Man sets up hotel for chickens

A Cornish man has set up a hotel for chickens to provide five star services for pampered hens while their owners are away.
David Roberts, 31, came up with idea for the Chicken Hotel in response to the growing popularity for people to rear their own hens. Many people thought he was joking at first but he now runs a thriving business on his farm in Helston, and has bookings as far ahead as Christmas.
During the day the feathered 'guests' range freely in the fox-proof grounds before being rounded up and put to bed in their luxury coops at night.
Mr. Roberts, who is helped by Ariel Roukaerts, 31, built the accommodation himself. Rates start at £2 per coop per night plus 75p per chicken, including 'meals'. He even transports the birds to and from their homes if the owners require it, and offers a nursery for chicks and an incubation service for eggs that need hatching.

Dog lived for a month in burnt out house

A US woman cried tears of joy after finding her dog alive in the ruins of her house - a month after it was burnt out in a fire. Terisa Acevedo initially thought Lola, her year-old long-haired dachshund, had escaped the blaze, reports the Boston Herald.
In the days after the fire, the 24-year-old student posted fliers on telegraph poles and walked the neighborhood hoping to find her dog. But as the days turned into weeks, Miss Acevedo began to think that Lola must have perished in the fire.
This week, she returned to the house and heard a scratching noise at the boarded-up front door. She immediately knew it was Lola. Miss Acevedo yelled out her pet's name and with the help of friends, tore the plywood off the entrance.
"It was a miracle," she said, hugging her dog at the Angell Memorial Animal Hospital, where Lola is being nursed back to health.
Dr Anya Gambino says Lola is in good health considering she survived a fire and spent 27 days trapped in the house, scavenging for food and water. "It's something I've never seen before. And this I would categorize if she was my dog - miraculous," she said.


Stolen ostrich runs home at 40mph

An ostrich stolen from a farm in Romania showed the homing skills of a pigeon by escaping and running all the way home at 40mph. The big flightless birds, native to Africa, are famous for their ability to run at high speeds but are not so well known for their sense of direction.
But one lucky ostrich in Romania managed to navigate all the way back home after being stolen by rustlers, reports Metro. Making a run for it, the big bird from a farm in Pitesti escaped her captors and dashed back to safety.
Owner Florin Diaconescu, 47, was very relieved to see her return back to the farm and was amazed at how she had managed to return by herself. "I had given her up as gone forever," he explained.
"But I saw this cloud of dust heading towards the farm and she came running into the yard as fast as her legs would carry her." "There was not one day that went by that I didn't think about her, that my eyes would tear up - I missed her so much."


Professor addicted to blade push-ups

A university professor says he has become addicted to doing press-ups on upturned chopping knives.
Xie Guanghai, 57, a physics professor in Luoyang, central China's Henan Province, claims he does about 4,000 push-ups a day. He said it took him four years to master his technique of doing press-ups on knives fixed into place on a wooden board.
Xie has developed thick calluses on his palms which allow him to do his press-ups without cutting his hands. "Along with the growing of my interest in this unusual exercise, the calluses have grown thicker and thicker," he said.
Xie already holds two world records for conventional press-ups, including one for doing 6,012 in a row, and now plans to apply for a place in the record books for 'blade push-ups'. "Four years ago I started to try these blade push-ups after watching a TV programme where a folk artist climbed up a ladder made of blades," he explained. "Hopefully I can achieve the record of doing the most push-ups on blades."