Following the death of Juliet, I had a friend who keeps chickens offer me one of her Araucanas. (This is the very same super-generous friend, in fact, who has been giving us all her excess boys.)
So we have done a chicken swap! Paprika (one of our Wyandottes) has gone to live with my friend, and we have taken one of her lavender Araucanas.
We shuffled the pens around (again…) moving a new pen I picked up 2nd hand on ebay down next to the little pen to give us more options for that whole area.
New fabulous set up
So our new girl, Lavinia, has moved down to the little pen (or pens I guess) with Craig, Thyme and Imogen (Juliet’s sister).
Lavinia
Lavinia is about 31 weeks, so right on the point of lay. Hopefully now that the winter solstice has passed she will begin the lay once she has settled in. One of her sisters at my friends place just began laying last week.
Checking out the nesting box (woohoo!)
I've trimmed her face and hair feathers back a bit since this photo so she can see!
This is great for genetic diversity too – Craig and Lavinia aren’t related as far as we know. Chickens will tolerate some inbreeding, but genetic diversity means stronger chickens. And Lavinia and Craig both being lavender (which is recessive) means we will definitely get some lavender chicks.
I cannot express how grateful I am for all the wonderful new friends I have met through keeping chickens.
