New girls

Today we went to the farm in Amersham that has silver and gold bantam wyndottes. The farmer was lovely and so was his farm. He showed me a gold and silver bantam from last year that he was willing to sell to me.

A bantam silver and gold laced wyndotte

I fell in love with them instantly. They are so beautiful. He then showed us round his farm. He has been breeding silver laced wyandottes for twenty years to show standard but this is only his third year of breeding gold laced wyndottes which is why he was a little reluctant to part with the gold. I felt quite honoured that he was willing to let me have a gold one.

He had lots of pens with babies at different ages and let me hold one of the babies. They were so cute.

A mother gold laced wyndotte with her chicks

He says he encourages the handling of his birds from the start and children handle them too. He says they have never come to any harm and his birds go to shows so they need to be used to being handled. He said the mother would peck my hand when I returned her chick but although she did it was a gentle warning peck and felt like a whisper. I have never held such a tiny chick before.

Each pen had chicks getting a little older. The farm also has cows and ducks.

Some pretty ducks

The ducks were huge and very pretty but I can’t now remember what they are.

Silver laced wyndottes

There were many more silver than gold as he said that being in his third year he is really only just getting the gold started. They were very inquisitive.

We talked about integration and I told him of my plans. He was happy with the way I intend to do it and said slowly is always best.

He said my two birds were in one of the smaller pens that he uses to train his birds ready for shows. He said he keeps his best and most perfectly marked birds for shows and sells the slightly less perfect to people like me which is why he was at first reluctant to let the gold one go. I said it doesn’t matter to me how perfect their markings, I would love them anyway.

They were twenty five pounds each (my other birds have always been twenty pounds each) but he said this is because they are top quality and I wasn’t bothered at all as I was so thrilled to find some and thought this very fair.

The farm was very clean and tidy and the farmer very proud and enthusiastic which I really liked. He explained that he has electric fences all around the perimeter to keep out the foxes and is always building more pens and making improvements.

He also showed us his broody hens sitting on clutches of eggs. It was a very interesting visit.

He said the gold one was louder than the silver one which proved to be true when they protested at being put in the dog crate but they soon settled down once we were on the move and sat quietly together through out the half hour journey home.

In the dog crate while I get the run ready

I put some food and water in the dog crate for the new girls while I got the run ready for them. I first put the spare little coop that I had recently bought for this purpose in the side of the run that will be separated and put some pine shavings in it. It will eventually become a third nest box once the girls are integrated.

The girls were very interested in this new addition.

The new coop attracted lots of interest.

Bluebell had a good look and Honey was inside trying it out

I then closed the chicken wire down at the patio area and heaped soil against it. Then I closed the gate which after being open for a year needed the soil digging out a bit to allow it to close. The run was now ready for the new girls.

I lifted the dog crate into the separated side of the run and pushed it up against the little coop so that it makes a small temporary run just for this afternoon. I added the food and water bowl and an upturned flower pot base to make a step up to the ramp.

This makes a small run attached to the coop just for this afternoon.

The idea of this is that when it gets dark the girls will go into the coop and from today onwards I hope it will mean that they will know that is where they must go at dusk each day. I intend to shut them in the little coop tonight then let them out in the morning and remove the dog crate giving them this separated part of the run. I hope this will mean that they will know the little coop is where they will go to sleep each night.

I intend to leave them on their side, where all the girls can see and hear each other but not get at each other, for a week so that they get accustomed to each other before I start integrating.

I will then start mixing them before bedtime gradually extending their time while I watch with the water spray at hand to stop any pecking. That is my plan.

The good thing is these girls have been used to being handled and are not bothered by me at all. They have been as good as gold so far and seem quite happy in the dog crate.

The girls go and check out the new girls

The new girls carry on feeding and don’t seem to be at all bothered by the other girls

When I checked on the girls again I gave them some grapes and gave the new girls their first grapes.

They soon got the hang of their first grapes.

I have also been thinking of names and wanted to stay with my theme of descriptive names. I very quickly decided on Topaz for the gold one but found the silver one more tricky. I tried out Snowflake, Diamond, Spangle, but settled in the end on Sparkle.

So here we are with our new girls Topaz and Sparkle.

At dusk I went in and got the old girls to bed and had hoped the new girls would have gone into the little coop. I think they were confused and they didn’t even look into the little coop. I tried to steer them in but they weren’t interested.

I had so little room to move that I decided it would be best to move the dog crate away from the little coop. I then reached through the side opening and picked up Sparkle and put her in the little coop. Next I picked up Topaz and put her in. I closed the coop and took the dog crate away.

I set up a feeding and water station for the morning then closed the dividing gate. The  old girls will come out at first light and I will let the new girls out when I go out between half past six and seven in the morning.

It will be interesting to see how they are on their first day in their new space. A new chapter begins.