Chook wrangling

Last Saturday morning we set out for the Strathalbyn Poultry sales and came home with three new girls, Mrs Diamond, Stella and Lola. Mrs Diamond, as you can see below, is a big Wyandotte who has already established herself as the Queen of the coop. She has first claim on the corncobs each morning and shooes everyone else down to the roosts as the sun sets. Stella is a young Wyandotte whose colours are the reverse of Mrs Diamond's. Lola is a South American Araucana who is black and will eventually lay blue eggs. The poultry sale was an experience in itself. The people there for the 8am start were serious chook types. There was a lot of jostling and elbowing, with old ladies literally treading on toes to get the chooks they wanted. I as a complete novice turned up with the wrong sized box for transportation and had a hard time telling cockerels from pullets. I was clearly out of my depth despite having read most of the forums on Backyard Poultry.

Mrs Diamond

I decided this afternoon to let some of the chooks out of the coop for a bit of free-ranging. It was obviously what they had been waiting for because they took to the experience with gusto! Mrs Diamond, Ines and Isobel had their first taste of freedom and had a lovely time scratching, foraging for insects and bathing in the dust. What I hadn't bargained on was how difficult it would be to get them back into the coop. It took 90 minutes to catch the three of them again and it was a two person job! They were wise to the old 'entice them in with a corncob' trick and I was almost sure I saw a wicked glint in Mrs Diamond's eye as she fluffed up her bouffant tail feathers and strutted off to tidy up the weeds along our back fence. I can see already that the pecking order has been established and I am definitely not at the top of it!

Ines and Isobel