Cheery's country living adventure

Cheery_Daff

Hi MissyMoo, welcome back! There's a LOT of waffle in here so read back at your peril... 😮😂 Nice to see you again! 

Yes it's funny how many people think the egg eating thing is weird, but it's actually an excellent way to give them a decent dose of extra protein. They LOVE to eat an egg if you drop it accidentally in the run, and if they lay soft shelled ones that break in the hen house they're usually all eaten before we get to them. Some people have quite a problem with hens breaking and eating their own eggs, but fortunately we've never had that. That's why they recommend scrambling the eggs though rather than giving them raw.

To be honest I'm not sure I'd want to eat anything much that a chicken eats... worms, stones, frogs, beetles we caught one with a mouse recently... 😂 

I don't even know whether it's that unusual. Cows etc will lick their calves clean after they've been born partly so there's nothing left for predators to find, and some women have been known to eat placentas... I suppose it would make sense to clear up the remains of an egg after a chick had hatched so it's not obvious where the nest was, so it kind of makes sense that they have a taste for it.

Funny old world!

themadvix

Oh it makes perfect sense Cheery, we're just too socially evolved to want to think about the scientific logic of it! As you say, hens eat all sorts of gross things - at least we can agree with them that eggs are tasty!

greenbee

Chickens will eat each other given half a chance, so it's important to isolate sick hens and not leave dead ones in the run. They're not exactly discerning in terms of what they eat!

rtandon27

Cheery_Daff said:

...To be honest I'm not sure I'd want to eat anything much that a chicken eats... worms, stones, frogs, beetles we caught one with a mouse recently... 😂 

I suppose that does make a lot of sense now that I think about it!  Our lovely Mr. Pheasant has been known to catch the odd mouse in the barnyard. (...at least I'm telling myself they are mice & not baby rats...)  I often think of him as a giant cockerel as he's prone to waking us up at the break of dawn with his loud crowing.  Much as I'd like to think of him as a tame pet, he's really a wild animal who puts up with us humans as we feed him the odd handful of seeds 

teapot2

Years ago my nephew was car sick when we were travelling and had stopped for a break at a rellie's house.  He had caught all the out pouring in a container and being a charming child, left it at the side of the car while we went in the house.  The free range hens had a field day and cleaned it all up!!!

Karmacat

Wow.  Just, wow!  Not only Bessie, but your purchases, Cheery, they're wonderful - you're not exactly buying diamante stick ons for your nails (though I can be partial to them too, of course ).  Hope all's going well today.

Pyxis

teapot2 said:

Years ago my nephew was car sick when we were travelling and had stopped for a break at a rellie's house.  He had caught all the out pouring in a container and being a charming child, left it at the side of the car while we went in the house.  The free range hens had a field day and cleaned it all up!!!

Dogs are quite good for hoovering up stuff that comes out of orifices as well!  Any orifice!
(As anyone potty-training a toddler will know).
Trouble is, you then don't want them near you for a few hours afterwards! 😱

Jessy103

Wow! I'm so glad I decided to read the last few posts whilst eating breakfast this morning! 😂😂

rtandon27

Jessy103 said:

Wow! I'm so glad I decided to read the last few posts whilst eating breakfast this morning! 😂😂

LOL - I'm glad I finished mine first!🤣

Cheery_Daff

Lol you lot! 

Let's move swiftly on from this disgusting conversation shall we?!?!

Having a jolly weekend here. Yesterday I went to see my family for the first time since lockdown (possibly since January actually, oh dear!) My sister moved house a few weeks ago and it was SO good to see her new place. And then I met my mum for a walk on the beach - I've not been to a beach I don't think since I met her on the same beach almost exactly a year ago. 

So much excitement yesterday. Today has been calmer, although exhausting. Walked to my favourite cafe - just over 4 miles and I probably won't do it again, not by that route, as quite a lot was wi dinn country roads so I did a lot of hopping into verges when cars went past just a little bit too close...

There's a roundabout way I could possibly go via footpaths etc but it took me an hour and a half to go the road way so it'd probably take all morning to go the other way  might try it one day though. 

Then I've spent several hours this afternoon strimming 😮 I don't strim much, maybe once or twice a year but the two sides of the drive were meeting in the middle... and we have friends bringing a tent tomorrow so had to clear them a space. I'd been going at it with the scythe but the ground is really quite uneven so the scythe leaves the grass quite long. Hope they've got a comfy mattress!  

Anyway, I've done about 3 or 4 hours of strimming (we have a LOT of grass, and much of it was well over knee high 😮 ) Good job we don't have close neighbours (and those who might have been able to hear us are farmers and this was way quieter than a tractor!) 

Garden looks SO much tidier now though. I remember finally strimming this time last year and thinking how much bigger and calmer everywhere looked, and now I'm feeling the same and wondering why I don't do it more often 😂 

Tired now... and have stupidly arranged to go running in the morning 😮 our friends are going to be self sufficient while they're here - they were meant to be going on holiday but don't want to brave a public campsite so we're just sticking them at the end of the garden and they can come and go as they please. Very glad right now that I didn't promise to do anything other than clear a patch of grass!