What a day!!!

It's been an odd day so far - and it's only 8.30 in the morning!

It began when I sat idly gazing out of the window, cup of tea in hand, wondering why things didn't feel quite right.  I realised with a start that something was, indeed, very wrong.  I hadn't let the chickens out!

I quickly grabbed Titian's pot of yoghurt from the fridge, filled the dishes with pellets and made my way down to the run.  There I spilt some of the pellets while unlocking the gate.

When I tipped the yoghurt into the dish, it transpired that there wasn't that much to be tipped.  (The protein in plain whole yoghurt helps moulting chickens with new feather growth).  Realising that she'd better get in first, since there wasn't much yoghurt to be had, Maggie rushed over.   But did she eat from the nearest edge, like a lady?  Did she heck!  She leaned across to eat from the far side, covering her vast expanse of chest feathers in yoghurt.

When Titian finally made an appearance, she'd lost even more feathers.  One of the pictures in the last post shows her lower rear end still covered with lots of fluffy feathers.   Not any more.   Now she has just three.   Still, at least the bud-like feathers elsewhere on her body are making a determined effort to grow as fast as they can.   The amount of yoghurt Maggie carted away on her chest would have helped that process.

When I opened the coop to poo-pick, I took my own advice and picked Pom-Pom first.  But the minute I put her down on the ground, Fizz decided to have his way with her.  Well he hadn't managed to catch anyone else you see.   She wasn't ready for that sort of thing, screamed and ran - still screaming.  She's so highly strung at the moment that I had no option but to scoop her up and save her from being raped and pillaged.  Her poor little heart was beating like crazy!   That meant poo-picking with one hand.

Eventually I had to put her down and go, but she thought it meant we could both leave.   For a small bantam, Pom-Pom can move when she wants to, and was out of the gate before I had time to close it.   Luckily she stopped to congratulate herself as soon as she was clear of the run, so she was easy to catch and return from whence she came.

I have to give a talk tonight.   I have my fingers crossed that my evening will go considerably smoother than my morning has so far!