A lady that breeds hybrids and keeps a few Pekins herself agreed to take them and find good homes for them. I did feel sorry for the little chaps as they were put into an ark with some other young pekins, as they were so tiny compared to the other birds, but I'm sure they'll be ok. I still worried about them last night though. When you hatch your own chicken you tend to look on them as 'your babies'.
I came home with 3 hens. 2 Cuckoo and 1 blue.
I sprayed them with lice/mite spray before putting them in with my birds, just as a precaution. Although the new birds are 12 maybe 14 weeks old and mine are 8 weeks old, the difference in size is quite a bit. The 12 week old ones look almost full grown, whereas mine look like miniature versions.
The new girls loved their big new run, 15ft x 7ft and happily ran around scratching at the grass and discovering where they were. However, the blue frizzle cockerel had other ideas. The girls may have been almost twice his size, but he was going to show them who was boss from the start. He spent all evening chasing them around and pecking them and I felt really sorry for them. Just before bed time the Lavendar hen joined in and had a go at them as well.
Come dusk, when I went out to put them all to bed, all mine had gone to bed in the house but were sat huddled near the pophole so the new girls couldnt go to bed. So I had to put the newbies in and close the door. I half expected to hear a kafuffle and a few shrieks but it was surprisingly quiet.
This morning when I let them out, they all ran into the run and there doesnt seem to be so much bullying by the Blue boy, but they're still getting chased quite a bit.
I expect it will all settle down in a day or two as they determine the pecking order.
I now have to find a home for one more Blue straight feathered Pekin boy and I'm hoping a friend will take him. He's a lovely little chap and I really dont want to have him culled. He'd make a lovely pet for someone or a great dad if he had some wives.
Today I've been busy building a forum, Pekin Heaven. I've put the link in my links section on the blog here, so if anyone reads this blog and would like to come along and join the forum I'd be really pleased to see you.
It's a bit bare on there at the moment with just myself to talk to.
Here's a pic of my 3 new hens.
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