One morning as usual we let out our Chickens…
…You’ve likely seen the Specs Savers advert with the farmer shearing his Sheep Dog instead of his Sheep…all bald around his neck…
well that is what Sooty looked like…
Chickens can turn on each other in certain instances…when a little nick and then with the smell of blood…So poor Sooty was subjected to the horrors of being attacked…
Having seen the state that our one and only chicken, Henryetta is in, just this past week, she is self plucking herself…
We had a good size Garden at Pebbles Bexhill on Sea…the front was slightly larger and much wider in places as well…
The Back was Full of Structures…
Hot Tub and Housing…Chicken House and small run that is behind the Ducks House…Ducks had two small ponds which we managed to buy 2nd hand and were solid pond liners…a small space to roam and their Duck’s Sleeping Quarters locked in at night for safety…
The Photo shows two areas fenced off as at that time Duckling Sue had just lost her sight in one eye ,so her partner Duckling Bob was also with her…A Grown up Bob and Sue…he was a dedicated mate and never left her side…
Splash and Puddles in the centre
Fluffles far right and his partner Pebbles.
This above is our 4 Original Ducks that we purchase from the Local Chicken Farm/Shop…also the start of a great friendship with the Owner Jason.
Mantel Farm near Battle its worth going to the website to see the kind of set up it is…lots of photo’s including Jason…if you do he has a grey beard and grey hair now…and he is teaching how to care for chickens…
We collected some duck eggs from each pair and ducks kept as pets are lazy and will not spare the time to sit on their fertilised eggs. but guess what…One of our chickens virgin chicken she was…sat on them for the next few weeks…think it was about 3…she left them briefly for toilet and food…seemed to be the only time a chicken controls their bowels…
First one started to hatch with severe difficulty…he/she could just not break through the shell enough to make any headway…We spoke with Jason and he said now its the time to help it… as it was well over 12 hours of the duckling trying to break through the shell exhaustion must be setting in…He quite plainly said peel it!!!
Husband was in tears but he done it…within hours No.2 had been born…saw our hens wings moving a lot, looked under one and there it was now two lovely ducklings.
You can see the Boy Duckling his beak/bill is much larger…
Our Grand daughter when very young with Bob the new Duckling…she only lived a few minutes from our home…back then…
The Swans and Ducks at my local pond are so tame it’s unreal, they even have no fear of my dog who is always with me when I feed them.I’d just sat down on the bench the other day when they all climbed out of the pond to see if I’d brought any breakfast for them, good job I had as the swans were right up and ready to look in my pockets. lol.
We had purchased a model speed boat and had already found out that permission had been granted at the Princes Park to use the extensive Crumbles Pond for various hobbies…model boats were allowed amongst the swans and ducks that lived within it.
Also a lot of surf/sail board tuition took place on a grand scale.
the model speed boat…
it failed a few times…just cut out in the middle of all that water…to the rescue came a surfer in full gear… 
Families would visit with there children who wanted to feed the ducks and the swans came in flocks whether you wanted them all or not…
Very popular with joggers as well.
My lovely Brecon Buff Geese I used to keep, plus Mrs. Muscovy with her baby in the front of the picture.
One of my seven Peafowl I had.
Can’t find any of my poultry at the mo. I used to breed different breeds of Ducks, - particularly loved the little Call Ducks.
I also bred thje pure breeds like Silkies, Orpingtons, the super little Pekin bantams.
I had nearly 200 birds at one time, including aviary’s of Budgies and Cockatiels.
Can’t keep them where I am now, and I still miss them.
Some of ours were Apricot Call Ducks and the Chickens were Bantums…little eggs with those ones.
We did have some red mite issues back then and although I have seen the red mites on some fencing here we have not had any on the chickens or there set up. .
Miss the ducks just found them brought a smile to your face with there waddles. Our garden was very sloped and that brought out a waddle trot in them…
Well that is different
he/she must be an albino, maybe?
