I have to tell you about a quirky little thing that Omelette does, it had to be her, right?
Well, she has this noise that she makes, it's like a little "honk". The gorgeous one does a very good impression of it actually, hmm not sure if I should be worried about that or not! Anyway, she'll use it to get your attention or to let you know if she's unhappy with you about something. I tried to think of what it sounded like in order to explain it to you, chicken fans.
The best I could come up with was this; have you all seen Sesame Street? Well on that great educational programme there were these creatures who used to make a honking noise when they hit their own noses (yes, I know, completely ridiculous), well that's what she sounds like. If you haven't ever seen Sesame Street (there may be one of you who has never watched TV), then I strongly suggest you Youtube it to fully appreciate the sound of the honking!
Look under "Sesame Street honkers" for a plethora of honkers clips!
Sunday, 21 November 2010
Friday, 12 November 2010
Shout
The girls shout at us. Yesterday morning, the gorgeous one stayed in bed while I got up to go to work (yeah, I know lazy right?). He'd left their door open so they could let themselves out in the morning without him having to get up to let them into the run (!). Well they're smart and they can see into the kitchen from their run and I'm sure they think that if they shout loud enough someone will take pity on them and come and let them out - so very stupid...
Even when I go back upstairs I can hear them shouting to be let out. They must have known that the gorgeous one was staying home to let them have a day in the garden.
He did tell me that he had to lock them in their run later in the afternoon as the wind was so strong that it blew the barbecue over (and you know a certain chicken has a habit of sitting on the shelf of said barbecue). If they'd had their wings open a gust could have taken them away, at last they would have been able to fly!
Even when I go back upstairs I can hear them shouting to be let out. They must have known that the gorgeous one was staying home to let them have a day in the garden.
He did tell me that he had to lock them in their run later in the afternoon as the wind was so strong that it blew the barbecue over (and you know a certain chicken has a habit of sitting on the shelf of said barbecue). If they'd had their wings open a gust could have taken them away, at last they would have been able to fly!
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
After the Fall
The girls are loving the autumn and now the fact that the cherry tree
in the garden has lost all it's leaves. Where there were cherries
earlier in the year for them to rush out to eat, now there's a thick
pile of leaves for them to scratch around in. I guess it saves my
garden a little bit from being completely destroyed by them and their
digging. Sometimes I think they are tunneling their way through to
next door they dig so deep!
We had 3 eggs this morning, which had stopped for a while, but they
were all whole and Omelettes egg was whole with a fairly strong shell
so that was good! It was still a bit torpedo shaped but the gorgeous
one seemed to think it was a lot better than some of her eggs have
been of late.
We seem to have a real lot of eggs at the minute as we were on
holiday and we've been really busy at weekends ad not had a lot of
time to enjoy them. I did make the gorgeous one a lovely omelette on
Sunday, it was a vivid yellow. That's the thing most noticeable about
having very fresh and free range eggs, they are much more 'yolky' than
other eggs and the yolks are bright, bright yellow. Scrambled eggs
look almost radioactive!
The girl child thinks that Yoko has put on weight and I think she may
have something there, she does look like she's had a bit of a growth
spurt, maybe it's just because we haven't seen them much recently or
maybe they are getting ready for the winter? Do chickens get a winter
coat like cats and dogs?
Ah, questions to make the long winter nights fly by...
Speaking of which, the girls are putting themselves to bed much
earlier now as it gets dark earlier. If the eggs haven't been laid
before we leave in the morning, we're having to move them out of their
nesting boxes to retrieve the eggs from underneath them! They don't
like that much, I can tell you. They do let you know about it if they
are annoyed about something too.
The other morning the gorgeous one went to let them out and they have
a habit of running their beaks along the wire of their run, kind of
like prisoners would with their metal cups on the bars of their cells
in old films. Well, when he was walking up the garden two of them
were running their beaks along the wire and one was running her claws
along it. I think they wanted to come out!
in the garden has lost all it's leaves. Where there were cherries
earlier in the year for them to rush out to eat, now there's a thick
pile of leaves for them to scratch around in. I guess it saves my
garden a little bit from being completely destroyed by them and their
digging. Sometimes I think they are tunneling their way through to
next door they dig so deep!
We had 3 eggs this morning, which had stopped for a while, but they
were all whole and Omelettes egg was whole with a fairly strong shell
so that was good! It was still a bit torpedo shaped but the gorgeous
one seemed to think it was a lot better than some of her eggs have
been of late.
We seem to have a real lot of eggs at the minute as we were on
holiday and we've been really busy at weekends ad not had a lot of
time to enjoy them. I did make the gorgeous one a lovely omelette on
Sunday, it was a vivid yellow. That's the thing most noticeable about
having very fresh and free range eggs, they are much more 'yolky' than
other eggs and the yolks are bright, bright yellow. Scrambled eggs
look almost radioactive!
The girl child thinks that Yoko has put on weight and I think she may
have something there, she does look like she's had a bit of a growth
spurt, maybe it's just because we haven't seen them much recently or
maybe they are getting ready for the winter? Do chickens get a winter
coat like cats and dogs?
Ah, questions to make the long winter nights fly by...
Speaking of which, the girls are putting themselves to bed much
earlier now as it gets dark earlier. If the eggs haven't been laid
before we leave in the morning, we're having to move them out of their
nesting boxes to retrieve the eggs from underneath them! They don't
like that much, I can tell you. They do let you know about it if they
are annoyed about something too.
The other morning the gorgeous one went to let them out and they have
a habit of running their beaks along the wire of their run, kind of
like prisoners would with their metal cups on the bars of their cells
in old films. Well, when he was walking up the garden two of them
were running their beaks along the wire and one was running her claws
along it. I think they wanted to come out!
Thursday, 14 October 2010
Don't get bent out of shape
We've been managing to save Omelette's eggs for a couple of days now so we're a 3 egg a day family - woo hoo!
BUT (yes, there is always a but)they are weird. I took some pictures this morning to show you just how weird they are. Yesterday's egg looked like a torpedo and today's egg is kind of triangular - I have attached the pictures for you to see for yourself if you don't believe me, I put them next to a lovely Mabel egg for your reference too.
The girls have enjoyed a day in the garden today, although the sun hasn't been out and they've been knocking at the cat flap, I'm not letting them in. They have a habit now of rushing you when you open the door to try to get in the house (our house not theirs), I asked them whether they'd been in whilst I was away and although they weren't giving anything up, the gorgeous one confessed that he had walked away from the door and come back to find the 3 of them in the kitchen. I guess they think that's an extension of their territory too now.
They are going to bed earlier as well now, as the nights are starting to draw in, so much so that the girls have to be lifted up slightly to get the eggs from underneath them when we get in from work as they've already tucked down for the night! The gorgeous one had a birthday yesterday and his colleagues bought him a "head lamp" so that he doesn't have to stick the torch in his mouth to go and put them away or sort them out in the morning now. I think he was more excited about that than the gift I got him - I should have saved my money!
Oh, one more thing, we've been linked (again) from a great site about other rescue hens, check out Valerie Chicken at www.valerie-chicken.co.uk
Sunday, 10 October 2010
Da doo run run run, da doo run run
Ha! I got there in time yesterday to get all 3 eggs! Yay! They were all in the nesting boxes too, the ones we've been losing have been in the perching area, so perhaps whoever was laying has decided they might be better off in the nesting box after all. That is what they are for after all, not sleeping in!
The gorgeous one was going to build the extension on their run today as it was finally delivered after a 4 month delay due to flooding in the far away country that they are made. He took it out of the box, put all the pieces together and told me that it wouldn't work. I didn't know what he meant. This is what has happened.
The house and run of the coop we have are the same height. The new run is way shorter and doesn't match the old run. There would be a big gap between the old run and the new run for a) chickens to eggscape from or b) Mr Fox to have easy access and a good feast on our poor girls! So you can see, it won't work, the gorgeous one was right ( don't tell him I told you that).
Having looked on the web site, it's plain to see that they have changed the design of the house so the new run is much smaller, hence the reason the two don't fit!
Hopefully someone will call me back tomorrow ( like they promised to) and we can either get an old run section or a new but to replace the old section we have on the house now. So no new run for you just yet girls . Sorry about that.
The gorgeous one was going to build the extension on their run today as it was finally delivered after a 4 month delay due to flooding in the far away country that they are made. He took it out of the box, put all the pieces together and told me that it wouldn't work. I didn't know what he meant. This is what has happened.
The house and run of the coop we have are the same height. The new run is way shorter and doesn't match the old run. There would be a big gap between the old run and the new run for a) chickens to eggscape from or b) Mr Fox to have easy access and a good feast on our poor girls! So you can see, it won't work, the gorgeous one was right ( don't tell him I told you that).
Having looked on the web site, it's plain to see that they have changed the design of the house so the new run is much smaller, hence the reason the two don't fit!
Hopefully someone will call me back tomorrow ( like they promised to) and we can either get an old run section or a new but to replace the old section we have on the house now. So no new run for you just yet girls . Sorry about that.
Thursday, 7 October 2010
Need a break from the old routine
Wow! On Tuesday we had three eggs! We've worked out what's been happening to the third one every day now, so we have to be quick if we want to save it!
A little background first.
Now the mornings are darker, the girls don't want to get up until it's light so the gorgeous one's routine is all out of kilter and anyone who knows the gorgeous one will know how stressful that is for him!
Well, on Tuesday he had to evict the girls out of their house (much to their dismay) and he found a lovely egg in the perching area! Recently we've just been finding squashed egg shells in this bit so we know that one of them (mentioning no names, but I think you'll know which one I mean) has been pecking open the egg and eating the inside! Unfortunately yesterday and today we have been unlucky and the chicken has gotten there first and now we've changed our morning routine to cope with the darkness, I'm not sure we'll be able to get there before she does any more!
Maybe that's why she looks a bit under the weather sometimes, maybe an egg a day isn't good for her? God, there's so much to learn about chickens!
A little background first.
Now the mornings are darker, the girls don't want to get up until it's light so the gorgeous one's routine is all out of kilter and anyone who knows the gorgeous one will know how stressful that is for him!
Well, on Tuesday he had to evict the girls out of their house (much to their dismay) and he found a lovely egg in the perching area! Recently we've just been finding squashed egg shells in this bit so we know that one of them (mentioning no names, but I think you'll know which one I mean) has been pecking open the egg and eating the inside! Unfortunately yesterday and today we have been unlucky and the chicken has gotten there first and now we've changed our morning routine to cope with the darkness, I'm not sure we'll be able to get there before she does any more!
Maybe that's why she looks a bit under the weather sometimes, maybe an egg a day isn't good for her? God, there's so much to learn about chickens!
Monday, 4 October 2010
All the small things
Did they miss me? I don't think so. I was two weeks away and they just care about what I have for them.
I cleaned out their run today (cos I'm a wonderful girlfriend) and what did they do? Almost as soon as I'd left them they went straight back in the run - they'd better not have pooed in there! Especially when they have the whole garden!
I heard a racket out in the garden earlier, can you guess who it was, knocking over the watering cans and pushing stuff around? Yep, Omelette.
They've been coping pretty well with the rain today and they have been sheltering under the tree for the most part when it rained, perhaps they are learning? Nah! Brains the size of peas them girls!
I cleaned out their run today (cos I'm a wonderful girlfriend) and what did they do? Almost as soon as I'd left them they went straight back in the run - they'd better not have pooed in there! Especially when they have the whole garden!
I heard a racket out in the garden earlier, can you guess who it was, knocking over the watering cans and pushing stuff around? Yep, Omelette.
They've been coping pretty well with the rain today and they have been sheltering under the tree for the most part when it rained, perhaps they are learning? Nah! Brains the size of peas them girls!
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