Polly's Day Out

Polly has done such a wonderful job on our garden my friend wanted to borrow her for the day.  I duly put her on the lead and trotted her happily down the road where she commenced munching immediately.

I went out for a while and on returning I thought I'd better check that my friend had put out water for her.  Buffy and I went down ther but nobody was at home.  I crept in through the back gate and there was Polly sitting in the shade resting after a few hard hours at work.

There was a large bowl of water for her so I gave her a stroke and left her to it.  Oh no - she wasn't having any of it.  Now that she'd seen me and The Buff she wanted to come home with us.  I squeezed The Buff through the gate and pushed Polly back while I tried to get through myself.  She's quick though, and I mean really quick.  You try fending off 3.5 stone of determined creature with one hand while opening a gate with the other.  After a few failed attempts I finally managed it.  The gate isn't very secure so I put a brick against it but that didn't stand in her way.  Up came the front legs and she bashed it as hard as she could then made her escape.  She's hard to keep control of without a lead but I held her collar as tightly as I could.  She wasn't hanging around though, she was headed home and wasn't about to let me hold her back.  Buffy was first up the road followed swiftly by Polly dragging me behind her.

Once home she charged round our garden for a while making her presence felt then I put her back on the lead and returned her to her day nursery.  After a few bleats when I left her and she was fine.

While she was away I put myself to work deciding how to overcome my morning "polly stress".  I composed some letters to give to all neighbours within hearing distance explaining that as with a baby crying she needs to be left to bleat in the morning without me attending to her.  I asked my neighbours to be patient for a week and if it isn't resolved by then I'll look into finding her another home.  Oh how sad would that be!

I also phoned Environmental Health and explained to them what I'm doing just in case anyone puts in a complaint.  So, I've gone down all the right channels and Polly has a week to calm down between 5 and 7am.

This morning she started at 6.15am and it went on and off for about 45 mins.  Starting with a little mumble, raising to a shout and then coming down to a grumble.  This cycle took about 7 mins then she'd have a break from it but after a few minutes the mumble would start again, rising accordingly and each time finishing with a "humph" which showed her displeasure at being ignored.

That was day one - how will tomorrow go? 

Nice photos of the chooks coming up tomorrow - shots of them in their favourite places in Feathers Lodge, oh and their food toy too.  Yes, I'm teasing you with that one but patience is a virtue!