Sandy's Pink Ladies

[Cheshire Chick]

So sorry to hear that you have had such a bad run of things Sandy. These chickens certainly know how to play on our emotions. Hoping that things improve for you.

[sandy]

Dear Haze

As Bob can witness she was eating well and plodding about slowly. I decided to take her to see Chris the vet to make doubly sure she was not suffering as she kept falling over and couldnt get up. I think Haze has had enough was his opinion, especially with the rat problem, it would leave her very vulnerable. The reason she could not get up was her muscle in her legs had totally gone and she had no 'meat' on her body at all. Yes I could keep her in a small space inside the house but Chris said that would not be fair on her so with a heavy heart I let her go.
I love all creatures but I felt such an annoyance the rats had contributed to her early exit, although Chris said she had days to go at the most, I have employed a rat catcher. The next morning a dying rat was behind the cube, by the time I got a box to take it up the vets it had died. I've also bartered with my cousin I will work some sundays for him if he will totally clear the compost heap, and when ratman finished seal all the rat poison filled holes. I attempted to mix Honeybun and the sparklies as Karen calls them. Honey chased a terrified Lottie who was panting fit to burst and Dottie and Honey tried to kill one another. Honey was so lost on her own, she would not leave me alone when I was in the run and howled constantly when I left. I was going to have my friend's spare hen but she would not let me unless I divided them for six weeks!
I had a plan last night I put up breeze blocks to block off any access to the holes behind the cube so I could pop the hen there but then Honey and she would still be alone , Honey is obviously a terror as the rat man asked to to lock her away when she began pecking his legs
This morning I went with the Blanche plan, 3 on 1, the 1 being the established girl, the 3 being youngsters. Off I went to Nibley where there were very few hens for sale. The rangers. amber stars, bluebelles etc would not be ready until thursday, they only had 3 cream legbars and 3 buff orpingtons. Now you cannot leave one of their girls alone so I opted for one of each…..
Amber it isn't Sally, fool that I am already had a Sally Ped
Audrey and Faye

Put them in, Honey came to me , went upto Audrey(the buff) leapt on her back , made a noise , jumped off and there you go , the fastest integration ever
Honeybun will be having to sort herself out now being a top hen an all!



Fay(who I am sure will get on a certain diary to say hi to Wiggy and Dorey) is very flighty but not a shrinking violet thank goodness. Didn't take too long to catch them tonight to pop them in cottage with Honey.
Meanwhile Hannah attempted a Psycho Olive pose

Nextdoors cats were up for play today
Sox

Pip

The only trouble with the newbies is that Lottie and Dottie have not shut up?

The pop duo Hanice


I have to say I have been feeling dreadful about Haze and of course poor lonely Honey although she had a lovely time meeting Bob


Hmmm very apt title
Bob lovely that you met the girlies and thankyou so so much for the lovely treats

[KarenE]

Lovely pics of Bob with the Hunnybunny And great news about your two new additions, although I see you have sneaked in a member of the Woo clan there! They are very flighty - Dory Grey still runs all over the place if startled - so you've been warned.

At least you're getting your rat problem sorted. I talked to my neighbour yesterday and it looks like we're sharing the rats - we think they are coming from his patio, running up the wall and coming into mine. Neither of us wants to use poison as we're afraid of both sets of chickens, his dogs and Marley eating the rats, as well as the red kites which are always round here. Marley went straight for the rat tunnel when she got into the run yesterday, and tried to stick her paw down it so I am hoping she continues where Jasper left off and sorts the problem out.

Mr Ped does like his white chickens doesn't he??

Onwards and upwards Sandy, it's a new Pink Flock.

[Cheshire Chick]

Lovely photo's. So nice that you have got 2 new girls - sounds like a marvellous integration!!

[Minxy]

[quote="sandy"]
Meanwhile Hannah attempted a Psycho Olive pose
[url=http://s730.photobucket.com/user/sandytoby/media/DSCN5603_zpsem7undyq.jpg.html]

I love this! That reminds me of the velociraptor scene in Jurassic World where the main character rescues a young help who fell in with them. As he finishes talking to him, he says, 'and never turn your back to the cage'. The young lad turns around to find one of the raptors staring at him, just like Hannah in this photo! Was she waiting on the chance of a tasty treat? :)

[amber66]

Hello Sandy.
So glad they have all settled so quickly. Do you think Honey could have a word with Pippa and tell her to get it sorted in double quick time.
Amber.

[sandy]

Amber I will hint at Honey to send a message on their forum to the naughty Pippa when she is not too tired spending all day telling everyone at the top of her voice she is the BOSS!
JUst a quick post with some piccies
Audrey and Fay

Audrey who has become very vocal

Fay, who is chirping quite a lot too


Lottie and Dottie still very vocal, Dottie continuing to lay an egg every other day

Honey's egg had a tin hole in it today so gave it ti them, Honey is making sure the others know it is all hers!



Peds in good form today..Nerys,Suzie and Duckhouse Cal


and with Fern and Hannah

After putting Audrey and Fay to bed in the cottage their first night was delighted to see they had put themselves to bed in the old girls 'bunks'.. so Honey has the cottage to herself yet again

[kitla]

ooh new girls! how did I miss that you had new girls? very lovely, I shall tell Bill.

[HenPen]

Oh Sandy, gosh you miss a bit of time Down the Lane and so much happens, doesn't it?

I am so sorry that you have had such an awful time recently, and I am really hoping this is the start of a new period of calm for the Pink Ladies and Pink Mummy - and the Peds.

Can't believe you have a Woo! That's wonderful. A few months ago I came down to visit my son, who is in your neck of the woods, and we went to the Swan at Nibley for lunch - so did a double-take when I saw you had got your new girls from Nibley.

One day I will come down for more than a flying visit to my son, and would love it if we could get together.

[KarenE]

Sandy, how are the girls settling in? I think we need a Woo update

[sandy]

The girls got clean sheets yesterday, blitzed the cottage,cube(which is still unused) and eglu. Henny disenfectant , splurges of DE and new bedding. While doing this I put Lottie and Dottie in the others girl's section and vice versa which really confused Audrey and Fay. Last visit from Russell the Ratman is due on tuesday, no sign of live or dead ones thank goodness, so cement will be ordered to fill up holes and remove all the bowls and rough stones I have put on the top. Not sure how to sort out the area behind the cube, used the expanding foam which I just know the girls will nibble at. The holes with my garlic planted are fine with garlic growing, should have stuck to that!
Audrey is getting very bold, coming up to me, eating out of my hand, but what a noise she makes, like a foghorn!

Audrey and Fay have definetly made the perch their bedroom but try and out do Laurel and Hardy getting there


The girls are muddling around together so well. Honey is a very inexperienced top hen and all, she gives Fay fairly hard pecks but Audrey gets a mimic of one, probably because Audrey is so much bigger than her. They all like their pomegranite

Fay's eggs are causing concern with customers, are they okay to eat? Do they taste different? When I pointed out they are in sayns berrys at a higher price I had takers for them..Honey has been laying either huge eggs or perfect eggs with tiny hole in the end so most of hers have been given back to the girls. Honey is of course coming to the end of her laying days lets hope all goes naturally and she just stops when she should

Why didn't you call Audrey Buffy asked my friend, hmmm that would have been good for a Buff Orpington. Dont expect I will have another one as it will be ex batties probably next time I add to the family.
Audrey

Fay worried me to death on friday morning breathing very hard, she does a lot of sneezing. I need frontline so will take Fay to vets tomorrow night and have her checked over and get the meds as I am 2 months over doing the girls already.

[KarenE]

I had exactly the same reaction when I sold Dory's eggs. People thought they were duck eggs, and surprisingly ended up not selling them when they found they were chicken eggs.

Did you take Fay Woo to the vets today?

[sandy]

Becky saw Fay Wray and fell in love with her. Seems she has Ruby's old problem, crop fine but a bit acidity which gives her a reflux. After she has eaten I notice she stands with eyes closed for a bit, dibbles and then is fine. Need to keep a close eye on her, not so bad to catch now, got quite nosey, not as nosey as Audrey who follows me about now. I was very cross with her on tuesday, Honeybun has a part bitten from the front of her comb which was bleeding badly and blood coming out of her mouth. On close inspection the blood was not from her mouth but the comb, cleaned it up and purpled it then for the test. Put down some corn but Honey seems still to be THAA as she pecked at Audrey who obeys but carries on anyway.

[sandy]

I wasn't happy with Fay so booked her into see Chris, as Becky suggested if she got any worse. He gave her 3 huge tablets ,ronaxan, half a tablet to be taken once a day. I am not sure if Fay knows she is supposed to be flighty and skittish because bless her when I cornered her she just gave up and let me pick her up. I broke the half a tablet in half again as they were mighty big! Bit of a struggle because of course i had to make sure her tongue was in the right position, just about to get the tablet in and she would push her tongue forward! Usually took about five minutes and after she just sat on my lap looking at me for a minute then bounced off to scratch about. I am surprised at how light and tiny she is, not had such a posh girl before I suppose. Last dose today which is lucky because this afternoon she put up one hell of a fight and pooed all over me.
I have started getting the girls diced brocolli, it is supposed to be a substitute for rice, they absolutely love it. The annoying news is after the initial distain of having blue eggs I now have customers wanting as many as I can give them but the meds Fay has had mean I cannot let anyone eat them for two weeks after her treatment, just typical!
Dottie is still mega broody, so vicious and so hot! I just let her get on with it, I do feel sorry for Lottie who has a few pecks on her comb when trying to climb over Dottie to get into bed!
Everyone has been fine, Peds went away for a few days so gave then clean bedding and sold their eggs to help towards the cost.
Fay and Audrey both come running to the door now with Honey and when I sit down they are around me which is nice. I know in the warmer months I am going to miss having 6 ginger ninjas all vying for my lap and legs so fingers crossed the new girlies will take their place.

[sandy]

Dottie is going for a record of broodiness but rather worryingly she seems to have a mole near her ear lobe

When she ventures out or I get her out she is fine in herself

Lottie is having her place to herself, she seems quite happy running up and down her garden attempting to grab what foilage she can reach through the wire. The only problem she has is trying to get into bed, Dottie is sitting in the middle of the eglu and poor Lottie has to get by a sqwacking bad tempered hen to get through to her perch

Fay finished her tablets last saturday and is so much better. Still have another week to go without being able to sell her lovely blue eggs which the girls don't mind, they had a six egg omelette today.



Fay and Honey have become unseperable, unless I go in the run as Honey still ants to follow me around chatting all the time, probably the reason for this is Audrey has become BROODY It is one thing lifting out a bantam from the nest but Audrey is BIG, she goes totally limp when I pop her down, I spend quite a few minutes holding her up until she 'finds her legs' and moves. Her broody noise are hysterical!


Honey is well Honey, lshe has turned into a very good if still a bit hesitant top hen and all. When motionless Audrey is placed on the floor, Honey gives her one little peck, unlike when poor Amanda-Jayne who had the others pecking her comb when she was broody.
Honey also loves the camera, didn't realise I had taken 101 photos the other day(don't worry only 13 on here)
Yesterday gave all the water containers a good scrub, managed to get an hour in the morning in with the girls and planted sweetcorn and courgettes , the girl's favourites, economising here
I will leave this post with my favourite raptor girl the Honeybun