Saturday, March 24, 2012

This is for the birds


Juju's chicks are getting bigger. They seem to be happy in the borrowed chicken tractor, but come the end of the month they will need to be integrated with the other 4 birds in our little flock. With this in mind I caught Sonja (no easy thing that) and stuck her in with the pullets. The NHR is the same size as our flighty bantam hen. To say she was unhappy with the move is an understatement. I should have remembered that the Blue Andalusians are foragers and hate to be contained. She spent her time walking the edges of the pen (I could almost imaging her with a tin cup dragging along the metal) - much to the distress of the 2 pullets. After work I opened the coop part of the tractor to check for an egg and she was out like a shot. After a short chase around the yard she headed for the main coop trying to force her way through the wire enclosure. I caught her there and - with her indignantly squawking - put her back with the other hens.

Then I went to check on the quail. I had some greens and opened the door to put them in. And one of the females flew out. The quail have been pretty content in their hutch so I think this action surprised them as much as me. Ivan was immediately on her tail, laying in the new spring greenery waiting for a chance to pounce. Between him and a stick I gently herded her into a wire cage - which allowed me to catch her easily (I learned a thing or two after last year's quail breaks) She was soon back in with the rest of her covey (?).

I went in and had a beer.

No comments:

Post a Comment