Imperial hens ( with purple bums!)

The hens have been pecking poor old Cathy again, so I sprayed her last week with Gentian Violet to deter them and also as an antiseptic, just in case of any wounds.

BUT with all the wet weather we have had recently the purple was beginning to wear off and so we had another go today. This time, I remembered to wear gloves, so *I* don't have purple hands at the end! ( It takes a week to wear off *me* so I know it lasts!)I gave some to Compostman as well.



Cathy in front, Genghis behind.


Compostman and I went out into the lean to and one by one captured, up ended and sprayed Cathy, Genghis and Attilla, all of whom have bald patches from pecking to a greater or lesser degree. Attilla pecks the others and also does a patch on her own tum, Genghis pecks Cathy and poor old Cathy just gets pecked by both of them I think.



Here is poor Cathy, looking very fed up in the wind. Add in the fact that Cathy is also moulting and she looks very sorry for herself....poor old hen!



We also had another "Invasion of the Hens" today, Ginger, Attilla, Cathy and Genghis all decided it was too cold outside and as soon as the door opened...in they charged!

I love the way they stand on one leg! :-)

The Sweetie Six at 10 weeks old.

Have just realised I haven't posted up these pictures of the Sweetie Six!

They are now 10 weeks old, very friendly, Sweetiepie is STILL with them as their Mum...she still feeds them and protects them and they all settle under her at night, which must be quite a strain for her to keep her wings outstretched all night, over them!

The No 1 cockerel, has been tentiatively named Rocky and he and the No 1 pullet go around together in rather a sweet way!

No crowing noises yet as he and his "brother" are too young.....not quite sure what I am going to do with the other cockerel...if I can, I will sell him..... but if not, I guess he will be sunday dinner! Hmm....thats a good name....( only joking, honestly!)

Anyway, here are some pictures for you all to enjoy....

First Aider!

Hmmm I had various posts scheduled to be published in this last week but it doesn't seem to have worked? As they all seem to have been published today? Ah well I must have done something funny with the posting times.....

ANYWAY.......

I am now the VERY proud holder of a First Aid at Work certificate! ...the proper, HSE, four day job!

I already have a paediatric first aid certificate ( a 3 day course) which I took last spring because I work with children as an Environmental Educator and playworker, Epi-pen training (which I have now updated 3 times in the last 18 months as it only lasts for 12 months in a school setting even though the certificate actually is valid for 3 years..) which allows me to help administer adrenaline to someone in the event of them having an anaphalaxis episode,

and a specialised two day "First Aid in the Outdoors" course which I did as part of my Forest School leader training in July this year.

BUT I now ( again) have a full First Aider certificate

I first did this training back in 1985 ( not 1990! I went and checked!) at work, I kept it up until I left work in the mid 90's...but then I (rather foolishly) let it lapse.

In 1985 it was a very different course, a lot more bandaging was involved as I recall, and if you failed anything you failed the whole course. Also the recusitation programme was MUCH more complicated back then. Apparently it has been changed because it was puting people off doing anything to help? in case they got it wrong? Hmm well if someone has stopped breathing, they will be dead in a few mins if no one does something..so IMO simplifying the guidelines is a Jolly Good Thing in my book!

I also worked during the 80's and 90's in a very specialised research establishment so had to do extra training in the sort of hazards I might encounter during my day to day working life..( HF and other nasty acids figured large, as did using breathing apparatus to get out of a toxic fume filled lab) ...I worked in a semiconductor research facility so we had some "interesting" training to deal with potential first aid cases !

Fast forward 30 years...and I am , once again, qualified to help people as a First Aider...perhaps not in quite such a hazardous environment but still...I can feel confident I know what I should be doing.

I have to thank Anubis Training, once again, for a wonderful course which made the complicated, seem easy.....And I am VERY proud of myself.....So sorry if I am blowing my own trumpet a bit..but I AM very proud of myself!

Oh dear......poor old Kitty Cat

Oh dear...

Our oldest puss, the very lovely, gentle giant, Kitty Cat, has been getting a bit thinner recently...he is (at least) 16 ......and he has become totally deaf in the last year, but with no obvious medical cause we have just rather sadly put it all down to him getting older, as happens to us all eventually.

and then Compostman noticed on Sunday that Kitty's wee had blood in it :-((

so Compostman took Kitty to our lovely vet Martin, who took a blood sample and checked him over and...he has a kidney problem..a SERIOUS kidney problem.....

Oh dear...we have to try to get a tablet down Kitty every evening...and that is a REALLY hard thing to do as Kitty is a HUGE cat ( even now, after losing lots of weight) , and although he is VERY gentle, does NOT suffer any "messing with" gladly.... :-(

One of the worst things, apart from Kitty Cat being ill, of course, is that I feel a sense of Deja Vu...I really do hope this is NOT like the stuff we had to cope with last year, with beloved Monty puss.....where we ended up having to give the poor fellow all sorts of stuff, which may well have helped him stay alive BUT which made him ( and us!) utterly miserable in the process.

Kitty is an outdoor puss, not used to being messed around, so the chances of us getting him to take regular medication in his food is zilch...we MIGHT get away with giving him one tablet a day, in a ball of cheese ( his favourite food!) but the idea of sprinkling powder on his food etc is just NOT do-able with Kitty Cat..he HUNTS his meat, not gets it out of a can!!

Oh dear, I DO hope he is just "fixed" with a tablet a day..in a ball of cheese....as anything more would just NOT be possible with Kitty Cat....

:-((

Sorry...it all seems a bit gloomy round here at the moment......what with Tabitha and her continued toilet issues, Compostgirl, and me still being unwell......

:-((

October egg round up!

Well it is now November at Compost Mansions and I shall yet again bore you all witless with my egg tally for the last month ;-))

Henny has laid one egg on the last day of October as she had gone into a full blown moult for the whole of October

Ginger continues to lay well, she laid 21 eggs but in the last week of Oct she, too has gone into moult. Not really surprising as Henny and Ginger are the same age.

Attila laid 20 eggs and Cathy only laid 11 but still not bad as she is a baldy girl and an ex batt as well!


Sweetipie is too busy being a good mum to the Sweetie Six to bother with egg laying and Genghis Hen is too silly.......and has laid precisely NO eggs at all.....


But yet again, the absolute stars of the Eglu are Babs and Goldie! yep the new girls laid the most eggs! Babs laid 28 and Goldie laid a magnificent 30 eggs out of a possible 31

I think that given we are now into dark nights and shorter days the girls are doing magnificently to keep on laying at all...and I am giving them LOTS of extra treats and high protein nibbles to help them grow new feathers as fast as they can.....

Their favourite food is chopped up cheese...or stolen cat meat from the cat bowls.....if they can find the back door open they come inside "mob handed" and try anything they can get




THANK you all, my lovely, lovely girls, you are all a bit of a trial sometimes but I wouldn't be without you!