Lifestyle- Meet the Chickens

We've had our 4 lovely chickens for a little over a year now. These rescue hens were adopted through the British Hen Welfare Trust, a charity that re-homes thousands of ex-battery hens every year in the UK. When battery hens reach the age of 18 months old they are usually slaughtered because they are no longer deemed profitable. Chickens generally live for about 8-9 years though some reach the grand old age of 10-11, so the fact that they are killed at 18 months is pretty horrifying. But what's even more horrifying is the way they are treated on the farms.

When they first came home they looked like this-

Pretty awful right? Many chickens in the Egg Production Industry are either 'Barn' or 'Enriched Cage' hens and as you can see from the photo the conditions they are kept in are far from healthy. The only thing that will improve welfare standards for industry hens is constant pressure from consumers to force both supermarkets and their suppliers to change their ways for the better.

These four hens are now in a much better place, both literally and metaphorically. They've grown back their feathers, their beaks are no longer crooked, their combs are bright red and their claws are short and sharp. They get to go outside every day in the fresh air and love to eat slugs and dandelion leaves. They also have awesome names- Margo, Edith, Ages and Gru!

Sadly though many hundreds of thousands of chickens are still being kept in terrible and inhumane conditions before their lives are ended prematurely. Please help make life better for chickens by checking how your eggs are produced and only supporting farms with free range hens. 

Lifestyle- Vivarium Skull

I got this amazing super large skull from one of my friends (no idea where they got it from but it was cluttering up their house) and thought it would be badass inside one of my snake vivariums.

The skull is made from polystyrene so is non-toxic to snakes and it's hollow so will provide a nice new hiding space. My partner did suggest that I cut out holes in the eye sockets so that the snakes could crawl through but I think they would prefer solid eye sockets so that the hiding places feels more secure. There is a little bit of damage to the front teeth but I got given this for free so I'm not about to moan that it's seen better days.

I put my fist into the eye socket to illustrate just how huge this skull really is. If anyone knows where these skulls are available from please leave a comment so that I can let others know where they can buy them.

Lifestyle- Nemi Comics by Lise Myhre

Today I wanted to give a shout out to the awesome Nemi series by Lise Myhre.
Nemi is a cynical yet hilarious goth who struggles through the daily rigours of work, relationships and general life stuff.

Nemi is generally presented in short comic strips for laughs with the occasional longer comic story thrown in with an important message to the reader. Reading Nemi has made me laugh, cry and want to get back in touch with my inner child/spirit of playful youth. 

Below is an example of one of the short strips. If you want to see more you'll have to go out and buy a copy for yourself and support the artist. (Which I strongly encourage doing because Lise Myhre's art and story telling is amazing.)

My copies are from Forbidden Planet but I have also seen it available at Waterstones and on Amazon.

Lifestyle- New Family Member

Hi everyone,
Sorry for the late nature of this post. Things have been a little bit hectic around here for the past few days as we are hoping to adopt a lovely little collie from the Dogs Trust on Saturday. As such we are currently spending a lot of time making sure our garden is secure, getting all the necessary doggy bits and pieces together and doing a general cleaning and organising of the house. This is very exciting as we have wanted a dog for years but have never been in the position to have one until recently. If all goes well we will have a new member of the family to introduce to you in a few days. :-)

Lifestyle- Meet the Snails

My various pets are an important part of my life and I wanted to do a small feature on some of them every so often. I have some quite unusual animals including Giant African Land Snails or GALS for short. I wanted to feature these guys first as it's almost October and they'll be slowing down and going into hibernation soon.

I have owned GALS for around 4-5 years now and I think they are wonderful. I realise giant snails are not everybody's cup of tea but I find them to be a very therapeutic creature. Back when I used to work in an office I would often come home tired, stressed and more often than not wishing I could just throw in the towel. A few minutes watching these guys and I would feel a lot of that stress melt away. There is something very calming about watching such a slow paced creature just mosey long, moving slowly, eating slowing, looking at you slowly. They would really help me relax.

This particular snail I'm holding is Eywa. She was the first snail I got and the biggest of the bunch. All my snails are either adopted from the animal shelter or are the babies of said adopted snails. The sub-species I have live for about 9 years so despite being really easy to care for they are a commitment as unlike more common pets such as hamsters they keep on going and going if looked after properly. 

And here's one of her out of her shell and expecting dinner. I think these guys are adorable!