It was very sad last week when we realised that our much loved ‘Red’, the red feathered Isa Brown hen, had gone missing. It was even more sad when one of the neighbours related that they had seen someone pick up our adventurous fowl and cart her off to regions unknown.
We canvassed every house in our street and quite a few in adjacent streets as well, placed flyers in all the local shops and contacted the local school, but all to no avail.
But as sad as it is, I still think that we may see her again one day. Damn chook should have been named Houdini for all the escape tricks she pulled. She was always off visiting the neighbours, scratching in their gardens before settling in on their back door mats for a rest and a chatter before we’d realise she was missing and go track her down. I just hope she’s not stuck in a small cage somewhere. She’d hate that.
We do have a couple of new additions now. To divert some attention from Red’s chooknapping we invested in two more chickens. These ones are four weeks old, very used to being handled already and good medicine for sad children though the brown chook doesn’t seem very interested in them.
I am going to go to the poultry auctions next month to see about getting another adult chooken. The eggs from one are just not enough to keep a family of five going and we’ve gotten very used to not having to buy eggs the past few months since our girls started laying. It will be another 4 1/2 months yet before the new chookens are old enough.
Speaking of poultry concerns… look at our ducklings!
They are so funny, and fast! I didn’t know ducks could run!
Does anyone know anything about ducks? I’ve got no idea what breed they are or when they start getting their adult feathers or anything.
It is too hard to tell what type of ducks they are until they get their adult feathers. Just be careful with them in the water for now as they can get a chill while they still only have their fluffy down feathers.. Also they need to be able to fully submerge their heads under water or they can develop eye problems. I have had ducks on and off for the past 20 or so years mainly Khaki Campbells and Muscovies.
I hope you find your red hen soon. she looks identical to the three hens i have just gotten from freecycle. Amy loves the oldest one, who is really tame.
Mistress B (311 comments.) Reply:
December 7th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Thanks.
We have a nice size tub that the ducklings splash around in a couple of times a day but CJ is very careful to make sure they are dry if they have a splash in the evening. We are going to keep an eye out for a clam or turtle type toddler wading pool for them for when they are a bit older.
They are such lovely things but they don’t like the new chooks too much yet lol
Good luck with the ducklings, hope they’re both female for the googy-eggs
The only thing I know about ducks is the dressed ones sell nicely at Christmas.
I hope Red turns up safe and sound…….and not..well, you know
(someone’s lunch)
Oh, sorry to hear the red one escaped!
That’s sad! I don’t know a darn tootn’ thing about ducks but I’m really jealous that you guys get to have all these animals. If my home were bigger, and my yard were bigger- I’m sure we’d have all kinds of lovliness running all over too! You are lucky! But, again, sorry about Red.
I used to have ducks in with my chooks. They are so funny. But they are also sneaky and can get out of anywhere! I had to keep their wings trimmed as they would fly over the fence and swim (and poop) in the neighbours pool….
Yes sorry to hear about Red, hope you do find her and soon.
The Ducklings look very cute!
Bugger about the chooken B…my kids always made pets of those that weren’t earmarked for the oven and I know it used to upset them when one went missing or was taken by a fox.
We had ducks for years, but until they have their adult feathers they can be hard to pick…having said that, the white one could be a Peking, because they have quite a distinctive beak like this one does.
Maybe some more pics once they’re grown?
I do hope your missing one isn’t destined to be someone’s centre piece in a couple of weeks too…
I am sorry to hear about your fave chook, Red.
.
I thought our 2 of our neighbours Isa browns had been ‘Chicken tonight’ as they had been missing from our view over the fence for weeks. We are a battleaxe so we look over onto them and hardly see the neighbours
Turned out they had been nesting (got clucky even though no rooster the neighbour said).
My boys love feeding them our scraps every day, we want to get some if we move to the farm).
I know nothing about ducks sorry.
My duck ‘Destiny’ is an old lady now but geeez does she get some speed up when she wants to be somewhere in a hurry! Very funny to watch her from behind. She too has a pool – a toddler pool with the little seats on the inside so she can get back out and a few well placed pavers for her to climb in.