Excited

Now that I have made my decision to get the two bantam vorwerks that I have reserved to collect on Friday, I am overwhelmed with excitement and impatience. I keep visualising them in the run with my girls and wondering how my girls are going to react to the newcomers.

I feel quite lucky to have this chance to have them, as like the dominiques they are a rare breed and the lady at the farm said her husband breeds them to perfection as a hobby but the two she has at the moment don’t have the exact perfect markings for showing or breeding, hence she still has them while he is in the process of breeding some with perfect colouration. This is why when I first rang her she said there weren’t any ready for sale yet.

I said that perfect colour doesn’t matter to me as they are to be back garden pets, to be loved and give their bonus of eggs and I thought they were beautiful and would be happy to have them. Being healthy is far more important to me than perfect markings, which really doesn’t matter a jot to me.

The vorwerk is a rare German breed developed in Hamburg by Oskar Vorwerk. He chose the unique colouring apparently, not to show the dirt.

They are bright, active, busy and economical eaters, pecking up most of their food from their surroundings. They lay cream coloured eggs.

The chicks are born strangely, with their colouring in reverse, a ginger head and black body which changes as they feather up.

They are hardy and good fliers and in a mixed group are always the first to try anything new.

I am in love with them already. I know lot’s of people integrate their new chickens slowly but the lady at the farm said to put them in the coop with our girls as it gets dark and they should be fine. Bantams tend to be feisty and as long as there are small spaces to hide and perches to escape to, they will just get out of the way of trouble.

This is how I am going to do it but have chosen the long bank holiday weekend so that I will be around for four days solid to keep an eye on them. If there are problems we will work on some separation but I am hoping that they will all just get on with it.

Of course I could be kidding myself and letting myself in for a rough ride but somehow I just believe it’s going to be okay. Watch this space to see if I am being naive!