Morning brought me the now "usual" scene of the escapee pigs tucking into the bird food yet again! They have eaten over eight kilos in just over two days, and now look slightly constipated with the drastic change of diet!Having said that, all it took was a fairly sharply shouted swear word from me, and both pigs turned on their trotters and ambled back to their enclosure with a smug, slightly swaggering air.
All morning I have reinforced their fencing yet again.......if they get out once more I swear I will land mine the surrounding grassed area.
Above is Gladys just after she discarded her favourite "toy", a disgusting and dirty tarpaulin! she has been dragging it around after herself for days now and even slept with it last night.
The rest of the day I have been completing necessary jobs in between chatting to neighbours. The red faced Welsh farmer called around for a chin wag and I spent a useful few moments helping Trevor with his Internet worries (I always like helping the 80 year old silver surfer as he always rewards me with a welcomed snickers bar!!)
This evening I have made the obligatory pumpkin lantern from my spares on the field, the fire is lit and the cottage is warm and welcoming......and speaking of pumpkins my thoughts have drifted to the BNP leader's fiasco of last night's Question Time.
Question Time made for electrifying television last night. I found it fascinating that Nick Griffin thought that the other panel members would have given him an uninterrupted free range to peddle his watered down fascist immigration ideas without touching upon his awful documented statements on gay relationships, the validity of the Holocaust and his support for the Klu Klux Klan.As it turned out the more articulate and obviously well prepared panel and audience turned on him and foolishly, time and time again he let the veneer of professionalism slip to show his real bigoted colours (I had to laugh when he said the sight of two men kissing was slightly creepy!"---the sight of Mr Griffin kissing anyone, to me would be ever creapier) Anyhow, I am glad that despite his best efforts to reinforce his party's stance on immigration, it was left to a conservative Muslim woman (Baroness Warsi) to propose the only detailed policy on the subject.
I suspect that most of the followers of the BNP will see in the debate what they wanted to, and to be honest, as a moderate lefty, so did I....but I do so hope that those people that used their vote for the BNP as a tactical move to comment on justified worries of overpopulation and unchecked immigration, will now see the party for what it truly is.
I listened to LBC with interest this morning, and several BNP Supporters that called James O'Brien did admit to being shocked at the "previous" behaviour and statements by Nick Griffin....which were highlighted by audience, panel and indeed a smoking David Dimbleby!
Having said that, there were many others that rang in support of his ideas on immigration.....perhaps they did not hear the too few too late policy discussed by Baroness Warsi....
Anyhow, Griffin just didn't cut the mustard in the debates. and looked suitably uncomfortable when challenged by the likes of the gracious Bonnie Greer....his dreams of being taken seriously within a grown up political forum were for me, quite clearly dashed.......I hope so hope they were.........and for good..............
Thanks for commenting on my blog. I'll be back to read your blog.
ReplyDeleteAnswer to your question:
This was the first year I used duct tape and I think it saved the life of a hen or two. Since they had bald patches for so long, I think they were suffering blood loss from all the mosquitoes we have around here.
I use silver duct tape because that is what I have. Before I catch the hen, I tear off strips of duct tape the size I think will cover the bald spots and have them ready. Holding the hen and tearing the tape at the same time didn't work for me. To cover a bald back, I wrap the strips from side to side over the bald back, under the wings, and down the hen's sides over the side feathers until the bald spot is covered. I use shorter strips to wrap under and over the bald spots and surrounding feathers on the wings.
I read that duct tape won't stick to bald areas because the chickens take dust baths, so just to make sure, I dust the bald areas with a tiny bit of dry dirt before I put on the duct tape. My chickens looked a little bit too clean. The tape will stick to the surrounding feathers and the tape comes off when the new feathers show up. I have had to put more tape on at times when it came off too soon. Don't know what happened there. Maybe I got some dusty dirt on the surrounding feathers and the tape didn't stick well?
Duct tape and chicken links - Henny Penny's Duct Tape Saddle post
http://chickensontheporch.blogspot.com/2009/06/henny-pennys-saddle.html
Be sure to check out the links in this post to sites with info about duct tape and chickens.
On my side bar is a "Search This Blog" where you can enter duct tape and find other posts I have made about duct tape and our chickens.
Hen Cam
http://www.hencam.com/index.php
Check out the Hen Cam and read the Hen Blog post about her polish hens:
She has put duct tape on her polish hens heads.
Good luck with your hen.
You've got to be taught
ReplyDeleteTo hate and fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!
......not much I can say to that...well said......
ReplyDeletexxx