Sunday, 14 March 2010

The girls must be happier now

Yesterday they somehow laid 19 eggs and there were another 10 today plus the ducks have laid too.
My daughters bantams haven't laid at all this year yet, not sure why. That is why her little show banties were such prized possessions.


Note- Must chase up the dog owner tomorrow for compensation! He has until Sunday or a bloomin' good excuse....which I will never believe anyway!



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Saturday, 13 March 2010

Interesting!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8561814.stm
half male half female chooks, we have a hen with spurs but doesnt crow and we think she lays


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Thursday, 11 March 2010

THE KILLER DOG CAME BACK

The killer dog came back today, luckily it leapt into our own dog pen so didn't kill anything. I am furious, both myself and neighbour signed a Police Officers book on Sunday morning to state next door would pay £150 compensation and keep the dog caged and out of our garden and they broke the agreement. We rang the police, told them not to come out as no harm done but if it does or if he doesn't pay compensation within 2 weeks of Sunday (when the agreement was officiated by the policeman) then I shall be asking for an officer to call and possibly the RSPCA too..




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Tuesday, 9 March 2010

AVIARY PANELS WANTED

As stated above, we are after some aviary panels and will happily pay whatever they are worth for either 2nd hand or new ones made by a hobbyist. Most are ridiculously expensive what what is little more than thin wood, staples and mesh! I just wish i wasn't disabled as I'd make my own at least to "pet shop standards"
If you have frames, we will happily buy and staple the mesh on or do repairs.
We are going to try and get to an auction at the end of the month but anything in the meantime, please leave a message on 0845 017 9422 which *should* be free to you if you are on BT as it will transfer to us and we pay for your call.


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More improvement

The hens seem to be going from strength to strength and even their egg supply is almost as usual.
My pet Cochins brought themselves out of the house today which is a good sign. I worry so much for them and the Pekins as with being pure breeds they are more delicate whereas if you saw what battery hens go through in their lives before you retire them, you would be shocked that they could ever become "normal chickens"
No sign of the £150 compensation from our neighbour yet but I'm not sure how long to leave it before I say something.....or get my other half to, we really need to get the Eglu "Go" funds' ball rolling.
Any ideas how long I should leave it before mentioning money to the neighbour will be gratefully received.



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Monday, 8 March 2010

The hens are getting over their shock

The girls are getting over their shock and have enjoyed some tinned sweetcorn and garden peas as a treat......the ducks protested vocally as they only got a little as I was going in with the hens and they mobbed me when I came out and they were really grumbling and miffed that it had all gone!
I adore the character and personality of the hens and ducks, so so funny and they definitely control us to get what they want. I am strict with my children but daft as a brush with my feathered friends.

I will keep updating but I think they are over the worst of it. They had poultry spice on their food this morning again. They've had a quiet day. My other half had to get my 2 pet Cochins out of their house as they wouldn't come out and were in there yesterday too, so they are the only ones I'm still a bit worried about but pure bred "posh" chickens seem more sensitive to change and upset, the battery hens seem extremely resilient.


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FINGERS CROSSED

Fingers crossed.....that once we receive the £150 compensation from our neighbour for our loss and damage (and yes I know I should have asked for more as everyone keeps telling me) but we will do some fundraising to buy one of the new Eglu Go's which come with a fox proof run and you can even buy extra pegs to hold it down securely as they screw into the ground unlike tent pegs.

The Eglu Go will hold upto 4 recovering birds in complete safety even though they are expensive at £330, they last forever AND hold their price very well as I have seen Eglu's on Ebay reach almost the price of brand new ones. These new ones look easy to clean too.

I can just see the garden in the future with Eglu Go's in a multitude of colours!

So if and when the neighbour pays up, I will start a totaliser on here and a countdown of how much more we need.
We must keep these babies safe who have had such a bad start in life. I feel terrible for saving them from slaughter only for them to suffer fear and death from the killer dog.




We did look at the Eglu Cubes for upto 10 hens but I have a covered area with a hen house which is safe for a few more than that, plus the ladder upto the Eglu Cubes doesn't touch the ground so ex battery hens with weakened legs would not be able to get up there. The idea is good but it needs a few tweaks and also needs the extra 1metre of run included in the price....not at £100 extra for some weld mesh! I would love to get in with their design team and design a Cube for ex batts! The cubes are vastly expensive, I think with the extra 1 metre run which in my opinion is necessary, they are around the £700 mark which I would never pay if it wasn't exactly perfect!

The Eglu Go is as good as perfect......except they don't do it in purple yet but the red looks quite funky. The green is vile ;-)

We have decided to aim for raising £350 so that we can also purchase some of the Omelet screw in pegs for the run to keep it extra safe from predators. Please click the link in the last sentence to see what they are.

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Friday, 5 March 2010

Mother Hen Of My Flock's Garden | GoneTooSoon.org - the free online memorial website

Mother Hen Of My Flock's Garden | GoneTooSoon.org - the free online memorial website





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Rest in Peace my darlings

Rest in Peace Newton, Fenella, Amber, Blanche, Amy, Joan and others who were unidentifiable after being savagely destroyed (whilst in a pen) in broad daylight today by a neighbours lurcher who had leapt a 6 foot fence into our garden and then a 2 metre high one to hurriedly escape with a mouthful of feathers once discovered.

We are devastated and in my moment of horror I called 999 as we still had their dog but it escaped back to its own garden. The police switchboard operative was very nice and called me straight back. I was so pleased as worried they may see me as a time waster but I was hysterical.

The Police were informed and immediately sent round a PCSO and have promised to send a proper PC to deal with it asap.

I am hoping to press charges for damages as the Pekin Bantams were show stock of our 8 year old daughters and the ex battery hens were ones we had rescued but had stayed here due to various health problems or simply that we fell in love with them. We want the neighbour to pay for damages and reinforcements to their side of their fence so their dog cannot escape as if we were to add razor wire, we would be in trouble.

It is going to be a busy weekend reinforcing & roofing everything.
If anyone can help with Heras building site panels, please help us as we are a battery hen rescue organisation with the main hens at our home http://www.lincslittlehens.co.uk


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Saturday, 16 January 2010

2 new residents

2 new residents moved in during the week, fillet AND nugget- so named as they are not ex batts and are very "meaty"- don't worry we are veggies! Lexi has also gone to join them now the snow has cleared and hopefully will enjoy life as a chicken ;-) rather than a human.
We do have a rescue coming up in the near future but due to the death (murder) of a close friend, it has not been at the forefront of our minds....we can deal with the chooks, it's dealing with people that we are having problems with due to being so depressed. We will be back in gear asap so the chooks don't end up dying too!



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Sunday, 3 January 2010

Chooky Porridge / hen jumpers

Please ensure your hens get some chooky porridge each day whilst it is still light enough for them to eat it. They really appreciate the warmth of the oats and all manner of good healthy things can be put into the mix to give them a healthy boost throughout the winter months. Even a little warm spaghetti/pasta mixed in is appreciated.
They hate the snow so probably won't venture far out of their houses. Ensure their water isn't frozen- Apple cider vinegar in the water apparently makes it less likely to freeze (or it will need a lower temperature) -Not guaranteed though as ours seems to still freeze!

Put plenty of bedding on the floors of their houses to insulate it better and use your common sense. Hens rehomed a while ago should NOT need jumpers and the use of them may cause a hen to overheat and then go into a moult which is not what you want at this time of year. Hen jumpers/ tunics can also get wet and cause a hen to have hypothermia. They should ONLY be used on newly rescued bald hens who are used to humid temperatures and being in close confines in the battery cages or barns. DO NOT use them as a fashion accessory.

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Happy New Year


Better late than never.....we wish all our friends, rehomers and supporters a fantastic new year and decade ahead.
Lets save hundreds more hens from their cages and impending slaughter and give them the retirement they deserve.
Thankyou to everyone who has helped us since we formed Lincs Little Hens and split our website from Rosah even though they are both still under the umbrella of the Rays of Sunshine Animal Haven



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Wednesday, 16 December 2009

Eggs/worming/winter advice


Anyone with hens will know they don't lay many eggs at this time of year with less daylight so this week Mark has been busy and has wormed all the poultry and made the most of their lack of eggs as it means he can use the good stronger stuff where eggs are not meant to be eaten during treatment.
2 Quails who live in the indoor aviary with the cockatiels and budgies actually laid an egg last week. It was so Tiny and looked like a Cadburys chocolate Mini Egg. Am not sure what to do with it, they're meant to be a delicacy but eaten how?
Here is a picture of it alongside a hen egg (a bantam egg is somewhere in between sized)




As the weather is predicted to be a below freezing this week, the hens here get a homemade warm porridge around 3-4pm made of oats with additional Omega 3 oils for any achey joints, poultry spice, garlic for good hearts and circulation and has other benefits too.
Put Apple Cider Vinegar in their water (not if in a galvanised drinker, only plastic) as ACV lowers the freezing point for the water.
Even though we hate using straw due to mites and bugs, this week we will make an exception and ensure they all have a deep layered floor as not many ex batts use the provided low perches.

Please take extra care of your ladies at this time of year, the warm porridge radiates them from the insides for a while, but do not leave them out after dark-get them in the cosiness of their houses where they will snuggle and share warmth.



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Tuesday, 15 December 2009

Back around...

We are back....we have put up with my health problems, family business, caring for the animals and SO much but hopefully will update this a little more now.
The calendars have gone out today (altho may have missed last post) they will be with you soon.
We are not doing any rescues until the New year when we are hoping to do one from Nottinghamshire. We didn't want to do one in the run up to xmas as have had some odd enquiries for large amounts of hens.
I found this website today which I think is dreadful http://www.ahenisforchristmas.co.uk/ I will leave u to your own decisions.



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Tuesday, 8 September 2009

FUNDRAISING CALENDARS

Next week we will be printing and binding our 2010 fundraising calendars which will be good quality, cost a fiver or less plus P+P and will make lovely presents for christmas.
Payment will be accepted by Paypal which means you'll be able to use any credit/debit cards safely or your paypal balance if you use it for selling on ebay.
We won't know the cost of P+P until we have the 1st one hot off the press and find the safest way of packaging them so they don't get bent in the post (which may mean recorded delivery so you have to sign for it rather than the postie cramming it through the letterbox.)

More details to follow and then we will take firm orders.
Thankyou to anyone interested.



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Saturday, 5 September 2009

POULTRY CRATES

My other half has been on a trip today to pick up the poultry crates for us. They are bigger than ours,so our original ones will need to go on the bottom row and hopefully the new ones above.
Thankyou so much to Sharron and Justin for purchasing 2 for our venture.



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Thursday, 3 September 2009

Chickens out campaign

Please take notice of the Chickens out campaign which shows the short life of meat chickens, which is just 39 days, BUT 39 horrific days as they are forced to grow to mammoth proportions in that short time leading to lameness, heart and lung problems.
Due to the farmers stocking the sheds so intensely, they live on the same litter for their entire life and the build up of ammonia stings their feet and their eyes and also their lungs as they breathe it in. It is not uncommon for 40,000 birds to be in each shed.
We believe that all intensive farming should be stopped as we believe it is cruelty to animals.
Please read the blog of the chooks each day at the Chicken Out website. It is written as though the birds are telling you their story. http://www.chickenout.tv/39-day-blog.html
We are devoted animal lovers.
The Farmers are trying to make a living but I'm sure many have land where the birds could be reared if people could just pay that little bit extra for a free range or organic bird.
The supermarkets need to stop selling intensively reared birds as they are selling an unhealthy animal...no matter how good it may taste!

I also try to preach to people about eggs from caged hens which are so bland compared to fresh, free range eggs. People don't realise until they have "proper eggs" and then go back and have a "supermarket egg". Would you want eggs from a poorly hen? Look at Tiny on our heading. Does she look healthy? She WAS providing caged hen eggs but now lives outside, eating a varied diet with natural supplements and is fully feathered and gorgeous.
Just because the chickens in these farms are vaccinated against certain diseases does not mean they are fit and well as many hens sit amongst carcasses of hens that could take no more.

The same with the meat birds. It is all so unnecessary and very sad.

I love chickens, especially the ex batts and the broiler (meat) birds are stunners too but they cannot be rescued as they would continue to be in so much pain due to their breeding which has made the monstrous sized birds in the first place.

Please, please read the chicken out blog xx



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Tuesday, 1 September 2009

New pages on our website

I've added some extra pages to our website, FAQ's
Elly's Kitchen, and some pages for people who we have purchased our Bantams, Cochins and Ducks from. I have also made the booking in procedure much clearer, showing the information we need from you. This is on the last page of the site.
Enjoy our ever increasing website. www.lincslittlehens.co.uk

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Monday, 31 August 2009

Cheers Callum!

I just wanted to say thanks for the ducks. We put them on the patio and they were soon quacking, well more like honking like geese, lol. Didn't realise females were quite so loud!!
The boy ducks came through the gate and it was lust at first sight. They are now a happy foursome and the boys will hopefully lose interest in the hens now!


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Saturday, 29 August 2009

Impending retirement days

We are retiring some ladies to their new homes on Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday.
Our first small session just to ease us and the boys into it.
If you are interested in rehoming any hens, please email lincslittlehens@aol.com as we will be taking bookings for future rescues after this weekend with dates to follow.
We are acquainted now with a few farmers willing to work with us which is fantastic so it's all go go go for Lincs Little Hens!!
Plus Mini is getting 2 new pet ducks from Callum on Sunday if we get a minute during the day to collect them.
Saturday (OMG today) I have paperwork to make up along with rehoming packs whilst the family enjoy a day of a local tillage weekend. It's meant to be nice weather. They'll be awake soon, best let the chookies out!



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