'New Soul' by Yael Naim.  Making me feel good right now...

On the 4th of Feb we got an e-mail from the BHWT re-homing co-ordinator from whom we collected our girls.  She kept hold of a hen from a rescue in September that had problems with her joints, one leg doesn't work and she carries it and her other leg is swollen but she manages to hop about on it.  The vet told her there is no treatment for it.  This lady didn't have the heart to have her put to sleep, as she still has a certain quality of life and she deserves a bit of a crack at life after coming out of the battery cage.  The trouble is, she can't mix Bea (the disabled hen) with her flock as she has a cockerel and Bea wouldn't be able to cope with his attentions!  So, she asked us if we could adopt her.

Ian thought I was too much of a worrier to take on a disabled hen and thought I'd be in tears every 5 minutes.  We had a heart to heart (well, me trying to convice him I wouldn't melt into a soppy heap!) and he agreed to the request.  I am adopted and have health problems so when asked to adopt a poorly little girl, there was no way I could say no!!!

Ian worked like a Trojan, extending the run and sorting out separate quarters for her (until we can hopefully merge them all, but this will take time)

I think he's  done a wonderful job.


She's been with us since Sunday and is still settling in.  We were lucky to have a few really warm days when we got her and she used to come out and sit in the corner of the run and soak up the sun but yesterday was a lot colder and she hardly came out of her coop at all, except to eat and drink a very small amount.  She doesn't move around much anyway and isn't laying so doesn't eat nearly as much as our greedy girls.

Here she is...and a birds eye view of her part of the run, it's sectioned off with some netting so there's no argy bargy but we are hoping to merge them eventually.


We've added plenty of torn up shredded paper to her coop (on top of the aubiose bedding) and popped a hot water bottle under the paper, to hopefully keep her warm.  Ian is also bringing some packing blankets home to drape over the coop as I think it's going to be a cold one tonight.

Tomorrow, we're going to try popping her in with our girls, once they've gone to bed as, if they can't see her, the theory is they won't pick on her and their body heat will keep her warm.  Then begins the process of trying to integrate them.  Not looking forward to the re-establishing of the pecking order!  I've already had a little chat with Maud and told her that we all know she's the boss and there's no need to pick on the new girl, I don't think it worked though!

Went to Liverpool to drop off some cards and key rings at Eye Candy, Gallery 13 and News From Nowhere and decided to spend some of the proceeds at FACT on coffee and cake in the 'rear window cafe'.  As we came out of FACT, heading towards Roscoe Street, we saw a multi coloured super lamb banana being propelled towards us!  


Ian took a quick snap.  They said they couldn't stop as it was very heavy so no idea where it was destined for.  
I did a google when we got home and found http://www.gosuperlambananas.co.uk 

Dare I say it but how many will end up in someone's garden I wonder?  Our chickens would love one!

Had a really good day today.  It was Ian's birthday so he got some lovely cards and gifts.  I signed him up to a 6 month subscription of "Grow Your Own" magazine.  His mum got him 2 blackcurrant bushes, a gooseberry bush and she's also getting him a damson tree.  His sister and BIL bought him a couple of pairs of much needed jeans.  Denim is supposed to be long lasting but nobody told Ian!  Fee and Martin bought him some JD, always welcome!  My mum gave him a wind up torch and £20 which will be spent in the garden when he's decided what he wants to spend it on.

We spent the day sitting in the conservatory, watching the girls free range.  It was cold today but with very sunny intervals and the girls were out for the best part of the day, dustbathing in the borders and sunbathing, so adorable to watch.  Here's a lovely shot of two of them having a dust bath and looking like butter wouldn't melt but...who's going to clear up all the mess on the patio girls? hmmmmmm?


We went out for a lovely meal in the evening to 'Chilli Banana' in Lark Lane.  I rang beforehand to ask if the eggs they used were free range before booking a table.  I spoke to the owner on the phone and he said that they didn't use FR eggs but, if it was important to us, then he would get some in just for us and make sure anything we ordered was made with them.  I thought I'd take some photos of our girls with us and see if I could persuade him to go completely free range.
  
We had a table booked for 9pm and didn't leave till 11.50pm! You'd have thought we were some sort of VIPs! We were treated so well by the waiters and waitresses who were all asking about our girls.  The owner Mike, who I'd talked to on the phone, came over at the end of our meal to have a chat and look at the photos of our girls.  Turns out he's a very ethical chap anyway (he mentioned some sort of water saving system they'd had installed in their loos, that he used recycled cooking oil in his car and that their menus were printed on recycled paper also that he's trying to source biodegradable cartons for their take away meals) and has been thinking about going down the free range route for a while.  Some of the chicken they use is free range from a farm in Alderley Edge but they can't get enough from there so they get some from a farm with indoor reared birds but higher standard. However, their eggs were not free range but he's going to speak to his suppliers on Monday about going free range!  I really hope he does and he did seem committed.  

I had mixed veg and prawns in tempura batter (made with FR eggs!) with a chilli dipping sauce.  Ian had Thai spiced pork skewers with the same dipping sauce.  Then I had beef in yellow bean sauce with Chinese broccoli and noodles, Ian had beef on a sizzling platter with a very spicy chilli sauce with egg fried rice (made with FR eggs!) and a lovely banana fritter (made with FR eggs) with vanilla ice cream from the Cheshire Ice Cream Farm.  I'm not sure if the ice cream is made with FR eggs but I've mailed the farm to find out.  They talk about the high standard of welfare of their cows so I'm hoping they give the same consideration to the eggs they use.  The dessert was on the house as we had to wait a bit for our table, so that was a nice touch and he also gave us some of the chilli dipping sauce to take home with us.  He's also given us the address of the Asian supermarket where they get their produce so I can get some of the delicious yellow bean sauce to try out at home.  I'll also get some of the delicious Chinese broccoli and some noodles, providing they're not made with egg.  I'm getting a pasta maker soon so I can always attempt to make make my own tagliatelle style noodles!