Things are calming down a bit round here. I've spent quite a bit of time over the weekend in the run with the girls, who continue to scratch about quite happily, apart from Chestnut who is increasingly desperate to get out. In fact she & Tiddly broke out on Sunday but Tiddly went back in of her own accord!! Chestnut had to be enticed in with mealworms. Dory Grey was too busy chasing something round the run to notice freedom. Tomorrow I'm going to dig the run over again as it's hardened and they love digging around in it when its freshly turned over.
We had sweetcorn lollipops and a big tomato lollipop, so we all seemed happy enough. Plus the remains of the cabbage are still kicking about.
Worming has finished (but there was no let up on treats, all very naughty I lknow) and I can't wait for the 28th as I'm in a safe zone so the girls are going out. No water or waterbirds near our garden so happy days! I will film it - great idea from Kitla there.
Now our little kitty girl is settling in nicely, although it's a slow process to get her to completely relax and trust us. This is Marley:
She still hasn't been out yet -s she's so skittish I don't want to risk her running off. God knows how she'll react to the chickens!
I got some lovely shots of the girls, will put them up next week as I need to do some work on them before I can post them up and I'm not going to be around much for the rest of the week, as am off to Copenhagen!
Karen Alpha chick to: Smudge, Matisse and Bluebell
Chief servant to Marley the cat
Remembering Weeps, Rexie, Sage, Cassie, Toffee, Captain Gabby, Commander Nugget, Ronnie, Juno, Special Poetry and Reading Casper, Tigger, Tophenanall Rembrandt, Chestnut, Tiddly, Willow, Mango, Coco, Dorian Grey and Pokey.
Also my lost furries Charlie and Jasper
Marley is gorgeous, lovely photo's. She will get there in the end, it all just takes time. She's a lucky girl now to have a nice new forever home and I can't see her being a problem around the girls. We have 3 cats and they don't bother in the least. In fact they are used to all the neighbourhood cats and we have never had a problem. I to will be able to let my girls out soon as I am not in a high risk area - so weekend freedom will be resumed. Have a good trip.
I'm a newbie to this forum but have already enjoyed reading some of your posts. You describe the antics of your feathered and furry friends in such a charismatic way it makes you want to read more. Love your new mog and sad to hear of the loss of your previous one.
Girls are beyond happy now they are out. And I have prrof that chickens have memories at least up to 3 months because what did they do literally less than 5 mins of gaining freedom? Here is their very busy itinerary:
1. Eat grass for a minute 2. Bother mum for treats for another minute 3. Eat more grass for another minute, chucking happily all the time Head down to the cat flap and spend the next 5 hours banging on the cat flap!
I have very single minded chickens. All 3 of them are now knocking on the cat flap at the same time so Tiddly has obviously been holding lessons during captivity. And yes, I did get a video so will post up as soon as I can.
Marley is settling down nicely although we did have a hiccup yesterday when I put a collar and name tag on her. Not happy. I want to get her out today and I am very aprehensive about this as she is still very easily startled, and I worry she might run away.
Karen Alpha chick to: Smudge, Matisse and Bluebell
Chief servant to Marley the cat
Remembering Weeps, Rexie, Sage, Cassie, Toffee, Captain Gabby, Commander Nugget, Ronnie, Juno, Special Poetry and Reading Casper, Tigger, Tophenanall Rembrandt, Chestnut, Tiddly, Willow, Mango, Coco, Dorian Grey and Pokey.
Also my lost furries Charlie and Jasper
Marley is absoltuely gorgeous It is always stressful letting them out for the first time, hope all goes well Please thank Dory,Tiddly and Chestnut for giving me a good chuckle
The Pink Ladies..Audrey,Ingrid-Bergman,Madeleline,Norma-Jean,Dora,Janice,Jo,Robyn,Chrissy and Joyce The Peds…Mork,Mindy,Bell,Saphire &
Vorky ,Blueped,Ginger,Ninger &Linky Sunny Clucker was ere July 12-21 2012
Sunny Clucker was ere July 6 2016 to Sept 9th 2017
Sunny Clucker is here , rehomed Aug 18th 2018/
Well what a fun packed weekend its been so far! It was such a nice day yesterday I set about clearning out my shed and greenhouse ready for spring sowing. Doris took off the roof felt from my shed when she hit so it's letting in water. Hubby's going to do repairs when the weather's better but in the meantime everything's had to be moved out and into the greenhouse.
And with it being lovely and sunny yesterday it was a perfect day to get Marley out. She had to be enticed out with treats, and then very carefully inspected the garden, staying very VERY well clear of the run - I hadn't let the girls out as thought it would be too much for all of them. They weren't happy, and neither was Marley.
She stuck quite close to me but had a good old rake around, did a bit of dustbathing (!!!) where Jasper used to like to sit, and then ran around for a bit chasing leaves and whatever. When I came back in, she followed me back and then went upstairs for a sleep - obviously exhausted from her adventures! What a good girl. Got a video of her playing in the garden which again I'll post up if I can.
Once Marley was in, the girls came out Christmas has come again for them lately - they are out, and we found an old panettone that someone gave to us, which we don't really like, so they've been getting that.
Marley is obviosuly feeling far more settled, she spent yesterday evening jumping up onto the sofa to sit with us, which is brilliant. Today she's been out again and is far more confident, has been climbing the trees, inspecting the girls (again they stayed in the run) and chasing around the garden. She even hopped the fence at one stage and disappeared. I had to go up & down our laneway calling for her and she eventualy popped out of a patch of scrub, walked ahead of me up the lane and ducked back into the garden under the gate - just like Jaspy used to! Clever girl. Again she's spark out on her bed upstairs.
Good job she's out - we have a rat in the run and it was out in broad daylight the other day. Jasper would've had it straight away. Marley looks like she may be another hunter but I'm not sure how she'd feel about a big fat rat. There's a trap set on the roof for it, baited with peanut butter (if I put it on the floor Tiddly gets her beak into it and I don't want it to snap her beak off) but so far no rat. Damn things.
Just got to teach Marley how to use the cat flap now
Brought Jasper home today - we're not sure where we'll put him, will have to have a think about it
Got lots of pics of Marley today and the girls. Will post up when I can
Karen Alpha chick to: Smudge, Matisse and Bluebell
Chief servant to Marley the cat
Remembering Weeps, Rexie, Sage, Cassie, Toffee, Captain Gabby, Commander Nugget, Ronnie, Juno, Special Poetry and Reading Casper, Tigger, Tophenanall Rembrandt, Chestnut, Tiddly, Willow, Mango, Coco, Dorian Grey and Pokey.
Also my lost furries Charlie and Jasper
Hi Karen - It sounds like everyone is doing so well, especially Marley and it sounds like you have had a good, busy weekend. Marley is doing so well by the sound of things. When I first got my chickens one of my cats (he's very nervous and very gentle) ran down the garden to look at them. They made a noise and he ran back in the house and wouldn't come out again for 3 days!!
Marley, like the girls, is enjoying her freedom and in fact has turned into quite the dirty stop out. Possibly because she seems to have forgotten how the cat flap works, or possibly because she can't use it during the day because a row of chickens is busy rapping on it ALL the LIVELONG DAY!!!
Marley is feeling much more at home. She comes in the garden when called, has taken to snoozing next to me on the sofa in the evening and still hates hubby
This weekend, she came face to face with the girls (as opposed to through the wire) and at first looked like she'd charge them but has quickly figured out they are not for messing with - even Dory Grey has been giving her the evil eye, clearly she has no intention of letting Marley intimidate her all over the garden like Jasper did. Chestnut has been very solicitious of Dory today, even going back and fetching her and bringing her safely past the lurking Marley. How sweet is that??! Tiddly is left to fend for herself - when she can tear herself away from the cat flap - but really she needs little protection as she is a holy terror.
Bumper treat day for the girls today as they had two pies. Yes, pies. If you go to Morrisons around 6.30/7pm on a Saturday night, you can pick up all sorts of bargains including from their bakery and deli and we quite often pick up a couple of pies for around 30-60p. We had a couple of chicken pies from a week or so ago and hadn't eaten them, so the insides were scraped out and given to Marley, and the girls had the crusts. I mean, we're not animals - we wouldn't given them the chicken bits! I guess this means they'll be at the cat flap even more... possibly we haven't thought this through...
Karen Alpha chick to: Smudge, Matisse and Bluebell
Chief servant to Marley the cat
Remembering Weeps, Rexie, Sage, Cassie, Toffee, Captain Gabby, Commander Nugget, Ronnie, Juno, Special Poetry and Reading Casper, Tigger, Tophenanall Rembrandt, Chestnut, Tiddly, Willow, Mango, Coco, Dorian Grey and Pokey.
Also my lost furries Charlie and Jasper
Glad that everyone is doing well and that Marley is settling in. Gosh it sounds as though they have all been very spoilt with the pies. We let our newest member of the family out on Saturday (our stray cat that my husband brought home). Our cats are house cats as we live on an awfully busy road and have accidents before. So when we are out in the garden we let the cats out with us. The new cat went down the see the chickens and seemed quite interested in them. The chickens however started to create as they had not seem him before. It was amazing as they know our other 2 cats and all the neighbourhood cats, but knew that he was a different new cat. I said to my husband whoever said chickens are not clever have obviously never kept them before.
Things have been quite normal lately so nothing much to report here Marley has settled in nicely, is pottering around the garden and is using the cat flap quite happily. We might get a chipped one next as she seems better without the magnet on her collar (we think it being pulled down by the magnet was scaring her) so we have to have a magnet stuck on the cat flap entrance, which means the local bully cat is also able to come and go and had to be chased out from under the bed the other night at about 3am!
The girls are very happy with their new treat tub of mealworms and sunflower seeds, courtesy of their Uncle Bob They haven't met Brown Bok (BB) yet but once I've charged up my phone for photos we can do introductions. I am hoping it won't take long, she shouldn't put up much of a fight!
Tiddly has become quite cuddly lately and has taken to siting and snoozing on my knee for around 10 or 20 mins or so, which frankly is ages for her as she's usually rushing around and tapping on things. Obviously it's very nice to have a lap sitter again! I keep thinking Chestnut might turn into one as she likes to come along and have a good old beak wipe on me, but whenever I've picked her up and put her on my knee she has not been pleased. Haven't even tried with Dory Grey, there's no telling what flap she'd get herself into!
Dory has been fussing in & out of the nestbox all day. I imagine she is laying an egg, must go and check!
Karen Alpha chick to: Smudge, Matisse and Bluebell
Chief servant to Marley the cat
Remembering Weeps, Rexie, Sage, Cassie, Toffee, Captain Gabby, Commander Nugget, Ronnie, Juno, Special Poetry and Reading Casper, Tigger, Tophenanall Rembrandt, Chestnut, Tiddly, Willow, Mango, Coco, Dorian Grey and Pokey.
Also my lost furries Charlie and Jasper
It is always stressful letting them out for the first time, hope all goes well 
and disappeared. I had to go up & down our laneway calling for her and she eventualy popped out of a patch of scrub, walked ahead of me up the lane and ducked back into the garden under the gate - just like Jaspy used to! Clever girl. Again she's spark out on her bed upstairs.
