So, yesterday we said goodbye to 2 of the 3 boys, and 2 of the dinner girls. We kept the Roo x Mrs Roo boy (Sasso on both sides) as he is completely unrelated to the 2 Welsh Black ladies that we will want to breed from next year. He's a lovely lad, spitting image of his Dad. His tenure may be fairly short though, as it's likey we'll want to bring in some new unrelated Sasso blood for 2013. We'll see.
So, as well as taking away his two competitors, we took away the fence which separated him from the Ladies. He was initially overwhelmed and just looked on, dazed. The Girls swarmed all over "his" paddock, which still has (or rather, had) plenty of grass. The boys spent a lot of time watching the girls and not so much time grazing.
He watched in apparent shock as they swarmed around "his" feeder. The food in it is identical to the food in the 3 identical feeders in the Girls' area, but of course this was new to the Girls so tasted much better than their own food.
He looked on as they then took it in turns to sit on the garden bench; they investgated his shed, they ran amok.
Eventually the Girls got bored and returned to "their" area. All except Coco Roadrunner (the chicken of fate) who was so busy stuffing her beak with grass. Left on his own with only 1 girl, Rupert (I have no idea if that name will stick) shook himself out of his shock and pounced on her. Poor girl, it wasn't pretty. Afterwards she shook herself, and then carried on eating next to him. Rupert shook himself, and preened himself, and strutted around.
I've got a selection of saddles ready to take down with us, in case we see any problems.
I'm looking forward to seeing how they organise themselves at night now. Currently they have all options available (Shed, NUmber 1 coop, Number 2 coop, Youngsters Coop (which doesn't have integral nest boxes, but does have a temporary nest box inside it), or the Temporary Shelter. We want to remove the temporary shelter soon, so I'm kinda hoping that they will abandon it of their own accord.
So, as well as taking away his two competitors, we took away the fence which separated him from the Ladies. He was initially overwhelmed and just looked on, dazed. The Girls swarmed all over "his" paddock, which still has (or rather, had) plenty of grass. The boys spent a lot of time watching the girls and not so much time grazing.
He watched in apparent shock as they swarmed around "his" feeder. The food in it is identical to the food in the 3 identical feeders in the Girls' area, but of course this was new to the Girls so tasted much better than their own food.
He looked on as they then took it in turns to sit on the garden bench; they investgated his shed, they ran amok.
Eventually the Girls got bored and returned to "their" area. All except Coco Roadrunner (the chicken of fate) who was so busy stuffing her beak with grass. Left on his own with only 1 girl, Rupert (I have no idea if that name will stick) shook himself out of his shock and pounced on her. Poor girl, it wasn't pretty. Afterwards she shook herself, and then carried on eating next to him. Rupert shook himself, and preened himself, and strutted around.
I've got a selection of saddles ready to take down with us, in case we see any problems.
I'm looking forward to seeing how they organise themselves at night now. Currently they have all options available (Shed, NUmber 1 coop, Number 2 coop, Youngsters Coop (which doesn't have integral nest boxes, but does have a temporary nest box inside it), or the Temporary Shelter. We want to remove the temporary shelter soon, so I'm kinda hoping that they will abandon it of their own accord.
