A catch up with Pepper and Dotty

Today we needed to stock up on our disposables from the farm where we re-homed Pepper and Dotty one year ago. The last time my husband went there they were fully feathered after their moult. He asked if I would like to come along this time to catch up with them. I went armed with my camera and a little pot of sunflower hearts.

Firstly we were greeted by the geese

I checked the barn and found two bantam pekins. My husband was told that these were the new girls. They were very shy so this was as close as I could get.

Bantam pekins

I then went to the orchard which is always where the chickens can be found.

Pepper

Pepper looked the same as ever and was still slightly fat as she always had been.

Dotty

I was disappointed to see that Dotty had a bare neck again. My husband had said when he last saw her after her moult her neck feathers had grown back and she was looking good. Pepper is obviously still pulling out her neck feathers.

Pepper and Dotty both have fluffy bottoms

The good news is that they both have fluffy bottoms. What this visit really brought home to me is that I had definitely made the right decision to re-home them here. If all this space and a free ranging life hasn’t stopped Pepper pulling feathers from Dotty then nothing I could have done would ever have stopped it. Extending the run and separating them was never going to work.

None of the other flock members have any missing feathers and it’s clear that it’s only Dotty because they are so closely bonded that Dotty lets her do this. I am sure if Dotty had the choice of a life with Pepper and a bare neck or a life without Pepper and neck feathers she would choose to be with Pepper.

I felt at ease with my decision, a year ago, as they are clearly happy with their free range life in a large mixed flock and I feel it’s right that they stayed together. I can also see that if they had stayed with me my flock would have continued to be plucked and my flock are now happy and beautiful too.

Dotty and Pepper together as always

Dotty still has her comedy walk

I said to my husband that even if these two were among a flock of dominiques I would still be able to pick them out. They look so familiar to me and still look quite different from each other.

Claude the cockerel looks magnificent and looks after his ladies

It’s lovely to see Pepper and Dotty as part of this mixed flock

This is a pretty flock

I feel so pleased that I can still catch up with all three of my re-homed girls and I know now that although it was a difficult decision at the time it was the right one for all the girls. A year later Pepper and Dotty have a happy life on this farm.

Bluebell/ Blossom has a happy life with Jackie and I can visit her often.

My flock are beautiful, fully feathered and happy and that means I am happy too.