Chuckingham Palace becomes Chuckingham Knox

[MaureenHall]

Thanks everybody It certainly has been a "journey".

I have to admit that I did get up a couple of times during the night to check that they were all still safe, and they were. I've opened the pop-hole and the main door this morning and all the ex-batts have come out to explore, dig, scratch, dust-bathe and flop in the sun It's wonderful. The 4 Bluebelles are still very timid, they're only 15 weeks, and they've mostly stayed inside the house so far. A couple of the ex-batts are a bit "down", head down, tail down, pale combs, fluffed up and just standing, so I'm keeping a close eye on them.

At the other side, in the Welsummer run, Basil and Rowan both tried to crow when they saw the "laydees" and they're both strutting around sh****ing whoever happens to be close by - poor Hebe, she's been bonked twice this morning already

[HayleyB]

Wow Wow and Wow, been offline for a couple a days and look...........

The house looks well posh and the new girlies wow, what have you named them

[MaureenHall]

No, no names yet, I'm waiting to see who stands out and what name might suit. I think I've probably done the flowers/plants theme to death now, so I think 2 of the Bluebelles will have to be Sybil and Polly The little ex-batt that's been hunched up all morning (see photo) looks like an Ethel to me (reminds me of one of my Nanna's - sorry Nanna), but we'll see. No eggs yet but they're still settling in and sorting out a pecking order as well as sun-bathing, dust-bathing, scratching around and just being chickens

[HayleyB]

Polly and Sybil eh? wonderful idea there Aunty Mo

[Hans Mum]

many congrats maureen on your new girls and the house is looking fab, hope they all settle in well and you know who stays away

[RichmondHens]

Is there going to be another cock, called Manuel?

[HayleyB]

And then you'd need a 'The Major'

[bluemoon]

The house looks brilliant, Mo. We painted the inside of ours white to maximize the light and the insides of the nestboxes a dark violet (daughter had it hanging around from the trim on her little girl's bedroom) and I'd thought of using vinyl flooring, but as no-one else seemed to do it I thought there must be a good reason not to. There's a carpet shop near us which sells ready cut pieces of vinyl though in tiny amounts for things like separate loos so I think I'll have to have a look in there and see if I can get a couple of pieces to fit. Would I have to take it up and scrub the floor underneath from time to time to make sure the dreaded mite didn't take up residence?
The girls look lovely, I'm so glad you weren't chookless for too long.

[Hilary B]

Re-fox-proofing, if the only 'point of access' is over the high fence, how about taking a notion from the military, and prisons, and having an angled-out bit at the top? Putting mesh over the whole of a large run would not only be prohibitively expensive, it might well require intermediate posts to support the span. 18 inches (quite possibly less) of 'leaning outwards' top to the fence should make it impossible for a fox to get over the top.

[MaureenHall]

Thanks Hilary, I'm looking at all options at the moment and that's a good one. I can, apparently, also use razor wire as long as I have a notice warning people that it's there to prevent vermin entering. Don't have to say whether it's human vermin or animal