Chickens or Jailbirds??

The Girls have only been with us for a fortnight but already they have brought the house into disrepute... I went to say hello to them one afternoon and saw Ejay with a very large worm hanging out of her mouth.. Except on closer inspection it wasn't a worm but a Slow-Worm. They were all having a great game, sneaking up on each other from behind and pinching it, then running off as fast as their little chicken legs would carry them. Now I fear they may have to face the consequence of their frivolity because Slow Worms are a protected species and we are now awaiting a visit from the Chicken Police. So if there is no more Chook Posts then you will know the reason why.

They are rather chuffed with the new adventure playground that arrived in their run yesterday!

...

Don't think they will be quite so happy with me for the next seven days as they are being wormed, the worming powder is mixed into their 'Layers Mash', the theory being that each Chook, eats enough food for their own body weight and takes in the correct amount of the drug, this also means they are not allowed any other food - no treats like Spaghetti, which they go bonkers for.....

Sorry Girls but its for your own good

xxxxx

Hen Art??

OK OK so I may be getting a bit obsessed by my Chickens - so much so that I have made a canvas to mark their new found freedom, it didn't quite start out that way though!

Lynn from The Altered Element sent me some Crafty Notion Spraypaques this month along with some Puff Paint, I have already used some of the paint on the Cup/Saucer below, but this time used them along with the Puff paint on this canvas

The Puff Paint is great fun to use, you smear it on - well I do - sure the more refined amongst you may use a spatula or something, but whilst I have fingers I can think of no better tool to use (at least I dont lose them!) - and then dry it with your heatgun and it expands into.... - well a puffy shape - cool eh?

I then sprayed/painted mine with the Spraypaque and cosmic shimmers along with acrylic paint. You can also stitch into it, I haven't tried that yet but intend to on a future project.

Hels Sunday Stamper Challenge this week was 'Wings' and as I haven't played along with Hels for a few weeks I thought it was a good starting point for my project - you see I like Angels (hold that thought) and I am reading 'Who's your Dada' by Linda and Opie O'Brien - which is the book for my personal monthly challenge for June (for future reference hold the thought that I don't like dolls ) but I do like Gargoyles and Angels - so this was supposed to be a Gargoyle Angel.

I had this wooden Gothic Arch - which goes well with Gargoyles -

I didn't have any Grungeboard wings left so I cut my own Angel Wings out freehand

Assembled Head/Arch/Keys for legs (I like that bit LOL) and then wings............... ummmmm the wings looked more Birdie than Angelie.. so The Chicken Theme came about and I made a metal chicken's head, in true Upcycling I used an empty tomato puree tube purely because it is such a lovely colour!

OK OK so my thought processes do take a few twist and turns along the way but that's OK, projects may not turn out as I initially imagined them, but that means they don't turn out 'wrong' !

So that's my project for this weekend!

Hope it made you smile just a little bit, my chooks make me smile and I hope they are enjoying their new found freedom, but whilst we are on the subject just take a look at the picture below and see the conditions they were living in, I hope it makes people think twice before buying eggs from Battery Hens!

What a difference a week makes.......

If you are one of the lovely people who follows my blog you may recall that last Sunday we became the proud owners of five rescue hens - well you couldn't really avoid the fact because I may have mentioned it once or twice - they are such a part of the family already, that it seems they have been here forever! We are overrun with eggs, even though we were told they may not lay for a week or two, but we are averaging about 3-4 a day. 

They came to us in better condition than we imagined, but were a bit bedraggled and scrawny, espeically Bebe. We were also told that they may be a bit confused over food, as they were only used to eating 'Layers mash' which is just like sawdust so we should introduce other foods slowly and they may be a bit nervous and scared of their new found space- no so with our girls, they are eating like billyo (sp?) and we extended their run today so they are almost free-ranging in the garden, and they just love the extra space.

If you scroll down to my previous post you can see how they were this time last week - but here are a few snaps of how they look today, as my post title says 'what a difference a week makes'!

Babs (the bully - obviously does not take after her namesake)

Bebe - (the smallest and lowest in the pecking order, but beginning to work her way up)

Ejay (always the first to greet me and have a little chat)

Kentucky (like her master the joker in the pack and eats anything and everything and has a very bad case of 'bed head' with her comb)

Susie (like her mistress, thinks she is the boss (but isn't) and has to be right in the middle of the action)

Bless them all, they have such different personalities, they are a joy to watch!

If you like chickens and are at all interested, I hope to do a Chicken post every Sunday with updated photo's so we at least can see how they change over the weeks.

Anyone for a Fried Egg Sandwich??

PS... I have actually found some time today to do some artyfarty stuff (guess what its to do with my girls in a rather obscure way) will hopefully finish if off tomorrow. Also I have just made plans to go to The Craft Barn Extravaganza in June - well I couldn't pass up a chance to visit The Best Ones and see Suze Weinburg and loads of other fabulous artists in action could I ? - anyone else going??

An Apple a day keeps

 the doctor away... not sure that stands if you tried to eat this felted apple.


Last night at the 'Upcycling' class I go to, we continued with our theme of Picnic and finished off the cup and saucer we made last week. Same principle as the 'cocoon' we made last term, except this time instead of felting around a pebble we carved a mould from polystyrene and felted around that. Not sue if it is quite finished yet, but I came to a bit of a standstill last night so ...

I had a few minutes spare and I made a felted apple as well - cute eh!





These bits and pieces are all going as part of a collaborative project which will part of an exhibition at a local well renowned Gallery in September.

Must keep the apple out of the sight of the chickens, they are eating everything in sight, for Chickens who have eaten nothing but Layers Mash for the 70 weeks they have been alive and have never seen any other food, daylight or the outside world they are settling in incredibly well and there is a huge visible change in them already, amazing since we have only had them a few days. I intend to take photos of them every Sunday so we can record the change in them... Hopefully you will see the difference in them as well!