Update on Pepper and possible roo’s

I phoned the farm where I got my chickens from, for advice on pepper and the possibility of Poppy being a roo and maybe even Dotty too. The lady I spoke to was really helpful, I gave her the link to this blog so that she could see the photo of Pepper. She said that it looks like pepper has a problem with her crop which is really common and can be sorted out. She said it may need milking, or have become stretched or become disattatched. She said I should worry less as they are hardy farm animals and it can be sorted out. She also said they would see if there were more Dominiques in their mixed flocks and if mine turn out to be roos, I can take them back and possibly exchange them and get pepper looked at, at the same time. She said not to waste money on a vet that won’t have experience with chickens. I had made an appointment with the vet for Monday but as they told me that they had  no idea what the problem could be or much experience with chickens,  I think I will cancel the appointment.

Dotty is starting to look more like Poppy than Pepper which is a worry to me, but I keep thinking I must try not to think about it and give it more time.

On a more positive note, I have discovered a treat they go crazy for. I gave them some raisins and they chased each other to snatch them. I had to throw them in three directions for each of them to get one. They would run with them or try to snatch them from each others beak. I also tried giving them strawberries again. They couldn’t bring themselves to peck a whole one but liked them once I had broken them in to small pieces. It seems that anything bigger than a raisin is still scary to them.