Stella comes home

Yesterday we had a new poultry ark and run delivered, and assembled on the patio for us. It is very much like the ark we had from Forsham, but we got it from Cherry Acres, run by Dan who used to work for Forsham. It looks sturdy and well-made, with some improvements on the old ark, such as more protection from bad weather for the hens.

So this morning hubby and I took both parts up the steps and put them where our 6-year-old is in the second picture. We also needed to make one or two minor adjustments. I think they are designed so that the built up sections fit together, but we like the protected areas to be at each end as they are also better for food and water, which need easy access.

We'd thought of leaving our chickens in the old hen house to the side of the new one while we went out, but Meg wanted to lay an egg and was clearly not happy with the slope so we ended up putting all three chickens in the new chicken ark and run.

It was therefore almost midday before we left the house, popping into town to do a few errands before going to Surrey Poultry Farm to fetch Stella home with her new friend, Doris who is a replacement for Cindy.

We found them both in a much larger pen than the one we'd left Stella in, two weeks earlier. Apparently she hadn't taken too kindly to Doris initially and had actually attacked her, which was very different from the way we'd ever seen her behave: a sign that she's feeling stronger and more assertive now. Stella has clearly been well-cared for and is looking so much better and healthier. We were told she came off the antibiotics on Tuesday and she looks a whole lot better. Her eye is still very slightly swollen, but you have to look very carefully to notice. You may notice a slight redness and swelling behind her right eye compared to her left eye.

Doris isn't used to us yet, so won't let us get too close, unless we're keeping still and she approaches us, but she ran even when I moved my feet out of her way. However we did manage to pick her up just now. The dozy pair had gone to sleep downstairs, so we had to pick them both up and put them upstairs.

The old chickens are back in their old ark and run down on the patio, with a new fence around them, having had a good run around on the grass for most of the afternoon.