Animals

Anyone with a 3 month old kitten will know all about the trials and pitfalls of attempting to put up and decorate the Christmas tree whilst the said kitten is in the same room!!
This is Jess, a new arrival at Neet Manor who is going to earn her keep by acting as Chief Rodent Control Operative (aka Rat Catcher)! You see keeping chickens also has some downsides and rats are the main bugbear. So hopefully once the rats get a whiff of Jess on the prowl they will clear off to pastures new and leave us free of their nuisance. Did I say she was a barn cat? Her Mum was a farm cat and did exactly the same job that we have given her, so hopefully rat-catching is in her genes. She certainly seems keen on the log-pile (aka Rat Towers) up the garden when she is outside, so we will see.


These lot seem comfortable - don't they? Introducing my 4 young chicks. They are 12 weeks old to be precise. I hatched them myself. The two brown ones are pure Welsummer but Dad was a bantam variety and the two grey ones are also Welsummer (Mum) but have a Brahma as a Dad. So they are all brothers and sisters and they roam for miles around the local area, always appearing for lunch and afternoon tea at the appropriate times!


These two are Marans, both hens, again hatched by myself and just coming in to lay for the first time. Chickens are comical characters as anyone who keeps them will know, they get into everything, (mostly stuff you would prefer they didn't) and will take liberties at every opportunity.