Keeping hens and ducks chat.

Pyxis

There are lots of recipes around for eggless cakes and biscuits, but I couldn't find a recipe for this.....

edwink

Pyxis wrote: »

My sleep patterns are shot since the clocks went back.
Compounded by having had severe leg pain from a pulled leg muscle for the last week.
I am falling asleep at 6 or 7pm, waking several times, then finally waking between 2.30 and 3.30 am which is a tad too early even for this extreme lark.

Ouch that sounds painful Pyxis, poor you. Have a middle of the night cyber (((hug)))

I've got Sciatica and it is driving me mad so I gave in and got out of bed. Had to have a walk around to take my mind off of it. Have now taken some rather strong painkillers so will probably zonk out at 5.30am in my recliner with laptop on my lap. Lucky hubby will be here today to get the girls and boys out early. Talking of which my little man is still mite free which we are so chuffed about and his leg is so much better. I do love it when they are all well and healthy because I do worry about them.

Eggless Edwink

Cheery_Daff

Oh you poor things! :kisses3: Hope you both manage to get some rest today xx

I wish I could send you over some of our eggs Edwink - we've got 16 in the kitchen this morning! :eek: Mr Cheery is taking half a dozen to a friend but there will need to be some serious omelette eating over the next few days :rotfl:

Do any of you have people who save you egg boxes? I've been asking all and sundry since we got our hens and not ONE person has yet managed to do it! Several have said they would, some even turn up saying 'oh no! I saved them and left them in the kitchen!' (Exactly the sort of thing I would do myself ) but we've not got any actual boxes. Wish I'd started saving them myself months ago but I stupidly didn't save a single one!

Poor hens are gloomy this week. The weather here is utterly vile, so Mr Cheery didn't let them out of the run yesterday - thick fog always feels dangerous and full of foxes (the local farmer said they often strike in the fog). It was really rainy anyway too so he put extra wood round their run for shelter and added some more aluminuim panels for roof shelter inside. Whole thing looks like some kind of shanty town now - not exactly straight out of Country Living magazine... :rotfl:

Today is foggy and rainy and windy too, grim We're leaving in a minute and won't be home til after midnight so can't let them out today either Still, they've had their chicken porridge (and looked very pleased about it after a day of scrambled egg instead ) They've got plenty of treats, and plenty of shelter, so even if they're not having much fun they should at least be cosy and safe.

Tomorrow they'll get let out as usual, and at the weekend I'll have them out for the whole day (they usually gravitate back towards the run after a couple of hours anyway)

Poor soggy things. I want it to be summer again!

Pyxis

Cheery, you could always put a request out on Freegle (or Freecycle).

I'm pretty sure I saw someone offer egg boxes on my local one a while back.

Or you could ring a few restaurants and see if they've got any you could have.
Or bakeries.
Although they might just have egg trays. Still, better than nothing.

edwink

Pyxis wrote: »

Cheery, you could always put a request out on Freegle (or Freecycle)..
Or you could ring a few restaurants and see if they've got any you could have. Or bakeries. Although they might just have egg trays. Still, better than nothing.

Great idea about Freegle or Freecycle as I did that when we first started with our hens. I was lucky enough to be contacted by a lady who worked in a school and was already taking the boxes home to save for another Freecycler. She said that she was happy to supply both of us with them as she brought them home from work once a week. How lucky was that? From time to time we give her some homemade jam or chutney in return as a thank you.

I don't know about anyone else but do you ever get your boxes back if you give any eggs to family/friends or anyone for that matter?. It surprises me how many people think that my girls lay the boxes as well as the eggs. My regulars keep them for us to collect or they leave them on our doorstep if they are passing but ever since we have been keeping hens we have from time to time been low on boxes. Reusing them time and time again will result in them becoming tatty and when they reach this stage they are perfect for firelighters so never completely wasted. I have refused point blank over the years to buy a single box and therefore never have but have to say it has been a little close a few times.

Eggless Edwink (without her favourite egg and chips supper)


ETA. Cheery you could ask at your local tea shop to see if they have any. or if you have a notice board at work it may be worth pinning a notice on there.

crv1963

Sorry to hear of your physical ailments. With regard egg boxes, I get given quite a few but not all back, plus I ask work colleagues to save me theirs if they've had to buy eggs.

Cheery_Daff

Thank you all for the egg box suggestions! I actually managed to acquire one today :j (from a friend who decanted hers into the fridge :rotfl: )

Got home at half 11 and eek!! The boards sheltering the chicken run have blown down! :eek: i'm sure it'll look less dramatic in the daylight :eek: one of them was a door we removed from the house last week - it's landed on a stone and the glass has smashed :eek:

It's on the outside of the run so no harm done but I bet it made the girls jump and the probably spend a windy afternoon huddled in the corner of the mini shelter

Pah. Hate this weather need to figure out a better solution to protect them from the wind. Ultimately I'll be planting windbreak hedge & garden but for now they're pretty exposed (although they do have some shelter inside the run as well as the house).

Just annoying that it happened on the one day neither of us were here to fix it

Half considering moving them back into the stable for winter

edwink

Sorry I've not been about and posting as I normally do. Still bad sleepless nights with Sciatica and now have another virus. Feeling pretty rough in all honesty so just been reading on the forum and not posting.

Anyway, I'm still here on the forum, my 3 girls are still running round like loonies, the 6 ducks are sitting about quacking amongst themselves besides having a splash about from time to time and best of all my little man is still mite free. Bless him, I do love watching him foraging, crowing and going about the place as if he owns it :rotfl:

Been pretty windy here today and the 3 hens are having their furry knickers blown about. At one time they stayed huddled together as hens hate the wind. It always amazes me why they just don't go and sit in the comfort of their hotel if the wind picks up. Bizarre little things they are. The ducks couldn't care less what the weather was like but for the hens its a different story especially if its windy.

All for now.

Edwink

Cheery_Daff

Aw edwink, so sorry to hear you're still poorly hope things improve soon.

Love to hear about your hens Mine don't like the wind or rain either, and looked completely unimpressed when it started hailing the other day :eek: they look so bedraggled in the bad weather, bless em.

The do use their Chicken Palace though - that's not their house that they sleep in, it's just a sheltered area in the run with a roof and as much wind/rain protection as we could make. At the minute their food and water is under there too so when they're shut in the run they do hang out in there out of the weather. When they're roaming free though they just wander about in the rain :rotfl: bless em.

Definitely leaning towards a move back to the stable block for the einter though. Not sure what's stopping me. It's round the other side of the house & doesn't have an outdoor run attached, and no easy way of fixing one. However, when we're here they're generally out roaming free (and there are no fences, they could literally have the run of the peak district if they wanted). It's only when it's dark, or when we're out, that they're confined to their run. I don't like the thought of them only being inside in those times - but actually the stable has a wall full of windows so plenty of natural light, and the only advantage the outdoor run has is being able to scratch the ground - which at the minute is rather a mud bath anyway there's far more room in the stable (you could fit the outdoor run in it at least 10 times), and I'd keep it full of bedding with things to scratch, and as I say they'd be out when we were there anyway, just in when we're out (which is sometimes whole days at a time).

Anyone any thoughts? Am I being ridiculous thinking of them 'confined' in the stables? Are they actually more 'confined' in the outdoor run?! They'd certainly be much warmer & drier in there, and would still get the same amount of time roaming free...

edwink

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

Definitely leaning towards a move back to the stable block for the einter though. Not sure what's stopping me. It's round the other side of the house & doesn't have an outdoor run attached, and no easy way of fixing one. However, when we're here they're generally out roaming free (and there are no fences, they could literally have the run of the peak district if they wanted). It's only when it's dark, or when we're out, that they're confined to their run. I don't like the thought of them only being inside in those times - but actually the stable has a wall full of windows so plenty of natural light, and the only advantage the outdoor run has is being able to scratch the ground - which at the minute is rather a mud bath anyway there's far more room in the stable (you could fit the outdoor run in it at least 10 times), and I'd keep it full of bedding with things to scratch, and as I say they'd be out when we were there anyway, just in when we're out (which is sometimes whole days at a time).

Anyone any thoughts? Am I being ridiculous thinking of them 'confined' in the stables? Are they actually more 'confined' in the outdoor run?! They'd certainly be much warmer & drier in there, and would still get the same amount of time roaming free...

Cheery, by the looks of it they wouldn't be confined to the stable would they if they are out and roaming about when you are home?. As you say they would have a much bigger and dryer space to scratch about that doesn't resemble a mud bath when you are not at home. Its got to be a winner for them I would say. Winter months have very short days and I guess anything you can do to make the days more comfortable for them is not a bad idea as you have good facilities for them to do that.

I do love they way you think about your girls and their comfort and care for them so much. Lucky, lucky rescue hens.

Edwink