Katiebob

I'm so very sorry Cher At least neither you nor Polly (presumably since she showed no symptoms of illness) had anything but joy together before her sudden death and you gave her such a tremendously fun time that she couldn't help but be happy. Sleep tight little one

It's not easy Ok, it's a lot easier if they've been hatched by one of your own broody hens Currently Whoopi keeps letting herself and her chicks out of her pen and into the main chicken run. Although all the other hens are free-ranging they do like to go back into the main run from time to time during the day (nesting boxes for laying etc.) but when Whoopi and her chicks are out she challenges any hen which dares to enter So I find an empty chicken run other than Whoopi and her chicks and then have to go on an egg finding mission which isn't easy in 3 acres I think your idea of letting the youngsters out on their own so that they can find the lie of the land, without being harrassed, is a good idea Hopefully that will make them more confident generally and let them seek out hiding places from their big sisters later.

that is so awful. I''m so sorry for your friend and her horse. I know the answer and quote are the wrong way round but I can't get this feature to play properly

I've just checked out flukespad's website and she has a young Wheaten terrier boy available A friend of mine always wanted a wheaten but I cant remember which friend it was

Lots of good thoughts being sent for Flissy and I hope that she responds to the antibiotics well to you and your family. Hopefully all will be well now.

That list is as much for me as for anyone else. I struggle to remember what I've got here, especially when I'm checking that they're all in at night. Forrest continues to make good progress and was out with the others in the rain this morning, digging for bugs and stuff in the paddocks. He seems pretty content considering the things that have happened to him in the last few days. He's a very handsome boy

He's doing brilliantly. Chaz is totally ignoring him so that's fine so far Forrest went absolutely bonkers with joy when we threw some bread into the run tonight to get all the stragglers to bed! He was already in the chicken run but legged it as fast as his long legs would carry him to make sure he got his share. He's living with: 1 Blue Orpington cockerel (Chaz) 2 Black Orpington hens (Whoopi & Bertha) 1 Splash Orpington,poss bantam, hen (Silva) 1 Buff Orpington hen (Buffy) 1 Blue Cochin hen 1 Buff Sussex hen 1 Light Sussex hen 1 Silver Sussex hen (Bess) 2 Buff Sussex bantam hens (French & Saunders) 1 Speckled Sussex hen (Martha) 1 Gold Laced Wyandotte hen (Spangles) I Barnevelder hen (Posh) 1 Cuckoo Maran hen 1 Welsummer Hen ) 1 Cream Legbar hen) The Partridge family (lol:) 1 Red/Black Pekin bantam (Bissell) 2 Silver Laced Wyandotte bantam hens 1 New England (or New Hampshire, can't remember which) bantam hen 2 Leyman Brown hens 2 black tailed brown hens 2 other brown hens 4 black rock hens 2 White Star hens 1 Amber star hen 1 Bluebell hen 2 Poland bantam hens That's plenty of hens for 2 cockerels so hopefully he'll be a happy boy. plus we have 6 chicks of mixed parentage who are about 4 weeks old and a load of eggs in the incubator.

">">"> Forrest survived his mega trip south east yesterday and here are a few pics of him this morning. So far so good - he seems to have settled in well and is gaining in confidence every minute

It will be brilliant, especially after all this time If it's not too hot, I might persuade Pebbles to be my travelling companion although as she will only have had her 2nd vacc on Friday, maybe not. Would the girls like to meet Echo?

Awwww, he is lovely

It will be a great pleasure to welcome Forrest Gump to our flock - he looks stunning His main contender for 'most handsome male' is Chaz, our blue Orp boy.

I'd like a Light Sussex cockerel. Pity he's dinner, never mind, I'll have to get myself another one! I've bought Gold Lace Wyandotte bantams, Black Orpingtons and Splash Orpington eggs, plus 6 trout runner duck eggs. The three broody hens I bought are a Blue cochin, a Silver Sussex and a Black and Red pekin bantam. The bantam is a feisty little madam (the other two are a bit in awe of her!!). Promise I'll downloads some pics of them and the new Blue Orp cockerel tonight - oh, and the chick cross-breeds too

The chooks that were caught by the lurcher are surprisingly doing well I have decided though to rehome Dave, our Amber Star cockerel. I don't find him much of a problem but he does have a habit of attacking people randomly, particularly the unwary So today I've sent him back to the farm from whence he came. He will be roaming in their fields with lots and lots of hens so I'm sure once he gets over the change he willl be well happy but personally I'm a little sad. I'd become quite fond of the little b****r I had loads of broody hens so bought some hatching eggs off Ebay. The moment the eggs arrived here all said broody hens decided they weren't broody any more. Ok. So I went and bought 3 broody hens from my local poultry supplier. They were broody there but got them home here and they decided they wouldn't be broody any more So I've now bought a new incubator for the eggs. These eggs will have cost me more than buying grown up hens at this rate. Such is life

Very nearly had a major disaster here this evening. We have workmen in painting the outside of the house. Sue and I had been out and when we came home we hadn't noticed that they'd left the gate into the yard open. Result was dogs everywhere chasing chickens. Tali (lurcher) grabbed our new cockerel, Chaz -a big blue Orpington boy. Despite Sue's frantic 'leave' requests, there was no way he was going to 'leave'. Almost by default, we managed to get Chaz safe and then Tali looked around for another victim and grabbed one of our brown hens. Eventually I managed to get him away from her too. Not many of our dogs are chicken safe so it was amazing that it was only Tali that grabbed any- maybe it was the way we were screaming at Tali that put the others off? Anyway, currently both cockerel and hen are ok although we'll wait until tomorrow to make any firm judgements. I think Chaz got away with losing lots of feathers but I think the brown hen has a puncture wound. I've put her somewhere safe for tonight and I'll have a proper look tomorrow when she's got over the shock. Could have been much, much worse but still very scary!

Good luck at the vet tomorrow. Glad that Sir H seems to be improving

What a horrible time you've been having So glad you were there for them though. Run free Mum & kitties and Old Boy too

I'm so sorry aboiut Archie, Lesley

Happy Birthday handsome boy

We're in Kent but near Ashford so about 40 mins away but not that far really! Great dog walks around here and loads of beautiful countryside. We also do flyball and agility for fun! Pm me if you want to meet up.

she's a beautiful tricolour rough collie baby. She arrived here before (sadly) Katy had to leave us but they met and I think of her as Katy's legacy. Please meet Pebbles: She has Katy's attitude and I'm finding it quite hard to reconcile my old Katy and this precocious pup at the moment but I absolutely LOVE her.

Despite a promising start to the day when Katy ate a little creamed rice from her bowl for the first time since she came home, I have just let her go to the Bridge Run pain free now lovely girl. Go and find your friends, Rebel, Holly, Hannah, Shep & Bobby and stay safe until we meet again

I've had a long chat with the vet today and we're going to give Katy another couple of days (because she is sooo old and may need a little longer to recover from being away from home.) The vet is then going to come and visit her at home before making a decision. I won't let her suffer but at the moment she is still interested in going for walks and although she sleeps a lot (as do all old dogs) when she's awake she's very alert. Part of this could be because I think she's now lost all of her sight. My biggest worry is her lack of food intake. I've tried everything possible that she likes and I'm still having to syringe food into her - she doesnt seem able to chew food. Her swallowing is fine because she's drinking plenty but she doesn't seem interested in 'lapping' liquid food. This may be a neurological problem but that's what the vet wants to test on Thursday. In the meanwhile I can keep her comfortable on the syringed food. I'm not sure what to do to be honest, but if it's her time, then I'll not fight it. I love her so much but my thoughts are irrelevant when it comes to her needs

My gorgeous girl is not well and despite her spending all last week at the vets, she is not really improving. I think her time is up. She won't eat so I'm syringing food but if this doesn't improve I'll be asking for a final vet visit on Tuesday. She's no youngster (would be 15 in October) so I should be ok about this but I'm not!! Please send Katy every good wish you have. She has been the most challenging and special dog I've ever owned. I can't imagine life without her

I don't want anyone to think that I've found this pup a rescue place because I can't be bothered - your stories of blind dogs have really enthralled me The biggest problem here is not the dogs (although we have 12 and some of them are pretty 'bargy'), it's because almost directly outside my patio doors is a large fishpond and I can't fence it off. It's concreted right up to the edge and I just don't have the spare cash to dig up the patio and put the fencing in. I have investigated it before because it scares me whenever we have a pup here, let alone a blind one. That's why I think rescue is best for this pup and I really, really want the best for him

Thank you all so much for the good advice. It's wonderful to see how adaptable so many dogs are at coping with disabilities. A very lovely rescue (who will have the puppy at their home with other puppies) has offered to take this puppy and work with it - and as I have just so many dogs here I think that is probably the best option for this puppy. Great news all round and thank you all for your advice, once again