I'd thought the blog had come to a natural end, but the sheer beauty of Autumn got me out with my camera this morning. This is the most stunning time of year when the leaves are on the ground.
The little brown seabright chicks from Norfolk are fully grown now - this magnificent cockerel is just getting his crowing voice and likes to roost in the pine tree overnight.
The other one I am glad to say is a hen - beautiful black with a greeny sheen to her feathers. Hopefully she'll start laying in the spring. The 5 little chicks we hatched ourselves came to a nasty end with Mr Fox at about 9 weeks old. We'll try some more next year.
Peggy and Eileen however are NOT at their best. They are shivering in the cold at the moment as they are having their annual moult. There is justice in the humiliation though as they have been hen-pecking the others and making their lives a misery. We moved all the chickens in together and put their house in the goose run to make feeding easier, and these two have been rather put out.
Lucy, Juicey and Jube are still as gorgeous as ever. Jube has been called 'he' all year (he/she is now 5 months old) but he could be a she. A quick search of 'how to sex a goose' on the internet has revealed nothing - most people just wait and see if they lay an egg! Jube is the one at the back in this picture.
We're delighted to have some winter visitors to the field... they'll eat it down in time for the wild flowers to come up again next spring.
