Caught in action!

Yesterday I managed to tiptoe close enough to get a picture of Bella bathing, only this time sneaking wasn't really necessary, as she didn't bat an eye lid when I opened the run door to snap a few photos. She didn't really welcome this disturbance and kept kicking the sand in my direction as if to tell me to get lost and leave her in peace.

While I was busy trying to get a decent shot (impossible as I was snapping away with my phone), Cissy saw her opportunity and dashed out of the run. She seemed genuinely peed off that she hasn't been let out to free range for almost a week and neither an offering of pumpkin seeds nor trying to shoo her towards the run got me any closer to capturing her. It wasn't until I fetched the corn pot that she decided to give up and go back in the run.

Today it was back to normality after a miserable week of worming, and I was able to offer the girls some guilt free treats. Not sure how long it will take them to forget this unfortunate experience, but I'll win them back sooner or later. They can't stay angry for long, for I am the keeper of the mealworms!

The extended run

We collected the run extension on Sunday and had an all round fabulous day. I think it's becoming a sort of hobby of mine, finding good deals (so far chicken related) on Ebay and having a nice day out when collecting them. We drove past several nurseries, and then braked and reversed. I've trained Hubby well, as nowadays it's him spotting all the places of interest and asking if I want to stop and have a look.

On the way back home we had the car packed with the extension, a James Grieve apple tree (same pollination group as my Discovery), some garlic (French Thermidrome) which I planted yesterday in pots and a dozen free range eggs from a lovely man and his garden hens.

Here's the run with the extension, I'm sure the girls appreciate it as they haven't been allowed to free range while being wormed. Let's see how long the hemp bedding will stay nice and clean before they mix it up with soil and... other stuff!

The worming begins

Today's the day I start worming my girls. As I said, they seem fine, but the common practise seems to be to worm chickens at least twice a year, especially if they are allowed to free-range as they might pick up all sorts of things while pecking the ground. I doubt mine have been wormed (was much too giddy to ask), so I decided to go for it, just to be on the safe side.

As soon as I woke up I went out to get the chicken feed and measured 2 kg of pellets with our not so reliable scales. I put a small amount in a big bowl, mixed it in with a level scoop of the worming stuff, Flubenvet, added the rest of the measured pellets and gave the lot a good mix.

It's still dark, but soon I'll go and let the chooks out and give them their medicated pellets for breakfast... The exact same meal they're going to have for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next six days. I shouldn't give them any treats while they're being wormed to make sure it's effective, I must resist!

Hope it works!

Healthy chickens?

They eat, drink, poo, scratch the ground and walk about with a twinkle in their eye. In other words, they appear very healthy chooks. Despite this, I keep spotting (or imagining?) things like excessive preening, droopy tail feathers, pale faces, odd poos and scruffy knickers. Just to be on the safe side the chooks are still being fed all the possible tonics mixed with their food and water, and given warm oat porridge in the afternoons to keep them warm at night. They've been sprayed against lice, mites and every other sort of creepy crawlie known to man (and chickens) and I'm still in doubt. Should I be doing something else for them? To cover all bases, the king of the wormers, Flubenvet, is on the way.

I think the best thing to do is to stop reading the Chicken Clinic!