[djt]

got my 1st chooks yesterday after spending half the winter reading up and sussing out whats what. had to leave home at 8,woke up at 6,couldn`t sleep,and was like Christmas morn all over again(i`m 38 and should be much more mature over stuff like this!)
  picked up 3 dutch bantams,then over to Wernlas for 5 big un`s; welsummer,blue lace wyandotte,cream legbar,jersey giant and a barnvelder.
 was concerned that bantams may get bullied.....far from it,top dog is the wyandotte,hes couple of weeks older than rest and larger too,closely followed by the bantams..not sure which as they seem identical,but suprised how aggressive they can be!  sat in the coup(shed) for a while as they got to know each other,and was horrified to have to seperate the wyan and a bantam from what looked like a fight to the death! apologies to all old hands at poultry keeping but it seemed dramatic to me! even after a day (spent in the coup drinking tea/smoking fags like new dad in a maternity ward),you can see the personalitys develop;
  the wyan is top dog and won`t be messed with,the jersey avoids aggro but won`t stand for any messing,the welsummer is friendly and inquisitive,the legbar is scared of her own shadow(i sneezed and she tried to squeeze herself thru the chicken wire!)and the barnvelder is like the jersey,keeps herself out of trouble but wont be bullied.
    the dutch are a law unto themselves,trying to defend the food single handedly from 5 much bigger chooks,then turning on the charm and jumping on my knee when trying to find the highest perch at bedtime.
  they all show no appreciation for my lovingly built variable height perches,so put them on perch myself last 2 nights.
its probably all old hat to most of you old hands but i`m learning and enjoying ....dave

[muntjac]

you enjoy them mate . dont smoke in the shed though there a good boy ,roast chicken with feathers on dont taste so good . they willl settle down and give you loads of entertainment , get some wire and thread it through a full hard ball cabbage hang it up with rope to the coop roof so it swings about then sit back and watch the show ....i love it lolo

[djt]

ok,will do..tied some broccolli up today,just a bit higher than they could easily reach,but they ignore it..early days yet tho,they prob havent had many fresh veg treats and are still finding there feet..like me i spose!

[muntjac]

if its above head hieght they cant see it unles they look up lol

[djt]

I`ll type em out some menu`s then!

[muntjac]

lol they really are dum critters lol i had one chuck actually sat and watched the sun flashing from a cd bird scarer it was flashing on the ground and this bird sat for ages just watching it as the disc moved it followed the flash lol