I would like some new girls

Yesterday I gave the girls some mash as change for them and added some of the poultry zest.

Some mash for the girls

I wanted a group photo to go with my post about planning for new girls but Emerald moved out of shot just as I took this and the previous shot with her in was blurred.

Later in the afternoon the flock were perched together so I tried again.

The little girls perch on the ladder

While the bigger girls perch on the branch perch beside the ladder

I have held back from calling my breeder until the weather got warmer. The flock has long since stopped the occasional sneezing after the mycoplasma and they all look healthy with good, red, faces and combs.

I knew I couldn’t add new girls during such awful winter conditions and have waited for the warmer temperatures to arrive. At last I felt that the time was right.

I was hoping that my breeder would have some older girls that I could add to the flock straight away. I was disappointed. He only has breeding stock left and no girls for sale but the good news is that he is ready to start breeding again and has just set up his trios and his incubator.

He said to call him again in a months time and see how it is going. I am so disappointed because it means that I will have quite a wait but I can’t have girls if he hasn’t got any so I will just have to be patient.

It is probably going to be three months wait at best. It will take a week to gather a clutch of eggs and three weeks until they hatch. It will then be a couple of months more before they are old enough to sex and to let them move on.

It looks like it will probably be August at the earliest and that is if everything is successful. He has been breeding for many years though so he knows what he is doing. I will just have to be patient and wait. I have marked it in our diary to call him again in a months time. I can’t wait for new girls but of course I will have too!