Sorry I haven't posted for a while, work took over for a while.
The Taffos have reached puberty. They had been growing rapidly - more rapidly than normal - for about a week before it happened. I noticed this because I could see from one night to the next how they were filling up more and more of their little coop. We also needed to change the rings for 5 of them to 16mm rings. At 9 weeks, they are now wearing a bigger size than the 13 week old Sassos are. Must be their Game Bird heritage - big sturdy legs like their mums.
Then we noticed that one of them suddenly had an even more prominent green sheen to his tail feathers; then we spotted some brown flecks appearing around the hackles of some birds; and then, without warning, one morning they all seemed to have extra glossy plumage with a gorgeous blue and green sheen to it. They are stunning.
The next indicator was hearing a sound a bit like a kazoo, which was one of them trying out their voice. Less than 9 weeks old and trying to crow!
We've got a new coop for them now, much bigger, as they will be here for a bit longer until one of the runs on the allotment is free. This will either be when the two Welsh ladies are fully fit and we're able to reunite them with Roo and Mrs, or when the older chicks have been despatched. I couldn't face dispatching one set of chicks just so another set could move in - it's hard enough dispatching them at the right time! So , a replacement coop was necessary.
This morning, we let them out and Red (=the one with the red ring on) was running up and down the top of the Run cockadoodling. Fortunately it was a starangled kazoo sound at the moment.
I don't have any pictures of them at their current stage, but here's one of them roosting together about a week ago
The Taffos have reached puberty. They had been growing rapidly - more rapidly than normal - for about a week before it happened. I noticed this because I could see from one night to the next how they were filling up more and more of their little coop. We also needed to change the rings for 5 of them to 16mm rings. At 9 weeks, they are now wearing a bigger size than the 13 week old Sassos are. Must be their Game Bird heritage - big sturdy legs like their mums.
Then we noticed that one of them suddenly had an even more prominent green sheen to his tail feathers; then we spotted some brown flecks appearing around the hackles of some birds; and then, without warning, one morning they all seemed to have extra glossy plumage with a gorgeous blue and green sheen to it. They are stunning.
The next indicator was hearing a sound a bit like a kazoo, which was one of them trying out their voice. Less than 9 weeks old and trying to crow!
We've got a new coop for them now, much bigger, as they will be here for a bit longer until one of the runs on the allotment is free. This will either be when the two Welsh ladies are fully fit and we're able to reunite them with Roo and Mrs, or when the older chicks have been despatched. I couldn't face dispatching one set of chicks just so another set could move in - it's hard enough dispatching them at the right time! So , a replacement coop was necessary.
This morning, we let them out and Red (=the one with the red ring on) was running up and down the top of the Run cockadoodling. Fortunately it was a starangled kazoo sound at the moment.
I don't have any pictures of them at their current stage, but here's one of them roosting together about a week ago
