Saturday, October 12, 2013

Spoke too soon

It seems I may have tempted fate with my last post, when I introduced you to our lovely hens. This Wednesday Mr Moog and I both had busy evenings and for the first time ever forgot to check with each other that we had shut the hens into their pen, after them being free-range all afternoon.

He thought I'd done it. I thought he'd done it. Neither of us had. Sad to say, Mr Fox took advantage of the situation and I came down to a horrible scene on Thursday morning. Every one of our beautiful girls had been killed. One had disappeared entirely, we assume taken away by the fox. Mr Moog and I were beside ourselves and felt so terribly guilty for such a stupid avoidable mistake.

I came home from work late yesterday afternoon to find four new inhabitants in the hen house - it seems one day without hens was one day too many for the Mr. So, without wishing to tempt fate again...I would like to introduce you to the new girls.


At the back left is a little speckledy hen called Dotty, at the front left is Tango - a Sussex Ranger, and behind her is my girl Geraldine (a dead ringer for my lovely Miranda) and here, laying her very first tiny egg is Fizz - a Blue Ranger. 

I can say without a shadow of a doubt that Mr Moog and I are not going to be taking any chances with these babies. Lesson learned.

This morning I had a lovely surprise brought by the postman. My lovely friend Lucy Locket had warned me he might be bringing something to cheer me up - and it really did cheer me up :)


A bundle of gorgeous goodies that brought a huge smile to my face, including the cutest little felted sheep brooch and a skein of beautiful turquoise yarn that my camera just could not do justice to. It's an absolutely stunning colour and I think I'm going to have to knit a shawl with it as I don't want to make socks and have it hidden in my boots! Thank you Lucy - I love it :)

We have the in-laws here for the weekend and so far I've been on my feet all day in the kitchen, making meals and cups of tea. Grandma has just popped out to the Co-op so I decided to sneak on here for a quick post, while a lovely beef stew bubbles in the oven.

Just before I go, here's a scarf I finished a few days ago, using some handspun by me - the turquoisy-blue is a whole load of mixed fibres that I blended myself, including some sparkle, and the white stripes are soft and fluffy handspun alpaca. I can't wait for it to be cold enough to wear it!


Hope you have a lovely weekend, whatever you're up to and I hope to be back soon with some very grown-up finished knitting!

Moogs xx

10 comments:

Locket Pocket said...

I'm glad my parcel made you smile :)

Your new hens look delightful! I still really miss mine but I can visit them when I go to Mum and Dad's!

Hope you have a good family weekend - guess what I'm planning on spending tomorrow doing? Yup, knitting! xxx

Rachel said...

Oh no! So sorry about the hens, but your new ones look very pretty! Enjoy knitting with that beautiful wool! Rxx

Plum Cox said...

Oh! I feel for you! DH and I did exactly the same with our last hens. Glad that you've managed to get replacements so quickly - and that you had such a lovely 'care package'!

Gina said...

Very sad about your girls but hope the new ones settle in quickly.

Annie Cholewa said...

Horrible what a fox will do in a coop, so unnecessary! The new girls look lovely :)

Thimbleanna said...

Wow -- that's awful!!! The foxes must really be on the prowl in your area to hit the henhouse on the one night that you forgot! Love the new scarf. And isn't Lucy a sweetheart?

Leanne said...

That locket is a gem. So sad the girls came to such a sad demise.

Quinn said...

Oh, I am so sorry!! And I do know how you feel. My flock went from 6 to 3 this year; two I had to put down due to failing health. Which was sad enough, but the third was taken by - I think - a raccoon. And I know in my heart I might have been able to prevent it. I suppose this is how we learn, but...it's hard when our beloved animals pay the price.
I love it that Mr Locket went right out and found new beautiful birds for your coop! Faith in a happy future :)

Quinn said...

Just realized I complimented Lucy's husband instead of yours - LOL! Sorry!!! I think I was temporarily distracted by the thought of Lucy's cheery package :)

mrspao said...

What a kind and lovely friend!