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The rest of the Gang at Caoilta| THE FLOCK | THE DUCK | CHINCHILLAS | CAT | COCKATIEL |
This is Crispy Duck! When I was given some eggs to incubate there was a question as to whether one of them was a duck egg, all but 3 of the original eggs hatched ok, I kept them for two days over the due day then thought I'd better throw them away before they exploded. Luckily I put them on the floor just to double check that there was no movement and one of the eggs just moved a tiny amount after me staring at it for ages so I took a chance and after an extra 5 days in the incubator Crispy was born. He couldn't get on his feet at all for two days and had no control of his head or neck, I was convinced he would die but after some hand feeding and a bit of TLC he has pulled through, the down side is that I am now MUM! The racket he made when I left him on his own had to be heard to be believed, he waddled around after me everywhere and fell asleep on my feet in the evening when I was watching TV. He has now joined the rest of the hens in the yard but has a bit of an identity crisis, he hates water LOL
15th October 2005: Very sadly, Ash was hit by a car and killed today, we will miss him.
I also have a pond full of assorted fish and a freshwater tropical tank! |
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It
all started when a friend said that they were going to a poultry
auction to buy some ex battery hens. I had never been to an auction
like that so I tagged along and thought I might buy a hen or two
since we had a nice hen house doing nothing in the garden. What
greeted me at the auction was horrifying. Hens crammed into cages
stacked on top of one another. Many were sick, missing feathers
and very thin. They were mainly ex battery hens, they had spent
all of their short lives in tiny cages pumping out eggs and now
that they were moulting and their egg production was slowing down
they were here to be sold to whoever wanted them. I was told on
the day that they mainly went as dog food. There were big buyers
there buying up cages of 20-30 birds at a time. We managed to
bid for and buy a cage of 20 birds. Once the auction was finished
I needed to get out of there as quick as possible. The big buyers
came in with the plastic crates to take the birds they had bought
away, they were roughly crammed into these crates with no care
whatsoever, legs and wings getting caught in the crate doors as
they were forced shut. I felt sick and just wanted to get the
birds we had bought and leave.
I took four of the birds home with me, my friends had the rest
as they had a lot more land. They were a raggedy bunch with most
of their feathers missing and very underweight. They had all been
de-beaked to stop them plucking out each others feathers or pecking
each other to death through boredom in the battery cages. It was
an amazing experience to see them react to the straw on the floor
of their run, they had never experienced anything but wire mesh
before, the first time they saw grass, the first time they experienced
rain, wind, sun. They were quite wary about venturing out into
the garden at first but very soon started to enjoy their newly
found freedom. They started scratching in the soil for insects,
enjoying dust baths and sunbathing. Even though they had known
nothing but cages, artificial light and mechanised feeding they
still had the instincts there. It was nearly four months before
we got any eggs but once the summer got under way we got four
eggs a day! They all have very individual characters, Korma is
very big and bossy, Kiev and Nugget are quite laid back but Tikka
is an independent soul, she follows me everywhere when I am in
the garden, especially if I am gardening because I might just
expose some worm or other creepy crawly for her to eat. She is
also always the last into the hen house in the evening. Sadly
my four are all that's left of the 20 original hens, all the rest
were killed by a fox at my friends place. 29/10/03 Sadly Nugget
was found dead this morning on the floor of the hen house, no
predation or obvious injuries, at least she had over a year of
relative freedom, laying her eggs when she felt like it, scratching
about in the garden and chasing the cat. Just the way it should
be.
The
other birds I have are a Pekin Bantam Cockerel called Charlie
and a Barbu D'uccle cockerel called Kellogs, the guys keep the
girls in check herding them round the garden and gathering them
in in the evening at roosting time, although they always have
to go and find Tikka who is usually in the front garden rummaging
round under the hedges. A cross breed bantam hen called Floozie
who lived two doors down but she stays here now because her owner
moved out leaving his two daughters in the house who had no interest
and never fed her. Floozie's two daughters Blackie and Buffy who
were fathered by Charlie. Four Maran hens and two cross breed
pullets and a bantam hen. As the Marans, Blackie and Buffy and
the bantam are young they will not start to lay until spring but
we should be well supplied with eggs and the enjoyment of seeing
them wandering about the garden doing 'chicken stuff'. 
Meet
Cheech and Chong. I have had this pair for a long time, they are
at least 10 years old now and still going strong! They live in
my office in a 4 foot tall cage I made for them myself, but I
do like to let them have a run about when possible, but they have
to be watched as they have a liking for phone cables (usually
Marks :0/)
This
is Ash, shortly after the night he was found by Tzel in the garden.
I was taking Tzel out for his last visit to the garden for the
evening when he suddenly pounced on something, there was a squeal
and I thought he had caught a rat but he came over to me with
this tiny kitten in his mouth. He was a feral kitten and was without
his Mum, cold, wet and hungry. He was covered in fleas and full
of worms and quite wild! I took him in fed him and treated him
for his parasites he was soon thriving on all the attention but
was not very willing to be handled. As he was being kept in a
dog crate in the house he became accustomed to having the dogs
around and has grown up with little respect for them which has
nearly been his undoing on more than one occasion, he is fast
running out of lives. 
This
is grommit, he is the oldest member of the gang at over 10 years
old! When I got Grommit I was determined to have him hand tame
but he had other ideas! He was a grumpy so and so and has got
worse in his old age, because he was not keen on being handled
or interacting with humans I bought him a buddy "Wallace",
sadly Wallace died three years ago. Grommit now keeps himself
amused by chattering away to his reflection in his mirrors, squaking
at the TV and wolf whistling, chucking his bird seed all over
the cage and floor and hissing at anyone who dares to look into
his cage. Bless him :0)