The first of many sad hurdels

This is a post I know I have had to write for weeks now but couldn't bring myself to do it because it is so sad but alas the longer i leave it the more seems to be added to the sadness so here goes. In my last post I was bubbling with the joys of chicken keeping and excited to be on the road to our farm. We knew getting chickens there would come a time, as with any pet, or life for that matter, for sadness but we hoped it would be many years (and eggs) away.

The first stumble came when my poor little Tullulah became egg bound. It was our first time of seeing this and took us a while to work out was happening. She was so poorly and the vet wanted to put her down but we nursed her through it and she managed against all odds to lay the egg. She got better so quickly after that and, after a bout of bully, settled in with the others again and started growing feathers at a rapid rate.
Our next blow was a big one and came 5 weeks after getting the girls. During the day they stayed in the secure run but when we got in from work and at weekends we would let them out in the garden to free range. At first we nervously watched them like new parents but as the weeks went by we would nip inside the house for something and relaxed as all seemed ok. On the bank holiday Sunday evening we had gone in the house to sort out tea nipping to check on them every ten minutes or so.

After tea I went to look through the window and saw a mass of feathers on the ground and knew what had happened straight away. I couldn't bring myself to go outside so Brian went out and slowly walked round the garden from chicken to chicken shaking his head. Suddenly I spotted movement in the top corner of the garden. A young fox was jumping up and down at the 6 foot high, barbed wire fence trying to escape! I knock on the window and pointed to it. Brian looked at the fox not knowing what to do just as it managed to pull itself over the fence. It had killed Tinkerbell outright, Tullulah was very badly injured and Brian couldn't find the other two. I was so upset and felt like we had failed them.Brian found Ginger under a bush with lots of feathers missing but we couldn't tell how injured. We decided to put her in a box until we had found Tikka and sorted Tullulah who was in a much worse state. Brian walked around the coop where he had walked a few times before. This time he spoke as he walked pass the bushes and there was an answering cluck from inside! Tikka had managed to fly 5 foot up onto a branch and hide there silently inches from where the fox escaped on the very day we talked about clipping her wings! Tikka hated being picked up more than the others put together but Brian held out his hands and she jumped into them completely unharmed.One look at Tullulah and I knew she would never make it to the vets (who I had on the phone). Both her wings were broken and her lungs punctured. Brian made the brave decision of putting her out of her misery himself. I was so proud of him for being able to do it as I knew I couldn't. We know we will have to face things like this on the farm but 5 weeks in seemed a bit too steep a learning curve!

We looked at Ginger and at first she seemed ok and we hoped we have two left but then I heard the tell tale wheezing sound as she breathed and knew her chest had been punctured too. We took her to the vets who put her down for us.
That left us with one brave little chicken all alone in her run. She spent all Monday morning looking for the others and we knew we couldn't leave her on her own. We found a farm close to us that re-homes ex-bats and so went up in the afternoon to get two new ladies.
The lovely Suki
and beautiful BellaI wish I could say that's the end of the sadness but unfortunately it's not. 2 weeks after getting the new ladies as they started to settle in we noticed the tell tale signs that Bella was egg bound. She had laid 2 shell-less eggs since we got her so we were expecting a problem with her first proper egg. She was obviously struggling to lay but was still sat up and walking around, unlike Tullulah. We hoped she would be ok but unfortunately she didn't make it through last night :(
Callum pointed out that out of 6 ex-bats we've only lost 1 to illness which is about average but we are still feeling like the unluckiest chicken keepers going and are pretty sure we've been cursed by the chicken gods.

We know that life and death are part of farming but to have so many deaths and very few lives left in such a short space of time is disheartening to say the least but we will travel along our path with the new lessons we've learned on the road to our dream. I guess a dream wouldn't be worth it if it was easy to achieve?

The beginings of a farm

Well the day finally arrived last Saturday and we got our chickens! I've been desperate to blog about it for ages and now I'm caught up I can :) I think the last time I blogged about our chicken journey we had just done the chicken keeping course. Over the next month or so we researched coops and after looking at nearly every coop ever produced we found exactly what we wanted on ebay. It's the same as the one I posted about before but slightly bigger. It's actually the biggest run we could find as the girls have to be in it during the day while we are out earning their pellets but we will still probably extend it further at some point. We managed to buy it for about £140 which was pretty good. It arrived a week later and we set about building it and preparing the area it was going into.
The previous tenants had a green house exactly where we wanted the coop so we recycled the paving stones around the edge of the coop to hopefully deter foxes a bit more. Brian also set about building a fence down one edge of the garden and constructed a brilliant little gate too.
So we were all ready for our ladies and all we had to do was go and get them. We had already found a lady out near Blackpool who rescued battery hens and re-homes them. She is also a breeder for Omlet and has a lovely little farm called Happy Chicks which you can check out by clicking here. We set off on Saturday morning nervously excited to be collecting our first animals on the road to our small holding. When we got to the farm Kate, the owner, took us to see the ex-bats. They had already been at the farm for 6 weeks so they were already looking so much healthier. Here is a picture of some of Kate's ex-bats when they arrive,
I'm sure most of you already know the state they are in but I still find it shocking it's allowed. After 6 weeks in Kate's care the girls were already looking a million times better. She picked out 4 girls for us and popped them into carries for the journey home.When we got in (after a slightly nervous and careful car journey) we showed the girls their new home and they settled in straight away. It was amazing how quickly we got to know the girls characters. We got four so we could name one each and so in no particular order I'd like to introduce the first of the girls, named by me. She's the most ex-bat looking of the girls with a bare chest and bald head but loves her grapes and is always the last to bed (like me). Here is the lovely Tullulah,Next up we have the prettiest (and nosiest) of all the girls, named by Brian. She's the most chilled out chick who loves nothing more than a good sun bath. Here's the gorgeous Ginger,
Following Ginger is the top lady of our coop. Named by Callum, she likes to be the boss and lets the others know it. She's the first at the gate when we come out to say hello and noisiest second only to Ginger. Here is top chick Tikka,and last but by no means least, named by Hayley, we have the little chic who loves her treats almost as much as Tikka. She'll happily attack your shoe laces or wellies when you go to say hello. Here's the sweet little Tinkerbell (aka Floppy, can you guess why?)We had our first egg the very next day we got them but we're pretty sure it was in production before we picked them up and was a bit on the thin side but it was one of the most exciting things ever! I also discovered a use for my lovely giant tea cup :)We got our first proper egg on Friday which we're pretty sure was layed by Tinkerbell and then another egg followed on Saturday,We decided we had enough to make and omelet and it was the most yummiest, yellow, satisfying omelet ever!The girls had a rest on Sunday but then Ginger layed us an egg this morning so hopefully we're going into egg production now. I love the girls so much they are great and having eggs from them is even greater. I've already been wondering what else we could have in the garden that the land lords would let us get away with! Small holding here we come :) Living your dreams is the greatest of all things. I'll leave you with a picture of the girls showing just how relax they really are after a week with us :) This is them Saturday having a bit of a sunbath :)

Chickens and Trophies

Well it's only been a week this time since my last post and there's still lots that happened! It's been a bit of a busier week than normal to be fair. The most exciting things are the fact that we've got the house keys (yay)! We've also got Brian's car going which is so good and meant we were able to go to the chicken keeping course yesterday! I have also been given my first ever blog award!!!!
How exciting is that!!?? I can't really explain how happy it made me, I rang my sister and Brian to let them know the exciting news but I'm not sure they completely understood what I was going on about though? :) The award came from one of my favourite blogs who I've written about before, the lovely Emma at Mimi and Tilly and she wrote this about my little blog

" Lizzyloolaa has moved 250 miles to fulfill a dream of starting her own B&B smallholding complete with alpacas. Completely fabulous. Follow her blog as she follows her heart. It's fantastic."

Thank you so much Emma. It's so brilliant to know other people enjoy reading my blog as much as I enjoy writing it. It's even nicer to get praise from a blog I love reading so much. If you happen to have a bout of bloghopilitus (see last post) then I suggest you hop over to Emma's blog here and read it from the beginning. It will make you giggle and think like never before :)

Well the rules of this award are to make myself a lovely cocktail and choose 4 of my favourite blogs to give this award too. I would have picked Mimi and Tilly if she hadn't given me the award in the first place so now to pick four other blogs...? There are so many lovely one's to choose from? Well with a mudslide in hand (yummy choc cocktail), In no particular order here are the four other blogs that I love for different reasons,

Diary of a Tinyholder : This was one of the first blogs I came across when I entered the blogging world. I sat and read the whole blog over a few nights and love it as much as a good book. It's so lovely to go back and see where Sian has come from and what she has achieved now. I wonder if she realises how far she's come? I recommend this blog for a good evenings reading :)

Faerie Nuff : This is a girl after my own heart living back in my homeland of Hampshire. She even has the same CK purse as me :) I love love love her blog shop Country Charm, especially her fabric snails (which I keep promising myself for the new house). She even has the matching dream of a cottage in the country with animals and land one day. Go and check out her blog for crafting loveliness :)

The Fairyglade : I love this blog for pure creative yummyness which can also be bought in her shop :) This is the type of blog that I like where you really feel like your getting to know the author and feel involved in her day to day life. I always know I can pop over to this blog and find a lovely post to read in the archives :)

The Pigeon Loft : I picked this blog for a few reasons. The first is mainly how much it makes me laugh. I love reading about the adventures of Mr. Pigeon and I would love my own one day. I also picked this blog as it's one of the few on my list that my other half likes to read as well. He loves the shenanigans of Mr. Pigeon almost as much as me :)

On the crafting front I have found my first project and have ordered in all the bits I need from trusty ebay. Here's a sneak peak at them all ready to go.Can you guess what I might be making? I'm really excited about my stroll down the crafting path as I'm hoping I'll have honed my skills enough by the time we have the farm that I can sell the bits I'm making.

On the subject of the future farm, myself, Brian and Cal all went on our chicken keeping course (finally) this weekend and it was brilliant! It was run by the loveliest man called Fenton Simpson. Here he is holding the pretty Pheobe who I got to have a hug from later,he also has the lovely Missy,and Sweet little sugar,
I have to admit, as much as I was really looking forward to the course, i was a bit worried. This was for a couple of reasons really. Growing up in the countryside I've always been around animals and do love them but have always been a little nervous around them. This changed a lot after getting Jessie a few years ago and she taught me a lot about animals. This being said, I was still worried that I would get to the course, see a chicken and go running. This might sound a bit strange when I'm so commited to our small holding dream but it's true. So this for me was my first challenge in our small holding dream and I'm happy to say my worries were unfounded. I loved the girls as soon as we saw them and jumped at the chance to hold phoebe and give her a hug. I'd never have guess chickens were so huggable! I can't wait to get our girls now. Fenton was great and taught us so much. He also took us to his allotment as I had mentioned in an email that Brian would be getting one this year. I real feel like we've started down our dream path now.

My final picture today is the lovely bunch of flowers Brian bought me on Thursday when we got our house keys along with the yummy rainbow trout he cooked for tea. I have a feeling next week will be as busy as this one has been so look out for a giant post then too. Today's has been written in between cleaning the bathroom and cooking a lovely beef stew and now I'm off to watch a bit of Hugh Fernerly Whittingbumble :)

Eggtastic

Just a quick post today to keep me blogging. Both me and Brian were back to work today but I didn't realise I was only working half a day so that was a major bonus! I'm also only doing half a day tomorrow and have the day of Thursday so it's shaping up to be a pretty good week! So how did I spend my unexpected afternoon? Cleaning the kitchen of course! In doing so I discovered that old facial exfoliators make brilliant oven cleaners (handy tip). Brian thinks it's very funny that I'm blogging about cleaning. Not because of how stupidly boring it is but because he thinks I'm showing off for cleaning and to be honest I am :) I would also like a medal please :)

Actually my main reason for blogging today is to show off my chicken house I have found and that we will hopefully be purchasing in the next few months so that I can get my chucks! (Wow, that was a bit Northern). So here it is in all it's glory, the Egg Ark 4 (cool name)
It's so lovely. Can't wait to get it :) That's it for today really. I could write for a bit longer to delay having to think about tea but I'm not sure Cal's stomach would thank me. Here is my lovely picture for today. It's an arty one I took up in Scotland a few weeks ago and I quite like it :)