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.

Resolutions!

Sunset 31.12.17

As the sun goes down on the dying embers of 2017 I find myself subconsciously - or maybe fully aware - mulling over the things that need to be tweaked - or completely overhauled - in order to make 2018 A Better Year than the one just fading out.
The list could be very long - full of righteous intentions, grandiose promises and impossible ambitions....... or it could be very short and to the point.
I think I shall go for the latter.
So....
The one thing I shall aim to do in 2018 is write on this blog rather more frequently than during 2017. There's a lot goes on in this little world of mine & I would like to share it with you all.
You will, of course, be the first to learn if I stick to my New Year's Resolution.
Wish me luck!
My wish for you is that you have a happier, healthier and more prosperous year than the one just gone.
Happy New Year to you all.

From puppy to working Gundog

"You mean I just gotta wait........."

Well..... it finally came... just over 18 months from his first serious training session Skipper's inaugural day at 'work' arrived..... Not that he was aware of that.

Waiting...... again

The whole day passed without incident - which was just what we needed to start his career. He spent it all at heel, observing, listening, following (yawning and sleeping during the long waits between drives) and digesting new experiences - loading on and off the beaters wagon, strange dogs and people doing even stranger things, more birds than he's ever seen in the totality of his life, hares and deer springing up ahead of him....... no wonder he fell asleep straight after dinner..... and slept all evening..... So much stuff to process. There'll be plenty of time for hunting in the weeks, months and years ahead. For now I just want him to take it all in and realise that shoot days are nothing to get excited about. With luck and a following wind he's got another 8 seasons ahead of him....... plenty of time to unpack all the wonders of being a working gundog. For now.... it's enough for him to think of himself as a Walking Gundog.


Happy Gotcha Day Jaunty

Five years ago tomorrow we brought this little bundle of fun home........ His character and personality have just grown from strength to strength. The world would be a duller place without him xxx



Ooops - we forgot to pin his ears down



HAPPY GOTCHA DAY JAUNTY

We still forget to pin his ears down before he goes out!

THAT time of year again

In February every year I pack away the paraphenalia that goes with bushbeating - thornproof waterproofs and gloves, flagstick, canine (emergency) medical kit, on-the-beater's-wagon water container & bowl etc and switch off the early morning alarm settings. The months that follow seem to drag at first - no excitement of hunting, flushing, clambering through seemingly impenetrable hedges, staggering over thigh-high brambles, kale and sundry cover crops.... - just the steady, repetitive training (or re-training) to get the dog(s) back to calm, obedient, whistle-sharp focus - or something similar!
As the months slip by and autumn approaches time begins to quicken; with the falling leaves come the game-birds.....  everywhere - including on our drive from the neighbouring shoot! Time to keep a sharp eye on the dogs - can't have them chasing!
It may have been in the diary for months but 'our' first shoot day always comes as a surprise! Not for me, of course, but for the dog!!!!
Bugler should have guessed there was something afoot when breakfasts started to feature in his daily routine. Normally the dogs only get one meal a day - in the evening. Maybe that's why he was excited yesterday morning when I loaded up the car with all the usual beating-day gear and told him to jump in.  
Luckily he didn't know where we were going or he'd have been spinning round & round like and idiot in the back - in a few weeks he'll have sussed out the various routes and then he'll get seriously spinning about a mile away from our destination! Very annoying.....
We soon reached the yard where we - guns, beaters, pickers-up - meet & he sat quietly in the back until, when it was time to get going, I returned to fetch him. He exploded out of the truck with a yelp of excitement, landing on the ground, leaping up and squiggling round before sitting down - all in the same second! Told to 'heel' to the beaters wagon, he could hardly contain himself , squiggling and wagging so much that I think his back end got there at the same time as his nose! And he only got more excited as the day went on.


"Can't hear a thing under here"

The warm wet summer has provided ideal growing conditions for the 'cover' crops. The maize is probably 12 foot high, kale, sorgum, mustard, grasses - all well up to thigh-high. Plenty tall enough to hide all sign of lanky Bugler....... Added to that, the rain of the night before had thoroughly soaked every blade and leaf making the dog instantly soggy and ensuring maximum noise distraction - you can't blame him for not 'listening' to a whistle which is impossible to hear above the noise of rushing sodden undergrowth!!!!  All in all, it's amazing we got to the end of the day in one piece - or one pair..... and He Was Exhausted... tucking single-mindedly into the leftovers of his lunch box.....

He had a sore eye to show for his efforts - face whipped by sodden undergrowth poor lad  - but within a couple of hours of returning home and sleeping quietly in his kennel, he was up and ready to go again - or so he thought.
Luckily we are not out again till the weekend so he'll have proper time to recover his energies.. he's got to remember it's THAT time of year again and he needs to pace himself or he'll never last through till the end of January!

Happy Birthday Jaunty

 So ... he is now 5 years old and maybe, just maybe, he is beginning to grow up.
This is his serious pose... windblown and looking like any other spaniel really.....

 This is the Jaunty I see quite regularly - looking up and saying "What was it you wanted me to do?" It is not unusual for us to have a break-down in communication - I say something and he does something else..... and then he looks at me all innocence as if to say: "Well, I thought I had understood perfectly!"

 And then there is the wet Jaunty: he can't resist getting wet. It doesn't matter what the 'wet' is in - bucket, river, trough, dirty pond, puddle, tin bath, any bath - he just jumps straight in (yes, even in a bucket!). He'll drop his (hard) ball in the water container for the sheer pleasure of having to retrieve it from the bottom - he doesn't mind going right underwater. Perhaps he's half fish.... it wouldn't surprise me. Come to think of it, maybe that is why his ears are always so smelly....

Last, but by no means least, there is the crazy Jaunty. He jumps for fun...... up and down, up and down, up and down without halt until he starts doing something that seriously requires forward movement - like running for instance. In mid-air he squizzles round 360 degrees, or almost, and lands only to jump again. This is why he now does agility; it gives him plenty of opportunity to jump but with a purpose!

Happy 5th Birthday to my crazy, happy jaunty Jaunty xxx