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This season's flock expansion did not go according to plan, with Edie, Ivy and Erica no longer with us and two of the chicks turning out to be cockerels, leaving only one pullet, Melissa.
You may have already guessed that one of the many motivations for last weekend's big clean up was new pullets and their quarantine.
Today I went to meet a chicken breeder who has won prizes at the royal show to look at all his birds and to come home with three pullets. So many chickens. It was a whirl. And pheasants, some of them utterly glorious. And turkeys. And guinea fowl. And ducks. And geese. Blimey.
We are talking about an elderly man who can't keep up with his massive poop production line. However, while all of the many, many chicken runs were poopy, I'd say almost all of the birds were healthy. And we're talking 150+ chickens of all ages.
I saw one deceased Barnevelder pullet who hadn't yet been removed from her grow out cage. And 4 who struck me as listless.
I saw his champion rooster and his best hens. I saw all his chicks in their brooders. There must have been at least 100 chicks. I saw all his eggs in his huge incubator.
And I've come home with a Black Copper Marans called Bernadette (after my friend who recently passed away but you can also say she's named after @RoyalChick 's Bernie if you want to), an Australorp, and a white Brahma, neither of whom have names yet.
As I didn't know what age or maturity pullets I would be bringing home, I had prepared the quarantine coop with three feed formats: crumble, pullet pellets, and layer pellets. The idea was that the pullets can choose which one they prefer. The bedding is woodshavings with the dust extracted and the water dispenser is polypipe with a cup. There is an old but very clean sawhorse for roosting on.
The Australorp was the first to find the food and ate a lot of crumble before moving on to the pullet pellets and later on, sampling the layer pellets. Bernadette the Marans was the first to find the water and the second to find the food, starting on the pullet pellets before switching to the crumbles and back to the pullet pellets. I didn't see her try the layer pellets but I can't watch her all day (unfortunately). The Brahma has had a small drink but failed to find the food.
The Brahma is the smallest and from this I conclude she's also the youngest as she's not a bantam Brahma but a standard and, assuming she survives to tell the tale, she'll be the biggest hen in the flock once she's mature. She's also a little less mature in her attitude.
Bernadette pecks the Australorp, who passes the message down the line to the Brahma.
They were very comfy in their travel baskets and reluctant to hop out, but I think I can say they like their new home. It's certainly far cleaner and less crowded.
Pictures are on the way. And maybe also a video.
You may have already guessed that one of the many motivations for last weekend's big clean up was new pullets and their quarantine.
Today I went to meet a chicken breeder who has won prizes at the royal show to look at all his birds and to come home with three pullets. So many chickens. It was a whirl. And pheasants, some of them utterly glorious. And turkeys. And guinea fowl. And ducks. And geese. Blimey.
We are talking about an elderly man who can't keep up with his massive poop production line. However, while all of the many, many chicken runs were poopy, I'd say almost all of the birds were healthy. And we're talking 150+ chickens of all ages.
I saw one deceased Barnevelder pullet who hadn't yet been removed from her grow out cage. And 4 who struck me as listless.
I saw his champion rooster and his best hens. I saw all his chicks in their brooders. There must have been at least 100 chicks. I saw all his eggs in his huge incubator.
And I've come home with a Black Copper Marans called Bernadette (after my friend who recently passed away but you can also say she's named after @RoyalChick 's Bernie if you want to), an Australorp, and a white Brahma, neither of whom have names yet.
As I didn't know what age or maturity pullets I would be bringing home, I had prepared the quarantine coop with three feed formats: crumble, pullet pellets, and layer pellets. The idea was that the pullets can choose which one they prefer. The bedding is woodshavings with the dust extracted and the water dispenser is polypipe with a cup. There is an old but very clean sawhorse for roosting on.
The Australorp was the first to find the food and ate a lot of crumble before moving on to the pullet pellets and later on, sampling the layer pellets. Bernadette the Marans was the first to find the water and the second to find the food, starting on the pullet pellets before switching to the crumbles and back to the pullet pellets. I didn't see her try the layer pellets but I can't watch her all day (unfortunately). The Brahma has had a small drink but failed to find the food.
The Brahma is the smallest and from this I conclude she's also the youngest as she's not a bantam Brahma but a standard and, assuming she survives to tell the tale, she'll be the biggest hen in the flock once she's mature. She's also a little less mature in her attitude.
Bernadette pecks the Australorp, who passes the message down the line to the Brahma.
They were very comfy in their travel baskets and reluctant to hop out, but I think I can say they like their new home. It's certainly far cleaner and less crowded.
Pictures are on the way. And maybe also a video.
I just appreciate when people give me advice, especially if its from experience and I feel sorry for chickens that get picked on.
