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| Bird Name |
This is Punch who is the son of Muddle, she was dumped in our neighbours garden and as they could not keep her she lived at the sanctuary for many years. She had always desperately wanted to have chicks but her eggs never hatched, so finally I gave her another chicken’s chick as she had too many and she was devoted to him until she recently died of old age. He is one of the older cockerels
Dandy also lives separate from the other cockerels as he was getting very stressed by the others intimidating him so he has two hens for company and two rabbits
This is Rocky who looks a bit like a cartoon character he is a lovely speckled colour and is the smallest cockerel but he doesn’t let that bother him.
This is HJ a relative of Rocky’s, there is some rivalry between them and HJ is much bigger but Rocky has the personality to keep him in his place
This is Toeless, one of three virtually identical brothers. He, for some reason has a deformed foot but seems to manage fine despite his missing toes.
Chicken Stu is one of Toeless’ brothers and was named by a contestant in last year’s Big Brother programme who sponsored him for the year.
Ebony is one of the oldest hens. I have had her a number of years, she doesn’t go broody very often and that is the biggest danger for the hens because as they are totally free range if they wander off to sit on eggs and I cannot find them then there is a very grave risk from the fox. Hens WILL NOT MOVE from their eggs even if their own life is at risk!!
Maddy has always been very monogamous and lived her own life, her adopted son Monsieur is her consort and she refuses to live with the other chickens. Monsieur follows her around loyally all day and they both roost happily in the tack room at night which doesn’t make life easy for me, but they seem happy! I have had her a long time also and she has been desperate to hatch some chicks for a number of years now but for some reason her eggs are never fertile. Thankfully she chooses safe places to sit and this year I gave her someone else’s eggs and she hatched out eight which she was eggstatic about!
This is Piper who has always looked a little dishevelled and again she came from the nearby farm, she was never very well and was getting attacked by the other hen she was with but is now very happy with Gillian.
Sadly Porthus died suddenly recently. He was fairly elderly for a duck but Big Ben was devastated and I had to leave the body with him initially so he could understand. He always liked Olivia the turkey and thankfully this seems to have helped him through it.
This is Disney the duck but she thinks she is a goose. The geese brought her up as their own and they are inseparable. No one seems to have noticed the size difference!
Olivia is sadly the only surviving member of the four turkeys I rescued last year. Luckily she loves the ducks Porthus and Big Ben. All the turkeys were due to become Christmas dinners, unfortunately as they are fed with so many growth hormones to make them grow quickly it also makes them prone to heart attacks. I got two and one suddenly died so I rescued two more so the remaining one would not be lonely, when the two new ones came they were the same age but had been fed for two weeks more on growth hormones and they were ten times the size of the original one! The original one lived until Boxing Day and then suddenly died in front of me. The third one lived a few months longer but also died and Olivia was left. Olivia was run over by a careless driver a few months ago and despite having a huge hole in her neck with plenty of antibiotics she pulled through
.
eggs, none have hatched as yet!
Finally, at long last, the pigeons now have names. By virtue of the
fact
that do a little dance in the mornings while waiting for their food I have
called the grey one (a female) Cha Cha and the white one (a male) Rhumba
Rhumba is now on his own as Cha Cha flew away over Christmas, she had been following me outside for a while and she was unhappy that the chickens kept eating her eggs. All I can hope is that the outside world was kind to her as she had been with me for a number of years. Equally I am pleased if she is happy with her freedom but I feel sorry for Rhumba who still misses her and looks out of the window for her! He shows no interest in leaving himself. I took in an injured wood pigeon who Cha Cha was not very welcoming to and he recovered well so that I could also release him. I hope one day to find a female pigeon again to keep Rhumba company
Geese
Here are the four geese, the two mothers (adopted) who came from Bath because their owners were unable to keep them. They went broody last year and so I got them some goslings as their eggs were unfertile and they adored them straight away and are very proud mothers. The gander, Garreth is very protective over them all. The two mothers are sitting again so the patter of tiny feet should again arrive soon. Garreth listens intently for any news from them and steams over to protect them when he feels it is necessary. He takes parental responsibility very seriously. This year both mothers laid so eggs were coming thick and fast.
