December.. an update

Where has the time gone!   ………. the last time I looked in it was October 10th…..

There has been quite a lot going on and I thought I would bring my wee blog into touch with those who still follow me..

Some good news first, My daughter returned home after spending several months working in Majorca for my sister, lovely having her back home for a while.. although she does intend to return back to the Balearic Isles next year.

We had a bit of a rat problem in November, as many of you know I have a couple of rescue bunnies and they are kept secure in their cages within a secure run… or so I thought!   That was until rats decided to dig their way into the run!… so we had to relocate the bunnies into the greenhouse for the winter, it has a concrete base and  also rat proof.

I called in the pest control people who took care of the rodent invasion… chunky and I found a dead one on the lawn one morning and I didnt realise just how big rats were!  excluding the tail it must have been about 7-8 inches long!… so the garden is now rat free thankfully!

Because I keep chickens the pest control people reckon they were attracting the rats to the garden, so I made the decision to rehome my 2 chickens 😦  I was so sad to see them go, but they did go to a lovely new home in the middle of nowhere to a lovely young chap.     About 3 weeks after they had gone I received an email from him to say that wee Brenda my Partridge Pekin had sadly died, along with 3 of his own birds, a branch had falled off a tree in the severe gales that we had in December and fallen on the birds who were eating from a feeder… poor wee Bren.. I howled for most of the night.. I loved that wee bird!

More sad news on the pet front.. Tweed, our little rescue netherland dwarf rabbit passed away … I had noticed a while back that she was getting arthritic in her back legs and losing condition.. she was a wee old lady and I think I mentioned in my last post that I didnt think she would see the winter through and my gut feelings were right!… She is now burried in the garden in a lovely wee spot under an ornamental potted tree and when I stand at the kitchen window I look out over where she is… bless her crabby wee heart, although she was a grumpy wee bunny who would growl and attack you when visited every day, we loved her to bits.

So with the update out of the way, I just want to wish you and your families a very merry christmas and a happy new year when it comes…

I will leave you with a picture… not of Bren or Tweed… that would just start me off crying again… but of my constant companion, who as I type this is up on the sofa snuggling beside me

Easter Chick Cupcakes

Happy Easter to all my blogging friends…

Today I made some muffin sized cupcakes, buttercream frosting, fluffy chick decor with handmade easter flags 🙂  The eggs were courtesy of my 2 girlies Brenda (pekin) and Chicken Little (Bantam) !

Here’s the rest of the gang

Happy Easter,…

A couple of snaps for Easter from our home…

Wee Jerry quite happy sleeping in his old orange box with a cosy knitted blankie inside it, I knitted it the same colours as he is, black silver and white 🙂

You cant have easter without chickens… can you?? 😉  here is Daisy and Chicken Little enjoying a sawdust bath in their freshly cleaned out run.

The Chicks are doing fine…

Just an update to say that the chicks are doing fine and to post a few pictures.

The Lemon Cuckoo Pekin chicks, picture taken yesterday at 21 days/3weeks old, I know for definate that I have one boy out of the 4,  his comb and wattles are much more pronounced and a brighter shade of pinky/red than the others… he is the lighter coloured one of the 4 hiding at the back, 2nd from the left 🙂

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This lot are not keen on being photographed, they keep turning their backs on me 🙂 

They are feathering up nicely too, notice their pom pom-like tail feathers, they looks a tad punky at this stage 🙂

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The little black & partridge pekin chicks are doing fine too… they are a week younger than the others, but coming along good too.. unable to tell if they are boys or girls yet, but have a sneaky feeling that the partridge is a boy.

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The little black one is my daughters favourite, and out of all the chicks is the only one that has a name so far.. 

Its been given the name Pingu, because it looked like a wee penguin when it was only a couple of days old, eventually all the white fluff will disappear and will be a solid black colour with a bottle green sheen to the feathers, just like Grace and Gloria.

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1st Pekin Bantam Eggs

Pekin Bantam Eggs

Originally uploaded by T o w n i e

My Lovely wee pekin bantams have started to lay eggs… well Gloria has 🙂

I dont think it will be long until grace starts to lay either, her comb and wattles are starting to get all red and plump..

Brenda on the other had looks like she might not start laying until the springtime… she’s a funny wee thing, also bottom of the pecking order of the trio

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Layers & Growers Pellets

 

Still on a quest to source poultry feed locally, I was surfing the net yesterday at work (during lunch 🙂  ) and happened to find this place  R H Miller, Agricultural Merchants and Traders, Dalkeith, Edinburgh & Lothians.

I gave them a call to see if they supplied poultry feed… and they do! wooohoo 🙂

Its approximately 24 miles away from where I live, so in theory can be classed as “local” as its within a 30 mile radius.

My daughter and I set off at 10am to drive over to their warehouse and pick them up… and that particular branch stocked everything equestrian too!, it was fantastic wandering around their shop looking at all the horsey stuff, I was in horsey heaven and I only went there for chicken feed lol.   I will def. be taking a trip back over there, they had a sale on and had some great fleece’s boots and jackets.

They didnt have any organic growers pellets for the young pekins, all they had was Dodson & Horrell, so I just took what they had… it was £9.35 for a 20kg sack.

    

They had plenty of the Organic Feed Co Organic Layers Pellets and  20kg sack was £14.50

They’re Crowing and Fighting !

Oh dear…. I went out to the cheeps this morning, only to find big partridge pekin’s comb and wattles bleeding, and hanging onto white silkie cross’s neck,  the two of them running around the coop fighting one another, with Big PP having a distinct advantage….

BPP’s wattles and comb covered in blood….

So I dug out the old rabbit hutch and seperated him, putting small PP in alongside him for company, these two seem to get on and have not fought (yet)! … then Big PP started to crow! abeit a squeeky baby version of a crow… it really sounded a bit like the character Anne from Little Britain! 🙂

My son seems to think that small PP might just be a girl (he is hoping) but apart from their size, they both have similar colouring… my friend over on Neepsthat I bought them from advised that a good way of telling the sex with partridge pekins is… males have a copper/chestnut plain breast feathers and females have lighter lacey coloured breasts.   I’m sure they’re both boys…

Unless I can find new homes for them… time is running out for the PP’s.

Meet the Cheeps…

Today I drove up to Perth to meet with Sue and Phil and pick up “The Cheeps”.

Last night I just couldnt sleep, it was like christmas eve lol, I was soooo excited.

I dropped the kids off at school, filled the car up with petrol (£1.18 a litre here now – it’s scandalous!) and then set off for Perth.. Its about 35 miles away from where I live and should only take about 30-40 mins at the most to get there, I left an hour and 15 mins early, just incase 🙂

We still have to pick out names for them, so if you have any suggestions, we’d love to hear them.

This above picture is the 4 of them in their wee chick transit box 🙂

We have 2 Partridge Pekins, 1 Black Pekin and 1 White Silkie Cross

Once they settled in … they tucked into some chick crumb and had a wee drink of water

 

Then retired to the back of their new home…..

……was it something i said lol 🙂