Swift Half update - 1st December 2010

• I simply cannot believe how cold the weather is at present, still, with a vicious wind and temperatures below freezing all day and WELL below all night. I think Wales broke a few records yesterday with an actual temperature of -18c - which felt a lot colder with the wind chill added on!
• The chickens water is freezing solid as soon as I put it out each day (luckily Mr.T is kind enough to come 'round at lunch to thaw it out).
• Conker ate a whole foot-long strand of shredded newspaper last night - sucked it up like spaghetti so she did, the daft apeth.
• Two eggs today - one from Couven (paper thin shell and broken - possibly laid under stress, I'll find out at the weekend when I get to watch in-coop live on our kitchen tv) and one from Trouble.
• Trouble (and Conker?) have re-arranged the coop and put ALL the newspaper in one nest box - leaving the other with just "cozy coop" (fine recycled wood pulp) in it. These two new birds don't seem to be bothered about sleeping in a "nest" as Couven and Cutlery ever were - very refreshing. I would now, ALWAYS advise prospective chook owners to get POL pullets that are at LEAST twenty weeks old and reared outside (unlike Couvs and Cutlery who were 13 weeks old and reared in a barn).
• Talking of Cutlery - I would put her health at a zero Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday gone. Tuesday (yesterday) I'd give her a health score of ONE - she at least stood up - and today, I'd raise that to TWO. She does appear a little perkier and seems to be eating pretty well. Not out of the woods by a long shot yet, but improving slightly?
• More problems with pets though I'm afraid. Yala, our female tabby, was very under the weather last night - sad and limping - and I located a lump and cut near her rear left hip (but underneath her belly).
• Anna took her to the vets tonight and she goes under the knife tomorrow, to have a large abscess removed. This will cost us £500, which we hope to get back through our pet insurance (please gawd!) and will mean she, yet again, will have to be locked inside with a bald, stitched tummy and Elizabethan ruff collar for a couple of weeks. Poor Yala.
• Pets eh? Who needs 'em?! Anna and I do, thats who!

Swift Half update - 29th November 2010

• Cutlery update - two days into her antibiotics - no change. She's not improving. Poor thing is still inside. We will make a decision on what to do with her very soon. The trouble is, she's still eating and drinking a little...
• Hen update - we have got hold of two new hens to keep the Couvster company - a little darling we've named "Conker" because she is conker coloured (she's a Columbian Blacktail) and a VERY impressive black hen (a Black Star or Rhode Rock or Miss Pepperpot (all the same breed)) we've called "Trouble".
• Conker - the sweetest-looking hen I've ever seen I think - petite (at least compared to Trouble and Couven, though that may not always be the case), a perfect wee comb and a whole beak! We got Couven and Cutlery with broken beaks - the result of being cooped up in a concrete stable for the first 4 months of their lives. We know better now! Conker is a chestnut coloured Columbian Blacktail - she has the most beautiful silky plumage and a few black tail feathers hence her name. Her manners seem impeckable, she is quite happy to be subordinate to the other two, she skips around happily, has already explored on her own - I'm really fallen for this little lady. She has yet to start laying and is twenty-one weeks old.
• Trouble - a big, black hen, with grey legs and a grey beak - a tiny bit older than Conker, but much bigger at present and obviously more dominant. When we introduced the hens, Couven and Trouble squared up and ripped chunks out of each other - quite worrying to watch! Trouble is Couven's size already, and has a lethal beak. Trouble laid an egg in the cat basket last night (on her first night with us), after I separated all the girls for some peace. Make no mistake about it, Trouble is an impressive hen and Anna and I both thought that when the "pecking order battle" was over, Trouble would come out on top - Couven would be relegated to second best.
• Today I separated the hens whilst at work - Conker and Trouble (from the same pen at the farm) in the run, the Couvmeister in the coop. All had access to food, shelter and water (even though that froze within a couple of hours!)
• When I returned from work, after checking on Cutlery, I allowed all our girls (apart from Cutlery of course) out onto the garden, to battle again - in the hope that either Couven or Trouble would back down quickly.
• And so it came to be in fact. Trouble and Couven squared up to each other again, and whilst the Couvster got a hit in, Trouble took a little nick out of Couven's comb and that was that - Couven immediately got the message and backed down. There's only room for one dominant hen in the garden, and whilst Anna and I hoped it would be Couven (who is well over a YEAR older than Trouble after all), it was of course, the impressive-looking Trouble who came out on top.
• Never fear though - I ensured Couven was cared for - I gave her special attention, and vaselined her bloody comb. She's fine - a bit of a dented ego (temporary I'm sure) and a bit of a cut - but thats all. She's certainly very wary of Trouble now and tends to run away rather than get stuck in and hurt again. Poor Couvs!
• The strange thing is with hens is that pecking order battles seem inevitable I'm sure and they look quite frightening - but at roost time - they all cuddle up and are best friends again! That said, I did have to put Trouble in the coop tonight - she didn't seem sure where to find her bed, even though Conker went in of her own accord and actually ousted Couven from her bed (in a sweet way!)
• All three hens are fast asleep now, huddled together and Cutlery is in her box inside.
• I think I will keep them separated until Couven's comb has healed (chickens go WILD for blood) and that should be that - our new additions have settled down very well (I hope!)
• I will, of course, bring you photographs of all three, ASAP.