What Animals Have You Got?

[SheepyJames]

I'd love to know what animals you all have. The Sheepy household comprises one dog, one cat, a dozen or so chickens, two geese, fifteen sheep, four ferrets and, dare I say it, one husband!!

[lily]

10 hens, 2 cats,2 dogs (whippet + deerhound). Would love some sheep. How rural are you in Somerset- just curious as I went to school in Bath for 6th form (long time ago).

[SheepyJames]

Quite near Taunton, lily.

[SummerSkye]

We are down to 1 dog, 9 hens and 1 rooster. We have never had sheep but have had a milking Jersey cow and calf and before her a Friesan house cow who gave so much milk we also raised male dairy calves on her. We always kept pigs and ducks and our daughter had a quarterhorse x apaloosa horse.

[SheepyJames]

We had a jersey cow some years ago, SummerSkye. They're wonderful animals aren't they? She always reared two calves at least and still gave us far more than was good for us!

[Pippa]

Just 2 elderly cats now. Used to have hens and sold the eggs and also little bantam ducks who were wonderful to watch, so funny. We had guinea pigs when the children were small, about 16 at one time, they kept the lawn short. I hope to replace the hens when I get chook shed up to scratch.

[sheddie]

Just one dog called Jess a cavalier king charles.

[SheepyJames]

Funny you should say that about the hen house, Pippa. I have spent a happy day creosoting the poultry houses. I and all the animals etc , especially the dog, now reek of the stuff. Still, we won't get fleas, will we?! We used to have Cav K C cross Springer spaniel, Sheddie - totally mad but very, very loving! Sheepy.

[sunflower]

We have a blue merle Border Collie bitch called KayTe and she has 1 blue eye and is three years old, very pretty dog. Then we have Simbar our ginger tom who thinks he owns the neighbourhood. But I have always wanted 3 hens. I think that I have read up on henkeeping so much and thought about it for too long, that now I cannot go ahead and get them. I keep coming up with all negative excuses why I should'nt keep hens. Yet when I'm older, I know I will regret not getting them. Our back garden is tiny, but immediately outside is the wasteland which is mine as long as I want where I grow veg, so they could go there.Tomorrow we are visiting a place in Dorset that keeps hens and I am taking along the Grandchildren just for an excuse to see them! I visit this place every few weeks. Advice needed please to bring me to a final decision!!!

[SummerSkye]

Hi Sheepy, I have a soft spot for the Jersey .. we could lead ours on a halter, she was a real pet. I found a cow bell painted with a Jersey in an antique shop and couldn't resist. Sunflower take the plunge and keep some hens, you won't regret it. Our hens are lovely they free range on adjoining land, returning to lay their eggs and roost in their house at night.
As for mites etc. in the henhouse we always just sprinkle derris dust around the hay, floor and underneath and have no problems. In early and late summer OH does hose everything out thoroughly and we rake and change the hay weekly adding it to our compost or top dressing in the vegetable garden.

[Pippa]

Hope the hens appreciate all you hard work Sheepy - I get worried using creosote as have been told it has nasties in it so was going to do the inside of house with white emulsion left over from various dec. jobs and outside with wood stain or preservative in a light green. Does this sound a bit pretentious? Do you think the hens discuss the merits of interior decor on the perches at night? I love going into a hen house at night, there they all are grumbling away and that lovely warm feathery smell.

[Pippa]

Whereabout in Dorset are you visiting Sunflower?

[mrsj]

Hi there - we have 7 hens, all bantams and are having 3 more in a couple of months' time. But in the future I also want horses, collies, ducks, goats and pigs. In fact anything, I am animal mad and always have been since I was very small!!

Pippa the hen house sounds beautiful! I am halfway through giving ours a good clean out today and I am looking forward to putting the bedding in and seeing them all snuggling down for the night!

[jazzactivist]

I just have one 16 year old dog - Lab x Collie. He is lovely, but now rather stiff, deaf and can't see well. But he keeps going and still seems to get quite a bit of enjoyment out of life. We also have 4 hens by proxy. They are our neighbour's really, but come into our garden to eat the slugs - goodie! They are real characters and can be very funny to watch. I love the sound of them too. Sometimes they tease my old dog by walking behind him around the garden and if he manages to sense that they are there and turns around to look they run the opposite way so that he still can't see them!

[Oola]

We have 3 cats (two from animal shelter and one stray) and 4 ex-batt hens, and a cat that comes to visit when her owner (who isn't allowed a catflap) is out (by agreement!). We lost one of our cats earlier this year and it was just absolutely heartbreaking, he was so lovely and such a character and it happened right out of the blue - really traumatic, even if he was "only" a pet. Really do become one of the family.

But I still have my other animals, sometimes they can be a real bind with holidaying and planning visits, but I wouldn't be without them for the world.

I grew up in a house with 6 cats by the time I moved out. When my parents moved they acquired another but one has gone to live with my grandmother and Mum is now down to 5. The oldest is 19 1/2, got a hyperactive thyroid and arthritis but very sprightly, good heart and excellent hearing (he lost an eye when he was really young). The youngest is about 8 now and they're all rescues or strays, lovely bunch.

[Oola]

These are my hens...lovely girls.

[Crocus]

We have Pinky, our little Maltese (who's been a bit of colour the past week) a tortoise (initially we had 2, but one disappeared) and 2 budgies. :) In the past we had a chameleon type thingymabob, hamsters, and 2 miniature FROGS! (Boys' pets, not mine, thank you very much). :eek:

[sunflower]

Hi Pipa, well today we went to Lychett Minster. Its a craft place, where they also have a poultry shop. I think they must be phasing out the chickens because lately, they have had all sorts of birds there.......ones you would'nt associate with being in a cage!! Anyway, I love looking at the chickens. They also have ducks. I used to keep Aylesburys many years ago, but do'nt fancy going back to keeping ducks....though they are so cute. What I might do is wait until Springtime then get a couple of hens POL.

[Oola]

sunflower go for the hens... as I said although they're a bind they're so wonderful and full of character!

Were you thinking of getting a special breed at all? Mine are ex-battery and lovely girls, really characteristic, good layers and for the most part, well behaved!

[sunflower]

Hi Oola, love the photos of your hens. Yes. I probably will go for it next year. Lately, I fancy the idea of having pekin Bantams, but I do have a love for Warrens as well. I think yours are warrens? They are usually used for battery farming are'nt they?
Pippa, I did'nt mean cages I meant enclosures. Sorry, I have written some long e.mails this evening and my brain closes down!!!

[Pippa]

Love your hens Oola, they look as if they enjoy a good gossip on the perches. I have had Warrens and Babcocks and Llohman Browns, all very similar, good layers and friendly girls. The Black Rocks and Marans were evil and spiteful so went back to 'brown gels' who were always pleased to see you and would eat raspberry's out of your hand.
Sunflower - I know the courtyard centre you mean they used to have a lot of hens at one time. Have you been to the Gaggle of Geese Auctions at Buckland Newton, all breeds of poultry there, a really good day out.

[Oola]

I think they are a bit like Warrens but are actually ISA Browns...never really been sure to be honest!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isa_Brown

The cross between Rhode Island Reds and Whites might explain why Pattie (4th pic from left) has such lovely markings around her tail.

[Oola]

Pippa, Pattie in particular is a little chatterbox, she's always so delighted with the world and will babble away to herself! Maureen (the one doing the stretched ballerina pose) is very motherly and does drawn out and low brrrroooooooooooop! noises. Yoko (eating the rice) is the top of the pecking order and was really loud and shouty, but these days is less so, and Cynthia (first pic) takes her cue from Yoko and shouts quite a lot too.

[SheepyJames]

Well, if all of that hasn't convinced you, Sunflower, nothing will!! Hens are really so easy to look after. I have always promised myself that even when I am old and decrepit I will somehow manage to keep a couple of hens in the back garden. The joy of collecting a freshly laid egg for breakfast - nothing compares! All your animals sound great characters. They enrich our lives in so many ways, don't they?

[Pippa]

Oola if you have more girls will they be Olivia, Barbara, and Linda? I won't mention the other possible name. I had a blonde brown girl we called Blanche, talk about sad!

[Oola]

Pippa I don't really know...I thought those three names the least likely for a hen! lol...

[keepersdaughter]

We have two dogs, Bella a black lab. who we got when we lived in Italy. Bella is a well travelled dog, poor girl. We had been promising the children a dog for a while and had only been in Italy for about three days and were out shopping when we came across several groups of people giving away puppies in cardboard boxes. We had noticed the many stray dogs roaming the streets, hunting through rubbish bins when we arrived. Of course, the children were intrigued and before we knew it, we were walking away with an adorable black lab. mix sporting a yellow ribbon. We named her Bella, for 'Bella Napoli'.
When we moved to England, Bella got the ground european tour travelling from the south of Italy, through Switzerland, and France in the back of my car. Then the poor girl had to endure six months quarantine in England. That was really tough on her and us, but she came home to a lovely garden where she took delight making the acqaintence of the pheasant 'Phineas' and the little partridge that came to my kitchen door each day looking for food. Bella's travels weren't over, after three years we moved to the US and she got to ride in a plane this time, no quarantine fortunately. My daughter wanted a little dog she could snuggle and cuddle. Again, the first week we were here, i emerged from the supermarket with a trolley full of groceries and my daughter came out of the pet shop from my husband had taken the children to 'look at the pets', with an adorable tiny, Shih Tzu puppy - Kudzu, named for the Japanese vine that grows rampantly in the wild here. Our dogs are very much part of the family.

[sunflower]

Hi Pippa, no I have'nt been there. Must look it up and see when the auctions are. Thanks for all your encouragement everyone. xxx

[SheepyJames]

Pippa, on the subject of your hen house - creosote has been revamped with the nasties taken out - still stinks though! I always think that net curtains and gingham curtains go rather well with a white interior, don't you?!

[Pippa]

Glad to hear nasties taken out of creosote and I quite like the smell, sort of clean, but then I like Jeyes fluid smell as well. I draw the line at gingham curtains but when we had 20 hens my husband fitted up a light that came on in the winter am and pm to encorage them to lay, I always imagined them reading the papers or a good book before snuggling down.
I thought the white interior would show up the red spider mite better!

[SheepyJames]

Actually, having said that they've taken all the nasties out of creosote, I see that it says on my receipt "not for amateur use, professionals only". Either they forgot to ask or they thought I looked like a professional!! Maybe some nasties still in there after all.

[eleanor2]

the only animals i own are spiders.not show ones in a case.house spiders. we have high ceilings.they make lovely webs.i dont let hubby take them down.if i see a spider i protect it. you know they only go in your bath for water.apparently there are hundreds in our houses.we never see most of them they are very clean and kll off bugs. i think its cus i watched charlottes web as a child.

[Oola]

I thought they only ended up in your bath because they fell in and couldn't get out! I saw a programme the other day that said the best thing to do is tie a bit of string to your tap and they'll winch themselves out. I think that's if you can't do the old glass covered with a bit of paper routine.

[SheepyJames]

I have a friend who feeds a giant spider who lives in a grid over his cellar. If he finds a dead fly he pops it on the web and the spider rushes over to get it! I would never have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes! I never kill spiders - I'm a real ace with the old glass and paper, Oola.