Rooster Herding

I think that for the next Olympics they should have Rooster herding, which will defiantly determine who is fit, and who is not! I fall into the later category  and openly admit that chasing roosters around the orchard nearly killed me. Roosters are far smarter than chickens, maybe it is because they have nothing to do all day but eat, molest chickens and eat.

I was asked to donate a rooster to a lady in the food project, and I was happy to help as I have been searching for somewhere to deposit the mass amount of surplus roosters I have. The lady came and collected the rooster that we had managed to catch, and I asked if she would like any more. She said that she would happily take as many as we could spare, to either eat or sell.

I knew catching the roosters was out of the question as they are fast, but I thought we could herd them into an empty pen. So, that is what we did by letting everything out of the orchard the roosters followed, and it was only a question of herding the roosters to where I wanted them. This worked for the first few, then the others got wise to this plan.

Plan B, we had to put everything back and try to chase the roosters out of the orchard, this took far more effort, including me, two children a rake and two brooms. Do not criticise the expert rooster chasing equipment as it works perfectly. After much swearing, chasing, throwing of brooms, we had roosters in the pen. This felt good, as they had been a headache for so long, and we needed them gone, as I was feeding them for nothing.

We gave away 6 roosters which sounds a lot, unfortunately  we still have far too many, and operation rooster will need to commence again soon. I want to get the roosters down to a manageable amount, and we seem to always have more roosters than hens in every batch of chicks.

The hatching has begun

Lucy has caused great stress over the last few weeks, as she has been a very nervous expectant Mum, which has in turn made us nervous. There have been problems with the other ducks, the dogs, people, and generally everything causing Lucy to leave her eggs and have to be encouraged to get back on them. We discovered that our predicted dates were wrong, and that she was going to be sat for far longer than expected.

As with everything here in casa chaos it is a steep learning curve, and we seem to be getting this one so wrong. I am a great believer in nature doing what nature does best, however, I can be so cruel sometimes. Lucy managed to hatch one duckling this morning, but it died, and in typical animal fashion, she simply discarded it and carried on with what she was doing.

I have Googled and apparently the others should begin to hatch any day soon, which I am no longer excited about, more anxious, pacing up and down and worrying. I suppose it is more obvious because she is in front of us, and we can see it all happening. Often the chickens will go off and return with chicks, therefore, removing the element of worry, what you don't know you don't worry about!

On the note of chicks, Omelette, returned yesterday...eleven chicks following behind up the drive, and hopped into the box and was escorted to the maternity wing. This then encouraged the feral chicken to want to return to the luxury and peace of the  maternity wing, so we now have the sounds of chirping once again.

Lets hope Lucy can successfully hatch the remaining ducklings, and I can move on to worrying about something else!

Escapee's

I am getting to the point now where if nothing wants to stay put then I refuse to spend half my day running around after it. Jack and Jill pushed me over the edge yesterday as they escaped again, went straight up the 200ft mountain and refused to come back down. I know that goats are very homely creatures and typically will return, but there is always that doubt that they might not.

So, we stood at the bottom of the mountain calling, shaking a bucket and generally looking idiots, the goats were no where to be seen, and I was becoming more pissed off as I had better things to do than stand waiting for a goat. I gave up, and stomped off, an hour later Jack appeared on my terrace looking for corn, and wanting to get let back into the orchard.

It was just one of those days, as the feral chicken and her five chicks, yes the others died, decided that she didn't want to be in the maternity wing, and some how got out! OK, this chicken really was an escape artist, as she gets through fences. We have no idea how, but she was there wandering around the orchard, ignoring us and eating food.

I know my fence building skills are frankly crap, but these animals have everything they need inside, so why do they persist in escaping! Lets hope today everything remains where it should be, and we have a day where I am not chasing animals!

Something so simple

Why does everything in life have to be a battle, including getting something so simple as wormer's for the chickens. Im no expect but I suspect that the chickens have worms, and I know many other chicken keepers that worm their chickens. Therefore, I thought I would be responsible and do the same, healthy happy chickens happy eggs!

So, I considered where to get the wormer's from and thought that the logical place would be the vet, however, there is nothing logical about our vet. Our vet is lovely, but lacking in any knowledge for any animal larger than a dog. Therefore, when he sees me approaching his heart sinks, as he has no idea what I am going to ask for next.

Apparently they do not have chicken wormer's, but could order me some, there you go problem solved....wait never that simple. I could have paste, or tablet form. I expressed to the vet, did he not know how many chickens I had, and how long worming 60+ chickens would take!! I asked if he had the wormer's that go into water or feed, but no, why would they this is Spain of course.

There was then a long debate on the worms, how long were they, had I actually seen them, and why was I bothering to worm the chickens. What type of chickens they were, errr feathered laying egg variety! and how old. At this point I was bored, but then he said he had found something... wormer's for cows! I pointed out I don't have cows, I have chickens, slightly different farm animal!

After a very long conversation, and no success I felt disheartened as I could not believe that no one in Spain wormed their chickens. So, I thought I would call the feed store lady, she is sooo wise! and bingo, she said you simply pop along to the farmacia, and ask for the worming solution..why didn't I just ring her in the first place.

Just another day in chaos

I had high hopes for yesterday, but alas they were soon gone as I realised that it was just another day in chaos. I do wonder why my animals are weird, and cannot do anything they should. As I went down to "quickly" feed everything and do water duties, I realised that it may have been Christmas day, but it was far from normal.

The chick that had been rescued had died, there was a dead chicken in the orchard and Jack and Jill were half way to the next village. At this point my heart sank, and I knew my quick visit was going to be longer than expected. After tracking down the goats and returning them to their pen, I realised that AL needed to be returned to the feed shed, as chickens and bathrooms do not mix.

I have no idea how people can keep chickens/roosters in their houses as they stink, sorry if I offend anyone, but all animals should be in the appropriate housing facility, and my daughters bathroom was not it at all.

Therefore, today's project is to build a hospital wing, next to the maternity wing! Grand ideas in my head, however, in reality  it is very likely to be some pallets thrown together with a chicken wire roof, voile a hospital wing! No I have not lost the plot, but we often get sick chickens, which end up in bathrooms, which is not good, so why not build my own sick bay, I wont say it will help me save any of the ill chickens, but it will remove them from my house.

They don't care its Christmas!

When you have animals they don't care what day or date it is, that everyone around the world is enjoying time sat indoors, eating, drinking and having fun! It may be Christmas Day, however, everything still needs feeding, cleaning, watering, and generally taking care of. I'm just hoping that for one day everything can behave and stay where it is supposed to be.

My daughters flat has turned into a medical station, as AL our big cock has hurt his foot, so he has had to be removed, and we have no where to put him as Jessica has to be locked in the feed room, a she/he is smashing Lucys eggs. On top of the AL problem, she also has a chick, which needed to be removed, so that is also upstairs. Just another day in Casa Chaos...but would we have it any other way, god YES!

I do wonder if everyone with animals have the same dramas and issues as us, or whether all problems head straight for casa chaos with glee. So, I am off to check everything has food, is where it is supposed to be, and then maybe we can have a semi normal day. A normal day would be too much to ask for, but a semi normal one may just be possible!

Have a great Christmas guys and see you manana, after the presents, eating, drinking, and attempting to be a normal family for the day :)

She has invited the family

Remember the chicken from next door who turned up with her two chicks, well we had let them roam loose in the orchard, as she was a very protective mum. I was ok, with this and she seemed capable of keeping an eye on her offspring, maybe next door breeds far more intelligent chickens than me! hmmmm anyway, she had two chicks, which is a small number but I thought no more of it until yesterday.

Our new addition suddenly appeared with six more chicks! they are smaller than her first two, so she either phoned a friend and told them to throw their chicks over the fence as there was free food and loggings here, or she hatched the rest of her brood. Either way two became eight, and now her family seems to be expanding.

I am a little concerned that if she continues, by the end of next week she would have moved the whole orchard into ours! oh well lets hope she stays and that she doesn't fly back once they are all grown. On a bonus we did manage to get her and her ever expanding family into the maternity wing, which she doesn't appear to like, but it allows us to keep an eye on them all easily.