Sweetcorn fishing

Yesterday I was still trying to fine tune the fishing for peas or sweetcorn. But before getting on to that, I went out to the girls first thing and everything was as normal but at seven o’clock I could hear one of the girls sounding the alarm. I rushed out and it was Dotty shouting. Pepper looked to be in trouble, she was sat when I first went out but as I approached she stood up. She looked like she was sneezing but at the same time sounded like she was hiccuping.

I was alarmed as I have read other blogs recently with respiratory problems in their flock. I checked that her eyes were clear and no mucus from anywhere. I got my husband to look as well and he said it seemed that she had something stuck in her throat perhaps. I said they only had pellets at this time of day and he said we can choke on a cup of tea sometimes or maybe she has swallowed a fly. As we watched her she was doing it less often and walking around not seeming distressed by it. I decided to leave her and return to check on her within half an hour.

When I went back out she was completely back to normal. I can only think she had something stuck or indeed had swallowed a fly or can chickens get hiccups? That is what it sounded like but I haven’t heard of it before. I will research it and get back to this if I can find any information on it, anyway what a relief, she was fine.

So in the afternoon I tried out my idea of sinking the plastic box into the ground, then poured in water and added frozen sweetcorn.

The box sunk into the ground

Honey perches on the side of the box

The big girls just reach for the sweetcorn

Honey steps into the water

I soon realised that sinking the box had no advantage as the girls could reach the sweetcorn easily without stepping into the water. Once again only Honey stepped into it. When I came back an hour later the box was full of soil that had been scratched in. I decided it actually worked better just on top of the soil so will just do that in future. It would need a much wider box to encourage the girls to paddle in it.

It is still fun for the girls though and cools them down so I will do this every day that it remains this hot. I will be looking out for anything  that is shallow and bigger but in the mean time this is fun and cooling for the girls and that is all that matters really!