Monday 27 July 2009

New flock installed!

The founders of our new flock of birds have been installed in their new home.

Yesterday we collected three Dorkings (or Dorking cross, they have yellow legs) from Sarah (thank you!). The two ladies are just 9 months old and are really pretty, very petite, and will continue to grow for the next year or so. The Boy is older, and is absolutely stunning.

Got the home last night and popped them straight into their new coop. Left them shut in while we fed the other birds, sectioned off some grass, organised feed bins etc, then let them out. They were at home straightaway, scratching about and exploring everywhere.

The Geese in the pen the other side were fascinated.

We went back down to make sure they had ound their way into the Coop, to find they had decided to roost on the very high fencing. Got them down, popped them in the coop, shut the pop hole.

This morning, we decided to clip a wing on each bird. They are very light little things and we can see they'll escape into next door's allotment, or into the other chicken pen, so it seems the best thing to do. They were very good while we did it.

A bit later, the Boy emerged, crowing, and all the Dinner Girls next door came rushing to the fence to see the new chap on the plot. They'd make mincemeat of him, they are huuuuuuge in comparison. There was a bit of a crowing competition between the new Boy and the Dinner Girls' cockerel. We're keeping an eye on how things progress - if there's trouble, the Dinner Cockerel will just have to go a bit sooner than we planned.

Their Newbies names are Captain Flint, Buffy and Willow; Other Chap refuses to call them by these names, so I expect they will have two names for some time. He immediately called the Girls Itchy and Scratchy, because they were so active in rooking around the moment they came out of the coop; the Boy he's been calling Mutley.

I don't really mind what they are called, as long as it's done with kindness. We want to make sure they get used to us as soon as possible, and that they learn to come when we rattle corn. As soon as they do that, we can let them out onto other grassy areas while we are at the Allotment. I'll post pics as soon as I've taken some.

Followers