Saturday 18 February 2017

The Plight of the Rooster!

As it's the Chinese Year of the Rooster, now is a great time to talk about their plight!

Chicken keeping has gained a lot of popularity in recent years and many people are buying Roosters or casually hatching eggs without a lot of thought about their care. Roosters can make wonderful, intelligent and inquisitive pets; we have a handful of very friendly chaps here, living harmoniously with their Hens and enjoying attention from us - we also have the all too common flip side, the highly territorial, aggressive boys that nobody wants to keep. They attack our Keepers and other Chickens, and obviously made such bad pets that they were abandoned on a nature reserve adjacent to the sanctuary.

We rescued 'Dec' after hearing a Rooster crowing near our overflow car park. Thankfully he and his friend. 'Ant' were both caught and taken to safety at the Sanctuary - and are the grumpiest Chickens we've ever met! We have so many bruises from well aimed pecks and kicks as we enter their aviary! Soon after another young Cockerel, 'Ace' joined us too, after being thrown over the fence!

On the other hand, here is one of our friendly Bantam Roosters enjoying some fuss from visiting kids! This little chap was left in a box on our car park.
Roosters can be noisy, calling loudly at the crack of dawn and annoying neighbours who aren't as keen on your pets as you (a big thank you to OUR neighbours who must hear ours calling throughout all hours of the day!). They can be aggressive and often cannot be kept with other males, being highly territorial towards their Hens. There is of course the obvious fact that they also cannot lay eggs!

Hatching chicks in schools has also become quite popular, with no thought as to what will happen if those eggs turn out to contain a male, and what will happen to them as they grow up.

We are contacted almost daily by people wanting to find a home for their unwanted Roosters and we are hearing of more and more cases of them being simply dumped, or even killed!

Our gorgeous 'Cedric', one of our more placid boys, was found abandoned; wandering about in the road!

Cedric enjoying a dust bath with his girlfriend, Helen (who was also chucked over our fence!) - this loving couple are absolutely inseparable.
Jack and Dave were left on our car park last year, and we've even had several hurled over the fence. Thankfully we got to them before the local foxes, but we can't always guarantee we'll be that lucky.

We wish that we could save them all, but we're sadly now at full capacity and simply do not have space for any more. Please, please THINK before you take on a pet or hatch an egg. A chicken is for life, Rooster or Hen!

If, however, you could take in a Rooster and offer him a happy forever home, please get in touch. We are hoping to create a list of people that we can contact and try to place some of these misunderstood birds and save them from a worse fate. We are proud to give our animals a forever home at Brockswood; but when there is no more space it doesn't hurt to have a backup should future animals need us than we can responsibly house.

...and of course, we couldn't talk about Roosters and miss out our beloved 'Henry', the gorgeous Sussex Rooster.
Henry not only gets on with other Chickens; he also loves fuss and cuddles (yes, cuddles!) from his Keepers, and even the other animals on the farm. In fact, he loves to spend time with our Goats.

In the future we hope to upgrade and expand all of our aviaries, creating a more spacious and purpose built environment for our birds and the many more who need a home. Together we can make our future great!

Wednesday 8 February 2017

Animal Sponsorship

After lots of requests, we've set up an animal sponsorship package! Sponsorship makes an ideal and original gift at any time of the year for an animal-loving friend or relative, and we can even post directly to them if you like! Or why not treat yourself? Not only are you treating the recipient, but our animals as well, as profits go straight towards caring for that animal. This can buy food, bedding, helps us to pay for important medications and veterinary treatment, plus enclosure renovations.

 

When you sponsor with us, you will receive:

  • A certificate
  • 2 Pictures of your animals
  • A copy of our twice yearly newsletter
  • An adult season pass
  • A fact sheet about your animals
  • Your name displayed on the sponsor's board 

We'd like to say a huge thanks to all who have sponsored our animals so far, on behalf of us and the animals. After a few niggly problems (such as printers breaking down!) we got our first packages out in time for Christmas; one of our fantastic Volunteers and maintenance superman John hand-delivered them. But the result we had was well worth it!

 

Currently you can Sponsor:

  • The Goats
  • The Sheep 
  • Duke the Donkey
  • Callum the Welsh Mountain Pony
  • Leo the Shetland Pony
  • The Owls 

And our Most Popular Animal Award goes to...


Duke the Donkey - Most Popular 2016!

Duke the donkey has been the most popular choice so far, which thrilled him to bits! Duke can be quite a shy donkey, but mischievous and sneaky, with Callum being his partner in crime! Callum loves to steal haynets from him, but Duke stands up for himself by letting out a high-pitched bray to say - "Oi, I need another haynet!".

Wednesday 1 February 2017

"Invisible" Jobs

We are constantly working to improve the site, but a lot of our biggest jobs lately have been what we've come to call the "Invisible Jobs" here. These are the tasks that will make a big difference to us, but unfortunately aren't things that you can really SEE. For example, we are currently undertaking the enormous task of fixing and replacing old and broken pipework under a few of our paddocks. Though a huge job involving a lot of hard work, man power, and expense; once covered back up, this becomes "invisible" to you, leaving you wondering what we've been up to!

However, once completed this should help fix some of the flooding which has affected several paddocks for years now. With clay soil, in the dip of a valley, and many natural springs on site; wet ground and mud are things we've battled since Day #1, so broken and burst pipes on top of that are most definitely NOT wanted!

It's a bit of a mess at the moment (we've covered up the dug out holes with pallets for now, so Leo the Shetland doesn't accidentally stumble into one - we like to hope he's more intelligent than that, but you can't be too careful!) but we're working hard to have it all covered and fixed up by the time we re-open - and hopefully some drier paddocks, plus a re-instated footpath which we had to close due to its flooding and damage a couple of years ago! There is a lot more repair work needed for this, but we're on the case!

Leo surveying the chaos in his paddock!

It's all go here, and rest assured that though you cannot always see the work being done here, we are ALWAYS working to improve the site and make it great again!

If you think you could help us in any way, please don't hesitate to get in touch! Thank you.