Meet Snowball

[alexgirl73]

As I said elsewhere (I think lol), I got 4 new chickens yesterday. Three of them are Gingernut Rangers, like I already have, but the 4th was this little madam. I have been told she is a silkie, so decided to bath her to see what was underneath all that muck:lol:

Before her bath
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m12/alexgirl73/100_1221.jpg

After her bath
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m12/alexgirl73/100_1222.jpg

And all blow dried:lol:
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m12/alexgirl73/100_1224.jpg

and she was very well behaved while having it done. Not something I'll be doing very often though, took me nearly an hour to dry her lol.

[dinahsmum]

Charming bird!
I didn't know you had poultry Alex. Do they do you well for eggs?

[angieh]

She's lovely! What a difference before and after Alex.

I must have missed your post about the Gingernuts! Have you posted pictures of them too somewhere and I've missed them? They sound delicious (sorry, don't mean it like that!)

[alexgirl73]

Charming bird!
I didn't know you had poultry Alex. Do they do you well for eggs?

I do very well usually DM. I now have 9 as from yesterday, but before that I had 5 and was getting 3-4 a day. However most of them are now having their moult, so will only get the odd one for a few weeks until that stops. I started keeping them in the summer when I inherited them very suddenly from a friend of my cousin:roll: :lol:

She's lovely! What a difference before and after Alex.

I must have missed your post about the Gingernuts! Have you posted pictures of them too somewhere and I've missed them? They sound delicious (sorry, don't mean it like that!)

LOL!!! They do sound yummy don't they. I'm sure I posted pics of my Gingernuts but in case I didn't this is what they look like usually. At the moment they look oven ready:-D

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m12/alexgirl73/100_0846.jpg

[dinahsmum]

Lovely!
My bil has rigged up a daylight lamp on a time switch for their bantams, to extend their days and make them more inclined to lay and less inclined to moult.
Julie has also got them some sort of birdie winter tonic with echinachea and all kinds of goodies to keep them chipper.

[angieh]

They are pretty girlies Alex - they look a lot like the chooks I used to keep that were Iso-Browns (or Isaac Browns) a hybrid.

I always think that chickens moult at the worst possible time of the year - they look so sad and loose their warm protective feathers when they need the warmth. Sometimes I found they just had a neck moult but other years, they looked almost as if they had been plucked! I used to give them warm mash on cold mornings.

PS. Just seen DM's post - I use to mix something called Poultry Spice in with their food - a general vitamin supplement.

[dinahsmum]

Yes - when we had chickens when I was a girl my mum or gran used to boil up potato peelings etc on a boiler in an outhouse and mix the warm gloop into their mash, with maybe a bit of dripping (chicken fat??? eek! :shock: )on frosty mornings.

[yola]

Wow, she's a smart bird isn't she :D I love that mohican crest . . . most un-chicken-like!! Did you really blow-dry her :shock:

[alexgirl73]

yup I really blow dried her Yola lol. Couldn't stick her back out in the cold wet, now could I ;)

Mine get all my peelings DM, usually mashed up with bits of left over swede, cabbage etc. They love it on these cold mornings. They also get their tonic as well, I get it from the local farmers outlet. And they probably are the sme ones you had angie, GR is the fancy name for them :lol:

[Mags]

My dad used to keep chickens in my childhood days and I remember only too well the boiling of the potato peelings which used to be mixed with some meal of sorts ......... the resulting mush had a distinctive smell of its own.:lol:

Snowball looks lovely and fluffy after her bath Alex ........would that affect the waterproofness of her feathers at all?

[alexgirl73]

no it doesn't mags, as long as you use a mild shampoo and don't do it too often. I only did it this time to see what she really looked like lol.

[Mags]

That's good to know Alex .........she really looks a beauty after her pampering! :lol:

[Elaine]

Snowball is a beauty:D

[dandysmom]

She cleaned up well, didn't she! :-D A beautiful chook; I had no idea you could bathe them! :shock: As far as I know my Grandma never did; hers did have that potato paring, etc. stuff also. Fresh eggs...lovely! Wish we could keep them in the City..:(

[pinklizzy]

Awww! A beautiful silkie, I had one called Sylvia! I'd love to have a garden for some chooks, nothing better than your own eggs for breakfast.

[calismum]

lucky you having chickens. I've been trying to talk OH into it for ages. So far no luck, but I don't give in that easily!

[angieh]

We still have our hen house - I am so tempted to get a few in the spring .........

[pinklizzy]

We still have our hen house - I am so tempted to get a few in the spring .........

Ooh! Yes Angie, you should get some chooks too! :D

[alexgirl73]

lucky you having chickens. I've been trying to talk OH into it for ages. So far no luck, but I don't give in that easily!

Just tell him there is nothing nicer than a stil warm egg, cracked open to reveal a gorgeous big orange yolk (or even two on a few occasions):D They look nothing like those pale imitations you get from shop bought, battery hens. And the pleasure you get out of them is immense.

We still have our hen house - I am so tempted to get a few in the spring .........

Go on angie, you know you want to;) :lol:

[dandysmom]

Oh do think about it, Angie! I would if I could!