5th Pekin egg and 5 ex battery eggs

Our hens are doing well. If you look at the right hand column you'll see our monthly totals so far this year.
One of the Pekins laid their 5th egg today. I do hope one will brood them as I'd love some chicks and so would the children.
We had 5 eggs from the ex battery ladies today too.
Mollie the trampolining labrador has completely demolished the swimming pool now from when she skated on it while frozen and the ice split the top inflated ring. I've decided that we're NOT getting yet another pool so that part of the garden will be cordoned off for the guinea pigs & rabbits.
The children will enjoy sitting with the animals in there and helping to tame any newbies that are skittish. Also it will be an extra space for emergency chooks to keep them confined.
Come next winter time the guinea pigs can come back in the outbuilding.

Mollie got her support tabard today which can carry her water, poop bag, tennis balls, treats, first aid kit (for her), my mobile, inhalers...whatever... and we can go off for the day with her as my support dog and I'll be on my scooter. I can't wait. She is so good.


HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RoSAH HENS

**100 eggs already in February**

Our girls must be happy hens as they're prolific layers. We've reached the magical 100 eggs this month already so we must be doing something right.
In a way it's a shame I don't eat eggs myself but it keeps the family and neighbours in free organic free range eggs from happy hens and hopefully stops them buying "value" eggs from battery hens.


HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RoSAH HENS

The prem baby guinea pigs are doing well

and have both been reserved already!!

One is blind, it would appear since birth but seems strong and healthy, the other is very healthy and strong. From what I can tell they are both female so will stay together when the time comes. We've had blind ones in the past that have lived a normal life with a companion.


these are the 2 babes. the blind one on the right.

We also had 12 eggs today from our hens which has broken our previous daily record.

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These pictures below are especially for Grandma
click to enlarge them




The girls with Fenella the Pekin

Mini with Silkie



12 HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RoSAH HENS TODAY!

Joan has joined Rita overnight

Fingers crossed this will work out. I put Anti-pek spray on both girls today and they freeranged the garden with the others. A few had a pick on Rita until they got a mouthfiul of vile tasting feathers. No one bothered Joan at all.
I put them both in together at nightfall so am hoping it'll work out and they'll become friends.
Mollie (The Labrador) was out on the garden today, she ignores Rita & Joan who are both used to her from being on the house but when the others flapped she got a bit excitable and chased although caused no harm nor intended to. She just needs a little more supervised time with them.
One of the hens laid an egg underneath the 13ft trampoline and I had a right job getting it out. No idea who laid it, it was 1 of my big fat ladies stood near as it was steaming but I'd have thought they knew exactly where to lay....very strange.
Mark did a mass muck out so plenty of muck for the composters of West Norfolk.


HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RoSAH HENS

Eggs, chickens, veggies etc...

It seems we're getting overwhelmed with eggs again especially as we've got the lodgers staying over awaiting collection and are currently upto 47 eggs this month already. Maybe over all we will have less this month as it's a shorter month but it is looking promising so far.

I had to share the cartoon below. It made me smile but also makes a point! If you MUST eat meat, please buy free range so hens aren't in those massive sheds suffering for the sake of you having a slightly cheaper chicken for your tea.

I hate any animal having to live an unnatural life. Having seen our rescued hens instantly knowing how to scratch the soil and eat worms and dust bathe in the garden, it made me realise that it is natural instinct so the fact that they are in these intensive rearing/laying sheds must be truly horrific for them. Obviously the battery cages are worse still.

It makes me wonder why the chicken which is seen as important in many peoples diets is not allowed to grow and thrive in a manner that would promote good health in the bird and therefore a healthier food?

Please buy free range or go veggie! I have been a vegetarian for 12 years. There are so many choices of yummy food nowadays than when I first became a vegetarian even though I had dabbled in not eating meat throughout my teenage years, it was only when expecting my second child that I gave up eating meat all together and he was my biggest baby ;-)
I am borderline vegan. I don't drink milk or eat eggs etc....BUT Quorn still use eggs in their products as a stiffener and until they find an alternative I can only be a vegetarian. I would like to go Vegan eventually though.

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RoSAH HENS

Lizzy's poem

Lizzy was rescued from life on the farm,
Where all she ever faced was cruelty and harm.

Crammed in a cage, laying an egg every day,
When her egg supply lessened, and she didn't always lay,

She was to be sent off to die,
and turned into chicken pie.

But people like Jo save the hens from that strife,
Rescuing them all, and giving them life.

Allowing them to see sunlight and sky,
Sometimes they are tempted to try a short fly.

Lizzy pecks and she scrats,
Enjoys dust baths and all that.

She behaves now as every hen should,
How the hens in the farms wish they all could.

When we first met Lizzy, we didn't think she would last,
Hungry and weak, she was fading fast.

We tapped at the food to encourage her to eat,
to build up her strength and get her back on her feet.

Then we noticed......."Oh flippin' 'eck!"
She seemed to have a lump on her neck

But she's one of the prettiest hens I've seen,
That's why she's called Lizzy- She is OUR Queen.

She lives in the garden with all our chooks,
And we can always spot her special good looks.

Jo is brilliant, saving hens with no fuss,
Rescuing them all to be great pets for us.

May Little Hen Rescue save hens near and far,
And Jo get the recognition for the star that you are!!

© Lyn Ray 2009





"Mummy's parrot"

PS Jo @ LHR has had her hen fencing installed. For anyone wishing to see it, here it is It will also be electrified top and bottom once completed. Fantastic, isn't it?

We had 5 eggs today taking the total this month into the 70's! Phew!

6 eggs today & Rita has joined the flock

Our hens laid 6 eggs today for us taking the total to 35 in 5 days.

Hubby and Mini delivered some as freebies to 3 of our neighbours so that makes us feel like we're doing our bit to promote eggs from happy hens.

A chap called Declan from West Norfolk M.I.N.D came to collect all our sacks of duck and chook manure for some allotments they are starting for their group members so that's gone to a worthy cause and should help them. Sadly he didn't knock on the door or we'd have given him some eggs too! (If you read this Declan, knock or ring the bell next time)

I'm concerned about the weather forecast saying it will be minus 5 in places tonight as Rita has joined the flock in the old playhouse (now known as Duckingham Palace as the Aylesbury's reside in there too) I do think they will all keep each other warm though and we've put really deep bedding down and there's plenty of space to get up from the ground on either the ladder, old toyboxes or in the tyres full of bedding. I do worry about her though and hope she will be warm enough and maybe snuggle with the other white hens who seem to stick together.

Newton is eagerly awaiting a new wife or two tomorrow. I just know we'll get two.....and I was telling my mum on the 'phone and she said "you must have a trio" and she's been brought up with poultry and every other animal under the sun so I tend to listen to her advice, so it looks as though the lavender lady will have a friend coming with her too. I just have to show you the website of where the wives will be coming from http://www.powerpoultry.co.uk/ They're not far from us and we have to go to Bearts anyway to load up with supplies.

Trying to think of some lovely names for them (see I'm pluralising it already) The ex batts & rescues all have old lady names but I don't think Pekin ladies will suit old lady names and posh names would be more appropriate. No doubt Mark and I will decide before the kids come home from school....or Chloe & Mini will call them Piglet & Tigger!!!! I have noticed that a couple of hens I had my eye on, on the Power Poultry website now say sold so we'll just have to wait and see what the lady has for sale tomorrow.

I'll update this blog tomorrow, no doubt with pictures of 1 or 2 spoilt rotten ladies with the new man in their life.

Rita & Lizzy- our special needs chookies

Today having been oustside with the hens I noticed Lizzy wasn't looking too well again.....she seemed huddled and with mucky feathers under her bum so I brought her in again (and clipped off the mucky bum feathers- the jobs I get!!, lol)
Rita isn't too fond of her and earned herself the nickname of Rita the Beater (after Rita Connors on Prisoner Cell Block H) Well after the initial squabbles where Edward and myself were having to hold Rita back from attacking Lizzy they have settled ok together for the night. Rita is "Top Dog"

Here are a few photo's taken tonight of the pair. We've threatened to get a roasting tin to let Rita sleep in as she really gets in that "oven ready" position when she just falls asleep on the floor.
Anyone who keeps up to date on the blog will know that Rita & Lizzy both have deformed necks either from accident or birth deformity before we got them.
Rita just has a lump on the left side of her neck and Lizzy is a "no neck" although she manages to stretch it more later in the day. We're going to start and add a bit of cod liver oil to their mash.

Rita is the white hen. Lizzy is the brown one. Rita came from the recent Amber-Link rescue. You wouldn't think she was a free ranger if you saw how bald she was when we got her. She then grew spikes but they're now growing lovely tufts out of the ends. enlarge the "oven ready" pic to see.

10 eggs to start off the New Year with.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL SUPPORTERS of RoSAH RESCUE

Here is just a basic update of the day. It was just the usual happenings at Rosah Rescue today.

Lyn's not feeling too well, that Fibromyalgia is making her life hell so I've volunteered to help with the blog until she's more up to it. Mark's busy enough without sorting the computer too.
From what I can gather the hens laid 10 eggs today including one by Rita who is getting a nice covering of feathers now- the spikes now have tufts.
Mark and Mini emptied the duck "pond" and refilled it once they had thawed the hose pipe out.
They also sorted the guinea pigs and all the other animals out before going off to sort Dolly (the pony) out. She needs mucking out, bringing in from the field and feeding.
Lyn has currently taken Lizzy back into the house as "she didn't look happy" and also Rita is still in until she has a little more feather growth. Lizzy and Rita are the two with crooked necks.

I've been asked to post that we urgently need homes for the young Giant African Land Snails. Please get in touch asap if you'd like some.

We still also need donations of animal food. Veg & fruit for guinea pigs, rabbits and snails, tinned & dried cat food, hen layers meal , pellets and mixed corn for the resident ex battery hens and also tinned sweetcorn etc...Anything you donate helps the rescued animals out and also Lyn & Mark who fund everything themselves.

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.

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.

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.

Amber-link rescue hens need homes asap

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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