The trouble is that’s exactly what I suspect they’re thinking
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OK, that might make you feel bad. But turn it around: do you think chickens are sane?
Well then. Evens, I’d call that. Plus you have opposable thumbs and a bank account so you are definitely winning…
hang on, um, account, thumbs, chicken feed.
joe, I’ll get back to you on that, ok feller…
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A great big smile from me for the Poultry Report.
Lovely way to start the day. Thanks, joe!
Soo xx
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I look at the chickens, then I look at some of the stuff that gets posted on various online fora.
Case closed.
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Wise words, joe, wise words.
Soo xx
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It’s a henspiracy.
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The really fascinating thing about that photie - and no disrespect to the charming, alert and diligent poultry in the foreground - is the mobile pampas grass. It would be unseemly to speculate, mind…
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Pampas grass in the front garden? Too much information Joe!
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Worse than that: in a trailer so it can be taken to whichever house it might be today…
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…that is the real beauty of it. And, as I have the impression that joe travels quite a bit, the potential for creating chaos and wrecking reputations is immense, a notion which has rendered me really quite cheerful this evening.
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Ahem - the mobility is a trick of perspective; it’s behind the trailer - or as it’s now known, AltHen Towers:
Oh and the pampas grass is NOT visible from the road! (Do like the idea of trashing a few reputations, though; anyone know where–well, better not name names…)
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Another dream destroyed…
AltHen Towers I like, mind.
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So do they!
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Ah well. That is another trick photy, isn’t it?
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Another overdue update, as it’s been a fairly fraught few days.
If it weren’t bad enough that we lost one of the Crettyard Crew to a dog attack, one of the others (Jules) suddenly developed a mysterious paralysis - perfectly alert, seemingly not in any pain, but unable to stand or walk. Research threw up a whole raft of possible causes ranging from the trivial and easily curable (vitamin B deficiency) to the truly terrifying (Marek’s disease). Was fairly sure it wasn’t the latter, as she came from a commercial flock so would have been vaccinated as a matter of course. So nothing for it but a trip to Hen Hospital. A thorough examination thankfully didn’t turn up anything nasty, but she’d lost a lot of weight and the vet spotted a bit of dried blood under her right wing. She reckons the dog got a nip in and the wound got infected - hence the delay in symptoms appearing. Anyway they’re keeping her in for observation over the weekend and dosing her with antibiotics; latest news is that she’s standing - though still unsteady - and her appetite’s picking up. All being well she’ll be home tomorrow afternoon.
And as if we didn’t have enough to worry about, young Bonnie suddenly started crowing, so we have four roosters, which is completely unsustainable. For the sake of the hens we’re going to have to get rid of most - if not all - the roos. This is easier said than done…
Anyway - will report back with an update on Jules tomorrow.
PS
I just noticed I never answered Chris’s question above. No - not a trick photo, though I can see why you might think so. They use the trailer as a convenient vantage point. They also shelter under it if it rains.
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Heavens, joe - you haven’t had your troubles to seek with those birds.
Kindest wishes to Jules xx
Soo xx
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Well, we called in on the patient this afternoon. Happy to say she’s standing now and feeding a bit better, but the consensus was that she should be kept in for another night, at least. She was still a bit unsteady and panting - that might just have been the heat but more often than not indicates stress. We’ll know more in the morning, I hope…
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Wishing the patient well, joe. And her kind keepers: you don’t have to look for worries, having poutry, do you? I’m very disappointed in Bonnie for being a bloke, by the way. Not that I have anything against males as such, you understand. But - Bad Bird, stoppit at once. Identify as a hen.
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Thanks Gus - will pass on your good wishes
The problem is the number. As a rule of thumb, if you’re going to have them at all, the hen/rooster ratio should be about 10:1; at the moment, it’s 1:1…
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