Unsecure chicken perches

[Smudge]

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who posts on these forums - it really is a valuable source of information and without it I just don't think we'd have taken the step of adding two new girls to our existing two.

 

We took the plunge last Saturday and visited Newland Poultry near Malvern (what a fantastic place, immaculate, friendly and very healthy birds!) and came back with a Bluebell (Lizzie) and a Sussex (Jane) - guess what my favourite book is!

 

Using all the info we could gather on here we'd prepared everything in advance and created a separate run (split an extended omlet run using a spare run panel we had and some green plastic trellis) and some temporary housing (an old large black plastic recycling box upside down with a door cut in the end and bubble wrap around it for weather proofing!) and they seem to have settled into that quite well. At the moment our other two girls are pottering around them and there hasn't been too much noise or posturing... but I'm sure that will come when they are allowed to free range together!

 

It's such a pleasure keeping chickens, I don't know how we managed without them for so long!

[pips_pekins]

Congratulations on your new chickens. What age are your new ones? I hope your introductions continue to go smoothly

[Chortle Chook]

Congratulations! I love bluebells. Any pix??

Oh, and what happened to Mr Darcy?

[Smudge]

Lizzie and Jane are both 18 weeks old so they should be able to hold their own if there's any trouble. I'm going to try letting them free range together for a bit this afternoon as things have gone well so far and we'll see what happens - I have a water pistol at the ready!

 

Amazingly my OH has suggested the idea of a Mr Darcy for the girls, but I really don't think our neighbours would appreciate the vocalisation of his pride!

 

I haven't had much chance to add any piccies yet but will try and add some later today - never done it before so it will be trial and error I think.

[Smudge]

Well, the first supervised free range together this afternoon went off fairly well - only needed the water pistol a couple of times when Sage decided to go on an attack run! Took a few piccies of the new girls so....

 

Here's Lizzie the Bluebell

 

 

and here's Jane the Sussex

 

 

and both together

 

 

And here's my two older girls observing from one of their favourite places in the garden (Sage is moulting at the moment so she looks a bit scruffy poor thing!)...

 

[zakjon-98]

Beautiful girls! I love your bluebell

[Henergy]

They are both so beautiful x

[UKMARCH]

They're beautiful and enjoying the sunshine!

[Space Chick]

They are fabulous at Newland I have had some POL, chicks and hatching eggs from them over the years, and I wouldn't hesitate about keeping returning there. Their care and set up is fantastic

 

Enjoy your new girls, they are gorgeous

[LunaKiw1]

We found adding an extra feeding station on the opposite side of the run helped reduce some minor bullying and within a week things settled. Interestingly the bullied hen has in the end clearly emerged as top chook.

[Chortle Chook]

I've spotted Mr Darcey in the back of your picture of Lizzie and Jane together

[chestnutmare]

Mine came from Newland. And I nearly named my three from Pride & Prejudice. But we had snow that day and I bought a white chicken so she just had to be called, 'Snowy'!... very pretty hens you have!!

[Smudge]

You've done it now Cheaky Chook, and the wire chicken in the garden will be known as Mr Darcy from now on!

 

Things are still progressing pretty smoothly, after a second session of free ranging together yesterday, Sage made no across the garden attack runs but Jane and Lizzie avoided Onion who is definitely trying to assert herself as top of the pecking order.

 

I had to go out for a good few hours yesterday leaving them in their runs so I hung up sweetcorn cobs as sweetcorn swingball has always kept Sage and Onion amused - it was so funny watching Lizzie and Jane's reaction. At first they didn't know what to do with it but they watched Sage and Onion's technique and you could almost hear the cogs going round in Jane's head before she then tentatively tried the same technique, of course it didn't work so well until she got Lizzie into the rythm on the other side! I think we can already see who's the brains of the new pair.