Louise's Chicken Diary

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Cheshire Chick
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Louise's Chicken Diary

Post by Cheshire Chick »

Hi everyone. I have been threatening to start a diary for a long time, so here we go. It all started about 5 years ago when I acquired a chicken coop from a friend. Had always wanted to keep chickens so did as much research and reading up as I could. I started with 3 warren girls (Mabel, Ruby and Dee). Unfortunately lost Mabel and Dee at about 18 months due to the dreaded EYP. We acquired a friend for Ruby, another Warren called Lily. Lily was just the best chicken ever, so friendly and full of character (that's why I love these brown hybrids so much, they have such wonderful personalities). We lost Ruby at nearly 4 years old and so that just left Lily on her own. We then got Mary to keep her company - We should have been getting 2 more but the lady that was looking after Lily while we were on holiday said Lily and just one of our intended new pullets got on while they ganged up on the other one. We lost Lily a year ago and got 2 more Warren Pullets (destined for the commercial industry).

So, we share our garden with the lovely Mary (who has just turned 2 years old) and Rose and Violet (who are nearly 12 months old).

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kitla
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Re: Louise's Chicken Diary

Post by kitla »

Hi Louise, & welcome Mary, Rose & Violet. We'd love to see some photos! Do you let them free range (not at the moment of course) Are any of them lap sitters?
"He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals."
--Immanuel Kant
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KarenE
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Re: Louise's Chicken Diary

Post by KarenE »

Hello Louise and great to see you've started your diary. I look forward to reading all about the adventures of Mary, Rose and Violet )t'

Enquiringly minds will want a full run down of the flock (who is top hen an all, etc etc) and of course it is OBLIGATORY to post pics :-D
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
Cheshire Chick
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Re: Louise's Chicken Diary

Post by Cheshire Chick »

Hello Karen and Kitty (and all). Thank you for the lovely welcome, much appreciated. Lily who we lost last year was our lap-sitter - she was so full of character and had to do absolutely everything with you. You could not bend down without her jumping onto your shoulder. Mary is certainly top hen now, but she has a lovely sweet nature and is very nice to the youngsters (after the horrible first integration bit - that we all know too well about). Violet is friendly and chatty but Rose is quite nervous even still. Their personalities are all so different, but the 3 of them are very sweet (just not really into cuddles). I will suss out asap about photographs as I know that I enjoy looking at all your photos so much and it's so nice to see other people's set ups. At the moment though it will not look too good with all this mud and depressing rainy weather. But it's home to my 3 ladies and I wouldn't be without them. :-D
amber66
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Re: Louise's Chicken Diary

Post by amber66 »

Hello Cheshire Chick, Mary Rose and Violet and welcome to the forum. I will look forward to reading all about your girls.
They are lovely people on here as you have no doubt already gathered.
Amber.
Cheshire Chick
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Re: Louise's Chicken Diary

Post by Cheshire Chick »

Hi Amber and thank you for your lovely welcome. Yes everyone does seem very nice on this forum and it is so nice to be able to communicate with "like-minded" people who love their animals. I have just been reading your diary and am very sorry to hear that you are having a hard time at the moment and I send my very best wishes to Lily for a speedy recovery. I know the feeling only too well, unfortunately. I have always had hybrids because I love their personalities and I feel that I am saving them from a life destined for the commercial industry. But with hybrids that are bred purely for egg production, there are a lot of things that can go wrong. I have broken my heart over my previous girls but at the end of the day, I gave them a good, albeit, short, life and I wouldn't have been without them for the world. Someone once said on this forum that the heartbreak is the price we have to pay for the enjoyment of keeping chickens. Hoping things get better for you soon.
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KarenE
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Re: Louise's Chicken Diary

Post by KarenE »

I think that's a lovely way of putting it. Those of us who consider chickens as pets certainly feel that way, and I have cried buckets over many of my girls.

For photos, you need a photobucket account. There's a post from Richard somewhere about how to do it. You definitely need to post photos to keep Sandy happy, she gets really quite twitchy if she doesn't get her fix :-D

Oh and I must warn you, there is one particular diary that the mummies and daddies of chickens are POSITIVELY BANNED from and we are not allowed to even look at it +f+ Of course we stick to this rule rigidly, and are absolutely 49% certain that the contributors of that particular diary also stick to their promise of never looking at our diaries. And if your girls should ever get their claws on any communications equipment, I'm sure they will be straight onto the henpals diary spilling stories and hatching plots. Coincidentally, my girls have been behaving very well since lockdown, with no disgraceful behaviour like knocking on cat flaps and invading the kitchen going on.
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
Cheshire Chick
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Re: Louise's Chicken Diary

Post by Cheshire Chick »

Thanks Karen, I am going to look into how to post photo's (photo bucket account) as you have advised. Glad your girls are behaving well. Mary, Rose and Violet are doing OK with lock-down as well. They are used to free ranging in the garden at the weekends, when we are with them. They know their routine (very clever these hens - they definitely know what they want!!) so have been shouting a bit on Saturday and Sunday. Apart from that, we are doing OK.
amber66
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Re: Louise's Chicken Diary

Post by amber66 »

Hello Cheshire chick.
Thank you for your reply.
You are right our girls are sometimes only with us for a short time, but the joy they bring is worth it, even though they break our hearts when they fly over the bridge or we have to make the choice for them.
I am torn what to do with Lily at the moment and i think it is one of the hardest decisions we have to make for our girls.
Looking forward to seeing some photos of your girls.
Amber.
Cheshire Chick
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Re: Louise's Chicken Diary

Post by Cheshire Chick »

Hello Amber (and everyone). It is horrible not knowing what to do for the best (been in this situation many times with chickens, cats and dogs). At the end of the day, we have to do what we feel is right for our animals and although a hard decision (so very heartbreaking I know) we have to put the animal first and do what we feel is right for them. Unfortunately, with these lovely girls there are lots of things that can go wrong with them. After losing my first girls I thought that's it, I can't go through that again and nearly gave up. But I think having them in my life has enriched my life so much (and theirs hopefully as they have had lots of love and happy lives). For me they take my mind off worries by just being able to go and talk to them and by looking after them and as I've found, they are VERY addictive. Do hope Lily goes on OK, but I know that whatever happens you will have done your very best and that's what counts. I am still struggling with the mud in the run at the moment. Mary, Rose and Violet don't seem to mind however and seem quite happy. They will have a mud break tomorrow (when I have to work all day) and for safety reasons I keep them locked in their coup - not ideal for them, but they still have room and I have peace of mind that they are safe.

I am trying to find out about how to put photo's on the forum. I know that Richard did write a link on the subject, but I can't seem to find it. If anyone could point me in the right direction, I would be most grateful. I know it's to be with Photo Bucket (but that's all I know!!). Nevermind I will learn as I go along (hopefully).

Would just like to say it is really nice to be able to "chat" to other people who enjoy the same things , i.e. these wonderful ladies and it will be so nice to share stories and knowledge with everyone. Just about to put the girls in now as off to work. Don't think they will mind too much as there's plenty of treats going, i.e meal worms, cabbage, tomato, apple and they've even got a bit of scrambled egg today. Yes they are spoilt, but they're worth it!
amber66
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Re: Louise's Chicken Diary

Post by amber66 »

Hello Cheshire chick.
With regard to the mud situation are you able to aquire one or two pallet boards and place these in the run. These will make a false floor and give your girls something to stand on out of the mud.
Amber.
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kitla
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Re: Louise's Chicken Diary

Post by kitla »

I cant find Richard's post about photos either, but I can tell you how I do it on my laptop. First make a free account with photobucket, (it helps if have an ad blocker as it stops most of the annoying pop ups on photobucket). I also have Paint.net set up on my laptop.
What I do is copy my photos onto my desktop, from there I use paint.net to resize them to about 500. Then I open my photobucket page & drag the pics in there. You dont have to use Paint, you can resize them in photobucket, I just didnt get on with doing it that way myself.
Once your photos uploaded & resized just click on the photo you want to use, to the right will be some boxes of codes, the bottom one is IMG, copy that code, and paste it on your down the lane posting where you want the photo to appear. Then preview your post & see if it's worked!
I hope that makes sense
"He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals."
--Immanuel Kant
HilierWard
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Re: Louise's Chicken Diary

Post by HilierWard »

Hi Louise, Mary, Rose and Violet!

Here's to many hours looking after, treating and spending time with your girls.

We had a lot of fun before the lockdown, raking leaves into piles around the garden, to have the chickies following me around destroying each of the piles in turn!

Whatever it is you're doing in the garden, you can guarantee they are always there "helping". +f+
Cheshire Chick
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Re: Louise's Chicken Diary

Post by Cheshire Chick »

Hi Amber, Kitty and HilierWard. Thanks Amber for that suggestion - the pallet idea is very good and worth a try. I am going to look out for a couple. It will also give them something to do/jump on. Thanks very much Kitty for those instructions. I am going to go through them step by step (with my husband because he knows more about these things) at the weekend. Hopefully that will result in me being able to post photos of Mary, Violet and Rose next week. Hi Hilier - Yes I think the girls miss destroying (I mean helping) in the garden at the moment with this lock-down. They are so inquisitive and I agree they just love doing everything with you. Hopefully we will all be back to normal sooner rather than later with these restrictions.
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KarenE
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Re: Louise's Chicken Diary

Post by KarenE »

Aha! I don't know where it lives officially, but here's Richard's post:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=46297

I agree with Kitty - resize your photos before youy load them into photobucket, as they load up quicker, and they are a swine to do in photobucket itself as it takes ages. I do mine in paint too. Resize, choose pixels and I generally go for 350/400 pixels or so wide or high depending on whether they are landscape or portrait. And 'save as' with a different filename in case something goes horribly wrong. Just a word of warning though, I am finding photbucket a bit temperamental at the moment so don't be too surprised if it seems slow to operate.

For the mud, have you got a solid roof on your run ie something to keep the rain out? That's the worst for mud. Also pallets and wood chips are good if you can get hold of some (not bark ones though) - sometimes local tree surgeons will drop of a load free, or let you scoop some up.

I've got a solid roof on mine (although the rain does come in hrough the side) and aubiose on the floor which works well. I had a girl with bumblefoot so I stopped using wood chips. I have branches and logs which they can also perch and jump around on - that might also be good to get them off the floor.

Have a look at Sandy's diary - her run is prone to waterlogging so she has to do lots to keep the mud and water under control. Might be some ideas there )t'
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

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