Kuikentje's little chickens

[Kuikentje]

They are such pretty little lasses and coming on a treat . iv also notice mine dont like fresh peas either but will eat cooked or raw frozen ones. They should count themselves very honoured because i dont share pod peas with anybody, hubby says they are spoilt(he should know its mainly him doing the spoiling) Lindaxx

[Kuikentje]

My husband: "Where's the chicken?"
Me: "In the coffee shop, having a sleep."

The background to this: Bob - the sole survivor of 38,000 egg/meat machines from a battery farm that collapsed in the last heavy snowfall, has been adopted by the livery yard where I keep my pony - across the road from the egg factory. Poor boy's legs are so fat he can hardly walk, but he's getting the hang of it now. He probably thinks chickens are supposed to be indoors.

They do have a few other hens and a cockerel, so he's not alone.

[aceface]

I love these little banties they are a real bunch of pretty girls , great fliers aren't they our little banties mine fly high and quite a distance too a lot more flighty than my big girls but great personalities I love little dutch bantams they certainly do have such beautiful black eyes and very dainty beaks too I find ,my little pippy sings a lovely egg song before and after the deed

[ChickenCarol]

I have just caught up with your diary. I love your bantys. They have the same turquoise ears that my banty vorwerks have. Mine are really good fliers, high and far so I have a doulble layer of chicken wire over the top of my walk in run. if I ever get more girls in the future I would get some Dutch bantams, I think they are adorable.

[Kuikentje]

my little pippy sings a lovely egg song before and after the deed

I will look forward to mine doing that!

[Kuikentje]

Toaya I discovered that it is possible for a living creature to not like strawberries. Luckily I only wasted a couple. Sarah and Dot loved them, Lottie could take them or leave them, Alice and Ivy didn't care for them at all! Fascinating to find that even in the same family, as it were, they have different tastes.

(I'm still mostly identifying them by their leg rings)

[Kuikentje]

So after skulking in the shade all day, the girls were finally allowed back into their run because we were going out - the coop had been left open to air, and what did they do? Immediately found the hottest spot and started sunbathing!


Lemon Chicken (or Lottie and the Lemon Balm)


And one of my dog, because I don't know where else to put it, sucking her blanket - a habit she has when she's happy

[Linda S]

Lovely pics Jill thats interesting about your dog, we had Tia who sadly we lost at 2yrs old with kidney failure and she had a soft Elmo toy she used to suckle.
We thought it might be cause she was only 5days old when her mum died and she did it all her life, i had to mend it many times and we were going to get her a new one and then we lost her. My daughter still has a box with her stuff and that much loved and sucked Elmo in kept with her ashes Lindaxx

[Scrambled]

Love the photo of them sunbathing

[Kuikentje]

Yes, Linda S, we think Sally was probably separated from her mum too young as well. She was a stray and we got her via a rescue centre who'd found her wandering in a car park, so we'll never really know. She's 15 now so I don't think she'll be with us that much longer

[Linda S]

Aw bless her i remember seeing her pic earlier now, do her paws go when she suckle too. Tia did and i think had she lived it would have been a liftime thing like your lovely Sally Linda

PS.thought this was in diaries

[sandy]

Sally loos a lovely girl I just love the photo of the 2 young ladies with both their heads slightly turned as if saying, yes what can we do for you? Goodness is the chicken place still there? Sounds awlful

[Kuikentje]

No, Sally doesn't knead her paws like a cat when she sucks her blanket - what she does do is spend absolutely ages with using them and her muzzle to get the blanket to the exact shape she wants it before she starts sucking.

And yes, sadly the chicken place is going to be rebuilt.

[Kuikentje]

My girls have held up to the heat well, thank goodness. Better than I have, but then I can't go and find a tall plant to hide under or have a dust bath when I'm at work.

They are getting very talkative now. I had no idea how much chickens chatter. They have so many different sounds and they must all mean something, nice cute quiet little noises and hardly any clucking. They do cluck if something upsets them, like our old dog making a half-hearted run at them, and then they sound quite startled and indignant.

I have spotted a potential escape risk down at the bottom of the garden where our neighbour has erected some sheep netting to separate our gardens - I've never noticed it before but a hen could easily get through the mesh, and now they are getting so adventurous I will have to go out later and put something in front of it, because it can't be seen from up the garden so they could pop through without my noticing.

[chicks&cats]

I have loved reading your adventures with the chooks, what beautiful girls they all are and full of character by the sounds of it Everywhere is a potential escape route so I hope it's an easy job sorting the netting so it's hen proof. I didn't realise they would be so flighty, always learn something on here