PA Chicken's Blog # 13 - Foxy Special

Our chickens are well, and coping much better with the monsoons and heatwaves than we are.

Our foxes seem even better.

The foxes who live next to our girls' coop are seen more and more regularly. Some observations:

• There is a larger one, and two smaller ones.
• They all like jumping about in the long grass
• One of the smaller ones is possibly part albino - its fur is much paler (creamy white?). It also very shortt (It seems to have the same sized head, body, and tail as the others, but has much shorter legs. When Miss Coles first saw it, she thought it was a cross between a fox and a ferret)
• One of the orange ones seems to like sleeping at the entrance to the den, right next to the coop. He/she gets very scared when you go over to feed the chickens, and bolts down the hole.
• Actually, they are all pretty scared, and hard to get close to.
• The chickens, meanwhile, are all totally unafraid of their neighbours.

Miss Coles has spent several mornings/evenings lately creeping about like the next David Attenborough (or possibly Bill Oddie) trying to catch  the foxes on film...

She will let you all know when something interesting happens.

PA chicken's blog #12

Hello all (three of you)

Our new chickens have names.

Introducing...

• Allan-Oreo (many thanks to 7AWI and 12MIN)
• Hotwings (many thanks to 12QIS)

Hotwings is growing fast - her feet are even losing their fluff.

AllanOreo is still small, fluffyfooted and black.

Omelette, Monkey, and Bog are keeping the new girls at the bottom of the pecking order - but are not bullying them to shocking levels.

All chickens are happy and healthy... (and looking forward to the holidays)

PA Chicken's Blog #11 - New Chooks

Paddington Academy has recently welcomed two new hens to its' coop.

Bog, Omelette and Monkey have been joined by two younger hens, who are (although fully feathered) very small, cheeping a lot, and very, very cute. They also have fluffy/extra feathered feet (see pictures). They will start laying eggs in a few months.

These two new hens  are still a little scared of the bigger hens, but otherwise seem to be settling in very well. The light brown one with black spots is currently called 'chicken 1' and the black one is currently called 'chicken 2'.

Their names will be picked at random on the 28th of June. Suggestions from students should be sent via form tutors, and suggestions from any random readers out there could be left as comments on this post. Silly ones will obviously be deleted.

PA Chickens Blog #10 RIP (Crusty Special Edition)

Hello regular readers (Namely, Miss Chan, Mr Innis, and Mr Jones)

Sadly, Crusty left this world this week, and made her way to the big chicken coop in the sky. She died on Tuesday, after a period of illness.

Crusty was a good chicken. She was friendly, easy to handle, and, generally, she was a good egg.

Crusty came to Paddington in September 2010, after spending her early years at a battery farm. At the battery farm, she would have been squashed into a small area with thousands of other chickens, and been very unhappy. PA was a wonderful change for Crusty, and she was able to retire here in peace. She soon became used to attention, and came to enjoy seeing people, instead of being scared.

Her retirement here was a very happy one. She liked people. She was also the only chicken to be successfully hypnotised, to date. It is sad that she is gone, but at least she's had a full and happy time at Paddington Academy.

The other chickens are still pecking about as normal... They are not showing signs of sadness (although they could be a little sad on the inside!)

Crusty is pictured below with her friends. (From left to right, Omelette, Ghee (now in Vauxhall), Crusty, Bog, and Monkey)

PA Chicken's Blog #9

The girls are laying more than ever, down in the PA farm. It seems the warm weather, and a fake plastic egg placed in their nestbox, have stimulated mass production. Well done, Monkey, Omelette, and Bog.

Crusty has been unwell this week, and has even needed to be separated from the others, to avoid possible germ-spreading. She may be weakened by the heat, as she is older than the others (having spent her early years in a battery farm). However, she is looking better, and we think she will pull through.

Finally, the girls would like to thank all the Staff Chicken Team (and the odd Farm Squad members) who have helped with their care over the rainy/monsoon season. They would also like to thank the many egg-buyers who support their indusrty, and Mr Jones, for supporting their blog.

PA Chickens Blog #8 - The Chickens are Back

The girls are back.

They had a lovely holiday at Vauxhall City Farm, where they apparently had a very emotional reunion with Ghee, our departed rooster.

Our PA chickens are now settled back in and enjoying the greenery growing around their coop.

PA chickens's blog #7

Our chickens are well...

...and the farm squad finally have their badges!

We all look forward to getting a replacement female after easter...

PA Chickens' Blog #6

We have now had our pancake race. It was a marvellous success, and our hens' eggs were well used!

We still need to raise a bit more money, in order to book our 'farm visit'. More exciting fundraising events will be planned soon...

On a sadder note, Ghee had to leave us this week, and return to Vauxhall City Farm. He began crowing recently, which was (understandably) a bit too noisy for our neighbours! We were extremely lucky that Vauxhall City Farm were able to take him with very short notice. Everyone has been very sad to see him go, including the other chickens. Crusty in particular has been very quiet.

Ghee is now living back at Vauxhall City Farm, where we think he will be very happy. The hens may see him again, when they visit for the Easter break.

PA Chicken's Log #5

We are having a pancake race on the 21st of February (pancake day) to raise money for a farm visit from Vauxhall.

If you are reading this, and you are not Miss Coles (not likely) then tell Miss Coles you want to get involved!

PA Chicken's Log #4

Ghee was heard wildly crowing this morning.

Our chirpy little hen is now most definitely a big crowing cockerel.

It is likely that Ghee will have to return to Vauxhall City Farm, and be replaced by another female chicken.

Miss Coles is more sad about this than everyone else!

PA Chicken's Log #3

All chickens are well, and being very brave in the exceptional cold, surrounded by lots of foxes.

After lots of discussion, I will accept that Ghee is almost certainly male, based on his behaviour and size. He does not crow, however, which is good; this will keep the neighbours happy.

Below are pictures of Ghee in early November 2011, and early January 2012

PA Chicken's Log #2

The hens are all well. They are also all hens, as opposed to roosters.

This is the big news of the week, as there has been some confusion over whether Ghee, our largest hen, is actually male.

However, the people who gave us are sure that if she was male, she would have been 'crowing' a lot by now.

Ghee is also our naughtiest chicken; she was described by one helper this morning as 'a pecking machine'.

The other chickens are well, and laying lots of eggs.

Also, there have been some technical hitches with this blog. Apologies if this blog is almost identical to the last one.

PA Chickens' Log #1 (Stardate 20012012)

We have entered a new dimension of hyper-reality, known as the World Wide Web.

Hilarious Star Trek Puns aside, the chickens are all well. The hot porridge and left over pasta breakfast was well received by Ghee, Monkey, Omelette, Crusty, and Bog.

More Exciting Chicken updates to follow.