Ronnie, Roxie, Ada, Aggi, Lily and Lottie were all destinmed for slaughter, except I rescued them. All my lovely girls are a little short of feathers, but even in this sorry looking state they are lovely, this blog has been created to let everyone know how the girls do having been rescued thanks to the British Hen Welfare Trust who I got the girls from.
Day 1 - The girls were collected in pet carriers, two to a box, although when they were rescued from the barn they were 4/5 to a box. They had an hours journey home and I was scared to death knowing how alien everything was to them. After all they had never seen natural daylight until today, let alone the inside of a car.
When they were home they were put into the run and left bto get used to their new surrounding. Bedtrime was fun as they had never gone to bed before and I had to lift each one into the coop.
Day 2 - I was like a new mum, worried about foxes, the cold, everything, but they were OK and after a little help were out and about in the run. Eating and drinking like they had always been there. They were still jumpy and ran away if I went in. I let them out for 20 minutes and was so proud to see them stretch there legs and wings, but they were more than happy to go back in. When it came to bedtime, I put a torch in the coop to try and encourage them up the ramp, this worked for 4 out of the 6, the remaining 2 I had to lift.
Day 3 (today) - It was a very hard frost overnight, and we were worried how the girls had coped with it. Afterall they have very few feathers and only woodshavings and hay to keep them warm, so I opened the lid of the coop with some trepidation, but they were fine. Five of my girls came down for warm corn, number 6 needed a little encouragement, but then, so would I if I had slept in a wooden box all night. After the school run, I decided that I should start getting them into a routine, so I have decided that I will whenever possible try and let them out for the time when I am at home. So today the doors to the run were left open for 4 hours. Roxie and Ronnie are the larger bolder girls and were first out. The others followed shortly. It is so satisfying to see them enjoy the space you can provide knowing the circumstances they came from. Over the next few hours five of the girls went in and out of the run happily, Roxie, though decided she was gpoing to explore and explore she did, the flower beds, the decking, she even had a good look at the dog in the conservatory. In fact when it came to go out I had to corner her and put her back in. Roxie, is going to do one of two things, follow me around and be a good friend or simply be trouble.
After an afternoon snack of corn, dusk arrived and it was time for bed, howmany could remember last night. Unfortunately, today only 3 of 6 went up the ramp, the others had to be lifted, but the bonus of being lifted is they get a cuddle. Hopefully cuddles will be remembered, but not expected at bedtime.
Tonight I am expecting it to be as cold as last, so have recycled the boxes that the coop came in and used them to protect the coop and run from the frost. I know they are pretty tough, but they deserve a little comfort. Goodnight girls and lets see what tomorrow brings.
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