I can't believe how cold it is today. I'm going to have to light the fire I think - either that or put the heating on (and I don't like having the heating on during the day).
The Girls are keeping us on our toes. Lily has escaped at least twice today and at one point all 5 girls were out,:one of the gates had popped open. DH has now adjusted the hook.
Lily has escaped once since then, and we aren't sure where she's getting out. I suspect she's managing to "fly" over the top of the netting (despite her clipped wing), as I can't see any gaps. We always give her corn as a reward for escaping - It means that as soon as she gets out, she comes running up to the house looking for her treat.
Pogo, meanwhile, is still on one leg. When she moves now she does try and put her bad leg down on the ground with each step; when she stands, she stands on one leg. It's still progress (although slow).
I'm not around much for the rest of the week, so we'll see how she is at the weekend and take her back to the Vet early next week if her leg is still up. There's not much point taking her back before then, as there really isn't anything he can do.
She's eating and drinking well, but I think I might start weighing her every day, just to make sure that se is maintaining her weight.
Down on the allotment, Norman managed to find hisher way into the Geese enclosure. DH rescued him/her from the Geese and put himher back in the correct pen. S/he has also been visiting with Roo and his girls.
We're still not sure about Norman, although I suspect its Norma really. S/he isn't showing any cockerel feathering, which I would expect to have appeared by now, especially as there are no other cockerels in that pen. But s/he is overly bolshy for a hen, maybe a feature of being 2 weeks younger than his friends all his life? Mind you, it doesn't really matter what sex he is now. As we have no other cockerel, we'd probably keep him even if he turned out to be male. He's only partially related to everyone else: Mrs Flint isn't his mum; the other Girls are his half sisters.
In the Roo pen, still no signs of fertility in the eggs. Mrs Roo is laying, regularly Mrs RooToo isn't laying at all yet.
With the Garden Girls we've had a couple of eggs from Delilah (it's something to do with the Lifeguard tonic, she lays when they have it, and she doesn't lay when they don't); Milly laid her first egg for ages yesterday, and it was perfect. That's a relief, because the last few she laid before taking a break were very ribbed. Jasmine has yet to resume laying after the winter. Mind you, she didn't start to lay until she was 40 weeks old, and she stopped at the first hint of winter. Daisy and Lily continue to lay most days.
And we've got less than a week to go before the Light Sussex eggs hatching!
The Girls are keeping us on our toes. Lily has escaped at least twice today and at one point all 5 girls were out,:one of the gates had popped open. DH has now adjusted the hook.
Lily has escaped once since then, and we aren't sure where she's getting out. I suspect she's managing to "fly" over the top of the netting (despite her clipped wing), as I can't see any gaps. We always give her corn as a reward for escaping - It means that as soon as she gets out, she comes running up to the house looking for her treat.
Pogo, meanwhile, is still on one leg. When she moves now she does try and put her bad leg down on the ground with each step; when she stands, she stands on one leg. It's still progress (although slow).
I'm not around much for the rest of the week, so we'll see how she is at the weekend and take her back to the Vet early next week if her leg is still up. There's not much point taking her back before then, as there really isn't anything he can do.
She's eating and drinking well, but I think I might start weighing her every day, just to make sure that se is maintaining her weight.
Down on the allotment, Norman managed to find hisher way into the Geese enclosure. DH rescued him/her from the Geese and put himher back in the correct pen. S/he has also been visiting with Roo and his girls.
We're still not sure about Norman, although I suspect its Norma really. S/he isn't showing any cockerel feathering, which I would expect to have appeared by now, especially as there are no other cockerels in that pen. But s/he is overly bolshy for a hen, maybe a feature of being 2 weeks younger than his friends all his life? Mind you, it doesn't really matter what sex he is now. As we have no other cockerel, we'd probably keep him even if he turned out to be male. He's only partially related to everyone else: Mrs Flint isn't his mum; the other Girls are his half sisters.
In the Roo pen, still no signs of fertility in the eggs. Mrs Roo is laying, regularly Mrs RooToo isn't laying at all yet.
With the Garden Girls we've had a couple of eggs from Delilah (it's something to do with the Lifeguard tonic, she lays when they have it, and she doesn't lay when they don't); Milly laid her first egg for ages yesterday, and it was perfect. That's a relief, because the last few she laid before taking a break were very ribbed. Jasmine has yet to resume laying after the winter. Mind you, she didn't start to lay until she was 40 weeks old, and she stopped at the first hint of winter. Daisy and Lily continue to lay most days.
And we've got less than a week to go before the Light Sussex eggs hatching!
