The antibiotics seem to be doing their thing and Angel doesn't seem to have been wheezing the last couple of times I've had a chance to check but I'll keep it up for a couple more days to cover any possible stress caused by builders in the garden. I've been lacing their food and soaking treats in it...

Hello Henpals, Phoebe checking in from the House of Minicha. This is my first post since Rainbow fell off the perch onto her face and didn't get up again as I have been very busy learning how to be top hen. However as I'm a very new and inexperienced top hen, and only top hen over Angel which mostly...

My bantams aren't doing so well, what with the sneezing in the autumn then one dying suddenly and now one wheezing so they're on antibiotics again. It can't help that it's just the two of them in the coop now so not much heat being generated from snuggling. I'm mostly just keeping my fingers crossed...

I'm rather worried about Angel. She's acting normally and her eyes, nostrils and the thing inside her beak that I can't remember the name of are all clear but if I hold her up and listen carefully she sounds as if she's a bit wheezy so the upshot is that they're back on antibiotics again. I hope she...

Have you seen the Eglu Go Up which is a small eglu but on wheels like the cube one? It would be easy to move and you (or OH) would never have to clean the run just rake up the grass when you'd moved it. Plus the house is raised so easier to clean out when you're feeling below par and should be no ra...

Interesting method in that recipe, I might give it a try. My OH got oranges intending to juice them but then realised they were Seville ones so I shall be making some marmalade with them instead. You can make sweet marmalades too Mo, I've used sweet satsumas before and the bonus is that you can redu...

So sorry to hear that. It's such a shock when they haven't even seemed ill Hope the rest of your flock are all OK.

I can't actually get near enough to Phoebe to see if she'll squat for me Got home after the girls had gone into the coop yesterday but they were still chatting so I rushed to get them some mixed corn for their supper and took it to the coop. I was going to let them eat in bed (more than I'd ever let...

I always thought it was dry cat food that was being recommended for protein as that has a much higher percentage than the tinned.

Phoebe's comb has been quite red for a while now but it still looks small, although I think the fully grown rose comb is pretty small anyway. (I think Rainbow's comb might have been slightly bigger but as she was black it was black rather than red so hard to tell.) Angel still has a teeny little pin...

It's very quiet when I go out to see the girls now, Rainbow was always the vocal one, shouting when food arrived or leading the others in sounding the alarm when she spotted a cat or noisy child. It's also very dark in their run as I've draped a sheet of astroturf stuff over the coop end of the ark ...

Thank you everyone. Phoebe and Angel still seem to be fine so far fingers very firmly so maybe poor Rainbow was just weak in some way and the cold hastened whatever it was. Just so sad that she was only 6 months old I shall look for a good photo or two for her Rainbow Bridge entry. And condolences t...

The only thing I've watched over Christmas was Dr Who and that was a bit of a let down as my son who usually enjoys it with me had retired to bed with the lurgy, as had DD2, and my OH had gone home to feed his cats by then and my Mum doesn't watch TV so it was just me on the sofa on my own!

So what's the problem with leg rings? It's just like wearing a bracelet or whatever isn't it? I can't think of any other painless way of marking them.

Had a bit of a lie-in this morning and when I took their food out I found Rainbow lying face down in their run as if she'd fallen head first from the perching branch. Last night when I checked on them she was asleep in the middle of the "hall" part of the coop so I picked her up and popped...