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stumbling self sufficiency in a small space
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10:11 am
Supreme Being
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Sun 30-Jan-11
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Oh, I do wish we could have chickens! 
I am a bit wimpish, but the more I read about you ladies with your chickens, the more I think I'd like them. Our landlady says no pets, but I don't really think she'd object to chickens. However, our future here is a bit uncertain, which puts me off somewhat.....I don't really want to get them, only to be given our marching orders soon after. 
I do like reading about all yours though.
learning to love veg…..except celery :-O
10:45 am
Supreme Being
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Mon 21-Sep-09
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Sue, I think you would 
them.
I tell you nobody could have been more wimpish than I when a friend offered me my first pair of bantams. I was terrified of them, not helped by the hen who plainly hated being moved to my house & who swore & screamed at me the moment I stepped out of the back door. It is hard to be so hated........
....she only came to accept me when she became broody (quite the opposite to most broodies). I could not bring myself to pick one up I was so frightened of them but after the chicks were hatched I suddenly got over it. Now I handle them when I have to, which is not often & I am certainly not scared of them.....just fascinated by their behaviour & their many funny ways.
"The beautiful is as useful as the useful...perhaps more so."
from Les Miserables
4:33 pm
Supreme Being
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Sun 2-Oct-11
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same with me, now I pick them up for cuddles and am happy picking up the cockeral who comes up to my knee in height!
My little Saffy who is in a separate house due to bullying has today laid me an egg, the first this year.
Trying to enjoy life as it is
9:16 pm
Supreme Being
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Tue 22-Sep-09
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I don't handle mine as often as i should and I tell myself that the next batch I get this spring, I will pick up regularly. It makes life so much easier when you need to do it. Another dark egg today, along with the regular light brown one from a new hampshire, but that's still only 2 eggs a day from 10 hens, I wish the old english would start laying again, their eggs were so cute.
7:25 am
Supreme Being
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Sun 2-Oct-11
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Be patient soon you will have more eggs than you know what to do with! I am getting 3 from 8 laying hens. I have started having gentle words with the ducks each morning, mainly because when it is my turn for the incubator I want to hatch some ducklings as I only have 4 ducks, 2 male and 2 female.
Trying to enjoy life as it is
3:59 pm
Supreme Being
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Sun 2-Oct-11
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Just cleaned them all out and when I went to my isolated chicken Saffy I found Humbug my youngest cat curled up with her in the sunshine! I know Saffy gets lonely but the others bully her. I am planning to put a young one in with her soon.
Trying to enjoy life as it is
5:00 pm
Supreme Being
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Tue 22-Sep-09
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Aw, you should have got some pictures Aly
8:52 pm
Supreme Being
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Sun 2-Oct-11
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1:16 pm
Expert
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Sat 21-Aug-10
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Sounds sweet, Aly. 
I've been lucky this winter, never a day without an egg. I only have two ducks and one went off lay in November, started again in January.
The little girl that has laid every day since September 10th now has her knickers in a twist. A normal egg one day, shell-less the next, or quite often later that same day. At first I worried that she was low on calcium and gave her all sorts but it made no difference. Seems that her cycle is just out of sync so I'm just hoping that when she goes into moult she'll have a nice rest and get back to normal.
Never assume anything - except an occasional air of intelligence.
1:18 pm
Supreme Being
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Sun 2-Oct-11
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No duck eggs yet this year,chickens all look ready to lay but between 1 and 4 a day at the moment. Am already over whelmed with eggs! I am always giving them away!
Trying to enjoy life as it is
2:19 pm
Supreme Being
Thu 24-Sep-09
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Wish I could say the same. My girls are not laying very often at all right now. They seem happy enough and most of the combs are lovely and red, but hardly an egg in sight. In fact I only have three eggs left and there is all this talk of lovely boiled and poached eggs. 
Old teachers never die, they just lose their class
2:58 pm
Supreme Being
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Sun 30-Jan-11
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Tell me something please, ladies (those of you who have ducks). A couple of years ago we were on holiday with our caravan on a lovely site in Norfolk. The shop sold local duck eggs, so we bought half a dozen. I mentioned it to a fellow caravanner, who immediately went into doom and gloom mode (she reminded me of Les Dawson, actually 
) and said "oooh, you have to be careful with duck eggs, they can poison you!". She went off before I could ask her what she meant.....
Any ideas?
learning to love veg…..except celery :-O
3:08 pm
Supreme Being
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Sun 2-Oct-11
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You have to be careful because ducks are very lazy and lay eggs wherever the fancy takes them. The shells are more absorbent than chicken eggs so if laid in mud can become infected. I never worry about my duck eggs as I know exactly where they have been laid and when. I use mine all the time when available and am still alive!
Trying to enjoy life as it is
3:41 pm
Expert
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Fri 8-Oct-10
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How odd, we only have 2 chooks and get 2 eggs every day!
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