We had an unexpected day off today, so decided to leave for Dorset at 7.30 am, which meant we arrived at Chalk Hill farm at 9.30am just as they they opened.
We collected our three Dominique Hens and arrived back home at 12.30pm. We transported them in a dog crate with pine shavings in the tray and a dish of chick crumbs. They were very good during the journey, one of them eating, all three dozing and sometimes gently cheeping. We had been advised to keep them in the coup the first day.
They were a bit anxious as we took them up the the garden to the pen and coup. We put the crate against the coop door, then opened it and they couldn’t get in the coup quick enough! We put a dish of water and a dish of chick crumbs in the coup but decided to leave the dog crate against the door as a small run if they decided they wanted to come out. Also we thought it would allow air and light in as it seemed a bit harsh to shut them in all afternoon.
They made a bee line for the nest box and we decided to have lunch, then check on them again. When we went back they were all three hanging in the doorway, eating, drinking and looking quite happy.
We kept checking on them throughout the afternoon and sometimes they bravely ventured out into the dog crate. If anything scared them such as when they stood in the food bowl and it tipped it up, they all scuttled back into the safety of the coop nest box area.
Our Dominique Hens First Hours in Their New Home
We have an automatic opener on our coup which reacts to light so I am going to leave the dog crate at the door (the coop door will shut at dusk and open at dawn), with food and water in it. This means at first light if they want to venture out they will have a small space with food and water but will have to wait for me to supervise them going out for the first time into the big, wide world of the big pen. I shall no doubt be out early to see what they are up to.
Two of them are ten weeks old and one is eight weeks old. The younger one is quite obvious as she hasn’t got all her feathers on her back yet and has a much smaller tail. One of the older girls is already more adventurous than the other two, but they hang together in a pretty tight trio.
I wanted names for them that describe their pretty, grey speckled appearance. I have decided on Dotty for the youngest and Pepper and Poppy (as in pepper corns and poppy seeds) for the older girls. Dotty will have no leg ring, but Pepper will have a purple leg ring and Poppy a green one so that I can tell them apart until their personalities come through. We may attempt to put the leg rings on tomorrow. I can’t wait to let them out properly tomorrow. When I last checked on them they were all happily exploring the dog crate and I think they will love getting out into their bigger world.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
They are very nice looking chickens even if they are very shy at the moment. Now lets have some fun trying to put leg rings on them – I’m sure they’re going to love that!
As we now know, it was more difficult than we expected. One ring on and one still to go at a later date!
Ooo, I’m so happy for you. And beautiful birds. Lovely choice. I’d love some myself but if I add to my flock, I’ll need hens that lay something other than a brown egg so I can tell them apart. Can’t wait for more photos of your girls. And LOVE LOVE LOVE your setup.
Glad you like it, so much of my set up was inspired by your set up, except that I wanted to have a dry area and an open area as my garden isn’t suitable to let them out into.
The only reason I didn’t suggest Dominiques to you was the brown eggs. See next post for more photos and I will try to keep them coming even though I find adding photos tricky at the moment, I am so new to this.
I already adore my girls though and am loving the experience so far.