THE PRICE OF FREEDOM

..Sly fox strikes again

 TWO of my favourite hens have disappeared - Josephine seen below in the video just five days after she hatched her chicks and Beryl, another black Scots Dumpy.
 Both of them were stunning specimens and now they are no more.
 I can only assume they were nabbed on consecutive days by a fox as there was a mature cub seen stalking around in the afternoon on the day Josephine went missing, according to a neighbour.
 In many ways I blame myself and once again I am
 in direct conflict with the need for security and
 the birds' need for freedom.
 The residents in the compound loved to go out for a morning stroll and rut around the place, with the stragglers usually making their way back by around 4pm which is well ahead of dusk when the creatures of the night, like foxes, usually emerge.
 While the hen pen is about the size of a netball court and there's plenty of room for everyone, I've now taken to keeping it locked up.
 I really have no idea how organic farmers operate without losing their stock, but I just can't see the sense in losing more of my feathered friends.
 Josephine, who I bought along with the cockerel Napoleon, from a place in Northampton in September 2012, had a special place in my heart. She was the first to go all broody a few months back and started sitting on a bunch of eggs successfully hatching six chicks.
 They made a wonderful sight as they foraged around during the early summer months and were a tight little group until a couple of weeks ago when she pushed them into venturing out without her close supervision. The Young Ones seem oblivious to the absence of their mother but Napoleon appears to have changed in temperament and seems less ebullient.

TOGETHER ... but not forever. 

Napoleon and Josephine

 The trouble with Josephine is that she was a bit of a loner and probably, after spending the last few months sitting, hatching and rearing chicks she was enjoying her own space. I keep hoping she will re-appear but deep down I know that is unlikely.

 And Beryl, who was extremely aggressive and not disimilar in temperament to Josephine,  disappeared 24 hours later.  I bought Beryl, along with her soul mate Ruby,  at a farm on the edge of Saddleworth Moors near Manchester. Both of them  were wonderful examples of their rare breed species but now Ruby is alone and I can tell she misses her best friend.

There is a sadness hanging over the hen pen at the moment which is largely caused by the fact the happy wanderers are now confined to quarters and are limited to what they can get up to within the pen.

 Egg production is down slightly which could be due to this change or possibly the weather as the days are much shorter and there's a chilly, autumnal feel about the place. if any of you have advice on how I can bring some cheer back please let me know.

 As for the young fox, well he's not been seen for a few days now but I shan't feel sad at all if any of the local gamekeepers catch him in their sights.

SPUR OF THE MOMENT

..Or Napoleon takes my bones apart!

  ONE of my animals has attacked me and I am in a state of shock. Not because of the viciousness and unrelenting nature of the assault but because of the perpetrator.
 I half expected in an unguarded moment I might be rammed or butted by one of the sheep, or that Jack the gander might suddenly turn on me now that he has managed to scare off everyone else who comes within his eye line. I even thought Ant or Dec, or both, could one day launch an assault on me when I least expected it because turkeys are unpredictable creatures.
 But never for one moment did I expect Napoleon to turn on me, but turn he did using his razor sharp spurs with the deftness and skill of a Samurai swordsman. My left hand now looks like something on a butcher's chopping board as you can see from the series of picture below.

TAKE THAT - palm

AND THAT - below small
finger

AND THAT - thumb

 It all began when I noticed Edwina, one of the cuckoo-coloured Scots Dumpys had developed a limp and as I moved closer I could see she had a clip of some sort attached to her leg which needed to be removed as she was obviously in mild distress. I merely bent down to scoop her up and Napoleon emitted a weird screech and charged straight at me.
 Knocking Edwina out of my hands he then set about in three quick moves to slash and stab my skin using both spurs as he drop kicked me Kung Fu-style. It was like a scene from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and it really hurt causing me to emit a large, ungodly howl followed by several expletives I thought I'd long forgotten.

 The good news is I removed the plastic clip causing Edwina the pain but the bad news is my left hand has swollen and two of my fingers can barely bend. I ran the wound under a running tap and wiped it with an antiseptic cream but it is very painful. I reflected on what had happened because you can't take these things personally ... or I'd be having roast chicken for dinner tonight!
 But, as Alpha male in the hen pen, Napoleon was not being predatory but simply over protective towards Edwina who was already in some distress when I went to do my Good Samaritan act.
 In future I will always keep an eye out for Napoleon as well as the two other cockerels Jumpin' Jack and Horatio before stepping in to the hen pen and I'll try to remember to wear a pair of leather gloves.
 I usually wander around with a large stick but I put it down as I knelt to pick up Edwina.

 And I guess I will always remember the relationship I have with my animals ... we're not friends as much as I would like to be. I'm simply the person who comes around with the food and tries to look after their welfare. It is quite obvious after what happened today that only one individual can rule the roost and that is Napoleon who, I've noticed, is imposing his will more and more on the rest of the hens. If there's an outbreak of bullying he wades straight in and stops potential flare ups and he's always there to keep the other two cockerels in check. He's also taken to growling while prowling as the video clip shows.
 If something similar has happened to you, or if I'm handling this the wrong way, please give me your feedback.

MISS MOODY GOES BROODY

HEN HOUSE: Now a hot house

for broody Josephine

.. But Josephine still rules the roost

 OF ALL my feathered stock I would say the most anti-social is Josephine. She's a gorgeous looking black Scots Dumpy I bought in Northampton along with my rather spectacular cockerel Napoleon in September last year.
 Dumpys are normally cuddly, social chooks with wonderful characters which is why Josephine's moody temperament stands out in the hen pen where, in terms of pecking order, she commands pole position.
 Basically no one challenges Josephine and the only other Dumpy to interact with her is Napoleon; the two are normally inseparable and always sleep in the same hen house (there are four abodes from which to choose) with him perching and her nesting in a corner.

HORATIO & MOODY JOSEPHINE: Used to
be inseparable

 Well something very interesting happened yesterday - she occupied the smallest, tallest hen house and refused to budge. It's a favourite laying spot for the rest of the hens who were becoming increasingly vocal at not being able to get access to lay their eggs. He-who-should-be-obeyed-but-rarely-is stuck his hand in to engage with her and is still nursing his right fore finger for the trouble ... proving that he is hen-pecked but not by me!

 Being more wary I lifted up the hatch and took a quick peek - she expanded her body by fluffing her feathers and made a really odd, throaty gurgling sound which sent me running for the poultry books. Having lost one hen to egg peritonitus I wanted to make sure she wasn't going down with something equally terminal. Mercifully Josephine is not ill but her hormones are rampaging ... more so than usual. According to the experts and my chicken manual she is displaying all the symptoms of a broody hen for this time of year.

 Now incase you didn't know, a broody hen is worth her weight in gold for a small holder like me but for professionals it's a nuisance and some simply dip their hormonal hens in a bucket of ice cold water in an attempt to cool down the poor creature and knock her off her cycle. I think that's rather cruel but I'm merely an amateur so will move on swiftly lest someone should accuse me of trying to teach hen veterans how to suck eggs.

EVICTED: Beryl & Ruby

 I returned to Josephine and gently picked her up - and what a surprise I got. Not only was her breast and abdomen hotter than Hades she was sitting on at least a dozen eggs. She must have simply hijacked a full nest, knocked out some of her own and has commandeered it for sole occupancy.
 Horatio is non too happy as he always slept there while Ruby and Beryl were regular occupants on the very high overhead perch. Now they've all had to find alternative accommodation until Josephine completes her broody cycle.
 Hens' eggs take around 21 days to hatch so it will be interesting to see if she stays the course. I'm also wondering, with some concern, if she will make a good mother given her mood swings when she's not broody.
 * Meanwhile the surrogate turkey mum is still sitting on a pile of eggs, including those belonging to the Bourbon Red who was snatched by a fox last week. She also makes the same throaty, gurgling sound if you get too near ... hope it's not catching!

COCKERELS PUT IN THE SIN BIN

RELUCTANT RUBY: Housebound

and egg bound 

.. Hens give troublesome trio the red card

 I'M STILL dithering about launching into a full breeding programme with the Scots Dumpys which will mean segregating the cockerels from the hens and then pairing up selected couples and building different pens.
 Once I do that when I incubate eggs I will have a rough idea of what is going to hatch whereas at the moment it's a bit of a pot-pourri. Serious breeders must be reading this with equal measures of disgust and horror, I've no doubt.
 So in the hen pen it's a bit of a free for all which causes its own problems as the hens just want to focus on laying eggs and chillin' and the cockerels want to do what they do.
 The result has been chaos so I've put Napoleon, Horatio and Jumpin' Jack in the poultry equivalent of the sin bin these last few days to give the girls a break and a chance to restore their ruffled feathers and dignity. Poor Ruby was egg bound last week, she was so stressed out she wouldn't leave her little blue home pictured above and to the right . I gave her a warm bath, 20 minute massage, copious amounts of top dollar virgin olive oil at both ends, and then steamed her bottom. After a quiet overnight stay in the kitchen she resumed normal service which was a relief - I really did not want to get out the rubber gloves! An egg block is potentially fatal.

WRONG SIDE OF THE WIRE: Jack, Horatio & Napoleon

 But it was one of those straw-breaking moments and so I decided my three cockerels would have to spend their days on the outside looking in. In the first instance it did create a sort of unity and adversity so old spats and rivalries were set aside while they stood staring and glaring at the indignity of being on the wrong side of the wire.
 Many poultry breeders are surprised that three of my 15 Scots Dumpys are cockerels and that they all live together in the same pen quite happily. Of course they do have their moments but in the pecking order of things Napoleon is the boss and he runs a disciplined outfit.
 Dumpys really are a lovely breed and they are very friendly, each one is a character. Quite why they've become an endangered species is beyond me.