NEW BIRDS IN THE FLOCK

Today we added to our dwindling flock of hens.  We went to Sa Pobla market, where there is always a chap named Rafael who sells hens, pigeons, cage birds, guinea fowl, turkeys, guinea pigs and rabbits.  His farm is in Ariany which is about a 20 minute drive from us here in Sa Pobla, but I usually wait till market day to buy from him.  I was only going to buy one hen today, as I was expecting them to be quite expensive (it's been a while since I bought any new ones).  It turned out they were much cheaper than I thought, so I bought two hens at point-of-lay and 3 pullets, 2 female and one male.  I'm not really sure how you tell whether they are male or female at such a young age but Rafael seemed to know.

So I quickly put the makeshift pen together for the pullets as they are still a bit small for the bigger hens - they could be damaged by pecking hierarchy! I call the makeshift pen our 'patchwork coop'!  I just used what I could find around our small farm.

Here are a few photos.

The new hens & pullets

Checking out the hen house!

Admiring her new surroundings!

The crazy, make-shift mini coop

Jess making sure I tidy up!

As I am writing this, even though during the day it is still like summer with temperatures topping 29 - 31 degrees C, I can see, looking out of my window, that the sun is already disappearing and it is only 18:10 in the afternoon/evening.  So Autumn is here, but you wouldn't guess it during the main part of the day - which is wonderful as it means extra beach days.  I will just leave you all with that thought.