Thelma and Louise

Thelma Thunder Thighs

New hens! Two new birds were delivered last weekend by a friend of a neighbor and they are beautiful.

I read in my Backyard Poultry Magazine about incorporating new birds into the flock. The article basically said "out with the old, in with the new". This is in order to avoid disease and pecking, but if you HAVE to mix it up, let them duke it out through a fence first.

I kept the new lovely (and BIG) ladies separated for two days adjacent to the main flock so that they wouldn't kick my other chickens' asses.

Prissy strutting her skinny stuff
for the new ladies

Cora, a smallish White Leghorn cross, got her comb bloodied on the first day by Louise, the obvious leader of newbies.

By the end of the second day they had all made peace and I let everyone in the bigger yard together. There was a bit of flapping and posturing, but mostly they all played it cool and pretended the other group wasn't there.

Meet and Greet

Now they are best buds- Thelma and Louise crowd onto a deck with the other younger birds at night to sleep. They don't quite fit (especially with fatty Thelma, who I think must be some sort of Buff Cochin- she is HUGE).

I think the fact that I added two chickens and they were so much bigger than the others helped them integrate a little easier. Now, to get these big meat birds to lay eggs...

All Grown Up

Strange sensation, being proud of a chicken. Prissy, our White Leghorn pictured at left, laid her first egg on Saturday.

I feel like we need to have a coming of age ceremony for her. She made it through chick-hood without succumbing to whatever one of her cohorts did. She made it through the night earlier this summer when another youngster was abducted and eaten by a fox.

By luck, pluck, or maybe even cluck, she grew up and now prances around the yard like she owns it. Come on over for chicken bat mitzvah next weekend.

We also just acquired two new pullets from a friend of our neighbors to replace the ones we lost. So the head count is:

• Stella, Silver Laced Wyandotte (pictured at left)
• Edna, Araucauna
• Prissy, White Leghorn
• Cora, California White (cross between White Leghorn and California Grey)
• Bernice (Bertie), Speckled Sussex
• Bob, Black Australorp

Scott got to name this last one. He feels outnumbered by all our female pets, so he had to have one "dude" to bond with. I'm sure Bob's eggs will taste the best for Scott.