MJ's little flock

[MaryJanet]

Ivy

Ivy is part Wyandotte, part Brahma and part Silkie. She was brought here from a fodder store in the Adelaide hills, at the same time as Peggy. They were in a group of about 10 little pullets but Ivy was the only one sitting up on the perch. She looked right into my eyes and went blink-blink, and in that moment I knew we were going to be friends.

Favourite hobby: zooming around the yard.

Favourite saying: eep-eep!

Rank: Able Seaman with potential for promotion.

Named after: Ivy is named after Aunty Ivy, who was my maternal grandmother's twin sister. Ivy's husband was a pilot in the RAF in WW2 called Charlie. Aunty Ivy and Uncle Charlie were mum's favourite aunt and uncle, and their daughters Pam and Sally have stayed with me in Adelaide and I've stayed at their houses in Worthing (UK) and Poitiers (France). Ivy and Charlie were a big part of our lives for six months in the early 1980s (or it might've been the late 70s) because they had a long, lazy Australian holiday when Charlie retired.

Favourite song: Space Oddity by David Bowie.

Update: Ivy the lap chicken

Update: Ivy the flock's Champion Layer

For background, here are the other profiles.

• Mary
• Janet
• Sandy
• Peggy
• And Blossom

 

[rjohns39]

Good evening folks

I love Ivy's story

 

[Grammy60]

Good evening everyone

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

15 weeks old.

I was thinking of putting them in the henhouse while the hens are sleeping then getting up before light to open the door to the yard before pecking starts.

My neighbour says this is the kindest way to do it. But maybe leaving it up to the chickens is kinder?

My new girls were introduced to my old girls in July last year and they are still not roosting together in the same coop at night

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

That is exactly what I do. I close off "their" coop when I do it so they can't go back there the next night. Mine always stand outside their old coop and cry at nightfall. I would suggest letting them roost in their old coop and move them each night for a couple of days and then you need to close them off from it.

At this point I then put a lantern in the "new" coop where the other hens are to draw them to it at nightfall. Seeing the light, they will usually go in. After they start roosting there, I pull the lantern. The process usually takes me about a week.

Your pullets are older than I thought they were. I don't know why I thought they were 8 week's old. At 15 weeks I am much more comfortable with integrating them.

I hope this helps. This method has been pretty successful for me the last 2 times.

I might have a go with your method Bob. I have to "restore" the old coop sometime soon. Maybe I can get them all roosting in the new coop before then.

 

[BY Bob]

I think it's time for Ivy's profile post.

I can't do Peggy's yet though, she and I need more time.

For background, here are the other profiles.

• Mary's
• Janet's
• Sandy's
• And Blossom's

Ok, how did you link them so nicely to their names?

 

[Shadrach]

"It moved!"

"Got it!"

 

[MaryJanet]

Good evening folks

I love Ivy's story

She deserves to have her story shared

Good evening everyone

Good evening you two

 

[MaryJanet]

My new girls were introduced to my old girls in July last year and they are still not roosting together in the same coop at night

I might have a go with your method Bob. I have to "restore" the old coop sometime soon. Maybe I can get them all roosting in the new coop before then.

Ok, I see now why leaving the chickens to work it out might not be a good idea! Creatures of habit.

Last night just as full darkness was coming in, all the chickens were roosted. Hens in the henhouse, pullets in the little coop. Lifting the pullets and placing them on the roost in the henhouse was easy.

But I put them down the wrong way round. Peggy likes to really snuggle in to Ivy, which pushed Ivy nearly all the way into Sandy, then Sandy had to peck. So next time I'll place Peggy closest to the hens so that she pushes Ivy away from them.

I set my alarm and was able to watch over them as they woke up. As the pecking started, I opened the door to let everyone scamper.

So I think it's going ok so far, but I'll do better tonight.

 

[MaryJanet]

Ok, how did you link them so nicely to their names?

I used the share icon on the posts to copy each post's url, then I used the link icon when editing the index post. The link icon wanted the url and the displayed text.

Is it a new byc feature? I don't remember it from the old byc.