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I have a number of "feral" cats which are a lot less feral than they were. If you read Big Puss's diary you will see the trauma of getting him to the vet. It was nearly as bad when we caught Daisy, the female from the first litter - a necessity as one of her brother had been committing incest...

While clearing a fallen tree in the cottage garden, our workman found the saddle Henny was wearing when she disappeared. One of the straps had been ripped off the main part of the saddle. It was the stream side of the fence but there was no indication of hoe the predator had got through the...

I've been spending more time in the run with the chooks since the attack and, without Pink hen who used to cackle a lot, it's easier to hear the sounds the smaller hens make. I know Cocky's vocabulary - apart from the crow there's a "what's this" and "ooh I've found something nice", but I'm not...

I have two of Henny's eggs, one laid on Monday, the other laid yesterday BUT they are in the fridge as it has been too hot anywhere else recently. If either I can locate a reliable broody (I'm not sure I'd trust the young Leghorn to stay the course) or my friend is about to fill her incubator...

Let the hens out of the enclosure about 8am. During the next couple of hours they were in and out. Couldn't see Henny but assumed she was laying. Went out about 11 to check for eggs, no sign of Henny and all the others were in the enclosure. A walk around their usual haunts revealed only a...

I have fitted external Chick Boxes to my hen houses and have always had a slight nagging fear that they might be too small, particularly for the Welsummers. Left Flop Leghorn has gone broody, but always leaps out of the nest box and rushes out of the house whenever I try to grab her to put her...

I've read quite a few posts about hens and temperature of drinking water, and that the water should not be icy cold. Well no -one's told my hens they don't like ice!!. Not content with eating snow, they now peck at and eat the ice I remove from their drinkers! Our water comes from a borehole...

I'm hoping someone can give me some advice about my Welsummers. I've had them for a year and they were supposed to be the previous years' hatch. I was getting about 9 eggs a week from 4 hens until they moulted. They hadn't started laying again by October 17th when two fox hounds attacked the...

We had 4 inches of snow last night and today we have had a bitterly cold east wind with snow, then rain and now snow again. The hens have hardly ventured out of the houses all day and when I went to shut them up the power cable for the electric netting fell apart. OH has gone away for the...

For those who don't know I have a Welsummer cockerel and two hens in one house, and two Exchequer Leghorns in another. Having been introduced they are now mixing quite happily and Cocky thinks all his birthdays have come at once. The different behaviour of the two breeds is fascinating - the...

Pink hen, one of my original Welsummers, was added to the new hen (Henny) and cockerel (Cocky) and consequently was bottom of the pecking order. Her poo was normal colour but fairly wet which was thought to be because she was bullied off the feed, even when I provided an additional feeder...

Yesterday I collected two POL Exchequer Leghorns. They're housed in the small wooden house with attached run. When I opened the pop hole this morning it took them a while to come out but they flew down from the "veranda" and went straight for the warm food. Then they found the feeder, followed...

Has anyone tried to access Practical Poultry Forum? I clicked on my open tab this morning and get an error message saying the File or Directory not found and the site may have moved,changed name or be temporarily unavailable. I know they were doing some maintenance and then I had strange...

I've really struggled with withdrawal symptoms - not forum since Thursday! I was just about to start cooking breakfast when there was a flah of lightning followed immediately by a clap of thunder and the lights going out. The lights came back on almost immediately, but before I could unplug...

Let the birds out of the enclosure today for the first time. I'll be here in the afternoon up until Friday evening so decided it was a good time to take the plunge. Pink hen, who was used to free ranging up at my friends, found her way after about an hour. I hadn't spotted Henny and Cocky...

I feel as though I'm becoming totally paranoid about my birds. I took their treats and corn out this afternoon and noticed that the cockerel has lost quite a lot of feathers around his neck. I've noticed maybe 4 feathers in the house when I poo pick but thought it was Henny because he treads...

I have on two separate occasions observed PInk hen making the sort of clucking I normally associate with egg laying, and then standing with her bum down as though she's straining. What appears is a small amount of watery poo - on both occasions she has been outside the coop. She has been here...

Let the chickens out this morning, filled their drinker and put it back on the block and watched them wander around a bit. Cocky and Henny started in on breakfast but Pink hen was round the side of the house and I realized she was pecking at the snow and swallowing it. I watched her for a bit...

I have booked the "build slot" for my new hen house from the local timber yard. I need to finalise how I want things set out - basically they will do anything I want. It is 6' x 4' with a pent roof. The people door is in the 6' wall, with the shuttered mesh window next to it. What is the...

Here are Cocky and Henny and a picture of Henny's eggs. The shells at the front are from the second egg she laid here, the other shell and egg are the colour she is laying now.