Posh and Pecks

It’s not only the fun loving Giant Panda bears that love bamboo, oh no Posh and Pecks have a fondness for it too. They discovered the dwarf bamboo in the corner of the garden over a week ago.

Dwarf Bamboo 1st February 09

Out of the four varieties in the garden, they decided to pick on the harmless dwarf bamboo plant possibly due to the smaller leaves

Pecks is the clever one, she has discovered if she gets onto the flower pot she can pick the leaves from the top.
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It’s that time again 3.30pm and I am not looking forward venturing outside since I have just got out of bed. No I didn’t over sleep I just happen to be on a night shift.

For a change I prepared the girls some tinned sweet corn, one large tablespoon mixed with their usual treats bokashi bran, Bill Oddies mealworm crumble, poultry spice and garlic.

As soon as I opened the patio door I could hear their excitement, although it was probably the thought of treats and not necessarily seeing me. I placed the treats on the steps leading from the raised decking and went to open the chicken run.
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I was off work today and was able to spend a little extra time with them.

Recently I've been reading a bit more on the www.omlet.co.uk forum about various aspects of chicken keeping including boosting their calcium intake by feeding them baked egg shells.

To be fair, when I first read that I thought it was almost cannabilistic and wasn't too impressed but researching further I found two things:

1: Apparent evidence it works
2: Another school of thought saying it doesn't, can't and is a bad thing to do.
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Last night and today it snowed in Derbyshire although it was nothing new to us, it was for the girls Posh and Pecks as they have never seen snow.

View From Lounge

I got home from work at 3.30pm and made up their afternoon treat of bokashi bran mixed with Bill Oddies mealworm crumble, poultry spice and garlic and went out to see them.
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We have a routine where we let the chickens out to free range for at least an hour (supervised) each day no matter what the weather.

Well its just started snowing in Derbyshire. I was thinking that Posh and Pecks will not want to come out and play....how wrong I was! Like clockwork they were both at the door as I was unlocking the padlock. bok, bok, bok

They came out and bolted towards John who was teasing them with some mealworms, after a few worms they headed to the corner of the garden towards the bamboo tree.
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My friend James posed the question last night why did you get chickens?

I replied for the eggs! Although thinking about it today I could just buy the eggs from the supermarket without any fuss. So why did I get chickens?

Firstly the chickens and eglu were a Christmas present fortunately I had approx 4 weeks to consider my unique present as it wasn’t due to arrive until the 20th January.
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It's late. I should really be in bed but I'm not so hey.

Anyway, with the recent cold snap we are obviously concerned with the health of the girls but fear not!

The Eglu is tested down to -10C so we know the girls will be warm enough. They do have a big quilt on anyway (feathers) so are quite hardy.

We've also been loading their diet recently with Poultry Spice in their treats which is really meant to help them over the moult but in cold weather can also help them cope.
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Today we decided to introduce our cats, Thelma & Louise, to the chickens, Posh and Pecks, whilst the girls were in the chicken run.

Thelma

Louise was not interested in going out as it was very cold although Thelma ventured out but as soon as Thelma heard the bok, bok, she ran back into the house.

Louise

It seems we will have to wait another day for introductions, so we let the girls out of the run to further explore the garden.
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Foxwatch Device

We live in in a mixed suburban area really but our back garden is facing a field and a small farm. Although we have a six foot fence around the garden and the chickens Posh and Pecks live in a secure chicken pen we feel that the health and well being of our very small flock is paramount so want to take as many reasonable precautions as we can.
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Since I am on a late shift today starting a 1pm, I thought I'd go and see the girls as I wouldnt see them again until tomorrow.

I took them a few meal worms as a treat, they both eagerly snatched the treats from my hand. Posh the pushy one wanted to come out and play, but it was not possible as I was working.

I locked the chicken run and went to the house, just as I got to the door both started making such a noise anyone would think I had cut their throats.

It would appear that I may have upset them! ;P