Whither does she Wanda

Wanda pecking around in Rocco's hay

We all need routine. My early morning routine is to let the dogs out for the necessaries, let the poultry out and give them their feed, feed the horse, feed the pigs, feed the humans and so on......
Wanda has her routine too; get out of the hen house, eat breakfast, get out of the hen pen, eat whatever she can find in Rocco's stable, lay an egg in the corner, wander off to find bugs and worms outside and so on.....

"What you got in your feed bowl?"

The daily egg

I've not yet discovered where she gets out of the hen pen; she obviously finds it very easy. This afternoon when I was collecting the eggs from her 'flock mates' she hopped back in to the pen behind me as I climbed over the fence - probably afraid she was going to miss out on something! I'm surprised that one or more of the others don't follow her - at this time of year there are more delicacies to be found outside than inside!    When Rocco is grazing down the fields she tends to wander around the yard or the orchard or down alongside the track but when he comes up to his stable she is right there next to him - or behind him - as if she has been waiting. He seems to appreciate the company, letting her peck around his feet and even occasionally snuffling her! He draws the line at her pecking in his feed bowl though (maybe she's checking to see if her egg is in there?), warning her with a quick flick of his tail! She quickly gets the message..... When he wanders out she is quick to follow. Companiable really. I think he is just bemused......as long as he doesn't pat her on the back ....!

A hen named Wanda

The happy wanderer... 6.1.18

Late summer/Autumn is the time of year we usually stock up on hay for the winter. So last August/September I collected some sample bales from our usual supplier - a local farmer:  we've been buying from him for 16 years - even when we've cut our own hay. He's always provided the best quality seed hay but in the past couple of years the Spoiled Pony has not been too keen to chew it - spilling much of it over the floor. The sample bales met with the same distaste.... and at £4 each that's a bit much to recycle in the Poultry Palace.
So I located an alternative supply of organic meadow hay - and when I turned up to collect some bales for the SP "to try" I discovered that the farm also supplied organic chicken on a commercial scale.
All commercial hens are "disposed of" and "replaced" after a fixed period, determined by when their maximum production period ends. Some of the luckier ones are rehomed shortly before the fatal day. We've got lots of poultry: Call ducks who don't lay eggs (except in spring), Runner ducks who don't lay eggs (except in the pond), cockerels who don't lay eggs and some lovely bantams who occasionally lay eggs - very small ones...... I'd been thinking about getting some more laying hens for quite a while. There really is nothing better than eggs freshly laid in your own back yard.
"Do you ever re-home some hens at change-over time" I asked the nice lady as she helped me load up the hay. "Why? Yes we do" she said, continuing "and we are changing over this Friday so if you'd like some you'll need to make up your mind how many in the next couple of days."

What a happy co-incidence!
The next day I returned with my poultry crate. I decided to take 8 hens. More than I needed but in the past when I've re-homed commercial hens I've always lost 2 or 3 in the first month. The change in habitat and habits can prove too much for some birds.
So I brought 8 hens home. And I still have all 8 hens which says a lot for the organic farm they came from. Between them they lay between 0 & 4 eggs a day which is plenty for us and one or two friends......
They're a friendly bunch; always rushing up to peck my feet and chuckle up at me when I go in their pen. They're always last to bed, refusing to tuck themselves in until it's well & truly dark; if I go out whilst there's even a faint hint of light still about they all pile out of their little house and come up for a nightcap - or something! Suddenly 3 or 4 weeks ago one of them started getting out of the pen and wandering around for the odd hour or two, then three or four and finally all day. She wanders everywhere - round the barns, the orchard, the fields, the house..... from minutes after I've opened up their house in the morning till well after dusk. She spends a lot of time in Rocco's stable, pecking away at hayseed on the ground - she even lays an egg most days in the corner or, very occasionally, on top of the fallen hay! We've lost one or two that way! Her wandering ways mean I have to keep an eye on the spaniels; they have all learned not to chase her when I am around.... although they do cast evil glances in her direction. Today Jaunty bumped into her when he ran round a corner ahead of me. He couldn't help himself: within a nanosecond he'd opened his mouth & in she hopped and demanded a quick turn about the yard (his story, not mine). Needless to say he couldn't wait to find me and give her over to my safe keeping (my story not his) and I'm happy to say she survived to tell her tale to the other hens......
Well, a hen with attitude needs a name. We  asked our #TeamGunner twitter followers for their suggestions. They came up with many and various but in the end I thought the most suitable was Wanda.... so Wanda she is. Technically, Wanda II because I did have a hen called Wanda a few years ago.......
So, let's see what Wanda gets up to over the coming months  - if she can keep herself out of trouble - and passing spaniels' jaws!!!!

The First flower of 2018

Jaunty pulled a claw out of his left back paw the week before Christmas.... as is his habit, he'd slipped out of sight when I was bringing the dogs in from their kennels in the evening and had gone hoolying across the fields. But they were frozen solid. He came home looking OK - but then I was not expecting anything to be wrong. He lay down by my side in the snug that evening - as usual. When he got up later on I noticed he was limping - "Jaunty's leg's gone to sleep" I said to The Big Boss.
It was still asleep when I put them all out in their kennels for the night.
And the next morning. So I had a closer look and thought I saw a missing claw. "Well" I thought "That explains it". So I bathed his paw in salted water - twice a day for three days. Then I had another good look and realised the claw I thought was missing was actually still there. I know. Old age and all that. On closer inspection it was actually the claw alongside the one I thought was missing which was the problem. I rang the vet. We went that afternoon. The claw was not 'loose' enough to pull off and not 'tight' enough to stay on. "No wonder he can't put it on the ground" said the vet, giving him anti-inflammatory and antibiotic jabs and prescribing 10 days of antibiotics...... It came off two days later - well, he pulled it off when we were going across the field.... After that he could put his weight on the paw.
Good then.
But Not.
He chewed it over night and made it all yukky and bloody.
A good Twitterpal sourced a single boot for him. That helps on wet walks. The rest of the time when on his own he is wearing the dreaded 'lampshade'. He does not like it. Who would? We go for long walks on lead - he does not like it. What spaniel would?  In the afternoon I let him run round on the extending lead..... he doesn't much like that either. What spaniel would?
It was whilst twirling round on the end of the long lead this afternoon that he almost squished the first flower of the year. On the other paw, if he had not been twirling round on the end of the long lead I would not have seen it.
Well done Jaunty. Thank you for showing me the first flower of the year.