Jack's 3 lovely girls.

[MissEllie]

Have a great first day of proper retirement jackian, just think of all those hours for chicken watching

[jackian]

Thank you ..i am so looking forward to it as although my girls have a good Walk-in-Run I do like them to be able to FR . They will be able to wander around our small garden more often .I will concentrate on the front garden ..The back is now rubbish
The one thing I have ready for the years ahead ,apart from having the chickens and 2 allotments I have joined up for beginners Spanish classes starting in Febuary. We usually go to Spain a couple of times a year and my Spanish is very , very , limited and I feel ashamed ..

[sandy]

You will soon wonder how you ever had time to go to work. Being on hand for the girls on unrestricted hours is heaven Oh and Buenos Tardes

[morbidia]

I'm too, I shouldn't moan though as I work forthe NHS and my annual leave amounts to 8 weeks a year so I can't complain, I also work 12hour shifts so this means I only work 3 days a week to make up my full time hours,so I also get to spend a lot of time chook watching, I can't wait for the nice weather to come back, enjoy your retirement I predict you are going to be busy

[sandy]

So glad Rosie is ok, I love it when they preen they are so meticulous aren't they?

[jackian]

January 8th Yesterday was a fairly uneventfull day although the girls did have more time out FR than they normally would have done. Poppy bless her 2 years old + now is just lovely she has finished moulting and has a fine new outfit ,her feathers being a lot fairer in colour and not so dark ginger.She keeps swishing her tail like a fan..just because she can I reckon as she had lost all her tail feathers..On the down side she has laid an egg for 18months or so without missing a day and the last couple of months she has laid rightly so every other day but her shells are so thin they are like rice paper.The egg today was broken in the nest box again where she had sat on it or it had dropped.She has not been eating it as the yolk is still intact ...Those I do manage to save I have to be so careful with as they only have to have slight pressure to break and as I have said before the white is odd it is frothy.I have tried everything ,extra protein ,recycled shells and limestone flour and nothing has changed.Clover and little Rosies eggs are fine.
It seems such a shame as she is well in herself and eating and drinking well.
Apart from that they are all fine and well and making the most of no rain although it is grim and grey.

[aishakali]

Have you tried adding some cod liver oil to their food? Its supposed to help the absorbtion of calcium. I just squirt some from a capsule onto their supper mash. Iv'e had a few softies but majority have been fine

[sandy]

Really there is not a lot you can do, as long as she is happy and healthy I am afraid it just happens with some older girls. I had it with Abbie for months and tried all the things I could but I think it is just the age thing

[Benny&Co]

Wishing you a very Happy Retirement Jackian, lovely pictures of your gorgeous little ladies. I love the ones of them in the blue pot and also the three of them perching together on the fence

[jackian]

I have not been here for a few days so a bit of a catch up! The first week of my retirement and I wish I had kept it a secret ... Everything that could go wrong did! My Dad of 87 lost his lady friend of 84 and so the week has been keeping him company and being there,my youngest daughter (all of 38 decided to ring me and tell me she was at thye hospital (home now) .
We are decorating a bedroom and I was all ready to go ..Where had he put the paintbrushes ?..one hour later found and so go to start to paint..we had brought the wrong paint Down to DIY to buy right paint ..2 hours.
Now for my lovely chickens.Poppy has been poorly so much so that it was the vets this morning .She had been not eating , and was hunched up by the patiuo doors for days and hardly moving .I had no confidence in vets but this young lady was astounding ..through check,weight everything and also crop etc., stroking her all the time and chatting to her after a second opinion thinks she has thebeginning maybe of peritinitus so we have Baytril for 7 days.Brought her home and she jumped out of the box and raced like road runner for food.then after 5 minutes was dustb athing ,something she has not bothered with,,you would not think it was the same chicken...Watch this space

Poppy reading the telegraph


It is Poppys Birthday ..well a year since she came to us so tiny that she slept under the tiny stool I had put there so she could climb the slope..She is sucha sweety ,even though she is bottom chick.2 weeks after we got her and her mate Eva ,Eva died and so for Rosie it was like a lone chicken joining two oldies.Although she will always be on the side lines and usually sleeps on her own she is a star ..don't tell the others shes my favourite.

I just love this picture of Rosie

[aceface]

lovely photos and enjoy your retirement and i have to agree unlimited hours are great with the hens really theraputic we are very lucky to have plenty of time to share with them ,i appreciate every minute i spend with t hem

[aishakali]

Just wish the weather was more clement

[s33xpt]

You will wonder when you ever had the time to work with all you have going on !! where do the days go
Happy Birthday Poppy , love the pic

[jackian]

January 14th It is a couple of days since i wrote anything on here mainly because it has been very non eventful except that Poppy is now bursting with health so it seems and since going to see my new found vet she has not looked back..My faith is restored as in the past I have not had good results from vets who did not seem to know a thing about them
Today of course like most of the country it has been snowing hard and the girls have been bemused by it all. At first they ventured out in it for a bit but when it got heavy they decided to stay in their run .Clover and Poppy we had last year in the snow but of course their memory is very short like mine and had not a clue.
Poppy and Rosie the snow did not really show up on them but on Clover it did and they had great pleasure in gently pecking it from Clovers back.
I tried to get a photo of them pecking the snow from her but they kept moving .So just one of clover.

I don't usually say a lot about clover as she is so laid back and just gets on with her life.She is my OH favourite as he says she is a lady.Her feathers are black with shades of blue and green running through them and she is just beautiful..
She is very well behaved and if there is any hanky panky it is never her that has started it.
Clover posing .

[aishakali]

She is very beautiful