High summer.

As predicted well over a week ago now, the jet stream has “wagged its tail” and now we are sitting the “correct” side of this atmospheric phenomenon – at least for a few days.

If you are reading this in the South and Southeast of the UK, you will (undoubtedly, by now) know that we are set to bask in temperatures expected to reach 30c (well over 80f) and sunny skies all week. Until Friday.

Friday onwards – and it does look like the jet stream tail might wag again, returning us to cool, unsettled, showery conditions -  but I hope this doesn’t mean we are thrust back into months of record-breaking rainfall like the summer so far. I really do!

So…. Make the most of this week, for Friday and this weekend (coming) will see a change again.

Dragonflies.

Anna and I did manage a quick trip down to our local boggy lowland heath (and moor) yesterday to see if the dragonflies were finally out after this dreadfully wet, insect-free summer.

I am delighted to say that they were indeed out and we spent a good hour watching common darters, emperors, brown hawkers, broad-bodied chasers and four-spotted chasers race around the peat.

These dragonflies were the first I’d seen this year, other than the female emperor which Arrack (our most beautiful Bengal tom cat) gave me as a present on the lone sunny day at the beginning of June!

There are a few swifts floating about too, in this warm weather (which has produced a brief boom in their midge prey) although I saw a few dozen of my favourite birds clearly migrating back to the Congo, screaming dots hundreds of feet above me in the blue sky as I mowed the lawn on Saturday morning. The swift migration south (as I’m sure I’ve mentioned many times) is the saddest time of the year for me (if I really had to pick one).

Hens

Hen in marigolds

At present, I’m afraid our eldest hen (Couven (the hen in the photo) – at 3 and a half years old) is suffering a little.

As seems to be the case with poultry (and I’ve had a little experience now) one minute they seem fine  - the next their comb drops and they appear so ill – sitting there with their eyes closed, feathers in an unkempt state, offensive yellow or watery faeces – they just look so miserable.

Hens can live for up to a decade if very lucky, but if from poor stock (as her and her sister were originally – remember my favourite hen, “Cutlery” spent half her life sick), then very often health problems tend to be quite apparent after three years or so – and whilst they can be managed a bit – very often its sadly just delaying the inevitable.

 I had been giving this particular hen anti-inflammatory as well as antibiotics for about a week   - which seemed to have done the trick - but she’s back to being pretty poorly now – this may very well be the end of our eldest girl (and last remaining of our two original birds) – I hope not, but fear that this may be the case.

If we do decide that enough is enough for our poor girl, then it will be a sad truth that less than four years after getting two kittens and two pullets (young hens) which we adored so much, we will be left with only one of the original animals – the female kitten (now a large, fluffy cat) called “Yala”.

That might suggest our animal husbandry isn’t up to much – but sometimes these things just happen – “Malu” (my beloved tom cat) suffocated in seconds after choking on a kibble and it seems like our two original hens (incredibly friendly birds – much more so than our two later additions) were from very poor stock.

We could have reasonably expected both cats to reach fifteen years (I hope Yala still does) and both hens to make ten – ( a combined total of 50 years  - we’ll be lucky to make 20 combined years now and half of that hopeful figure will be from Yala)  but that’s how the cookie crumbles I guess.

If Couven is not with us for much longer, then I will have to consider seriously whether to give our two remaining birds to a deserving home and start afresh.

Why?

Why not keep the two remaining chooks without having to “start afresh”?

The answer is pretty simple really – our two original birds (Couven and Cutlery) were both “Bovan Goldlines” (that’s the hybrid type) and incredibly friendly (especially Cutlery who used to walk around the garden with me, perched on my shoulder). I adored them both, but Cutlery was my girl!

When I had to kill Cutlery (due to really quite nasty health issues) I had to get at least one more hen to replace her to keep Couven company. (Hens are very social animals and do not do well on their own).

Anna and I made the deliberate choice to get TWO new pullets to replace Cutlery – so if one died (or Couven died) we wouldn’t suddenly be left with one bird again.

Conker and Trouble were our two new hen’s names –Trouble being a large (black) Pepperpot hen and Conker being a (russet coloured) Columbian Blacktail.

I had never experienced a pecking order situation before with my two original girls, or anything else than friendly behaviour really. There was no pecking order between our original Couven and Cutlery – both from the same shed (near Hook Norton) and seemingly happy to eat from the same bowl at the same time. They almost seemed like true sisters and Anna and I honestly did love them dearly (especially Cutlery who was a sweetheart) even though that as pretty pragmatic scientific-types by nature (Anna and myself) we are well aware of the dangers of “getting too close” to one’s pets, let alone “Pet farmyard animals”!

When I introduced the two new girls (Trouble and Conker) to the old girl (Couven) there was battle royale immediately (quite normal I now know). Couven stood her ground pretty well but there was only going to be one winner for the head of the pecking order – and within minutes, Trouble (the big black Pepperpot) had taken control of her two new housemates.

Couven in fact was relegated to third (and last) place in the pecking order, after moulting shortly after all three birds were put in the coop for the first time.

Since those days (18 months ago or so now) and certainly since Anna and I bought our current house and moved, our old girl has slowly separated herself from the two others – she seems not to get on with them really and would prefer to spend time sitting with myself and Anna, if we stayed in the garden for any length of time.

It’s not like they bully her – they havent been anyway – and Couven always has been far more physically impressive than her smaller housemate Conker, just that she didn’t really like them too much!

Couven was always a little less “approachable” than her sister Cutlery, but since we moved, she has become far more approachable and seemingly far more dependent on Anna’s and my company. Very often the old girl would perch outside the back door and peer at us through the cat flap – she and her sister always did like coming into the kitchen at our old place.

You know…. If I didn’t know any different, I’d suggest that Couven is still looking for Cutlery (the last week of Cutlery’s life was spent inside our old house, in a box) – or at least still misses her and needs our company (Anna and myself) to at least reassure her that everything is ok.

Of course, the above sentence is pure poppycock, but it does feel true sometimes!

Conker and Trouble (our two new(er) birds) have never been in the same league as Couven and Cutlery as far as friendliness is concerned.  The only reason I can pick them up at all is that they squat if you catch them off guard (most layers that are actually laying eggs do this – in fact its often a way one can tell whether a bird is laying or not, but you have to be quick to get them to squat – once they are up and running, they’ll probably not squat again!)

Both Conker and Trouble are fast, aggressive birds, fit as fiddles, very vocal and to be honest, could take or leave their human owners I think. The feeling is quite mutual!

Even though this is very “Disney”…. I do miss my friendly, gentle, fun, inquisitive girls. (Couven and Cutlery).

Maybe pet hens that are a little less cute and friendly are the most ideal of all pet hens though and I should thank my lucky stars eh?

 I’ll certainly not be as upset when the time comes to kill Trouble and Conker as I was when I had to kill poor old Cutlery and as I might be when I might have to do the same with Couven.

But I can’t help feeling that despite all that, I’d like the dun back – the friendly hens back again. (Of course – I may have just got lucky with our first two – and no hen will be as friendly as the original girls – but I doubt it – if I start again fresh, with healthy Bovan Goldlines.  I have little doubt that putting new hens in with old has created a pecking order which has altered all the birds’ behaviours, the two new girls have become more aggressive and couvs has become friendlier to Anna and myself – and far more passive.

I’ve waffled on far too long now about our hens – but I think there may be a few changes afoot pretty soon…