Bringing home our babies

Yesterday I made my weekly phone call to the farm in Amersham (where I got Honey and Amber two years ago) to see how the baby bantam brown leghorns were coming along.

It was good news. Their mum was now fed up with them and they were fully feathered. They were ready to leave home at any time.

I arranged to collect them at five o’clock today. The reason for collecting them late in the day is because I intend to do what I have done before and keep them in the dog crate up against their little coop so that they know where to go to bed at dusk and I didn’t want them to be confined to such a small temporary run all day.

Once they are in bed I will remove the dog crate and at five o’clock the next morning I will let them out into their separated area.

Yesterday I dug over the run and cleaned and swept everything ready for the arrival of the new girls. I put fresh pine shavings in their little coop and I separated their area in readiness. I also have chick crumbs ready for them.

Today it has been raining and it reminded me how little dry area there is in the separated area when raining because the coop and feeding station take up most of the dry part and water drips onto the area between the bush and the gate.

I said to my husband that I was going to try to find something to put in this area for the new girls to shelter under when it’s raining. He then remembered that we had a little round, metal, bistro table in the shed that we once used on our patio but have since replaced it with a square wooden table. It’s a good job my husband never throws anything away.

I installed it next to the bush at an angle so that the water runs off into the bush. This will make a perfect shelter as it is positioned just where the water drips in. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before.

New rain shelter

We arrived back home with our new girls at six o’clock. They are so tiny that we transported them in a pet carrier. I persuaded them out of the pet carrier and into the dog crate and they ran straight into the coop.

I am staying with my theme of descriptive names and because of the colour of their breasts I have decided to call them Peaches and Barley. Which one is which will take a bit of time to sort out.

Peaches and Barley

Peaches and Barley are six weeks old and so beautiful. I returned a little later.

They have found the food

I think they are going to settle in fine. I will try to get better photos tomorrow.