What did you do with your flock today?

[Shetland lover]

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Happy chickens!!!
Egg quality has gone up tremendously. True confessions - I actually had to buy eggs last week - Super nice to have  real eggs again.
Happy 5th. Made the trek to paradise yesterday. Lots of work getting the fur fosters and babies up and settled. Hubby drove me down the mountain and I did my evening bait station feeds, then rode my bike up the Waimea way to a glorious sunset. It was magical and wonderful and I did not pull over to take a photo. Sorry, had a pizza in my tailbag and wanted to get to fur babies. Maybe tonight.
Time has slowed already. I feel the happiness of enjoying my flock again, doing chores for them without the resentment of time. My house kitties are bouncing and purring extra.
I miss my Forest Kitty I need to find him so we can all be happy again.

That does sound like paradise to me! I'm sooo green with envy, being stuck in a grotty town

No sign or leads on Forest at all? I'm keeping everything crossed he turns up soon. Not knowing is the worst feeling

 

[Shetland lover]

I'm in Ferdy's bad books again. We had a rare night out to see a band I've been friends with for the last 25 years. They were headlining a beach festival local to us and we were invited along. We talk but haven't seen each other for at least 10 years so afterwards we did some catching up, which meant we didn't get home until about 3.30 a.m.
I had shut everyone in the run and left the coops open before we left, as it was waaay too early to put everyone to bed. I went straight out once we were home, expecting all to be snoozing away happily, only to be confronted by Ferdy, wide awake. He was sat on top of his coop making his grumpy noise and when he spotted me, let out an enormous yell of displeasure. He then flung himself at me and sat on my shoulder, berating me whilst I checked all was well. Then he jumped down, stalked across the floor and took himself off to bed. He also gave me half a dozen light pecks like the ones he gives the girls when they're getting out of line. Guess I know my place now and it's not going out, having fun
This morning he's keeping his distance and giving me the side eye. Looks like I've got some making up to do...

 

[TropicalBabies]

I'm in Ferdy's bad books again. We had a rare night out to see a band I've been friends with for the last 25 years. They were headlining a beach festival local to us and we were invited along. We talk but haven't seen each other for at least 10 years so afterwards we did some catching up, which meant we didn't get home until about 3.30 a.m.
I had shut everyone in the run and left the coops open before we left, as it was waaay too early to put everyone to bed. I went straight out once we were home, expecting all to be snoozing away happily, only to be confronted by Ferdy, wide awake. He was sat on top of his coop making his grumpy noise and when he spotted me, let out an enormous yell of displeasure. He then flung himself at me and sat on my shoulder, berating me whilst I checked all was well. Then he jumped down, stalked across the floor and took himself off to bed. He also gave me half a dozen light pecks like the ones he gives the girls when they're getting out of line. Guess I know my place now and it's not going out, having fun
This morning he's keeping his distance and giving me the side eye. Looks like I've got some making up to do...

Drama, drama, drama What a goof Ferdy is and what a homecoming. I hope the fun was well worth the price you had to pay for it young lady.
Guess next time youll just have to take him with you

 

[TropicalBabies]

That does sound like paradise to me! I'm sooo green with envy, being stuck in a grotty town

No sign or leads on Forest at all? I'm keeping everything crossed he turns up soon. Not knowing is the worst feeling

I call and look for him when I do the Thursday morning feeds and I now have 12 feed/bait stations, in over1 mile, where I also call at the top of my lungs (lol) when I feed every eve. Every stray cat in Kekaha is going to think its name is Forest Kitty - Monster Kitty!!! I've refreshed my adds, and keep handing out fliers everytime I see a human when out on feeds.
My latest theory is he may have been trapped and relocated. So, needle in a haystack however I slice this one, but I'm going to keep looking. Hopefully I will find the right person who has him, or has seen him. It is exhausting physically and emotionally forsure.

 

[MaeM]

Today I don't have to work, so I can spend more time with Callia, who recently lost her flock and she's very, very sad.

She spends a lot of time in the coop and doesn't want to eat. What I do is manually removing her from the coop so that at least she sees the sunlight. But she still finds places to hide. Perhaps she feels too insecure to forage by herself?

Anyway, I'm kind of happy that at least I found a way to make her eat a bit more today. I got creative and made this "dish" with meat, corn, lettuce, carrot, and her own layer feed. I brought it to the place she is hiding in (because she doesn't want to come out) and I managed to tempt her by showing her the plate, offering food with my hand, and even "eating" it in front of her.

She was finally convinced and ate it all!

 

[ValerieJ]

Today I don't have to work, so I can spend more time with Callia, who recently lost her flock and she's very, very sad.

She spends a lot of time in the coop and doesn't want to eat. What I do is manually removing her from the coop so that at least she sees the sunlight. But she still finds places to hide. Perhaps she feels too insecure to forage by herself?

Anyway, I'm kind of happy that at least I found a way to make her eat a bit more today. I got creative and made this "dish" with meat, corn, lettuce, carrot, and her own layer feed. I brought it to the place she is hiding in (because she doesn't want to come out) and I managed to tempt her by showing her the plate, offering food with my hand, and even "eating" it in front of her.

She was finally convinced and ate it all!

No chance of getting her another hen or two to keep her company?

 

[Shetland lover]

Drama, drama, drama What a goof Ferdy is and what a homecoming. I hope the fun was well worth the price you had to pay for it young lady.
Guess next time youll just have to take him with you

Oh, I can just imagine Ferdy pogo-ing up and down on my shoulder with me and 4,500 other people! He'd probably love the attention he'd get too

 

[Shetland lover]

I call and look for him when I do the Thursday morning feeds and I now have 12 feed/bait stations, in over1 mile, where I also call at the top of my lungs (lol) when I feed every eve. Every stray cat in Kekaha is going to think its name is Forest Kitty - Monster Kitty!!! I've refreshed my adds, and keep handing out fliers everytime I see a human when out on feeds.
My latest theory is he may have been trapped and relocated. So, needle in a haystack however I slice this one, but I'm going to keep looking. Hopefully I will find the right person who has him, or has seen him. It is exhausting physically and emotionally forsure.

You a definitely doing all that you can, for sure. It's just heartbreaking. I bet he's missing you terribly too

 

[Shetland lover]

Today I don't have to work, so I can spend more time with Callia, who recently lost her flock and she's very, very sad.

She spends a lot of time in the coop and doesn't want to eat. What I do is manually removing her from the coop so that at least she sees the sunlight. But she still finds places to hide. Perhaps she feels too insecure to forage by herself?

Anyway, I'm kind of happy that at least I found a way to make her eat a bit more today. I got creative and made this "dish" with meat, corn, lettuce, carrot, and her own layer feed. I brought it to the place she is hiding in (because she doesn't want to come out) and I managed to tempt her by showing her the plate, offering food with my hand, and even "eating" it in front of her.

She was finally convinced and ate it all!

Poor Callia! It's a big change for her. My friend's girl lost all her flock and lived as an only chicken for 4 years until she developed a neck tumour at 8 years old. After a shaky beginning, she thrived and blossomed as an only chicken, so it can work out. But a lot depends on personality and most chickens do best with flockmates. If you really can't get her a companion or two, you're going to have to work extra hard at being her flock for now - which you're clearly doing already.
Great work getting her to eat, btw.

 

[MaeM]

Poor Callia! It's a big change for her. My friend's girl lost all her flock and lived as an only chicken for 4 years until she developed a neck tumour at 8 years old. After a shaky beginning, she thrived and blossomed as an only chicken, so it can work out. But a lot depends on personality and most chickens do best with flockmates. If you really can't get her a companion or two, you're going to have to work extra hard at being her flock for now - which you're clearly doing already.
Great work getting her to eat, btw.

I really hope we can make it work. Callia is the skittish one. She's a rescued hen who is always anxious / super aware of her surroundings and doesn't fully trust humans - for very good reasons.

Over time, she's let me pet her and hold her but is not a fan of it. However I think that she kind of trusts me because today, in my presence, she felt safe enough to get out and dust bathe.

I had to grab the dirt and act like I was going to dust bathe myself but it worked

The problem is, before she could end her bathe, she saw a pigeon above us and she went back to her shelter. I think that, being by herself, she feels unprotected against predators so that's probably why she's always hiding.

I feel so bad for her, honestly.