the accidental smallholder :: diary archives

It's been so long...

since I posted anything to the diary.

We've had a couple of losses to the fox recently and we had to despatch Chip, our Crested Cream Legbar cockerel, on Sunday. We were away for the weekend and he was ill when we got back. I couldn't watch him suffer so we put him away. I now need to find another CCL cockerel for the CCL hens.

I have another sick hen, one of the CCL. She's in isolation and seemed a bit better at lunchtime to day. I'll have a good look at her in the morning, in daylight. I've wormed her and given her some oil soaked bread to try to "move" any blockages. This is always my first First Aid attempts. I think it goes back to a doctor I had when I was about eighteen, who seemed convinced that any medical problem was related to your digestive tract - no matter what symptoms you recounted, his first question was always "And have your bowels moved?".

The CCL are now laying lovely green eggs. If I could find the camera, I would show you. The Marans are also laying and seem to have shamed the Black Rocks into doing likewise, so production has increased to a level whereby Dan can have a boiled egg without me telling him that he can't because I need it for a customer.