Rescued Hens

About a month ago a friend of mine gave a home to four rescued hens. They have been settling into their new home, and getting used to the garden. They are being very well cared for and are clearly happy because they have been laying eggs on most days.
Sadly one is being bullied by the others, and my friend has been giving her special treatment to make up for it. This is apparently normal behaviour, to have one that is picked on by the others.
They have a hen house with a bedroom.

They quickly learned to go up the ramp to sleep.

As soon as we went out into the garden they were quickly assembling ready to be fed.


Below is the one who is bullied, but she still managed to get enough food, and her extra treats ensures she continues to thrive. Her feathers are beginning to grow back quite well so all seems well.

The hen below looks very healthy and is the main bully.

They now have an outside pen and they really enjoy scratching about on what used to be a grassed area.

Although I enjoyed seeing them I'm not being tempted to get any for myself, but I'll happily use any spare eggs. I forgot to mention my friend is actually allergic to eggs!!

Archives:
2008: None
2007: Jonny did it
2006: Tyntesfield House

Are we fit for hibernation!!

Yesterday the tortoises were enjoying some September sunshine, as you can see from the photo below. This is a pose you've seen before and one of their favourite spots at this time of the year as they can catch the sun.....

Today they were being examined to make sure they are healthy....

They allowed their mouths to be inspected. All three were said to be in good health...

Then it was time to get them weighed........

Just to make sure they have gained enough to see them through their winter hibernation....

Finally they get measured....

All was well but they do get quite stressed being taken out of their home environment...how do I know...lets just say I had a lot of poopy newspaper to clear up...LOL

Archives:
2008: Booze'n'Book
2007: Witty Wednesday-20

Severnwye LLama Trekking in the Forest of Dean

Sam and Beccy organised an early birthday present for Embee today. We had a lovely time and although I'm feeling too tired to write much this evening I will leave you with a short video to show you a little of what we did.

Tomorrow we are going the Centreparcs(Longleat Forest Village) for the weekend so as we don't think there will be any internet connection I may not be back blogging until next week.

Archives:
2007: Fun Monday-28 + Fun Monday-28-Aprons

Topsy is home from the vets.

Some of you may remember this post when I showed you pictures of the tortoises just after they had come out of hibernation. At that time I was worried about Topsy's mouth infection. I tried to get her mouth clean and get her eating but it became evident that although she wanted to eat her mouth hurt so Embee took her into the vet on Tuesday last and she had a dose of antibiotics, some heat treatment and they allowed her home yesterday. Although her mouth is not completely healed we could not afford to run up a huge vet bill this year, just those few days set us back over £80, so I'm going to continue with twice daily warm baths, cleaning out her mouth and force feeding by hand.

Imagine my delight just now when I got her to eat about 7 peas (may not seem much but it is enough to keep her going). I put her back in the pen with the other two, and gave them some fresh lettuce, dandelions and apple and Topsy immediately started eating some of the lettuce so that is really good.
The trouble is the other two wouldn't leave her alone to feed in peace.
Fingers crossed she will keep improving from now on.

Archives:
2008: Rhubarb
2007: My Dilemma

Saturday Trivia # 2

Some more useless information I stumbled upon.

ANIMALS:

A hedgehog's heart beats 190 times a minute on average and drops to only 20 beats per minute during hibernation.

An average beaver can cut down two hundred trees a year.

An average pig squeals at a range from 100 to 115 decibels.

Average calories burned daily by the sled dogs running in Alaska's annual Iditarod race: 10,000.

Average number of eggs laid by the female American Oyster per year: 500 million. Usually only one oyster out of the bunch reaches maturity.

Average number of hummingbirds required to create the weight of 1 ounce: 18.

Average number of squirts from a cow's udder needed to yield a gallon of milk : 345.

Cats average 16 hours of sleep a day, more than any other mammal.


HUMANS:

During pregnancy, the average woman's uterus expands up to five hundred times its normal size.

Every square inch of the human body has an average of 32 million bacteria on it.

Humans shed about 600,000 particles of skin every hour - about 1.5 pounds a year. By 70 years of age, an average person will have lost 105 pounds of skin.

By age sixty, most people have lost half of their taste buds. (now I know why I can't have just one square of chocolate)

The brain is soft and gelatinous - its consistency is something between jelly and cooked pasta.

The largest cell in the human body is the female ovum, or egg cell. It is about 1/180 inch in diameter. The smallest cell in the human body is the male sperm. It takes about 175,000 sperm cells to weigh as much as a single egg cell.

The permanent teeth that erupt to replace their primary predecessors (baby teeth) are called succedaneous teeth.

There are 45 miles of nerves in the skin of a human being.

AND

The Neanderthal's brain was bigger than yours is.

Have a great weekend.

Archives:
2008: Thankful Thursday
2007: Before and After

Unusual Playmates!

I love Norbert Rosing's striking images of a wild polar bear meeting tethered huskies in the wilds of Canada's Hudson Bay. Thank you Daffy for sharing these with me. Take a look here for a short video which shows clearer pictures.







The photographer was sure that he was going to see the end of his dogs when the polar bear wandered in, but...

The Polar Bear apparently returned every night that week to play with the dogs.
I think these are amazing shots that Norbert Rosing captured, it must have been brilliant to see it close up.

Archives:
2008: Surprize!
2007: Gale Force Winds

What's not 'Fare'!!

On Tuesday I took my mother out to visit my brother who lives about 20 miles away. His neighbours have a smallholding and I have shown you pictures of some of their animals in the past. During the last year the couple who live there have purchased part of the field and extended the areas for the animal. They have also extended the house and intend to offer 'Bed and Breakfast'.
Now the point of this story is that this is where my Christmas turkey is running around getting fat. This is not a big enterprise as there are only four birds being reared and my brother will do all the necessary come the time (I won't go into detail in case you're squeamish!). I thought you might like to see some photos. When my brother called them they came running. I don't think they would be so happy if they knew what he had in store for them.
The sheep were mildly curious. Actually I think they were amused by me trying to climb over a stile.
The two Gloucestershire Old Spots were snug but they did venture out to see if we had brought any food.
This goat is kept by himself and I can tell you he was giving us the evil eye. I was waiting for him to charge but he just kept staring.
The rest of the goats came out see what we were doing on their territory.


What could be better than a virtually home reared bird, that has freedom and good food!

Archives:
December 7th 2006: Ronda