Today- New years Eve

Hubby has been busy today beautifying the playhouse converted for hens. He'd previously ended up doing a rushed night time boarding window holes (originally they'd had perspex in but that had since broken) when we took in 20 hens at short notice. They were rehomed but we thought we may as well use it as a permanent hen/duck house so the windows have now been done properly with board covered with opaque megazorb bags which are light coloured so look like windows and the frame of the playhouse still has a cross to make them look like georgian windows.

Tomorrow he'll be building them a mezzanine using old bed slats as they don't like perches but a mezzanine with an access ladder will give them more space and something to do, especially as the ducks have now moved in there too.

We're keeping the kennel which the ducks were in ready for when we get our Pekin Bantam family. I have put a wanted ad on Bird Trader and have put one on Pekin Bantams forum today hoping someone will have a lavender hen or 2 for us, would even consider a lemon or buff hen as I've since seen pictures and think they are adorable too.

The hens only laid 4 eggs today, the least they've laid. I put it down to Mark messing about in the playhouse. The white hens feel that is home but didn't come in to lay....plus they freeranged the garden until their porridge was ready and I imagine that was way more exciting than producing an egg.

At bed time (hen bed time) we had to do a rearrange again as they were all stacked in the small house including the ducks again. The only 4 in the playhouse were 3 white hens and Lizzy. Luckily the others moved easily with no fuss, and Mark carried the feed buckets in.......although he's whining because he hurt his leg in the playhouse today....it's a mardy man thing, I reckon. If not I'll take him to hosp tomorrow but I assume it's just muscular because he was "cooped up" (excuse the pun) while redoing the hens playhouse windows.

Geez I just realised it's New Years Eve (so I added it to the title, lol) That means at midnight the dogs will go mental, the kids will wake up, the hens and ducks will probably crap themselves and all because of alcohol fuelled revellers who think that a New Year means wonderful new things, lol. Well not the way the economy is going....I heard Adams kids clothes company has gone into administration as well as Woolworths and Zavvi and there are a few more companies queued up to go bankrupt too. It's not looking good! But then I forecast this in 2003 when the house prices started going up and up.....

Here's to a totally sober New Years eve, prob on my own with lousy TV as Hubby will nod off and I'll be shushing the dogs at midnight and he'll sleep thru it (as usual, lol)

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL

I've decided I'm going to try and get pictures of all the animals we have tomorrow. That'll keep me out of mischief while Hubby is building in the hen house.

Our hens and pony use bedding from Sundown Products

Collected the hen crates today/ 10 eggs

I'm chuffed to bits, Hubby took our daughters for a day out to Hampshire and they collected the poultry crates we bought from a chap on eBay. The kids loved driving on the M25 passing Heathrow and a huge jumbo jet appearing out of the mist just above them. I remember driving down that direction many years ago and being shocked how low the jets are over the motorway.

The hens laid ten eggs today. I changed all their bedding to the new one called "Sundown yellow", smells of Eucalyptus but is different texture to the usual Sundown with woodflakes, hard to describe really. It'll be easier to clean out the playhouse now as I'd had straw in that and hate shovelling cack out of straw. The proper hen house had ordinary sundown so was easy enough anyway but I've changed that to the new stuff as I did a mass clean out. The birds freeranged the garden whilst we did it. The ducks were shovelling their beaks full of any soft mud or soil. It took ages cleaning the smaller hen house out as all the ladies kept jumping in the laying boxes to lay an egg. They were queueing up so Edward and I sat outside on the straw bale playing bowling on our DS consoles.

At hen bedtime I wondered where everyone was.
3 white hens were in the playhouse but no ducks or brown hens in sight........and they were ALL in the smaller hen house, crammed in. No idea how the huge ducks got thru the opening! Anyway, I couldn't leave them packed in, it was so humid in there with all their sweaty bodies, they'd have overheated.
I moved the ducks and put them in the playhouse with the white hens and I also put a few brown hens in there too (no idea who, in the dark with just a lantern for vision)
Maybe the ducks wanted company or felt their own kennel/duck house is too small now.
Hopefully they'll all get along in the playhouse. Mark is going to build a shelf in there to accommodate more birds (as the hens don't seem to like perches as ex batts have never had them before)

We'll just close up the kennel/duck house for the time being and save it for when Mark gets his lavender Pekin ladies which he'll get as soon as I find any for sale locally.

12 eggs today/hen crates coming tomorrow

Including Rita's egg , we've had a dozen today.
Tomorrow, Hubby is off down south to collect our hen crates from eBay.
Off to keel over on the sofa now......feels like it's been a really long day.

Night all
Lyn xx

URGENT APPEAL FOR HOMES- Giant African Land Snails

We have lots of baby Giant African Land Snails for rehoming. They're only fingernail sized at present but will grow to the size whereby they will sit on your palm. They grow very fast too.
Ours live in plastic toyboxes with holes in the lid and have compost in the base but if you look on ebay for snail stuff, there are many different substrates that people use in theirs.
Snails eat leaves, salad and pretty much what garden snails will eat. We mist ours daily with a plant mister to keep them moist. They also need a cuttlefish bone to maintain a healthy shell.

If you are interested in rehoming some, we recommend this website for information- http://www.freewebs.com/worldofsnails/giantafricansnails.htm

We are happy to rehome these free of charge although any donations are always welcome (even if in fruit and veg, lol) Rehomers must be over 16 years old and responsible enough so that if for ANY reason you cannot keep them at any point in their lives, you MUST return them to us in a suitable container which they can live in.

These snails are in Sutton Bridge, Lincolnshire. Please email rosahrescue@aol.com if you are interested in rehoming any.

Monumental moment- Rita laid an egg.....on me!

Bless Rita,
We brought Newton in for company and while he was investigating, Rita
came and snuggled on the sofa with me in my duvet (she much prefers it
to the straw of her box, lol) Anyway, she eventually stood up and Mini
yelled "she's laid an egg"....well I thought it was the rubber egg
that has been doing the rounds teasing everybody in the past few weeks....but it wasn't,
just a lovely fresh brown egg.
Marks gone to fetch some more mealworms so she'll get a treat for it.
She must be feeling a bit better. I'm soooo happy.

Must dash, it's almost hen warm oats time. The ladies were waiting for me earlier when I went to fetch DeeDee and BooBoo in for woofing.

Little Hen Rescue, hens in jumpers

Have a look at these sweeties and support Little Hen Rescue if you can.

Only 5 eggs?

Our ladies must've heard us threatening to use corks to prevent so many eggs, lol as we only had 5 from them today.

Mark bagged up all the manure for the allotment man who will hopefully be coming sometime in the week....we'll no doubt have trebled the amount we have by then.

While Mark was bagging up the straw etc...., we let the hens and ducks freerange the garden.....for some of them it was their first time, they really enjoyed it. It was funny afterwards though, trying to count them all back into the pen. Three of us were getting a different number everytime we counted them! A couple of tins of sweetcorn soon solved it as it got them all in one place for their treat! They then had warm oats for their last scoff before bed time.

13 eggs today!

Wow these hens keep on laying.........13 eggs yesterday, and 13 today although I did break one as I put it in my coat pocket to bring in. (If only my daughter had been here with her little egg basket)
I deliberately put it in my right pocket as I know I often shove the door shut with my left side and didn't want to break it!........totally forgot I'd put my knife in my pocket and as I dropped the egg in, it cracked on the knife.
The chooks were happy though as I gave it them to eat (and they devour everything including the shell)
Oh well....we're not exactly running out of eggs! Mark just took 18 to our next door neighbours!

I did a big muck out today (after my hot bath and some diazepam eased my muscles) I cleaned the original hen house, playhouse and duck house AND the straw on the floor of the pen. The hens then had great pleasure finding worms and then scratting through the new straw and rearranging it. They then had some warm rolled oats with layers meal mixed in, laid 4 more eggs and put themselves to bed.

I also topped up the straw bedding in with the rabbits as there was a sharp frost this morning. At least they don't eat straw like the do with hay.
I put some straw in Rita's box in her dog crate in the lounge and my 5 year old mischievous son put a rubber egg on the top of it and actually tricked me.

The guinea pigs are nice and warm in their room.

Wooohooo we've bought 10 poultry crates

We're so pleased as we've just purchased 10 second hand poultry crates for just £10 each! (out of our own money as none was donated other than from family members)

They've got solid bases which means hens feet and poo won't fall through.
These are going to come in so handy and we're chuffed to bits with them.

If you or your company would like to sponsor a crate for 12 months, please get in touch. We will happily laminate a business card or an A5 sized flyer and attach it to the crate to advertise your business.

These crates will be used to save even more hens from slaughter.

Little Rita update

Rita was the "extra" poorly hen we brought back from Jo's last LHR of amber-link hens.
Rita's back was almost bald, but growing some spikes now. She also has a crooked neck so tends to look at things awkwardly but apart from that seems ok.

She's been in our house since she arrived and even Lizzy bullied her so she went to live with the flock (well enough to bully, well enough to take care of herself is my reckoning)

Rita has been a delight, not so mischievous as Lizzy but a very gentle hen and lovely pet. I must say I love her to bits.

Today the weather has been beautiful, sunny with a blue sky (my Mum is so lucky to be at Lake Windermere for christmas!)

I dressed Rita in a tiny "Next" Dog T shirt and tucked what is left of her little wings thru what is meant to be the front leg holes so as to keep her warm.
We took her out and put her down and she was very clumsy. We hadn't noticed it so much indoors. We tried to get her walking on the lawn but she was happier on the rubber matting. She could hear the other hens calling so tried to peep at them so Mark suggested letting her visit them (I was hesitant knowing what thugs they can be). Rita was happy enough, the others crept closer to have a look at this hen in a T shirt and I thought they'd pick on her but the only one who came around pecking was Lizzy!!

Rita is already acquainted with Newton who came and gave her his "special dance" but then she dropped to the floor with her head hung low looking totally exhausted so we brought her back in.
She does nod off a lot in the house but we've put it down to her just getting cosy. I don't think she's as well as we thought and hoped. She hasn't laid any eggs since being here so assume that is because of her lack of energy and poor health.

Rita WAS a free range hen rescued from a commercial egg farm, but just look at her back on the first clip!! Feathers pecked out...but are steadily regrowing with our TLC. She has a deformed neck with a bulge in it where at some point it must've been compressed (rather like Lizzy also in our care but not as extreme as Lizzy's).

Rita lives in the warmth of our home and gets 1 to 1 TLC but as a christmas treat we took her for a walk on the lawn but she preferred the rubber matting. See our blog www.devoted.to/rosah for more info on Rita.
She is a lovely gentle hen and enjoys human company.
Rita was not the only hen from the free range farm that was in poor condition, many were and they were producing eggs for M&S that people pay a premium for. It just goes to show that if you want your eggs from healthy hens, you need a few in your garden or you need to buy locally and know the source of them.
Love from
Lyn x

51 eggs...so far in the past few days

Any neighbours/friends of ours reading this, come and get some eggs!
The hens are laying so well they're giving us too many eggs so even though we gave some out with christmas cards, if you eat a lot....come and get more!

Amber-link rescue hens need homes asap

---

Many of these hens below are still at Little Hen Rescue awaiting new homes.

They are Amber-link hybrid laying hens which are beautifully white and very good egg layers.

Some are in good condition and some have a fair few feathers missing.

These are free range hens (whose eggs people pay a premium for) yet they are in poor condition, some appallingly so.

If you can give a home to some of these hens, please let Jo know on littlehenrescue@aol.com or call 07717757596

These hens are located near Norwich but as with any rescue's from LHR, hens can be brought back to South Lincs for collection so long as payment to Jo has been made in advance and carry boxes have been provided.

click to enlarge each picture

Wishing a merry christmas to all

On behalf of the animals, we'd like to wish a very merry christmas to all of our supporters, especially Erica for continued support.
We've put out a request on our local Freecycle group for any leftover veg/peelings for the guinea pigs and ex battery hens so hopefully people won't throw their left overs away and will pass them to us.
The hens especially love cooked veg, the guinea pigs love raw sprouts, stalks, peelings etc...

Our christmas will be pretty much the same as an ordinary day.....we'll get up extra early with the children to see what Father Christmas has brought them, then let the chooks and ducks out and feed and water everything so we can come back in earlier ourselves to cook and eat dinner.

We've got the dreaded FROZEN veg ourselves as Hubby is cooking and to cut down on time as we have to be at the stables in the afternoon to give Dolly a muck out and her tea.

We'll be having vegetarian.......not sure what yet. (I'm quite happy with veg sausages, meat, tates, veg and gravy.

No one in the family wants dead bird for dinner which is a relief.

We'll be back online after christmas and the bedlam has gone and peace resumes once more.

Have a peaceful christmas....although I'm sure few people actually do have peace at christmas.

Little Hen Rescue rehoming day 20th Dec

Once again we had a good time at Little Hens Rescue's rehoming day. I have lost my voice today so I must've talked too much during the day.
This time the hens were free rangers but I can honestly say I was saddened by the state some of them were in. Bald backs and red raw skin with just one or 2 tail feathers sticking out of bald skin.
These were the minority though, the majority were almost full feathered plump white hens with lovely red combs.
The hens were very strange as in when they panicked they'd all pile in the corner in a heap and smother whoever was at the bottom of the pile....17 were lost on this way so we had to keep going in and clearing them out of the corners and sometimes the piles were 6 or 7 hens deep. We had to just keep moving them on.
These hens were laying like crazy all day, we had dozens and dozens of eggs from them so many people got a free tray of eggs with their new hens!

We went to fetch 2 back for ourselves but came back with 4 as after we'd chosen our 2, another caught my eye and then I was handed one with a crooked neck and a bald back and I just had to bring her home, having seen the improvement Lizzy has made with us.
We tried Lizzy and "Rita" together last night but Lizzy started bullying her and I couldn't risk it with a frail hen like Rita, so Lizzy was in the dog crate with Newton while Rita slept on the settee with me.
Today we have tried Lizzy out in the pen and she seems ok in the company of the 3 white hens so will leave her there for the time being unless she looks ill then she can come back in (but she eats and drinks ok so should be alright, I was just mothering her too much) Little Rita needs TLC to gain strength and grow a coverage of feathers.

Jo @ Little Hen rescue still has lots of the white hens left for new homes so if you can home a few, please see her website by clicking the title of this blog entry. They are for pet homes only and Jo asks a minimum donation of £1.50 per bird. The picture below is of a few of the hens awaiting homes.

10 hens rehomed last night

The last 10 of the lovely speckled ladies went off to a new home in Holbeach Clough last night to someone who we once took in a rabbit and guinea pigs from. They were all stunning birds, I was sad to see them go but we couldn't keep that many. They had come from the 2nd batch and were 10 of 12.
We kept Nora and Gladys who are beautiful. (Nora has an old injury of 2 broken toes)

We tried Lizzy and Newton out in the pen today....Lizzy HATES other hens and cried constantly then went in the playhouse and stood with her head hung low looking depressed so I scooped her up and brought her back in and saw my happy little Lizzy once more, bless her.

We put some brushwood screening around the pen today as a bit of a windbreak and also to make it a bit higher to keep predators out.

This weekend we are helping Jo at LHR and are bringing hens back for Eirlys and her friend and also fetching Mini's hens, Nelly and Petal.

Might not be back online to update until after the weekend.

Me with Newton on the left and Lizzy on the right (my parrot hen)

The final 4 of the hens have been rehomed

4 of the 19 hens were still here (even though they were reserved) and have now gone to a lovely pet home in Newton near Wisbech.

That means all the ones left in the pen are mine!, must get out there with my camera but it's teeming with rain and a yukky looking day. I know I can sit undercover out there but when the damp gets in my old lady bones, lol, I suffer.

So pleased with the 4 I kept back for myself.....the instant I saw hazel, I knew she was staying....then Henrietta....then the girls chose Dora and Penny.

LIZZY the hen

We brought Lizzy back from Little Hen Rescue on the 30th Nov, she didn't eat or drink and was very frail. We thought she may last a few days and aimed to give her warmth and love for her last days......I gave her glucose water from a baby powdered milk scoop, I tapped her food bowl to encourage eating, we spoon fed her porridge.

Lizzy perked up.....her eyes started to twinkle, she's in a dog crate in the warmth of the house and comes out to freerange the lounge during the day.

She got more energetic and started jumping on the settee, she laid one egg 2 days ago and another yesterday but I swear she thinks she is human rather than a chicken.
She leapt on the settee last night then started walking across the back of it and onto the desk, bulldozing everything in her way including the keyboard, then as I was using the computer mouse, she carefully walked up my arm and onto my shoulder (like a bloomin' parrot)
I couldn't shift her, the kids went to bed, Hubby had gone to do a late night shop. She sat up on me watching TV and then settled down on the back of my neck whilst I was leaning over the desk with neck ache.

You can see she's an odd shaped hen, seems to have no neck and we thought she had a tumour on her chest but have now come to the conclusion that she has a deformed neck which has been compressed at some point.
She seems happy enough and is a little sweety.
Not sure when she will join the flock....but I dread her doing so as she's such a lovely companion to me.

We got 19 hens yesterday [REHOMED]

They have all provisionally been rehomed, in fact 11 have already gone to their lovely new homes today including "Fugly Hen" who was the ugliest hen I've EVER seen and she has gone to live with our good friend, Eirlys along with 4 of her sisters.
6 went to another lady and someone else is taking 4 at the weekend. We're keeping 4 big dark brown ladies ourself for our own egg production.
Here are a close up of "Fugly"



Fugly (above)


Just arrived (one of the crates)




The ladies all descended on our lounge temporarily while we checked them over






Hazel looking for MORE water after their 3rd bowl full


posing in the sun today


helping with mucking out


sunbathing on a straw bale just before going off to their new homes

Hens coming today

We've 10-15 18th month old spent warren hens coming in today. We've already emailed people on our waiting list and as we are unsure of the exact number coming.......we cannot allocate them....yet.
More info/pics later

Our flock having fun

We bought 2 bales of straw today for the chooks n ducks. I haven't done previously as I like to keep the ground where the food is clear so it's easily sweepable to ensure no rodents come lurking. Since having our ducks and the damper weather started, we enclosed an extra pen area rather than letting all the birds freerange in the garden. Well, the ducks had muddied it so much with their big splodgy feet so I covered the mud with straw, put some in the hen and duck houses as extra bedding and put the spare bale and a half in the small enclosed (dog proof) hen pen. They've LOVED it, scratting about in what was on the ground, pulling strands out of the bales, climbing on top of them....they've had an enjoyable day. We even gave them some mealworms as a treat as they haven't had any for a couple of weeks. I even took poorly Lizzy out to the pen as she's feeling a bit better but I think she's more of a people hen than a chicken hen as she wasn't very friendly with them yet snuggles down with me on the settee. She was out for an hour then came back in for some TLC but had even more of a spring in her step so as long as the tumour grows no more and she can eat and drink all right, I may put her in with the flock one day soon.

Dreadfully sad news from Little Hen Rescue

We wholeheartedly support the work of Jo Eglen at Little Hen Rescue near Norwich but heard some very sad news from her today.

A dog attack has killed and maimed many of the hens still there after the last rescue. Some of the hens weren't well enough to be rehomed and were in the "sick bay". Some were Pekin cockerels and on the field were the freeranging hens and cockerels.

As you can imagine, this was horrific. The freerangers were in a paddock surrounded by electric poultry fencing but the dogs had somehow knocked off the crocodile clips off the 12v battery.

If anyone has a 24 volt battery not being used, if they could donate it, that would be fantastic.
We can collect across our area and deliver to Jo at LHR.



The following info may upset you to read and is from the owner of the rescue. PLEASE DO NOT READ ON IF YOU DON'T WANT GRAPHIC DETAILS;

Hi Everyone,

An awful thing has happened I went to the yard today at 12.00 and saw 2 springer spaniels in the field with the hens, feathers, injured and dead hens everywhere. I screamed at the dogs and ran in there one dog bit me and the other ran home (neighbours) , shortly followed by the other one. When I caught them they were attacking my blind hen.

It was one of the worst days I think I have ever had. My gorgeous cock bird ripped to shreds, all his tail is gone, all his beautiful feathers gone, his back is torn open, but still alive. Little hens laying mauled every where. My little battery hens. Devastation. My two little pekin boys, my 3 unwell hens. The dogs broke into the chicubes ripped them apart from the top, those poor chickens were trapped. One poorly hen was still a live but had both her wings chewed off, her throat was hanging out and her legs broken and chewed, she was put to sleep.

I sobbed my heart out. We've had nothing but bad luck, fox attack, car crash writing it off, hire car was keyed all the way round by some teenagers out side work yesterday, and now this.. I can't bear anymore.

I can't believe Springer spaniels would do such a thing. They are always getting out, I thought I would find them hit by a car one day not killing my hens!! They are complete menaces.

I called police, they are prosecuting the owner. She has 8 dogs. All run in a pack, but it was just 2 that did all that damage. The owner of the land has a gun license and he is going to shoot the dogs next time they enter the property the police said he is in his right to, we have told her over and over about them keeping them in. She really must listen now.

I have to download all the photos, the police told me to take of everything. I can't bear to see the photos. My poor little babies. They would have been better off going to slaughter, quick and humane. They must have been so frightened and in pain.

They had pulled a hens head through the side of run in chicube and stretched her neck over a foot long. They had started to eat some hens.

I feel like I want to give it all up.

I have high electric netting on a large battery in field, but the dogs had knocked the crocodile clips off it while running around fencing, so they just knocked it down and got in.

The ones that survived are all back in the stables. 3 are here in a cage next to radiator, in a very poor state.

I feel useless.

Jo

Chicken manure for composters

We have an ongoing supply of this which comprises of the bedding which
is chopped straw and woodflake and the chicken/duck poo which makes
such a good addition to any compost bin.
This is not rotted yet as I have been getting rid of it as I acquired
it but I'm now bagging it up for composters, and as my ladies are
cleaned out daily, there's a bin bag full per day so anyone
interested, please email me.
Everyone who can collect it from Sutton Bridge can have some even if you have to wait a
few days or so.

8 eggs from 8 hens today:-)

We can't keep up with these ladies....8 eggs from 8 hens today ( Lizzy is our 9th hen and is poorly so not counted as she isn't with the flock )
These hens certainly aren't at the end of their laying life! I suppose the farmers "out" them because the eggs become irregular in shape and size and therefore don't look so good in the supermarket egg boxes but I've been assured by family and friends that they taste delicious.
Bless our ladies....every home should have some!

Any knitters out there? Or in your family??

Dear All,

This is a plea on behalf of many hens (2000 plus) due to be rescued during the next 2 months who will more than likely be bald and therefore feel the cold upon being released from the torture that is a battery cage or barn.

We don't want your money, we want people who can knit little hen jumpers with offcuts of wool and forward them to us.


Please see this article in the Norwich Evening News http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/content/News/story.aspx?brand=ENOnline&category=News&tBrand=enonline&tCategory=news&itemid=NOED01%20Dec%202008%2012%3A41%3A23%3A690

Here is a pattern- http://littlehenrescue.co.uk/jumpers.aspx
You will also see some pictures of the hens in a very bald state who have previously been rescued and rehomed by Little Hen rescue.

PLEASE, If you can help, or have a parent or grandparent who would like to do something REALLY kind for these little sweeties. Please follow the pattern on the website then contact littlehenrescue@aol.com

Thanks
Lyn

Little Hen Rescue 29/30 Nov 08

Click to enlarge pictures

These were all taken on the 30th November at Little Hen rescue which we helped out rehoming the hens to their new families.
Some of the hens on the above pics are barn hens and some are free rangers.
The barn hens look well feathered but had scrapes down their fronts as the nest boxes in the barns were sharp metal at the front.
We weren't at the actual barn rescue on the Saturday but apparently it was disgusting with the smell of ammonia and the catchers had to watch where they put their feet as between the slats of wood was a huge slurry pit containing a year or so's chicken muck.

The Freerangers were in fairly good health and a lighter, almost blonde colour. I pulled one out with a marble sized tumour in her wattle and she went in the "sick bay".
One hen appeared to have black eyes so Sarah and myself caught her only to find she had "eyebrows" as the feathers either side were missing, When rounding a few hens up, we found another with eyebrows and a young couple were thrilled to take both of them and I think theirs were had were their first hens so they were really excited.
We met some lovely people, both helping at Jo's and the people collecting hens and won't hesitate to help again even though I'm seriously paying for it today and well dosed up on tablets.

We bought some new family members back ourselves. Gertrude, Flossie, Newton and Lizzy.
Lizzy is poorly with what appears to be a tumour on her neck. She hadn't eaten for days at Jo's place and needed encouragement and I felt a need to nurse her but don't hold out much hope for her long term. We're spoon feeding her porridge, layers meal and glucose water. Her legs are strong but you can see she's not well. The tumour wasn't obvious at first as I thought she was just puffed out looking generally unwell with a strange stance but upon closer inspection she doesn't stand right and has a solid mass in her neck (above and to the left of where her crop is)
Gertie, Flossie & Newton (the Pekin) were put straight in the hen house when we got back last night and shut in with the existing hens and this morning I suppose they saw each other when daylight appeared but there has been no squabbling at all.
Lizzy is in an open dog crate in the lounge getting some TLC. I really hope she will just get well enough to exhibit "normal" hen behaviour. I now wish I'd also brought back the one with the tumour in it's wattle. She was quite feisty though and the only reason I spotted it was I waded in a stable to intervene in a squabble and she was the instigator and I saw it when I pulled her out.
Hens are just amazing. Can't remember my life without them....well My Grandad kept them all his life and my Grandma on the other side of my family kept Bantams so I suppose it's inevitable I'd get hooked too!

Below are pics of our own newbies- Click to enlarge them





Poorly Lizzy


Newton


Gertrude & Flossie

Jo is appealing for anyone who can knit to start knitting hen jumpers for the hens due to be rescued from a battery farm this month and also in the new year. They are expected to be baldies so if you can knit, please see details here on Little Hen Rescue's website

We're helping on the future rescues so anyone wanting to rehome any ex battery hens, please contact Jo at littlehenrescue@aol.com