Keeping hens and ducks chat.

Cheery_Daff

Thanks for giving us an update Edwink, I do love to hear how Biscuit is getting on, as you know 🥰 And you and Mr Edwink too of course! And everyone else's hens! 

Love the idea of Biscuit waiting at the bus stop to get picked up and put into bed 🥰 Funny little things, how well they train us 😂 We were just talking today about our beloved older hen Bessie trained us to give her breakfast in bed each morning, and to give her special treats without the others when we were cleaning the house out. Miss those little feathery pals, even after an entire year without them 🥲

edwink

Cheery_Daff said:

Thanks for giving us an update Edwink, I do love to hear how Biscuit is getting on, as you know 🥰 And you and Mr Edwink too of course! And everyone else's hens! 

Love the idea of Biscuit waiting at the bus stop to get picked up and put into bed 🥰 Funny little things, how well they train us 😂 We were just talking today about our beloved older hen Bessie trained us to give her breakfast in bed each morning, and to give her special treats without the others when we were cleaning the house out. Miss those little feathery pals, even after an entire year without them 🥲

Wow, that year went very quickly Cheery.  I had no idea it was a year already that you didn't have any hens.  Yes, I bet you do miss them as they become part of the family don't they and reply on us so much for everything they need. I miss all of mine a lot running about like loonies all over the place when I had so many of them in one go.  Biscuit is still plodding but doesn't run anywhere now and just plods and scratches about foraging a little but not as much as she once did.  She does have quite a few snoozes during the day we've noticed and they are not just cat naps either, bless her. She is always down at the house with us as I hate the thought of her being out and about somewhere on her own all the time.  She has a bench she sits under in the hens run in the mornings after her breakfast and then we go and collect her and bring her down to the house for the day as gives her a change of scenery. There is a bench down here too so she snoozes under there and we put a light cover over the bench slats so she doesn't get too hot in the direct sunshine. She is doing incredibly well for her age at 6 years and nearly 4 months and she surprises us every day to be honest. We've never known an ex-battery hen to live so long, bless her.

Hope everyone and their hens are all doing ok.

Edwink x

sammyjammy

Just caught up with adventures of Biscuit, I love that she gets a cuddle before being settled in her sleeping quarters.  I've said it before but she eats better than me some days.  Hope you are doing better Edwink x

edwink

Thank you for posting Cheery x and sammyjammy x

Our little Biscuit is still doing very well, bless her.  She had an odd hour the other day and we sensed something wasn't quite right when as she was trying to get up the steps by the house which she doesn't normally do by herself and she knocked her chest a few times on the bottom step but we've never seen her do that before.  So Mr Edwink lifted her up and put her on the path at the top of the steps because obviously she wanted to go somewhere so we just hung around dead heading plants and keeping an eye on her and she ended up walking back to her run. We picked some of the last raspberries for her and went in the run with her and she just headed over to her hotel where she sleeps at night. Although it was only mid afternoon we just thought maybe she was tired and wanted to go to bed so Mr Edwink lifted her up and placed her in her sleeping shelter and she just sat down and closed her eyes. We were not overly concerned as she looked comfy and ready to sleep so we left her in there with just her small hen door open for some fresh air. Either one of us kept popping out there to check to see if she was ok and there she was fast a sleep. I went out for about the 4th time to check on her and when I got there she had obviously woken up after her snooze and had jumped down the steps and came out all by herself.  That's something she hasn't done for months now because we thought she couldn't manage doing that anymore so Mr Edwink just lifts her out every morning and lifts her back in at bedtime.  But, clearly to our surprise she can actually manage to do it by herself. We gave her some sweetcorn in a dish with the raspberries we'd picked earlier and she was happy as anything. What a strange hen we have here 🤣🤣🤣🤣💕💕💕💕

Hope everyone and their hens are keeping well. I'm progressing now finally and have gained some weight which is excellent. It has been such a long year so far in a strange sort of way with so many medical appointments and tests/procedures carried out we are only just getting rid of all the tiredness that had built up not to mention the worry we've both been through this year as well.  Feel really blessed to be given the all clear from anything nasty or sinister mid July and I continue plodding like I do with the most boring diet you could ever imagine. I hope to be on here a bit more now with more updates on our little biscuit. 

I look forward to joining you all again soon.

Edwink x

Cheery_Daff

Glad to hear you're doing alright Edwink, and feeling stronger. Thank you for the Biscuit update too - you know I always appreciate a Biscuit story! Clearly she has just been wrapping you round her little wing to carry her to bed every night How funny. 

I meant to say after you posted about her waiting at the chicken bus stop to be put to bed - we laughed and laughed, because you may not know that we used to refer to our hen house as the Chicken Bus Mostly because our first four used to sleep with two in the nest box, facing the front, and two behind them on the perch, also facing the front, looking for all the world like they were on a little bus We always referred to it as the Chicken Bus after that, so Biscuit waiting at the bus stop seemed very appropriate!

Mr Cheery will appreciate this story as he has toothache today and is feeling rather sorry for himself - this will cheer him up nicely I'm sure. Give her a little treat from us

sammyjammy

Thats so sweet, I think she just likes being given a lift!

edwink

Please ignore this...... it's just edwink trying something out on the thread to see if it actually does get posted because I don't normally do anything online MSE wise via my phone because I can't be trusted not to mess it up 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Edwink 

edwink

sammyjammy said:

Thats so sweet, I think she just likes being given a lift!

She likes being carried or lifted anywhere and everywhere and she has now been found out regarding taking advantage of Mr Edwinks good nature by pretending for months that she can no longer hop gently down the 3 small steps to come out in the morning.  Bet she can hop up them as well to get herself in to bed 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Honestly though she is a funny little thing.  I sit with her at night now when she is "lifted" into bed and she happily sits down and I stroke her like you would a cat or a dog and she is lapping that up too now🤣🤣🤣🤣 I also put my fingers gently into her thick feathers and tickle her skin and she like that too. There is no stopping her now lapping absolutely everything up is there?.  Mind you that is not new as she has always liked me doing that.  She is so unbelievably warm under those thick feathers of hers, she's like a little warm hot water bottle.  Clever of hens really as they are incredibly good at controlling their body temperature. I've put pic on here before of hens sitting with their wings out to the side of them moving them back and forth as if to fan themselves. Also on a chilly day but with the sun out they will flop to one side  right in the suns rays and stretch their wing out and take in the warmth of the sun. Yep, it's official they are super clever.

Doing our best here to keep her occupied and happy but have to say it is not proving too hard as some hens are easily pleased. I don't think Biscuit wants to go anywhere yet, bless her. Honestly can not believe she was re-homed here in 2019 so she will be 6.5 years old on 13th Oct, absolutely amazing  💕💕💕💕 and such an adorable little rescue girl.  We are so lucky to have her as our last hen, we really are.

Mr Edwink has a horrid chesty cough but I do think he is over the worst of it today as is hardly coughing now. He has had a pretty rough week.  Lots of it going around as per normal though and I just hope I don't get it but going by my sore throat this morning I guess you never know at this stage. Keeping my fingers and toes firmly crossed.

Catch up soon

Edwink x

edwink

edwink said:

Mr Edwink has a horrid chesty cough but I do think he is over the worst of it today as is hardly coughing now. He has had a pretty rough week.  Lots of it going around as per normal though and I just hope I don't get it but going by my sore throat this morning I guess you never know at this stage. Keeping my fingers and toes firmly crossed.

Catch up soon
Edwink x

After I posted the above on 6th Sept I realised I had spoken too soon.  Both myself and Mr Edwink have now finally just got rid of Covid for the 2nd time. This time was the worst definitely and it took longer to recover from it.

Quick update on little Biscuit. She is still doing very well and plodding around the place as if she owns it.  Just taken her back up to her run in readiness to put her to bed a bit later.  She's been down in the house with us today with some walks outside when the sun showed its face. Crikey she is louder than our neighbours dog when she gets going. Her comb is a little off colour on her head and not as red as it should be but the change in temperature can cause that so I'm not currently concerned but will obviously keep a close eye on her. Don't know what everyone else thinks but the weather has changed considerably here this past week.  Brrrrr!! it's been pretty chilly this past few days. You would think having a little hen indoors would be peaceful but no such luck for us because Biscuit won't be quiet at all as she chats away and finds it impossible to stop 🤣🤣🤣 and is terribly noisy walking around the place.  It is quite comical actually. 

It's Biscuits retirement birthday date on 13th October and she will be 6.5 years old then. Crikey that's old for an ex battery rescue hen, bless her.  

Will catch up soon.

Edwink x

Cheery_Daff

Glad you're feeling better Edwink, and Mr Edwink too. What a worry for you both xx

Glad to hear a Biscuit update too. Yes, 6.5 years is epic! I'm laughing at the thought of her chattering round the house all day making a racket 🥰 Just yesterday we were talking about how much we miss the little noises our chickens made, but perhaps not the shouting when we introduced a new set of chickens 😱😂