New Arrivals

This is a blog alert. If you don’t want to hear about me bragging about myself Stop Reading Now!

 

Too late. You’re in for it now. On Friday we got our second batch of Brown Shaver hens. Charlie delivered our 4 new egg layers himself and we all (the humans anyway) settled in for a nice cup of tea and a chat. We had a wonderful time while the 4 hens remained squashed in their carrier in a driving rain.

Finally it stopped raining and we went out to free the feather wearers. They were very bedraggled but worse was in store. They had their wings clipped and were tossed, gently, into the paddock with our original 6 Brown Shavers. The new group are a deeper brown and are easy to differentiate but Dan insisted on banding them anyway. Needless to say, this was not shaping up to be their favorite day.

Now this is where the bragging comes in. My 6 hens sprinted to greet!! the newbies and proceed to peck them into submission. Charlie raved about how healthy they looked; what fine birds they were; how magnificent were their surroundings. Not bad praise for someone (ME) who had never touched a live chicken in her life before we bought some. The new Brown Shaver is the one on the right; always a bridesmaid.

Two days later, the newbies remain cowering in the coop while my “gentle” little friends patrol the yard like its Alcatraz not letting any intruder through. The closest thing these poor creatures have to a friend is my cat, Smudge. She has decided that, as a New Zealand cat, it is up to her to ensure fair play. So she has taken to sitting up on a fence post and chirping threateningly if things get out of hand. She has been remarkably effective and I have hopes that eventually they will integrate.

My hopes for our 2 sheep flocks to integrate are almost gone. Perhaps the next generation will be more kindly disposed. As you can see from the picture, our Suffolk sheep cluster together in a surly mob watching the borrowed Suffolk ram fraternize with the Romney sheep. Truth to tell, he appears to much prefer their more laid-back life style and I have yet to see him climb the hill and approach the Suffolk.

 

This does not bode well for our hoped-for Suffolk lambs but to my mind it shows excellent taste on the part of the ram. Or perhaps It’s just that he has honed his self preservation skills to a sharper point. I wouldn’t want to risk my well-being on the Borg either.