The residents of Featherend Cottage

[aceface]

what a bunch of cheeky little tikes those silkies have gotten Annie i have had a much needed gigggle about the last few days adventures in feather end cottage im thinking of fiddler and she is in my chickeny prayers for a good strong leg tomorrow

[Annie]

Thanks Ace, she just might need a chicken prayer. Her colour was still good today but she has spent a lot of the day sitting and resting and dozing and not looking as interested in life as the past few days. Hopefully just giving herself time to mend. I think I may let her have a different visitor tomorrow just for a change of company.

[Mrs B]

Just how many chickens do you have now Annie? I think we need to see more photos of your various runs and houses.

for fiddler.

[Annie]

Mrs B , I have 16 hens : 3 ex batts, 2 sussex, 2 cream egg bars,2 marans, 4 silkies, 1 araucana, 1 speckaldy, 1 pied/magpie/reverse sussex..........and a partridge in a pear tree.
I have 2 operational houses - 1- 6 x 4 plastic BQue shed, 1 small wooden one that Eck built but may replace that in the summer with a plastic something or other and also the original henhouse from ebaay which isn't used but will be the new hospital possibly but we need to section off the top of the garden where it is sitting to make it useable.
Can't put pics on here or any other thread till I get to grips with new pb/picasa etc.

Fiddler is now limping instead of hop stop hop stop so hoping that is an improvement !

[Annie]

Its taken so bloomin long to get to grips with photobucket that this pic is out of date but here it is any way.

Eggs from 3 of the new girls I hatched last year.
The brown one is Violet the marans , the white one with a hint of pink is from Gloria the sussex and the green one is from Minnie Haha the cream leg bar

[LittleBrownFrog]

They're pretty. Rosa, my Welsummer lays eggs similar to Violet. I love having a mixture on display.

[Benny&Co]

Wow Annie, what a gorgeous display of eggs you have there

The brown one is so very brown isn't it.

I'm starting to get egg colour envy seeing all these lovely different coloured eggies!

[aceface]

lovelt eggs annie i love the colour of the maran egg very chocolatley

[Annie]

22nd March

Oooh those silkies are in disgrace tonight .
When I went to do my lollipop shift this afternoon , I seperated the girls out into their right runs as I had decided they were not coming out into the garden again today as its so miserable for them anyway.
About 5.30 I took their dishes of warm mash and mealworms up to the runs, popped the dishes in to the big girls and nipped next door with the silkies supper.
What a mess , the normally neat and tidy girls had been in their wee coop and scratched and kicked and kicked and scratched until virtually all of their shavings were out of the pophole door and piled up outside the house.
Tough , you aren't getting clean ones until tomorrow - so I chucked it all back in again, muck and all and told them what a clatty bunch of horrors they were !
When I went up at 6.45 to shut the doors , even little Pinky was in the coop - she usually sits on the roof and likes to be lifted in but maybe she was worried about another lecture.

I think I have mastered P.B. so I am showing off now and posting another picture of my pretty eggs

[aceface]

ooh annie what little horrors those lovely silkie babies have been today ,i suppose its something i might get a taste of soon eh id better have a word and put my isabella wide to some of the naughty antics she will have to keep in check i can picture you now throwing all the mucky shavings back in ,i bet your name is mud in the coop tonight they will be hatching naughty plan ill bet

[Annie]

23rd March
Eck has been on chicken duty today, I woke with a right old thumping head and couldn't face all the bending down and cleaning out the houses but he is quite happy taking a turn at the weekends.
Well he must have spoken nicely to the girls as they have presented 13 eggs for us today, only 2 ex batts that have given up and 1 silkie egg missing - bet it was Pinky .
We have had company in the house for a few hours as Mary ex batt has been getting a warm and a rest in the rabbit hutch ( I have posted a seperate thread about that), doesnt she look happy ?

[aceface]

She gave herself a footbath too clever girl

[Annie]

I know Ace, not fully house trained yet

I do think the old ones do suffer with the cold just as much as the heat.

[sandy]

Beautiful basket of eggs, must catch up on Mary but I do love it when they just have to stand in a bowl be it water or food. Poor little Pinky she will be laying red eggs as her ears must be burning

[aceface]

i am so glad i had the tarp on the Walk-in-Run Annie to give my old girl some shelter the exbatts are so stick thin aswell under thier feathers i always give then something warm to eat and then put them in the coop with the light on as it warms them up a little before bed ,well i think so anyway ,Isabella and Dorey both sat on my lap today while i was in the run snuggled up Isabella nodded off for a few mins i think it was a bit of company for her too and the body heat ive missed them ever so much and it really bcked me up the fresh air and the sight of their eager little faces when i took the porridge out