crate in the bathroom with straw, food and water.
Any tips on what to do for her? We've cleaned her wounds, do we need to bandage her, any other tips? We're Googling away, but words of wisdom in the mean time may assist. If she makes it she'll be going in with our birds, we're pretty pissed off that she's been left to be attacked to the state that she's in - this is far from one day's damage.
I can take pics if of help.
We've bought her home to try and nurse her back to health (said allotmenteer really isn't attentive to his birds, he wont clock her gone) she's in a dog crate in the bathroom with straw, food and water.
Any tips on what to do for her? We've cleaned her wounds, do we need to bandage her, any other tips? We're Googling away, but words of wisdom in the mean time may assist. If she makes it she'll be going in with our birds, we're pretty pissed off that she's been left to be attacked to the state that she's in - this is far from one day's damage.
I can take pics if of help.
Edited by Fermit and Sexy Sarah on Tuesday 17th September 21:17
We can't say, but we suspect a Rooster has been aggressive, claws whilst mounting her, and she's since injured become vulnerable with her injuries, and become a target. She looked like she was hiding, trying to keep herself out of harms way. She's pretty calm ATM, just laying on her straw bed. My wife's a good one, let's hope chicken can be bought back from it all.
Hopefully the respite will help her physically and mentally to heal. You can use hen saddles/aprons to help protect them. The Stockholm Tar is good stuff as will help medically as well as an anti peck. Do you use Apple Cider Vinegar? I swore by this in hens water for health and stress relief.
Definitely worth investing in the above with your flock. Buy from wholesalers.
Definitely worth investing in the above with your flock. Buy from wholesalers.
Not quite the same but...
When I was a teenager we had a dozen fantail pigeons. We also had 2 poodles that lived in the sun lounge when we were out and had a hole to let them run out to the garden. The dogs largely ignored the birds. One day we camevhome to find the sun lounge looking like there’d been a mega pillow fight in there and found one pigeon in the corner with much of its feathers missing and his back bleeding. No sign of having actually been bitten. The one dog had pinned it down and ripped the feathers out.
The poor thing must have been in agony. He was put in the shed where they all lived and in a week or so had the tell tale signs of new feathers growing. A few more weeks and you couldn’t tell which one had been attacked. Think you just need to keep it safe from further attack and it’ll be fine.
When I was a teenager we had a dozen fantail pigeons. We also had 2 poodles that lived in the sun lounge when we were out and had a hole to let them run out to the garden. The dogs largely ignored the birds. One day we camevhome to find the sun lounge looking like there’d been a mega pillow fight in there and found one pigeon in the corner with much of its feathers missing and his back bleeding. No sign of having actually been bitten. The one dog had pinned it down and ripped the feathers out.
The poor thing must have been in agony. He was put in the shed where they all lived and in a week or so had the tell tale signs of new feathers growing. A few more weeks and you couldn’t tell which one had been attacked. Think you just need to keep it safe from further attack and it’ll be fine.
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