Posie's Blog. Tales of island life on a hebridean hill farm

Posie's Blog. Tales of island life on a hebridean hill farm

Wednesday 21 September 2011

We are now offering beauty treatments of a particular kind on the farm....

It appears we are now offering beauty treatments on the farm. Mist the sheepdog and Ruby the pup are both sporting beautifully shiny and glossy coats. After much pestering Mist finally gave in and decided to share her beauty secrets with Ruby....at least one egg a day apparently, but preferably more, and the fresher the better. Now I have been searching for Charlie's nest for a while, but could not locate those eggs anywhere. The other three 'ladies', Henrietta Eggberta, so beautifully named by youngest, and her pals, Joey and Frankie (yes youngest informed me when I questioned the origin of the names, that she loves the fact that you can use 'boys' names for girls) have all been laying away somewhere in the hedgerow.
Ruby the pup took the liberty of trying out her new found beauty treatment, and appeared the other day, not with a glossy shiny coat, but a sticky, gooey, egg covered coat, matted with the odd bit of egg shell here and there. Thankfully those eggs were fresh eggs, a must have tip from the sheep dog obviously, so we were at least not subjected to a week or so of rotten egg aromas in  the farmhouse. Ruby has obviously realised her mistake and has not come home covered in egg again, but is laying egg shells all over the place when she relieves herself, and has been known to add a very particular scent to the farmhouse with the odd bit of wind in the evenings.
She did kindly lead me to one of the hen's nests, but being a trifle greedy she helped herself to all of the eggs, so the hen has taken her nest off elsewhere.
Meanwhile Charlie is not put up nor down by all of the fuss, in fact I rather suspect she positively encouraged those dogs, as she has now deserted Eggbert Henrietta, Joey and Frankie in the hen coop, and has taken to roosting in the dog kennel with Mist the sheepdog at night. However do not be fooled Charlie does not think she is a sheepdog, no that nutty hen is in training to be the happy farmer methinks, as every time he leaves the door open to his building work, Charlie is in there strutting about, clucking away expressing her approval of the new extension, inspecting the building works.
Horror of horrors, you don't think she thinks he is building her a new hen house do you???

13 comments:

Frances said...

Posie, this specialized spa you've got going up there really made for an entertaining post.

In the back of my mind, I keep the dream going of someday being in the country, and having some hens, and the option of fresh eggs. Now, you've got me wondering about whether this dream will blend with that of also having a dog or two about this idyllic home.

Funny that I have absolutely no memory of any of our family pets having a taste for eggs, but that's probably because we did not offer them fresh from a hen!

xo

Claire said...

Hey Posie, sounds like you're certainly having some entertaining times between Ruby and the hens.......

My girls have been a bit behind on egg production recently, but I suspect they are laying in the garden when I let them out of their run. I found an egg in the front garden under the Chinese Star Jasmine this morning. I only found it because it's owner was kicking up a racket as our naughty egg eating hen was trying to sus it out.........

They certainly keep you on your toes, love the names for your girls. I hope you have managed to collect some before Ruby finds any more.


Claire :}

Pondside said...

I'll pass, thank you, on that particular beauty treatment!

bayou said...

Wonderful! Our dog is always so shiny because of the fresh cow menure ;-)... another beauty treatment you might also have, I am sure. I love Ruby's satisfied look on that photo! Still no hens here, yet, EG is distracted from finishing off the hen house.

Molly said...

The naughty little eggers! That's such a gorgeous picture of Mist, Posie you can't really be cross for long :0)

jane said...

Hi Posie - lovely to hear that Charlie is still as busy as ever - she surely is a gorgeous chicken - my dog as a fettish for badger poo - and will roll in it given the opportunity!!

Fennie said...

Hi Posie,

Lovely post. We used to train our Labs to carry eggs in their mouth. Maybe Ruby could be trained to fetch in Charlie's eggs? Rewarded with a very small piece of chocolate or probably better cheese.

Do send me you address for me to post the songbook!

Norma Murray said...

Sorry I haven't visited for a while. Glad I have now as you always make me smile.

Chris Stovell said...

I do love the thought of Charlie thinking she's in charge! I could do with a touch of shine and gloss at the moment so perhaps I'll try the beauty treatments!

mrsnesbitt said...

Hens in the kennel - now THAT is a first! lol!

Fred said...

I'm sure there'll be a spa somewhere that will charge the gullible a small fortune for that self same beauty treatment.

So glad to see the pottery and tea rooms blossoming. I was going to comment on the blog but I couldn't find a comments box. Mind you, I'm blind as a bat......

Rob-bear said...

Thanks for eggsplaining the new beauty treatment.
As for Ruby, how could she err with Mist egging her on? Except, in the end, the yoke was on her. Poor Ruby!

Bear is leaving now.

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