It was a gorgeous sunny day yesterday, and in the evening we were lucky enough to see these cuties playing in the field:

One of the girls laid "the monster" the other day. It's huge. It feels heavy in your hand - god knows how many yolks are in there - I dare not look!





When someone musters up the courage to crack it open, I'll make sure it's documented! Inquisitive people need to know what's inside!

I've received a few domain renewals that are, quite frankly, a total rip-off, so I'm allowing them to expire. The main one is hencam.info - if you use that to visit hencam it will stop working in June.

I think it points to a page that provides help for others who want to set up their own dog/fish/lamb cam or whatever. It was because I was spending half my free time answering emails asking the same questions over and over! The page says something about "if this page was helpful please consider donating" - the last donation was in 2011 so I don't feel bad about letting it 'die' - everybody expects everything on the Internet to be free, and unfortunately it costs someone somewhere, and in this case, it's me.

Use www.hencam.co.uk to get to us and you should be fine. :)

If you want help on setting up your own streaming webcam, google it!

Sorry for the "advertisement" but I'm proud of my daughter so I'm allowed!

If you are in the mood for a gritty, hard-hitting slice of teenage fiction, have a look at Weeping Shards - Scarlet's first published book!

It's only 77p, so if you aren't upset by some adult topics and some slightly colourful language, it's a really good read!

Between the rain and snow we've had a bit of sunshine - the daffodils are out and the cherry blossom is starting to bloom...

The hens also laid over a dozen eggs last week so are back laying which is nice.

It's the time for new beginnings and fresh challenges!

I wondered why our hens weren't up this morning, so went out to investigate only to find blizzard conditions and snow drifting in the coop through the ventilation gaps in the coop.

They were hanging around the warm nestbox, and only came down onto the snow when I put down a tempting bag of mealworms - now they've finished them, they've buggerd off back up the ladder to bed too - I think they've written today off as a 'snow day'!

Which is funny, because I have too :-)

On the 25th March 2013 Kasper celebrates his second Gotcha Day with us, meaning we have had him for two whole years! :)

Because he is spoiled (and incredibly cute AND I couldn't wait to give him them...) he got most of his presents today, apart from hid edibles which we will save for the actual date.

Kasper got an amazingly cool new harness and a new puzzle feeder, both of which he loves, and he has a wonky chomp and some baked goodies left for the day which we will wrap.

To avoid any jealousy (haha!) Zoey get a new lead - which has a really cool design in that it's one strip of leather, two clips and several D clips, meaning you can alter the length of the lead! - and a new collar.

Both are happy pups - check out the forum for pics! :)

We had quite a covering of snow this morning, which was a bit worrying as Helen had to set off for work very early, and I needed to get to work in one piece so I had to shovel our hill clear - finally a chance to use my new dung-pusher / snow-shovel!

Watch the exciting footage here!

Although the girls have laid all through the darkest days of winter, now it's (hopefully) starting to brighten up, they've stopped laying(!)

Roll on spring...

We brought home two little Roborovski girls a few days ago. We have had a spare cage that we discovered in a charity shop (a bargain at only £5!)



but had nothing to put in it for a while...then we stumbled across these little girls! Say hi to Clam (left) and Clem (Clementine) right



They are Roborvski hamsters, the smallest of the dwarf varieties. They are incredibly speedy, making handling nigh impossible, and are significantly smaller than a mouse. They can live for up to 4 years, jump up to 15cm, and have the facial beardiness of a Schnauzer!!



Admin note:

For god's sake stop!!! ;-)
You have more than enough animals.

Today we took Kasper on an extra-long dog walk as he has been such a star recently.

We started off in Gilstead and walked through the woods to join up with Shipley Glen. There are some beautiful views here and it's a fabulous dog walking spot. We followed the tramway (closed over winter) down past Saltaire's school, and walked through Robert's Park to rejoin the canal.

It was a beautiful walk, Kasper got lots of time off-lead and saw plenty of four-legged friends! Check out the forum for photos of the walk and a video! :)

We finally got around to building our piggle's new cage - it took some doing!



We are currently using the fleece method, which a lot of guinea pig owners rave about (although I am yet to see any benefits!). We built the cage with plastic on the bottom, then a rug / towels, fleece, toys, food bowls etc etc! For scale, this cage is exactly 3x bigger than their adoption cage, so they LOVE it! :)



Their favourite thing is definitely the hay tray, which Lazlo is demonstrating here! Can you spot Rosa?





I was able to build a roof but keep one section hinged using cable ties, so you have access to the cage. Really neat!

Apparently it's all happening this Monday.

Will update with more news as and when I hear anything...

We had a fair bit of snow the other week, and had a nice (but chilly) walk in it - just before my camera battery died (will I ever remember to keep it charged?!) I managed to take these - hope you like!






















A little warning too!
We're changing broadband providers this month (trying to save some money), so you may notice some disruption to the cam feed. If you do spot any problems, just give me a shout and I'll check it out - might be as simple as me swapping the equipment and setting the password, then we should be good to go!

Over the past year I have felt very disappointed in the way the Dog's Trust has handled several situations.

I recently sent this email, so will see how they respond:

As someone who has always held the Dog's Trust in fairly high regard, I can't help but feel disappointed and slightly disgusted at recent events.

I stumbled across your book 'Rescue Me', published July 2011, in Waterstones recently, and decided to have a flick through with the intent on purchasing it. Some of the points I fully agreed with (exercise, pro-Staffy etc). but the section on dominance was nothing other than cringe-worthy and irresponsible!

The fact that you,one of the most well known and leading dog rehoming charities in the UK - not to mention one that claims to be opposed to dominance! - are still educating people that dogs are dominant towards humans is beyond ridiculous, and is dangerous too. By teaching owners that their dog is dominant by jumping up at them, or 'looking them in the eye' (!) you are doing great damage to dogs, and letting both them and their owners down...these people believe the advice you give and the information you provide!

My second issue with the DT is in regard to a good friend of mine, who's parents recently adopted a dog from one of your centers. The family had absolutely no experience of owning dogs, and no knowledge of PR or clicker training. They also had no understanding of rescue dogs; no idea they needed weeks / months to settle and show their true personality, or that behavioural issues such as resource guarding and separation anxiety are common. They were also very much not aware that punishment and corrections should be avoided!

The dog they adopted was a 3 year old Collie cross, possibly Labrador. He was reported as being good with dogs and people of all ages. The family had the dog for a month before they returned him to DT as they couldn't cope.

Within weeks after being rehomed the dog showed signs of resource guarding, no doubt brought on or exacerbated by the way the family took items off him or shouted when the dog had a 'naughty' item; he would growl, hide under tables etc. The dog also showed barrier frustration when seeing another dog on-lead; the family never let him off-lead and he rarely saw other dogs.

The family returned to DT asking for advice, and were advised not to let him meet other dogs and to sternly tell him "No!" when he growled at them. I hope you can appreciate how damaging that advice was! After following this advice (despite me advocating positive methods, they trusted the rescue...) the dogs' issues predictably worsened; he snapped at a family member and was returned. I was appalled at the way this situation was handled by DT.

Finally, earlier last year, DT had a stall at our village fair. They had a small selection of dogs at the stall, and throughout the afternoon I was horrified to see dozens of people walk up to the dogs, towering over them, staring them in the eye and generally being very threatening from a dogs' perspective!

However it was only going to get worse as the crowds grew, and at one point a young toddler walked into and fell over the Husky, which was tethered (in the hot sun with no shade or water) about 6 feet away from the stall!!! None of the DT team even saw this happening!

A parade, floats and incredibly loud marching band then appeared. Because of the positioning of the DT stall the procession circled the dogs, stopping right in front of them, staying within 4 feet of them the entire time! After that a band started up, the speakers positioned close enough for the dogs to touch! All of this was too loud for me never mind the dogs...it is certainly not a situation I would ever put any dogs through! Throughout the day I felt very sad for the dogs, especially the Husky. This dog was tied away from the stall, with no shade or water despite it being a very hot day, surrounded by strangers and not once did I see anybody from the DT go check on him!

As a dog lover myself I can't help but feel let down by yourselves, and urge you to spread the word that dominance theory is debunked, as it does so much damage to dogs...

Scarlet

Six days ago we opened our home to a little rescue pup. Someone we met through our business told us that their neighbour, who isn't a very nice person, didn't want the puppy anymore. She had been spending a lot of time outside with no shelter, and the 'owner' was going to dump her!!! So we said we would look after her, and potentially rehome her...haha ;)

Here she is



We think she's about 10.5 weeks old now, is mostly / all Staffy and we have named her Zoey!



How adorable is she?! Especially in her pink harness!!!



Kasper *really* wasn't impressed at first, and growled a lot! However with lots of counter conditioning they play together wonderfully now, and growling only happens when it should - Kasper is far too much of a push over, and will lay on his back whilst Zoey bites his neck, the poor boy!



And a goofy pic of Kasper enjoying the snow :)



Zoey has had a vet visit and her first vaccination. Crate training is going well, as is house training, she has learnt touch, her name (recall), is learning sit and knows to wait in her crate until released!

And some videos :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf5XMXElpes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TInMb0o0tg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHrgwD6HFjA

Thanks!

Hope you have a happy and peaceful new year wherever you are in Hencam land...

We just wanted to say, Merry Christmas!

Click here to see our little Xmas card to you...

Oh, don't forget to track Santa using the Norad site or the Google Android App (my new favourite!)

We have been busy busy busy recently! :)

My dislocated knee is pretty much fully recovered now...I had the splint and crutches off on day 3, which I was seriously pleased about! So I'm back cycling and doing the dog walks, and much happier!

Also we have an interview for the voluntary job/s at the RSPCA next week...IT'S FINALLY HERE! :) Mega excited about that!

And we have two suppliers selling our dog treats, which is really cool!

And some new family members to share...I don't think I have talked about our two adopted guinea pig girlies yet! We've had them for maybe a month now, and they are my little babies! Today they were both in bed snuggled under the covers with me sleeping!

This is Lazlo:



Yeah, she has a collar...although she doesn't really have a neck!!



Lazlo is my little lazy girl; she is generally happy to snuggle with me, lick my fingers and maybe nibble the duvet cover a little...whereas Rosa on the other hand, for the most part she has to be on the go constantly! Rosa is the vocal girl too, and will sing and chatter to you constantly.





We also brought a new micie girl back to our family. We named her Donut, she is a runt of the litter, so we thought we might be able to help her along with some nice 'sisters' and a happy, fun environment. We've had her a few weeks now and she's settled in brilliantly



Here she is with Alice, you can see the size difference!



And mousie play time!



Kasper's new bed that I found brand new at a charity shop for £3!



And near our Christmas tree :) (yes, we trimmed all his ear hair off!!)



And, our last new addition! Julius the African Giant Millipede!



We've wanted one for years, we were originally debating a Millipede over the Hissers, but Millipedes are very hard to source. So when we stumbled over this little guy Lyle decided he had to come home with us! He looks lost in his huge RUB right now, but he still has a little growing to do :)



He's really cool; his legs move like a wave and feel like broom bristles!



And I think that's all our news!!

We picked Penny up at the weekend, I'll post a picture of her ashes as they're in a nice wooden casket.

I was a bit taken aback by the cost though - £90! :(

She was the last of our original three that made hencam what it is today, so she was worth it, but it will be garden burials for any in the future!

Speaking of the new girls, they are on absolute fire (not literally - couldn't afford another cremation!) - still laying eggs even though the days are short, dark and miserable.

I was guessing they'd stop in October, shows how much I know!

If anyone has Scarlet's email address or facebook, give her a shout too as she's been in the wars lately, she dislocated her knee last night (it must run in the family!) and had to have a visit to A&E. She's fine now, but quite angry she has to wear a brace and use crutches.

No we're not dead, just... been busy... sorry guys!

Hope to get on top of things here so I can devote a bit more time to the site, hopefully it hasn't been too neglected.

Our chickens are still laying eggs, I've never had chickens that kept laying even though the days are so short!

Egg total is looking very healthy for this year...