New arrivals ...and new friends

You know when you really seem to click with someone online, but wonder if you would really get on with them in 'real life'? Are we seeing the real person in online posts or just a false persona? After all it is often easier to find the right words to say when you are not face to face with someone.

Well the time had come to drive up to Yorkshire to visit my Twitter friend 'spicycauldron' and collect some cockerels from him & yes I was feeling a little nervous about meeting him in the flesh. I so wanted to feel the same warmth towards him in real life as I do online. I also wanted him to feel comfortable that I was going to give his boys a good home as I knew he had put a lot of himself in terms of love and care into rearing them & would miss them dearly once they'd gone. You know, I needn't have worried. Andy is just as nice in real life as 'spicycauldron' is online! I got on as much as I hoped I would both with him & with his partner David. They made hubby & I feel so welcome & at ease & were just the nicest people to sit & natter to.

Andy is what I call a proper animal lover, in tune with the needs of his animals & giving them the absolute best in care & attention. Anyone who knows hens will understand what I mean when I say that happy hens sing. They don't make the usual clucking or more agitated bwuck - buck- buck noise, they sing gently & contentedly, almost purring like cats. And they will happily gather around your feet to tell you about their day & give you the latest coop gossip. Andy's hens sing. Andy's hens clearly enjoy his company. He has an amazing empathy with them - a definite chicken whisperer!

As soon as I met the boys I was in love with them! I was so excited! I had to stop myself from literally jumping up & down with joy out of respect for Andy's feelings, because I knew how much of a wrench it was going to be for him when I left with them. Unfortunately he's not able to keep cockerels where he lives & he had a high ratio of boys from the batch of eggs he hatched. However, things have turned out OK really. He has enjoyed the magic of seeing them hatch & grow to 14 weeks old & although he has had to say goodbye to them now, they have found a good home with me & I will be able to keep Andy posted as they continue to grow & develop.

So after a very enjoyable visit it was time to pop the boys into their carriers & drive home with them. They were incredibly calm on the journey, perhaps because it was getting dark by this time. Hubby & I chatted to them as we whizzed down the motorways & they would talk back to us in a sleepy kind of way to let us know they were OK. When we arrived back home it was simply a case of popping them into the hen house in the darkness & leaving well alone. I didn't sleep much at all that night - I just couldn't wait for morning to let them out & see how they reacted to their new companions & their new surroundings. Despite the fact that the weather was miserable for their first day, with heavy rain sweeping across our little field, the four cockerels were soon out with the hens looking as if they were very much part of the gang. That first day the hens were quite raucous & behaved like little tarts around the handsome new boys, showing off & ruffling up their feathery skirts. Some of the older hens gave them the odd quick peck every once in a while just to remind them of their place as newcomers & Pop the gander made sure to 'introduce' himself & make it very clear that he was the top bird around the field! But other than that the young cockerels have been accepted very well. They have done remarkably well to cope with not only new surroundings, but new creatures in our geese, ducks & goats. That I'm sure is down to the confidence of having been raised so well that they have no reason to feel anything other than safe & secure in this world.

Now for introductions:

In the top photo is Merlin, a Copper Blue Maran. He seems to have taken to me the most at the moment. It's funny how you often develop a particularly strong bond with some birds.
Middle is the delightful Mr Dorking, a Silver Dorking, who was probably the most attached to Andy of the four & the one I felt would need the most TLC in his new surroundings. However, he is doing very well & is perhaps the most confident of the boys. Also perhaps the most popular with the ladies! He already seems to have acquired a group of admirers amongst the hens.

Bottom are Spicy (named after Andy, of course!) & Snapdragon, both Welsummers who, although not joined at the hip, do seem to pretty much stick together & are quite comical chaps - a comedy double act you might say!

All four are already quite stunning birds, but when they are fully grown they are just going to be magnificent. None are crowing yet. I can't wait to hear that wonderful noise again. It's one of my favourite sounds of the countryside - so vital & life affirming. Ask me again after the four of them find their voices & start crowing early in the morning & I'll tell you if I still feel the same!

So my advice is, if you feel you get on particularly well with someone online & get the opportunity to meet up with them then be brave & give it a go (in safety of course). You may well be as pleasantly surprised as I was & find you really do have a friend in that person. I'll be eternally grateful to the forces that be for bringing Andy into my life. We have arranged to meet up again early next year, when he will hopefully be collecting one or two of the blue silkies in return.

Talking of which, to finish here's a recent picture of the little chicklets, growing up big, strong & healthy. :oD

Especially for Max....

Here's a little clip of Big Cheese, my now grown up, magnificent Muscovy drake. See how he wags his tail as he enjoys rooting about in the mud & then raises his quiff when the hens come too close! The other duck in the clip is my sweet Cherry Pie.

It was the Muscovy ducklings that began my Blog adventure. Since then we have had lots of new arrivals, but my Muscovies will always be very, very special to me :oD

A quick peek at the new arrivals!

Aren't they handsome? Can't wait to tell you about them!

Guilt free snacking!

I've found a great way to enjoy healthy snacks & avoid the evil temptation of the chocolate & crisps in the tuck box at work. The lovely people at http://www.graze.com/ have given me a code so that friends can enjoy one box free & another 1/2 price, so I thought I'd share it with you -

N4K6Y62N

Someone gave me a similar code & I enjoyed my first graze box today :-D

As an added bonus for each one of you who take up the offer I get to donate £1 to the Rainforest Alliance!

HAPPY SNACKING!!

Full of beans!

Things have been hassle, hassle here. We have a leak in the house so it's been a case of painful, long winded communications with the insurance company & plumbers. We have bits carved out of various walls & still no-one seems to agree the cause of the leak. Hey ho! In the meantime the clocks have gone back which means that everything has to be done in a rush before it gets dark. Maybe because of the hassle or just because of the time of year my fibromyalgia symptoms have been niggling away at me. In all of this pickle I have had to put off meeting up with Mum for one of our famous trips to Webbs of Wychbold (you know - one of those lovely shopping trips that involves lots of nattering & not just lunch, but afternoon coffee & cakes too!) So you might expect me to be feeling a little down in the mouth.

Not when I've got this little bunch of munchkins to watch over! Their playfulness & cheekiness makes me grin from ear to ear. So if I share with you I hope you will grin too!

I have discovered that they do love a treat of salad leaves fresh from the garden, but although I toss in plenty to go around they always want the bit the other one's got. One little fellow will grab a leaf & run off triumphant, but just when it thinks it can savour the treat in peace another chick will pop up & literally whip it from it's beak! It does make me chuckle. Some are finding their wings & manage to flit up onto the edge of their enclosure, wait just a moment & then dive bomb some unsuspecting brooder mate, seemingly relishing their startled reaction! They really do seem to have a sense of fun & mischief.
If that doesn't make me smile I only have to look at the little Silkies who have grown little fluffy pom-pom tails that they seem able to wag at will just like little puppy dogs. It is starting to bring their cute little character's to life.
If I'm feeling particularly out of sorts I only have to pick up my special Big Bird & that quizzical, trusting look he fixes me with just completely melts me. I'm particularly fond of him, & if I am right & he is indeed a cockerel I hope he will maintain he's sweet nature. He's a total darling!

In this picture is my little angel's gift Cassie (top), a reminder of how I am blessed to have her here on this earth. Below is one of the Polish bantams who have the frizzle feathers. Hubby unkindly says that they look as if they've swallowed a hand grenade. I, of course, think they look adorable.

Are you grinning yet?

There is nothing quite like spending time in the company of baby creatures to revive & revitalise you. It somehow makes you remember what it is to see the world through the eye's of a child - the wonderment of it all & the pleasure to be found in little things like kicking through piles of scrunchy autumn leaves or searching for prize conkers. It's just magical!

The house will get fixed up, I will manage to catch up with mum & in the meantime it's this weekend we are due to go & collect some cockerels for our big girls from my lovely Twitter friend. I am so excited! It's not been the same around the hen house since Rodney, our bantam cockerel, passed away. Oh & then it's time to carve the pumpkin & light the candles for Halloween. And in case hubby reads this blog I'm sure I don't have to remind him it's our wedding anniversary on Sunday ;-) I'm a big silly goose for allowing myself to get stressed even for one little minute. Life is definitely too short to waste a single moment that could be filled with happy thoughts or actions!

Besotted with my bantams already!

Above is an up to date pic of my little chicks - growing fast & feathering quickly. They are all very cute, but it's the little Polish bantams that have completely stolen my heart. They are very inquisitive, friendly, cheery little souls & of all 3 breeds are the ones who seem to really love my company. When I climb into the pen with them it is always the Polish who are first to come & see me. Here are the 2 with frizzle feathers (who are now named Bonkers & Conkers!), together with Big Bird (right of pic) at my knees. Big Bird will happily hop onto my knee for a cuddle & a gossip about what they have been up to all day, which is mostly playing like little imps, chucking as much food around as possible & getting as much sawdust into their water as possible. Little monkeys!



Here's Big Bird telling me all the day's news:



See how much he's grown since my previous picture of him:

I'm pretty sure he's a cockerel, which is fine as I'm OK to keep them here. Good job too as I've become very attached to him & to our daily chats.

All 3 breeds get on very well together & are at their cutest when they sleep together in a chick bundle, heads against one another, all breathing in unison & no doubt dreaming pleasant little fluffy chick dreams.

In the middle of this Silkie bundle is the amazing little Cassie, it's hard to believe she was at death's door last week:



The 2 Porcelain Barbu D'Uccle bantam chicks are by far the prettiest, with feathers of the palest dove grey & cute feathered boots growing in. They are the most skittish of the breeds, but calm quickly once I have them in my hand & then sing to me in the sweetest of chick twitterings. I can't work out if they are hens or cockerels, but they both look alike whichever sex they are.

The 6 Blue silkies are just bundles of fluffy gorgeousness! They have yet to really develop little individual personalities, so at the moment it's very much the bantams that are my favourites. (Although of course I wouldn't tell the Silkies that for fear of hurting their feelings!)

I'm incredibly clucky over my brood & watch over them proudly as day by day they grow bigger & stronger.

Someone else I feel clucky over is my lovely hen Jess (if you remember she was the poor little ex battery girls who was bullied & injured). I haven't mentioned her for a while, so here is a happy snap of her (left) alongside fellow ex-batt Kitty with the floppy comb. All my ex-battery girls are looking splendid now with a new set of feathers following their moult. No more bald patches! Hurray! The rescued Mallards haven't visited our little field for a few days now, but in the evening you can hear ducks quacking loudly down on the Wildlife Trust reservoir & I smile to myself knowing that it is our little rescued friends I can hear.

So after a few upsets last week, Mother Hen is happy clucky again & all is well in our feathery world :oD

Some sad news ... and a little miracle

Well despite feeling under the weather with a cold & hacking cough I took perfect care of my lovely little chicks like a proud Mother hen & they seemed to flourish. By their 1st week birthday I felt sure they would all survive into adulthood. But I learnt a lesson in how fragile they can be the hard way. For no apparent reason we lost 2 of the Porcelain D'Uccle bantam chicks. It was absolutely heart breaking. Because I incubated the eggs & saw them hatch out I just felt so responsible, despite having been told to expect to lose a couple along the way. It really was a wretched experience. Of the 3 sets of eggs they did have the lowest hatch rate with only 4 out of 6 chicks emerging. The eggs were muddy when they arrived via the post, but as per the seller's instructions I didn't wash them. I'm wondering if the chicks were maybe weak because of dirt/bacteria entering the shell. I just don't know & no matter how much I wish it was possible I can't bring them back. On an even sadder note Beaky, the first chick to hatch, was one of the 2 we lost. Why, oh why? However, on a more positive note the remaining 2 D'Uccles seem to be healthy & are growing to be very pretty little things.

By Thursday my awful cough had brought on my CFS / Fibromyalgia so I was feeling quite miserable, but to sit & watch the remaining chicks playing, squabbling & learning together would instantly bring a huge beaming smile to my face. On Friday morning I checked in on them at about 7am & I didn't notice anything wrong at that point. I took out their water container & filled it with fresh water. In the time it took me to do that & take it back to the chicks one of my little Chamois Polish Frizzles was laid prostrate & motionless in the sawdust, away from the main huddle of chicks. Instantly my heart fell. I touched it's little body & it felt cold. I just felt desperate. Not another one! I couldn't bear losing another little life. I gently picked it up & held it's completely limp & lifeless body in the palm of my hand high up under the heat lamp & gently massaged it's back. It was barely alive. It's beak opened & closed helplessly. I just wanted to give it a peaceful exit from the world so I kept gently stroking it. I whispered a prayer to the angels to draw close to my little chick. Youngest son came to find out where I was & I explained that I thought we were losing it. As I spoke it became completely motionless & choking back the tears I told youngest that I thought it's life had slipped away. But something made me keep rubbing it's back as if I could somehow bring warmth back to it's body again. I can't explain why. Something told me not to stop, not to let my little chick go. To my utter amazement it made a small movement! It was still with us! I told youngest that I needed to stay with the chick & so to just carry on getting ready for school without me. I summoned up all the love in my heart & breathed it into the little chick's feathers & just kept on rubbing & rubbing the warmth back into it. Slowly but surely life crept back into it's body. I could tangibly feel it, but it was still so limp that I really had to tell myself not to build up my hopes. But again, something drew me on. As limp as it was I gently placed it's beak into water & incredibly it took a little sip. Then I dared to believe that there was hope. It managed another little sip & then I went back to massaging it, holding it safely against my chest so that my own body heat would warm it. I now had a dilemma. Although I had already informed the office that I wouldn't be at work because I felt so poorly I had youngest son to get to school. What was I to do? I couldn't put the little fellow back amongst the other chicks in this pitiful condition. So I did the only thing I could. I popped the little chick inside my top so that it was nestled safely against me & then drove youngest to school just hoping upon hope that the little chap wouldn't die. Youngest said a farewell to the chick as I dropped him off. As I drove home I started to feel little tickly movements against my skin & I just felt elated. 'Come on , little fellow I know you can do this' I shouted inside. Then as I drew nearer to home it began to cheep! When I arrived home I carefully extracted my little miracle & dropped a gentle kiss on it's feathers. I managed to sort out a little box for it positioned close to the heat lamp & carefully laid it inside. As poorly as I felt I didn't leave it's side. I kept helping it to have sips of water & gradually, bit by bit it regained some strength. Enough to hold itself upright at first. Then enough to take water on it's own. Then enough to show some interest in some chick crumbs that I scattered at it's feet. Incredibly by 10.30am the little fellow was eating & drinking by itself & cheeping at me every time I had a coughing fit. I think adrenaline just kept me going. I stayed crunched up, feeling poorly & in pain with that little baby because we had a special bond now & there was no way I could leave it's side. Every time it felt sleepy it would cheep really loudly until I picked it up & nestled it back against my chest. Then it would sleep for short periods, comforted & safe. The love I felt towards my little miracle was strong & determined. I cheeped & chatted to my other little charges, who cheeped & responded to me & to little sick chick every time they heard it cheep out. I felt incredibly maternal towards them all & made a solemn promise to them all that I would be the best substitute Mother hen that ever was. So the minutes & hours ticked by with me watching over, comforting & nursing sick chick and would you believe it, by the time youngest son had returned home from school collected by hubby it was back in with it's fellow hatchlings as if nothing had happened at all. I thanked the angels for bringing it back to me & tears of joy just tumbled down my cheeks. It was one of those moments in which you just feel incredibly humble, as if you've been touched by something 'holy'. To some it would be just a chick that I got to in time, but to me it was an emotional, spiritual experience. Something that moved me deeply. Something that reaffirmed my love of Mother Nature & my belief that there is a powerful, life giving force in the Universe.

Special chick is now called Cassie, or maybe Cassius if it turns out to be a cockerel, after Cassius Clay due to it's amazing fighting spirit:

Three days on & my 13 remaining charges are growing at a rate of knots. The 2 chicks that I helped from the shell have shown no signs of problems which is a huge relief to me. Now that they are feathering the 2 of them look as if they will have the frizzled feathers - so cute! Hubby has built an extension to their brooder box which they have explored with excitement. I still pick up Cassie every day, drop a motherly kiss on the top of her head & whisper how special she is. Please, please, surely now they are safe? Let's hope so.