Erasmus Our Alaskan Cat's blog: November 2015

Saturday, November 21, 2015

Ramblings on a Snowy Saturday. (mostly about a hen)

Today we woke to more snow .....it's warmer (we've had a week of colder nights around -1f
(0f = about -17 C ..I think)
Anyway it feels a lot warmer, I think it's about 27f as I type but it's a bit breezy so I expect it'll feel a bit chilly outdoors.
We have the woodstove cranking out lovely warmth. You can always tell when it's colder as it's a pet magnet..even the collie can wriggle underneath if he so desires.

Today's weather advisory..and guess which part of Town we live in ...The East ..ha ha

I think later today we'll dress up and go get some fresh air..a bit of path clearing and vehicle uncovering is on the menu too. Get in some more logs ..feed the outdoor birds (now we just have one hen and one pheasant together in a covered run outdoors .)

The bantam comes into the laundry for the Winter . 4 years ago I though she was going to succumb to the cold and bought her in to die in peace ..but the indoors was all she needed for a new lease on life and this is her fourth Winter indoors ....she chats to the Guinea pigs who also Winter indoors. As soon as we're frost free they go out into their Summer quarters in the garden.

The G-Pigs certainly make visits to the laundry lively as the Guinea pigs "Week" and "squeal" hopefully for treats ..and especially loudly and indignantly if I forget! "
The Guinea pigs are "Cinderella"," Princess Ruffle"s and their Prince Charming "Fluffles" The Bantam is originally named "Banty" there are obviously no limits to my creativity (The girls named the Guinea pigs)

Banty is a tiny hen ..I believe she is a Dutch Bantam..she was bought as an odd chick many years ago when we were rearing our own Golden Pheasants ..the pheasant chicks need encouragement to peck and bantam chicks need none and are great examples to reluctant feeders.
She also reared a nest full of day old standard hen chicks ..we thought she'd like her own small flock and chose larger bird chicks as they should stand the cold better (or so we thought) but we had to separate her when they grew so big she was running beneath them and they got a bit bossy. Now she has outlived the Pheasants and all but one of her brood of hens and she still seems a happy hen.

The girls insist they taught her to fly when she was small....and she survived being tucked under small arms and carried around the garden. I remember circus tricks being performed (just picture a small hen on a beach ball) and she even used to lay eggs...so if any one needs a recommendation for a small, mellow extremely sturdy breed of hen I know which breed I'd choose. Actually I think a small trio of chicks (that Winter inside) may be on my future projects list.
Here's a picture from Wiki of a bird that looks just like Banty did in her prime . For an idea of sizze think of a Dove ..a fat pigeon would be too big. She's tiny.But full of character.