Today we popped over to feed the chickens as normal but ended up having a rather interesting visit. First, my other half picked up Doris for a cuddle. We had a check of her feathers and wings, then by the off chance we looked at her feet. One of the scales on her foot looked like it had risen up. Doris was not happy when we looked closely at it. We called Cliff, one of the resident chicken men, who looked at it and perscribed liberal amounts of Vaseline to stop it getting infected.
In the afternoon we popped out to buy a large pot of Vaseline for Doris. Apparently, as chickens get older, this becomes a problem. As we were given our three warrens who we suspect are ex-commerical layers, we have absolutely no idea how old they are. The fact that Doris has this problem suggests she may be getting on a bit.
Whilst he was helping Doris, he noticed there was a hole by the shed. As resident rat catcher, he knew it was a rat hole and we investigated together. There was quite the tunnel near the shed so we placed a large slab over the hole and Cliff pottered off to get hold of a trap. So we shall have to keep a close eye on the situation as rats can cause a huge amount of issues with chickens e.g., diseases.
Let’s hope tomorrow brings better news…!
The Good Life Crewe 
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