Treacle returns to the coop

Well the day before yesterday she had climbed out of the box ( which has been inside the downstairs bathroom since Fri as it has a tiled floor, is warm and easy to clean!)and she walked a few steps AND stood for about 20 mins without "flopping down"

Yesterday she was walking with a slight limp and flapping her wings and I let her outside and she foraged for half an hour, looking normal.

so today (Wednesday morning) I put her back in with the others and she is now fully recovered and laying, again

Success!

Update on Treacle hen

Poor Treacle still cannot walk far, she can stand but if she tries to move her left leg she drops back down. She actually looks quite perky and friendly for a moulty hen, mostly they seem to get very grumpy!

She IS improved today and stood up of her own accord to get some food, but seems happiest in her box of straw, sitting in a comfortable ( I guess) position. She is still eating, drinking, pooing and seems fine in herself, and can stand on her legs now for 5 mins at a time, and had enough spirit to peck at an annoying Cassi kitten tonight....


I did wonder if she had just got chilled, as it has been so very cold here, but the others are all fine and she is normally one of the top hens.

I am certain it is due to some kind of injury: I think Queenie the Blue Orpington ( top hen) has been having a go...her fighting tactic is to sit on the other hen.....!

Injured hen

Have Treacle the hen in a box next to the aga as she has somehow injured herself and although I can't see any obvious sign of injury, she can only stand/walk for a short time and then sinks to the ground....wings slightly outstretched

She has been like it for 3 days now and has actually improved a bit as she can now walk and stand up. She is also a bit hunched over anyway because she is moulting a bit

Apart from this she is well and happy, eating, drinking, BEABT and pooing etc, so am hoping a few days in the warm being immobile may help the muscles to heal.

I had a hen like this once before, where she landed hard off a fence, I did the same thing and she recovered....

 

Treacle is a good hen, the best layer and a very friendly personality.... and I am hoping bringing her inside will keep her muscles warm, as she is not going to heal well sitting on the cold ground and also she was not getting to the food as the others just pushed her aside...

If she continues to improve day by day and can start to walk around that will be good. If at any point she looks distressed I will kill her.

Although I name my hens, and am very keen on them, and recognise their individual nature, I tend not to anthropomorphise very much now . I used to, but after so many deaths, sadly it becomes too much ...

More about Wassailing the Orchards

Taken from the Leominster Morris website

The words comes from the Anglo Saxon 'was hael' meaning good health - literally 'be whole'. Ella Leather in 'The Folk-lore of Herefordshire' (published 1912) refers to the custom of lighting bonfires on Twelfth Night, with associated ceremonies, and called locally 'wassailing'. She quotes the Gentleman's Magazine (1791) describing the event. In Herefordshire, wassailing has long been associated with morris dancers and mummers,  THE LEOMINSTER MORRIS uphold this tradition.

The Wassail was the first event they revived after the side was re-formed in 1983. That first Herefordshire Wassail of the new era took place in the orchard of Sandy & Eileen Thompson at Tudor House, Yarpole.

The Wassail begins by gathering at a given watering hole, where flaming torches are prepared & distributed to the public, whence the side leads the crowd of followers (usually about 200) to the orchard. Toast is soaked in cider, then placed in the fork of the tree chosen to represent the orchard. Cider is then sprinkled about the roots of the tree. Next, the Herefordshire Lantern is ignited: this is a beribboned thorn-cage stuffed with straw on a pole. It represents the sun reborn, and shows why this ancient ceremony took place at this time of year. At the midwinter, the coldest & darkest part of the year, people encouraged the return of light & warmth, and by so doing they performed an affirmation of their faith that it would be so. Next, the 13th fire is lit and immediately stamped out; the Fire of Eternal Renewal or the Judas Fire. This is the sign for the simultaneous lighting of the ring of twelve fires, The Wassail Song is sung by THE LEOMINSTER MORRIS under the branches of the tree and two or three dances danced there too.

The we all go back in procession to the meeting place where THE LEOMINSTER MORRIS perform the Mummers Play. The text for which is taken from several local sources, and enlivened by individual members adding topical references or variations to their parts. More dances follow, then it is in to the bar for music, song, dance and drink!

The Wassail songs are spoken or sung.

(The Butler)

Old apple tree we wassail thee,

And hope that thou wilt bear.

For Lord doth know where we shall be,

Till apples come another year.

To bloom well and to bear well,

So merry let us be.

Let every man take off his hat,

And shout out to thee,

(Wassailers' response)

Old apple tree we wassail thee,

And hope that thou will bear,

Hat fulls, cap fulls, three bushel bag fulls,

And a little heap under the stairs.

Glass painting

Finished painting my candle jars yesterday. Will fill them with candle sometime this week. Am rather pleased with them

The one on the right which is just an outline is being filled with a coloured wax mix, the rest will probably be a single colour candle.

I did the butterflies from a template, free hand but based on a template in a glass book but the others were sort of generally out of my head.

probably derived from something I have seen though!

Took me ages to draw the shape on paper, so I could put it inside and then use the outliner paint...glass is a right so and so to paint on!

Compostman liked my colourful take on a Green Man best. I am in the middle of designing a "traditional" Green Man to transfer to a larger candle jar at the moment.