4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[House MD 221B]

Well today Sal's dad kindly met us at Merrydale Poultry Farm in Leicestershire, and we got 3 new additions to the flock.... I say flock.. Poachy This will be quite pic intensive but I have resized them and hosted them personally.

 

We're not sure on the breed names so maybe people can help.

 

Unfortunately we don't have two runs, so what we're doing is one glub and grug on the outside of the run, and one glug and grub on the inside. Poachy gets to free-range all day while the new girls get the run (but NOT the Eglu) and at night Poachy gets the eglu, and the girls will be put in the pet carrier and then put in the shed so they are warm and dry. It's not ideal, but unfortunately its the best we've got.

 

However so far so good, everyones getting along, Poach isn't freaking out, but by god Angua is going to be a handful, she might be tiny but it is going to be between her and poach for the head honcho position, followed by Pecan and then Miss Pennyapple. But so far they've been next to each other either side of the bars and no-ones tried to peck anyone.

 

So onto the pictures...

 

3 of the whole gang:

 

 

 

And individual photos:

 

Angua:

 

Pecan:

 

and last but not least, Miss Pennyapple:

 

So far everything is going VERY smoothly, they are in fact being quite boring and contented lol no flapping, no squawking, no pecking, just pecking stuff off the floor and eating from the grub and glug which we have had to lower for the little one bless her (she's so strong, at the farm I could barely keep hold of her, I learnt something today, Bantams are not to be underestimated.)

 

 

 

 

 

EDIT:/ Quick update... they've been home for about 3 to 3 1/2 hours now, and I just looked out the window to see how they were getting on.... (as opposed to how they were getting on 3 minutes ago when I last looked out lol) and this is what I saw..... Angua even had a dust bath earlier!

Edited October 24, 2009 by Guest

[Janty]

Angua looks like a partridge pekin, Miss Pennyapple is a light sussex (Merrydale call them another name, I think) and your crested is a blue egg laying hybrid - Merrydale call them Merrydale cresteds.

[Janty]

Merrydale call the light sussex a Merrydale sussex.

 

Did Karen have many pekins?

[House MD 221B]

aww thank you for that Angua was the last available Pekin, they may have more out back but they aren't for sale either because they aren't old enough or are their breeding hens (I asked because I saw a GORGEOUS sandy bantam)

 

On the ride home I was told they were all good as gold together in their pet carrier, and the only one who made any noise was Angua lol she's so adorable and so strong, for such a tiny little bird, and she's clearly going to dominate at least Pecan and Miss Pennyapple.

[Plum]

They are gorgeous and Poach looks happy

[House MD 221B]

Yes it all seems to be going so well, there is a huge part of us tempted to see what would happen if we let them all free-range together. But we're taking it slow and going to keep them separate for at least 2 or 3 days.

 

Angua is having a dust bath, Poach is just milling around, Pecan and Miss Pennyapple are just meandering and pecking around in the run.... it's all worryingly happy lol I thought introductions were MUCH MUCH harder than this, maybe we've just got lucky or maybe its because there's bars separating them.

[Egluntyne]

Lovely. Congratulations.

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Angua is a Golden Partridge Pekin...and yes she may be small but is very big in attitude with a big name to match ...I have a Buff Pekin & she is soooooo big in every way but stature, I think my Bantam run will be a very noisy place to be once all 8 of them are integrated, at the mo the babies are separate due to their young age, but are certainly showing signs of lairyness, especially the frizzle

 

They are a lovely looking group of girlies Well done Sal's Dad for his taxi service

 

Sha x

[CluckyBucks]

Your captions look like screen shots introducing a movie, there should be one saying the title of a movie they are all very lovely and look very happy

 

xx xx

[chickenopolis]

They look gorgeous. V V jealous

[ClaireG]

What lovely girls

[Falkor]

Arrrh a gold partridge pekin......

 

All three are LOVELY!

[House MD 221B]

she's adorable, I'm waiting with baited breath to see what happens between her and Poach, because it will be those two competing for top spot, Angua has made it quite clear she owns the other two lol but Poach and Angua won't get to meet without obstructions for another few days yet.

 

Although tonight putting them to bed was a struggle, they arent used to human contact yet so they were not at all happy about being picked up, put up one hell of a fight.

 

Although I got the impression Angua was quite sleepy so was quite easy to catch, however she's a strong little miss!!! Pecan tried to launch herself into the wall rather than be picked up, and Miss Pennyapple gave me the run around for a few minutes too.

 

hopefully this will become easier, and I might try and handle them a bit more tomorrow so they know we're not so scary.

 

Curiously, we cut up a grape into 3 today and put a little segment in each corner AND...... none of them were bothered lol, not fussed AT ALL, just pecked it a bit and went back to pecking for pellets.

 

But yes introductions are a very interesting experience, it was actually quite nice watching Angua chasing round two chickens twice her size giving gentle pecks at their tail feathers.

 

It's really strange, its hard to watch and you want to intervene, but you know what they're doing is healthy, it just looks so rough. It's horrible, you don't want to watch, cus you don't like seeing it, but at the same time you HAVE to watch to make sure it doesn't get out of hand and no-one gets hurt.

 

 

It's funny... this week I've ridden over 1100 miles in 4 days across 3 countries, 2 of which driving on the right hand side of the road, I had an accident in central Paris where an idiot on his mobile phone drove into the back of our motorbike at some traffic lights, I barely slept and was riding for up to 12 hours at a time......

 

but introducing 3 chickens to 1 chick is sometimes 20 times more stressful and anxious lol

 

and I wouldn't change a thing, I'd like to thank everyone who's commented, and also thank everyone for their help and advice in a previous post asking about introductions and the like.

[Redwing]

Just caught up with this, sorry House

 

They are super girls, my GP Pekin rules the roost too, I think its that gutsy attitude that Pekins seem to have!

 

The sussex and crested are hybrids, the sussex is often called a sussex star and the crested most commonly called a Columbine, they should lay you some nice eggs

[House MD 221B]

well today we switched them round, Poach got the run and eglu, and the new girls got to free roam. and oh my god was it funny.

 

Angua is definitely going to go for top spot in the pecking order, her and poach were sparring through the bars, Poach actually drew blood from Angua though just above the beak around the nostril, not much, and it's healed already, but it was hilarious watching Angua craning up and down and wobbling around posturing in front of the run with poach bobbing up and down on the other side. never seen anything so funny in my life.

 

However, good progress today, Angua and Miss Pennyapple let us walk up to them, pick them up, hold them, and got down nicely again, which is a HUGE improvement from yesterday, but unfortunately Pecan doesn't like us and runs away and by god is she fast! We thought we had her cornered and she managed to get between and under my legs and through lol Sally was in stitches.

 

Although tonight..... they put themselves to bed in the pet carrier!!! and by the end of the day, they FINALLY walked on the gravel which they're unsure of at the mo. Some big improvements today we're really chuffed.

 

tomorrow will be the same again with Poachy in the run and Eglu, and the girls free-ranging. And then the day after we will try free-ranging all together, with the run closed off so that we have access at all times to break up anything too aggressive (I dont want to have to crawl into an enclosed space to break up a fight) And then seeing how that goes for a day or two, and then once they're all getting on and the pecking order is sorted, when Poachy goes to bed and gets settled, we shall put the others in there.

 

It's so much more stressful and tiring than we thought, and we thought it was going to be hard. Thankfully everything's going well without major incident.

 

Angua is the cutest little ball of feathers I've ever seen, she's also so personable with us, but such a bossy little madam with the others, today she actually full-footed kicked Pecan in the side, because Pecan was sat where Angua wanted to walk through lol even though she could have gone around. She's a little minx.

 

And yes I can't wait to see some eggs, especially Blue or Green if they do, I never knew they came in those colours. We consider ourselves very lucky thus far as introductions go.