Messymascot's faith in humanity and ginger safe haven

roydo said:
Is it built on concrete foundations Jaz? Cos foxes will easily dig under a fence. No matter how high. Our chicks would dutifully troop up the ramp into their wooden, locked, hen house at dusk. They were fenced into an outdoors coop with a normal sized fenced area using chicken wire at first, but we soon allowed them the run of the orchard, and some would come inside/sit on our laps on the patio.

They always had access to feed, but they also developed a taste for pasta, melons and tomatos. Nik and I would make them a cake of all 3 at Christmas!
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The hutches sit on flagstones.
The wire fence of the coop is buried about 6 inches underground.
 
PhilM said:
Exactly. I remember as a young child my grandfather being aghast to find a fox had got into his hen house and slaughtered many, many birds.

It wasn't about feeding, at all. I also remember the passion he took in ensuring that said fox, or at least a local fox, weren't able to attack his farm again.
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We kept rescue ex battery hens for years, many of whom became pretty tame. Seeing them arrive as naked pale wretches, then developing into beautiful hens, with bright yellow feet and feeding them all sorts of treats was such fun, for them and us. So losing them either naturally or once via a fox, was sad, but not affecting a business yield.

If a fox is sighted round here, they are usually dispatched pretty quickly.
 
jazzy said:
The hutches sit on flagstones.
The wire fence of the coop is buried about 6 inches underground.
Click to expand...

We looked into a self contained, totally secure, coop after the fox. But was so expensive! Also, we loved seeing them scratch the grass, have dust baths, run around the orchard with a small tomato on their beaks, and join us on the patio or even indoors with us! They were a hobby I guess, and we loved having them, so just made a point of being around when they started to go inside at night.
 
roydo said:
Is it built on concrete foundations Jaz? Cos foxes will easily dig under a fence. No matter how high. Our chicks would dutifully troop up the ramp into their wooden, locked, hen house at dusk. They were fenced into an outdoors coop with a normal sized fenced area using chicken wire at first, but we soon allowed them the run of the orchard, and some would come inside/sit on our laps on the patio.

They always had access to feed, but they also developed a taste for pasta, melons and tomatos. Nik and I would make them a cake of all 3 at Christmas!
Click to expand...
This is just too cute for words. I love it 💙
 

anjelikaferrett said:
This is just too cute for words. I love it 💙
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Cubed melon, a layer of small tomatos, cooked pasta, (spaghetti was hilarious when 2 got each end), topped off by grated cheddar. Such fun. The memory of Nikki sitting on the step outside with a chicken on her lap being fed seed and stuff is a an enduring one. I referenced Good Life Felicity Kendal once to describe her, looks and attitude, kinda backs that up.

Lovely days.
 
Good afternoon all. I've been catching up on all your thoughts on yesterday and the future. All with a very chilled mentality. For what it's worth here's my take. I don't think the players we have are all bad but some of them are (looking at you Holgate and Keane). I hope we buy Coady, he's far far better than Keane and at £4.5m an absolute bargain. Maupay has to go, I'm not sure about Simms, in the game(s) he started he has looked totally out of his depth. I'm not surprised he wasn't played yesterday. That's not to say he won't be a decent player but not quite there yet. We need a fit DCL for a whole season and some striker back up.
I like Sean Dyche. I think he has a massive work ethic and he did a lot at Burnley with not much.

I would definitely do eveything possible to keep Pickford, Iwobi ( nice hair), McNeil, Onana, Tarkowski, Doucoure (it was noticable that when he was banned we were awful). I also love Yerry Mina because he seems so nice and happy. He's a good defender too - but he needs to be fit all the time too.

I think our problem is that we haven't had a decent manager since Martinez - except for Carlo who could have been great for us until his head was turned by the Spanish floozy and he binned off his Scouse bird. I think Silva was spectacularly unlucky - some of the decisions that went against us with him were terrible. Millwall's handball FA Cup goal springs to mind. Replayed on their big screen at the ground for all to see and It STILL wasn't ruled out. Koeman was a nasty bully and the less said about Big Sam and the FSW the better. I liked Lampard, he seemed to like us but he has proved to be a truly crap manager. There has been too much change and no cohesive strategy. I think Dyche can bring some stability and achieve my next season dream of no drama, mid table, nothing to play for by April security - which given the last two years will be a success.
 
roydo said:
Cubed melon, a layer of small tomatos, cooked pasta, (spaghetti was hilarious when 2 got each end), topped off by grated cheddar. Such fun. The memory of Nikki sitting on the step outside with a chicken on her lap being fed seed and stuff is a an enduring one. I referenced Good Life Felicity Kendal once to describe her, looks and attitude, kinda backs that up.

Lovely days.
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Awww. That's adorable. The chickens must have thought they had hit the jackpot when they came to live with you two.
 

anjelikaferrett said:
Awww. That's adorable. The chickens must have thought they had hit the jackpot when they came to live with you two.
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We never got a Thank You card, but seeing them go from naked wretches to essentially beautiful pets (lite) and the amusement they gave us was enough. Think orchard, with 8 or 10 hens running around with a tomato on their beaks to make sure it wasnt nicked off them! Or the main bird, deciding to go into the kitchen when Nikki was cooking, and pecking her ankle for a treat. She always gave voices to all our pets, the hens being no exception. In a posh voice, she would look down at the hen, and say, "Mrs Lady, some tomatos would not go amiss"

Christ, it can get dusty in here this time of the year.
 
roydo said:
We never got a Thank You card, but seeing them go from naked wretches to essentially beautiful pets (lite) and the amusement they gave us was enough. Think orchard, with 8 or 10 hens running around with a tomato on their beaks to make sure it wasnt nicked off them! Or the main bird, deciding to go into the kitchen when Nikki was cooking, and pecking her ankle for a treat. She always gave voices to all our pets, the hens being no exception. In a posh voice, she would look down at the hen, and say, "Mrs Lady, some tomatos would not go amiss"

Christ, it can get dusty in here this time of the year.
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Such lovely memories for you. What a beautiful soul your Nik was - folk who are kind to animals are intrinsically good people. 💙
 
anjelikaferrett said:
Such lovely memories for you. What a beautiful soul your Nik was - folk who are kind to animals are intrinsically good people. 💙
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She was fabulous Anje. And yeah, animals know sometimes. Two of her treasured things are a photo of me with her black Lab, Guinness, on the sofa with his massive head in my lap. Just content. (Guinness was pre me). And soon after Guinness died, my youngest (autistic) lad bought her a small statue of a black lab for her. His reasoning? "Nikkis farm isnt the same without a Guinness". Guinness loved his weekend walks with "the ikkle people", and kinda "got" that Henry was different. He would have killed anyone who harmed either of them.

Memories eh? Bloody hell.
 

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