Super-Duper Coop

Following the sad demise of Esme, the Buff Sussex bantam, the new coop has now arrived and been put together. I decided to have a bit of a swap around, so in fact Hugo the Buff Sussex cockerel and his three hens are now in a Cottage Hen House whilst Simba and his four girls get the new Haven coop. The Haven is bigger than the Cottage and Hugo and co have an extra run so the bigger footprint of the Haven is more appropriate for the larger sub-flock...

I must just say that as a company, Flyte So Fancy are absolutely terrific. The products are well thought out and it is clear that they are designed by someone who actually keeps poultry. The attention to detail is brilliant and the customer service exemplary. I noticed a large crack on the handle of the henhouse when I unwrapped the flat pack (the deliveries don't have to be signed for and I was out when it arrived) and so I sighed and emailed them a photo of the dinged section. I put my iPad down to finish bringing in the panels when my daughter called me to say there was someone on the phone for me - James at Flyte So Fancy! He apologised for the breakage and said that as the length of wood with the handle was screwed rather than nailed on, he would send me out a replacement that afternoon so it would be with me either Saturday or Monday. He reassured me that the integrity of the coop was not compromised by the lack of handle so if I didn't mind making do with the broken section for a couple of days, I could go ahead and construct the coop. No quibble, no fuss and having been on the receiving end of appalling excuses from another company that have sent out goods that have been damaged it is always such a relief to order from such a reputable firm.

So, those hens are now safe from rats and foxes. I did notice rat droppings and a stash of food in one of the other coops so I am worried that they have been running up in there during the day and making a little rodent nest. I daren't keep the popholes shut though as it's such a cold wind at this time of year and the hens often retreat to the shelter of the house to escape the weather. I've been checking vigilantly and since doing so there's not been a problem....

The Haven Henhouse

Rats in the Coop

Rats are a perpetual problem with poultry and to be fair, I tend to take a bit of a view as it's impossible to clean up every scrap of spilt food each night, and there are sheds and hedges and the carport and all manner of places for them to hide. However, I have had to review that attitude since losing one of my gorgeous little Buff Sussex bantams to a rat attack.

I noticed Gloria had blood around her vent and feet, so bathed her cuts in warm saline solution and used gentian spray on her wounds. Putting her in the puppy crate in the shed with food and water, I also put her on antibiotics to address any secondary infection and assumed perhaps a fox had tried to snatch her through the wire.

The following day, I let the hens out of the coop and saw that Esme, the other Buff Sussex bantam was looking hunched up with a mess of damp feathers around her back end. I bathed her too and rang the vet. He diagnosed vent pecking (where the hens peck at the rear end of another hen, usually while the vent is distended and reddened just before laying an egg) but I didn't agree as a) that doesn't tend to happen at night when the hens are calm and it's too dark for them to see and b) the bantams roost on the low perch and the larger hens on the high one so I didn't see how they could have found the bantams to peck...

Sadly, little Esme looked so terrible this morning I took her back to the vet and he put her to sleep. Having cleaned out the coop yesterday I found a few rat droppings and the pophole had been gnawed at the slightly warped edge, producing a small access hole. So, whilst Gloria is still in the shed recuperating, I have blocked the front door of the coop with a metal grid and will do this until the replacement coop arrives.

The coop I've chosen is the Haven Hen House and as a long-time devotee of Flyte So Fancy, I'm confident that the hens will be safe from predators as well as damp and cold. I'd made the coop they're currently in for when I had a large cockerel who couldn't negotiate his way up the ladders, but Emu is now no more and it's time to pension off the home-made house in favour of something more fit for purpose. I will cut a large opening in the front so the hens can still use it as a shelter so it won't be wasted.

Hopefully Gloria will recover her faculties and soon be fit, well, and back laying eggs. I have the two other Buff Sussex bantam hens with Bertie, their rooster, so I'll be putting a couple of eggs under the first broody hen I have so that I can rear some replacements.

Gloria, looking quite perky in
the puppy crate

A Visitor

I had quite a surprise when I let the hens out this afternoon, as they were joined by a female pheasant in the garden.  The ducks weren't quite sure about her either - she seemed really tame but was limping slightly on her right leg. Amber gave her some corn which she gobbled up before Emu and his two got a look in:

I love the colouring of the so-called 'drab' female game birds - the blends of browns on the individual feathers are exquisite.

Thankfully Scruff was indoors at the time - he's so good about not chasing/mauling the rabbits, ducks, chickens and guinea pigs but I think resisting a pheasant wandering in his patch might prove too much for his Springer spaniel instincts. He spends a lot of his time sniffing out rats as once again the garden is riddled with them. I don't see them at all in the summer, but it's almost like the BST/GMT clock-change is some sort of signal for them to all take up residence in the hedge again and cruise around the poultry pens. I found one suspended in the ducks' pond the other day looking like a, well, drowned rat...ugh. I have asked the cockerels not to do their macho food-scattering as soon as I put the bowl in for them but they don't listen, and then of course none of the hens eat the spilt food, leaving a rat buffet once dusk descends. I have got a treadle feeder but it's outside the run.

I must get on with some knitting this evening. I'm making a tunic version of Kate Davies' owls jumper and I'm on the first sleeve, as I have been for some time now. It's a quick knit really as it's on big needles and I'm using double Aran yarn and the pattern's wonderfully straightforward, but I don't have much time at the moment, so it's proving to be a very slow knit. I've also been short on time for drawing and painting so I need to sort out my priorities...

Rats

I was treated to a lovely Christmas lunch by my parents today at their local pub, the Royal Oak. We are having a scaled down, minimalist version on the day itself but we thought it'd be nice celebratory roast at some point...and we didn't have to do any washing up. My supermarket delivery yesterday contained the first batch of cocktail sausages ready for the day; I've got 90 so far. I bought my parents a mini Nordman fir tree for their house and gave them a few knitted decorations to embellish their own collection:

Cute huh? I am making another Christmas pud from the Mini Christmas Knits book and I think I prefer it to the crocheted one, although like Nicky I have incorporated the top into the base rather than made an icing top for it. I'll post a pic tomorrow as my camera is a bit rubbish in dark conditions. I do have lights in my house, obviously, but they are all low-energy bulbs which are pleasantly 'muted' but not very good for photography.

I went to listen to my brother, father and niece perform their Christmas Concert with their local community orchestra. It was great fun and reminded me how much I enjoy classical music. I dug out my old clarinet which I learnt to play at school when I was 8. Our school was very keen on music and I also played the violin, very badly, for a year or so too. I can remember all the pieces I used to play but have had to download an app to remind me of the fingering! :-D I am sure my music-reading skills are pretty rusty as well even though I tried to learn piano a little while ago. I'm hopefully going to give the orchestra a go myself when they start back in January.

I picked more crab apples on my way back from the pub as I'd like to make some Mulled Wine Jelly as seen in the December issue of HomeFarmer magazine.

It's basically crab apples with spices and a tot of red wine, but I bet it'll be delicious with the cheeses and home-made bread we'll have on Christmas Day, and the mini sausages, if there are any left after Tristan's taken his portion.

I have a rat back in the compost heap. It is so difficult: I bring all the poultry into one area to save my lawn and it becomes a rodent restaurant. I am going to invest in a treadle feeder for the big hens as in addition to the rat family, the dunnocks keep helping themselves to my expensive Garvo Layers mash. Henry doesn't help either as he tips the bowl over to spread the food far and wide in his desire to provide sufficient food for all his ladies, which the feeder will put a stop to. There is a tunnel into the duck runs too so I am having to keep the water bowls empty overnight and I am sluicing the run as well to remove any traces of rat piddle.

Anyway, it's now Countryfile and I need to make myself a cup of tea and pick up the knitting. Happy Sunday evening everyone.