Unsecure chicken perches

[BocBoc]

.......Huge thanks to Tinkerbell for the donation of an excellently structured wooden house and run which she very kindly donated yesterday. It had a clean out this morning ready for it's new occupants.

 

Plum came over early on and off we went with empty box in hand to Page's Poultry nr Burton. She has some lovely birds there - I wanted one of everything!! We saw some extremely cute chicks too, all fluffy and chirping

 

So....what did I end up with?! Bobbins the Ancona who is very dashing with her black and white feathers and Kwak the Blue Australorp who is bigger than Bobbins and has lovely colourings. It was hard deciding which ones to go for and I was a bit sad I could only have two but now the new arrivals are happily pecking and scratching away I know I've got a lovely pair of bantams

 

This has spured me on to crack on with preparing the garden and getting the WIR sorted, pronto!! Plum and Tinkerbell better beware - I'm USELESS with "man jobs" so I'll be calling on you for your expert advice in this arena!!

 

Yay - new chickenses!!!

 

(Oh, forgot to mention, the OH is currently working away in Sri Lanka....he's back on Wednesday and oops, I haven't actually mentioned this to him )

[oneyolktoanother]

Hubby is going to have a shock congrats on you new chooks can't wait to see pics

[the-real-tinkerbell]

ahh thats wicked hun

sorry i didnt give it a proper clean but yesterday was manic i had to take the kids skating then i went to see john bishop last night so was running round like a nutter all day .

 

i hope your new girls settle in well

i cant wait for mine to hatch i put 12 bantam orps in and 6 pekins im so excited

[Mollie333]

 

Lovely.. Now where are those pics?

I saw the Ancona's they're so small! Yet beautiful. The Australorps are nice, also.

 

Did you see the huge male turkey near the ducks?.. My Dad wanted to take him home!

Loads of when we went, and lots in brooders. AND the peafowl were just .

 

I love the names you've chosen.

[Plum]

Bocbocs girls are gorgeous. The Australorp is blue with lovely shading around her neck. However, unfortunately I let her go in the house and now Bocboc's OH is minus some china

 

The house is good Tinkerbell. I am very impressed that you made it, you realise you will be invited to the run party with your screwdriver and spiritlevel!

 

We saw the turkey he was displaying his magnificent tail feathers but were sidetracked by big bird.

[the-real-tinkerbell]

thanks plum but i think im washing my hair that day

only joking im more that happy to help

[BocBoc]

Pics will be up as soon as OH gets back from Sri Lanka on Wednesday (well at least I think that's where the camera is!!). I haven't told him about our new girls and I'll be at work when he gets home - would love to see his face when he sees them!!

 

The house and run are brilliant Tinkerbell - hopefully it won't be used for long as I'm really raring to get the WIR set up. I'll have a look at that thread you told me about for inspiration - although if the offer of a hand building said run is a serious one, I really would be grateful.

 

If Plum had her way we could be talking about building a sheep pen - luckily I couldn't fit the "sheep of fate" into my little car!!

[Plum]

forgot about the sheep, I think it's double points for one of them. Would look good in your garden

[BocBoc]

She would go hungry - not much grass left thanks to my little beasts!!

[Chortle Chook]

Boc Boc, I think you have been most restrained to only take 2 banties.

Think what china might have gone missing if Plum had squeezed a sheep into your home

As for Tinkerbell she is obviously aptly named. How I wish I was up your way.

[the-real-tinkerbell]

lol im quite good at making things i guess its one of the upsides of being a single mum i dont have one else to do it for me ,im tiling my kitchen floor tomorro and will be putting my new kitchen in over the weekend , and at some point i need to build a new WIR for when my babies can go outside

[BocBoc]

Oh good - get plenty of practice in for when we do mine!!

 

Update:

 

The new girls are settling in but were quite vocal this morning at first light!! Agnes (one of the oldies) was responding to this by being equally chattery - I'm glad it was chilly out so the neighbours didn't have their windows open!! I came home at lunchtime and the newbies were pecking away quietly and the oldies were snoozing in the sunshine. I let the oldies out to free range and they had a good nosey at the banties - Anna kept going for a peck but got a beakful of weld mesh each time. I gave both sets of girls some spinach leaves so they were eating that together with the run walls seperating them. They all just got on with it, no argy bargy.

 

The feeder and drinker I bought for the little run have been constantly knocked over by Bobbins charging around the run and as the feeder has no lid as such and it's been raining today, the pellets had turned to mush. So, I've just been out and done some modifications:

 

I've taken the small standard Omlet cover off the big girls run (they still have the big winter shade) and secured it over one side of the little run. I've cleaned out the feeder and drinker, refilled them and popped them on some bricks in the run.

 

Finally, I found a Stella box in the cellar so have modified this into a temporary nesting box. On placing this in the house I was pretty amazed to find.......our first egg!

 

I've done all this in the dark with a wind up torch so as not to disrupt the girls too much. They stayed quiet with just a bit of a groan here and there so think it went ok!! Hope I still think that tomorrow in the daylight when I can see what a potential hash of things I've made!

 

I have spoken to Steve today and managed to keep my lips firmly sealed about the new girls. I did however let slip that he will get to have his present on Wednesday and that it's blue. He guessed it was a t-shirt........I don't think he'll ever guess it's a Blue Australorp!!!

[the-real-tinkerbell]

lol i would love to see his face when he sees it

when i went to collect my exbatts i took my step mum with me ,we went to collect just 3 ex batts for me ,but she broke her heart when she saw them and we ended up coming home with 3 for me and 4 for her ,my dad got a phone call on the way home telling him to build a run and fast lol

[BocBoc]

LOL!! I love stories like that

 

I'd like some more ex-batts one day, maybe next year I'll put them back up onto my wish list - Frizzles are at the top right now.

 

How many sleeps til your babies hatch?!

[the-real-tinkerbell]

about 16 ish for the orps and 17/18 for the pekin bantam frizzles

the pekins are ebay eggs but fingers crossed i will get a couple

[BocBoc]

Fingers firmly crossed

[Plum]

Oh good - get plenty of practice in for when we do mine!!

 

My cat rushed in to see what I was choking at

 

Cheaky Chook it doesn't take long to drive up. You are invited to the run building party - there will be cup cakes and lemon drizzle cake. Have you got a chain saw?

 

Tinkerbell can't wait to meet you and your babies. Can Bocboc and I come and see them when they've hatched. If Bocboc is still around when her OH meets his gift.

[the-real-tinkerbell]

of course you can , i can do tea but i cant bake lol so your cake will come from tescos lol

ive got a chainsaw

[BocBoc]

I made 72 cupcakes for a charity cake sale yesterday - you wield the chainsaw and leave the cakes to me

 

Would definitely love to see your set up and your chirpy chicks Tinkerbell

[the-real-tinkerbell]

you are more than welcome to come and visit once they hatch

but you have to remember my garden is a work in progess lol it looks like steptoes yard at the min all the rubbish from having my heating done is in my front garden ,im a classy bird me lol

 

i went out today to do a bit before the rain came i was putting my back together and with the help of 7 chickens it took me 2 hours lol

[BocBoc]

You've seen my garden - blimey!!!

 

Let us know when they hatch and I'll come up - with Plum too if that's ok?

 

(Am starting to collect slabs for the WIR area )

[Plum]

Oh heck sounds like we'll be helping her to take stuff to the tip Worth it to see little chickies though

[the-real-tinkerbell]

lol im hoping by the time the chicks hatch i will be sorted ,well i better be sorted i guess it serves me right for doing the kitchen at the same time as the heating lol

 

but because of the chicks it means i dont have to do the downstairs bathroom till they move out as they will live in there , so a extra bonus of having chicks

[Plum]

So how did the valentine gift go down?

[BocBoc]

He likes them!! He rang me on Wednesday when he got home to tell me I was in "well trouble" - but he was laughing as he said it

 

We've now been discussing the WIR and looks like he wants to be involved

 

I've got some slabs arriving tomorrow so I now have eight - need to find some more soon and then we can get levelling and slabbing