Early last week we came home to a missing chicken – Spitfire. The little lady was no where to be seen and after three days of searching we admitted defeat and went and got two new girls to keep the remaining chook, Lightning, company. Gabe helped in the search – although mainly by checking for eggs as he really enjoys looking around the coop.
Integration went well and the new girls were let out to explore after a few days and then suddenly Spitfire reappeared! She came trotting up to me like she had been there all along…. I realised that the feeder had run low and she had returned for food, so after feeding her I watched and found her escape point. The next morning I didn’t put the feeder out until she was back in the garden and then pegged and blocked her escape route.
A week on and all four girls are happy together and she has, so far, remained with the flock and not tried to escape. The two new girls are chunky large fowl and the two original banty girls look rather small side by side. The two new girls know their place already though! Size really is not everything in the chicken world 😉
We are moving home again next month. Still in the local area, but to a beautiful big house further into the country side. Unfortunately our current landlord has proven to be rather difficult to get to carry out any works on the property so moving became a necessity that we would rather have avoided. However, the place we are moving to is just so lovely it makes it a bit easier on us, and the views out to the sea and over the hills are amazing. Packing and moving with a toddler is going to prove to be fun though!
With the move what we do with the poultry is a little up in the air. Both my parent’s small holding and where we are moving are very at risk of fox attacks. No matter where we move them they will need an electric system I think to keep them safe. I’ve been looking at moveable systems as I much prefer this method if not free ranging. Not only does it give the girls fresh land to search for bugs on, it also stops them causing damage to the lawn/borders as they are regularly moved and never over work the ground.
I did take some lovely pictures of the new girls, but for some reason my camera keeps stalling on uploads. Once fixed I will make sure to share as they are both very pretty ladies!
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