Four New Additions to Our Family

You may be wondering what I am watching through this fence...it is the four new additions to our family who have come to stay now that their working life is over. Judith and Leigh heard that the egg laying hens from a farm nearby were going to be slaughtered at the end of the week unless they found new homes. There were 13,000 hens living there and when they reach 17 months old they are no longer wanted for egg laying as the shells become less strong. Well we do have a large garden - three separate gardens even - with a small vegetable and fruit garden, a doggy play garden and a garden with space for hens to wander and scratch and enjoy the sun ( when there is some!) so the peeps set off on Monday for the farm and came home with four hens in two boxes.

For the first day, the hens stayed in the coop and run to get used to the sights and sounds of their new home. They were all a little anxious and two of them did not have many feathers.

On the second morning, the hens were allowed out to explore their surroundings and enjoy a scratch in the earth to look for grubs and grass roots.

They have some corn to peck too and they can get the sunflower seeds that fall from the wild bird feeders on the branches overhead.

As it is cold and damp here in Yorkshire just now, Judith decided to make some fleece tabards to keep the hens warm as they had so few feathers.

She found a pattern and made four tabards for them in dark and light blue.

But the hens were not impressed BOL They screeched and screeched when she tried to put them on! Then Leigh read that the British Hen Welfare Trust does not think that jumpers are a good idea for hens anyway in case they get wet and they might stop their feathers growing properly...so no tabards for the hens after all. They do have a lovely warm nest box though with lots of soft chopped straw.

The hens have been having a busy time getting to know their new home. They have plenty of places to scratch and perch, climb over and under in the bushes and trees.

A little robin came to say hello.

And me and Frida barked hello too!

The hens now have names beginning with B as they are Bovan Brown hens.

Bunty

Bobbi

Binnie

Betsy

I think they will like it here and they have already laid us some eggs!

One of the eggs on a rejected tabard!

Welcome to your new home, girls!

The 12 days of Christmas

On Friday it was Twelfth Night and the last of the twelve days of Christmas. "The 12 days of Christmas" is an old English carol about different 'gifts' some strange human gave to his sweetheart on each of the twelve days. Last week, I visited Lotherton Hall for a walk with Judith & Leigh and the woodland was decorated with images from that same carol..

This was the start of the Christmas trail - a billboard with holes for peeps to look through but I managed it too with a little help BOL. Can you see me at the top on the right?

On the first day of Christmas according to the carol, 'My true love gave to me a Partridge in a Pear Tree' . This was the decoration in the woods:

The pears are like lanterns and the "partridge" is in the cage at the right. 

The 'nine ladies dancing'

Some of the eleven lords a-leaping

And a few of the twelve drummers drumming!

I was very interested to see them all but my favourite place was the fairy grotto.

Tiny fairy houses under the trees and among the rocks.

There was so much to see there.

Back home the Christmas decorations had to be taken down and the special Christmas plates and mugs put away. The mugs and plates are decorated with the 12 days of Christmas too!

Goodbye to a fun Christmas and looking forward to a happy Year of the Dog!

Happy New Year and a Birthday Outing

Happy New Year to all blog friends!

Just before New Year it was my Aunty Frida's 3rd birthday. She had a special trip out with my Mum, Saoirse to visit Harewood House gardens before they close for the winter. It is very pretty there even when it is cold and wet!

Here are Frida and Saoirse. Frida always wants to be on the go so no time for photos BOL

Saoirse is happy to pose though.

There are a lot of water birds at Harewood especially beautiful swans.

And although it was muddy there was still plenty to see...and this puddle looked like the entrance to another world beneath their paws:

As it was so cold, the staff at the House had set up fire pits for peeps to toast marshmallows.

There were warming drinks for sale too.

Frida was hoping for a taste of that marshmallow!

No luck sadly!

But Frida did get plenty of birthday treats when she got home and she did enjoy her trip to Harewood too.

Christmas Gifts

 This year, still no snow but we all had a fun Christmas and lots of pawsome gifts! One present just for me was this beautiful hand knitted sweater from a Facebook friend of my peeps who lives in Sweden. It is warm and so pretty that I did not want to take it off even though it is not at all cold indoors.

Here I am looking out for the post before Christmas day. 

 Of course Crybbe had the first turn at pulling off the wrapping paper on our Christmas box.

And it was full of goodies! A selection of tasty dinners for Christmas meals.

And a fun reindeer stuffy with squeaky legs BOL

 My Mum, Saoirse, was not too sure she wanted to share her bed with him!

But there were even more special treats to come too. Ruby the miniature schnauzer puppy who left us to live in London sent a stocking filled with tasty fish treats and a box of even more! Thank you to Ruby's Mum and brother Buster for these wonderful presents. There was even a little angel for the Christmas tree for our peeps too!

                We had plenty of munchies on Christmas Day which were greatly enjoyed.

                  Raven was so tired that he could hardly keep his eyes open for a photo.

Frida had been having a snooze under the sofa cover but popped out to see what was going on.

And I was still having fun posing in my new sweater.

I hope that all my bloggy friends had a lovely Christmas too!