We must have the nicest vet ever.
I have been away this week (again) in Barcelona and I arrived home last night to find a card from the vet with condolences on the loss of Omelette and saying that we did the right thing and is we needed anything we could contact him. How sweet is that?!? I was a little embarrassed at how upset I was actually, so this has made me not feel quite so bad about that.
The two remaining girls are doing well. The gorgeous one said this morning that he thinks that Yoko is getting bigger and Mabel has been having some feather regrowth, the garden has been covered in feathers lately! They don't seem to have been affected too much by not having Omelette around anymore if anything I think they are quite enjoying not having to share a nesting box anymore and have very quickly settled into having one each. Maybe that will change when the weather really turns and they may find it nicer to snuggle up together again.
The gorgeous one gave them a good clean out this morning as we are off on holiday tomorrow and have some friends coming to look after the house/cat/chickens so they are either house-sitters, cat-sitters, or chicken-sitters (say that very carefully), you decide...
Friday, 21 October 2011
Saturday, 15 October 2011
Sleep Well Tonight
Sad new chicken fans, yesterday I had to take Omelette to the vets and I'm afraid I came home without her.
She just went downhill over the last couple of weeks though the gorgeous one and I were hoping she would get over it as she was still eating and drinking and although not running about, she was still able to walk around in their run.
I worked from home yesterday and she just stood there in the garden mostly and was making this funny jerky movement so I called the gorgeous one and told him I thought we should bite the bullet and take her to the vet. Now, unfortunately the only appointment that the gorgeous one could get was at 6pm and he couldn't get home in time to take her, so it was down to me. My very kindly neighbor lent me a cage to put her in and we drove to the vets. The vet was brilliant, he has ex bat chickens himself and understood how attached we were to her and the other girls. He also said that we had been lucky to have had her for so long as he started to lose his first brood after just 4 months.
Anyway, he checked her over, she was incredibly thin (I felt her ribcage and she was just bones) but she also had a rather scary feeling lump in her abdomen, which he thought was probably a tumor. She was not moving much whilst she was being examined and was allowing us to hold her and stroke her (that tells you how sick she must have been as she would not have let you touch her before) so it was nice for me to get that time with her. He then delivered the verdict. There was nothing he could do. I knew it was coming, the gorgeous one and I had prepared ourselves for the worst but it was still horrible to hear and horrible for me to have to say goodbye and walk out without her.
So whilst we are so happy to have been able to give the gift of a real life and some free range time to our crazy chicken Omelette, we will miss her and the laughs she brought. Rest easy girl x
She just went downhill over the last couple of weeks though the gorgeous one and I were hoping she would get over it as she was still eating and drinking and although not running about, she was still able to walk around in their run.
I worked from home yesterday and she just stood there in the garden mostly and was making this funny jerky movement so I called the gorgeous one and told him I thought we should bite the bullet and take her to the vet. Now, unfortunately the only appointment that the gorgeous one could get was at 6pm and he couldn't get home in time to take her, so it was down to me. My very kindly neighbor lent me a cage to put her in and we drove to the vets. The vet was brilliant, he has ex bat chickens himself and understood how attached we were to her and the other girls. He also said that we had been lucky to have had her for so long as he started to lose his first brood after just 4 months.
Anyway, he checked her over, she was incredibly thin (I felt her ribcage and she was just bones) but she also had a rather scary feeling lump in her abdomen, which he thought was probably a tumor. She was not moving much whilst she was being examined and was allowing us to hold her and stroke her (that tells you how sick she must have been as she would not have let you touch her before) so it was nice for me to get that time with her. He then delivered the verdict. There was nothing he could do. I knew it was coming, the gorgeous one and I had prepared ourselves for the worst but it was still horrible to hear and horrible for me to have to say goodbye and walk out without her.
So whilst we are so happy to have been able to give the gift of a real life and some free range time to our crazy chicken Omelette, we will miss her and the laughs she brought. Rest easy girl x
Monday, 5 September 2011
Things ain't what they used to be
So the egg drought is well and truly here, no more eggs since the celebration one and there's not an egg in the house. Part of me thinks I'll give up eating eggs if I can't have them laid by our girls...
Omelette is a bit of a worry (when has she not been?) she's pretty lethargic and although eating and drinking, mostly just standing there, the way she stands reminds me of a staunch Winston Churchill so you have to imagine this big fat Churchill chicken with her head pulled in just standing there watching, it's a bit unnerving sometimes too. Her tail is droopy too, having looked online at various reasons for this (rat bite fever, broodiness, eggs stuck in the vent), I don't think any of these apply to her, she is such a worry. The gorgeous one and I think she's never quite got over being a battery hen, perhaps she was a bit too mentally scarred.
I was also worried about Mabel earlier too, she had "taken to her bed" and Yoko and Omelette were in the run despite the run being open. It is pretty windy today and the trees are making a bit of noise so maybe they don't like that too much, although having said that, they are all out now having some food and scratching around. Hopefully the sunshine will stay for the rest of the day so they can get a good stretch of their legs (and wings).
Omelette is a bit of a worry (when has she not been?) she's pretty lethargic and although eating and drinking, mostly just standing there, the way she stands reminds me of a staunch Winston Churchill so you have to imagine this big fat Churchill chicken with her head pulled in just standing there watching, it's a bit unnerving sometimes too. Her tail is droopy too, having looked online at various reasons for this (rat bite fever, broodiness, eggs stuck in the vent), I don't think any of these apply to her, she is such a worry. The gorgeous one and I think she's never quite got over being a battery hen, perhaps she was a bit too mentally scarred.
I was also worried about Mabel earlier too, she had "taken to her bed" and Yoko and Omelette were in the run despite the run being open. It is pretty windy today and the trees are making a bit of noise so maybe they don't like that too much, although having said that, they are all out now having some food and scratching around. Hopefully the sunshine will stay for the rest of the day so they can get a good stretch of their legs (and wings).
Thursday, 18 August 2011
Love's Great Adventure
So, I was just about to write a very disparaging blog about the girls and how they had no right to call themselves chickens anymore as they stopped laying eggs. The gorgeous one commented a few days ago about how we might have to actually BUY eggs, now surely that's like having a dog and barking yourself right?
Well, anyway I came home last night from a little celebratory drink with the northern bird (thanks hun, lovely food, bubbly and company) and the gorgeous one told me (you might want to sit down) that we'd had an egg!! I know, amazing. I'm hoping it'll be like waiting for a bus and that we'll get a flurry of eggs now, yes, I do realise that's a bit optimistic but I am a glass half full kind of girl.
Maybe it's a gift to celebrate that the gorgeous one asked me to be Mrs Gorgeous One...
Well, anyway I came home last night from a little celebratory drink with the northern bird (thanks hun, lovely food, bubbly and company) and the gorgeous one told me (you might want to sit down) that we'd had an egg!! I know, amazing. I'm hoping it'll be like waiting for a bus and that we'll get a flurry of eggs now, yes, I do realise that's a bit optimistic but I am a glass half full kind of girl.
Maybe it's a gift to celebrate that the gorgeous one asked me to be Mrs Gorgeous One...
Tuesday, 19 July 2011
Here without you
It seems that when we're away the girls think they can stop laying altogether, hardly any eggs were laid when we were at the wedding and on hols in New York. We think that they don't like to be kept in all the time and will only lay when they have good access to their run and are free to run about. They had free run all over the weekend and then yesterday morning and lo and behold we had a broken egg yesterday and a whole one today!
Friday, 24 June 2011
Saturday night's alright for fighting
Or even Thursday morning... The gorgeous one got up on Thursday and let the girls out as I was going to work from home so they could have a day out. Well, now that the birds (not the girls, other birds) have completely stripped the cherry tree of all its fruit the birds (again, other birds) have started to squabble amongst themselves for whatever is left ( not much). So on this particular morning there were two blackbirds fighting over a cherry and the girls were standing watching them fight. So now it seems we are hosting cage fighting in the back garden, I may have to start charging...
Thursday, 23 June 2011
Up the junction
So I've had this video on my phone for ages that I kept meaning to upload for you chicken fans so here it is. I have called this post Up The Junction, the gorgeous one doesn't think many people will get it, I told him that my chicken fans were smarter than he thinks... okay so the chicken fans in the US might not get it, but the rest will, I'm sure of it - I have faith in you all...
So, anyway here's the video. I made spaghetti and meatballs for the boy child and girl child and the girl child's friend who was here for a sleepover and we had some left over, so instead of chucking it in the bin I decided to chop it up and see if the girls liked it - I think you'll see that they did indeed like it. Now I'm not sure whether it's because they thought they were worms, or they truly did like the pasta tastiness but they scoffed the lot!!!
The following day I made a roast dinner (well, it was Sunday and I am a traditionalist at heart), we also had lots of veg left over (no potatoes or parsnips though, they're everybody's favourites)so the gorgeous one chucked it all in a bowl and gave it to the girls, they do indeed like a bowl of mushed up veg as well as spaghetti. I'm very pleased with that the girls are so into our leftovers as I hate wasting food, although to get treated like this all the time, they need to up the return somewhat, we get one egg a day now (if we're lucky) but the other day we did get 2 for the first time in months - so only one of them need to go in the pot.
I think we all know which one that will be...
Having some video challenges chicken fans, paste this URL into your browser to see the video...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqjSZnWYlqc
So, anyway here's the video. I made spaghetti and meatballs for the boy child and girl child and the girl child's friend who was here for a sleepover and we had some left over, so instead of chucking it in the bin I decided to chop it up and see if the girls liked it - I think you'll see that they did indeed like it. Now I'm not sure whether it's because they thought they were worms, or they truly did like the pasta tastiness but they scoffed the lot!!!
The following day I made a roast dinner (well, it was Sunday and I am a traditionalist at heart), we also had lots of veg left over (no potatoes or parsnips though, they're everybody's favourites)so the gorgeous one chucked it all in a bowl and gave it to the girls, they do indeed like a bowl of mushed up veg as well as spaghetti. I'm very pleased with that the girls are so into our leftovers as I hate wasting food, although to get treated like this all the time, they need to up the return somewhat, we get one egg a day now (if we're lucky) but the other day we did get 2 for the first time in months - so only one of them need to go in the pot.
I think we all know which one that will be...
Having some video challenges chicken fans, paste this URL into your browser to see the video...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqjSZnWYlqc
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