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Tuesday 10 February 2015

Meet Randy!

We have a new addition to the menagerie - a cockerel! It's been a bit quiet since Freddy died and I always said I'd be happy to take on another cockerel, especially if I was saving it from the pot. Well guess what, last week I luckily noticed a plea on facebook from a friend of a friend who I'd met once at a party. She has lots of chooks and breeds Buff Orpingtons and had a six month old cockerel who needed a new home, or else her husband was going to turn him into pie, and they only live about 20 minutes away. How could I resist?

As soon as we let him out at home, he jumped straight on top of one of my little red hens so it was hardly difficult to find a name for him! He dwarfs my bog standard 'red hens' and is a good size match for my enormous North Holland Blue. I hadn't noticed how big he is at Sue's house, because all the Buff Orpingtons were large including the females, so neither he nor his father seemed particularly big. 

Randy's father is the one in the foreground on the left. His name is Coq au Vin!

Glad I wore my old gardening jacket as I didn't know
I was going to be holding him for a photo shoot!

Back home and all is going very well. He's settled in fine and the girls seem perfectly happy and going about their henny business as usual. Randy is a little timid with us at the moment and is a bit wary when he sees one of the cats, as he's used to dogs, not cats. But this is so much easier than introducing new females and none of that pecking and being mean, as I think given his size the pecking order was established straight away! Randy is not 100% Buff Orpington as they don't have white feathers in their tails, but I think he's more interesting looking because of it.

With the girls - Marleen the North Holland Blue is the large grey speckeldy one.

Blurred action as Andrea gets a seeing to! ;-)

Where am I?

Only decent picture I could get of one of the hens - not sure if this is Gaby or Carly as they are
very similar and I can't tell them apart! She's been stuck in a half moult for a while but
at least she is still laying.

I've taken a few more photos of Randy since but it was on one of the days when the icy NE wind was blowing so he looks amusing with his feathers all ruffled.

Windswept wattles!

Oooh that wind's a bit chilly up me bum!

Ahh I thought that was water for the dogs!

Tastes good enough to me!

When he's a bit more settled I'll let him out into the garden with the others so he can have a good roam around and eat grass, and it'll be interesting when he gets to meet the cats properly...... it might actually teach the cats - particularly Bertie the hunter - a lesson if Randy gets aggressive, and hopefully they'll leave the chooks alone in future.

19 comments:

  1. We are getting our first hens this Spring - I'll be watching and learning from now on. Great blog.

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    1. Hi Ian and nice to meet you. I'm just having a look at your blog right now....will comment there in a mo. Thanks for putting me on your blogroll and I'm sure you will have loads of fun with your hens - and enjoy those lovely eggs! :-)

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  2. Oh he's lovely. I would miss Sevi if he wasn't around too. Randy has a very Orpington head, Dave has just done a portrait painting of a friend's Orpington aptly named Goliath and he is very like him. I hope your girls appreciate their gift.

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    1. Hi D-woman ;-) I don't know the first thing about breeds although I did read up about Orpingtons - says they are a good natured breed, which seems about right. Will you be putting that picture on your blog or have you already and I've forgotten about it? Dave's paintings are very good.

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    2. I don't know how to get it from the website to here so I'll put his link on and it's in the gallery

      http://dcbartworks.webs.com/apps/photos/

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    3. Cheers, I'll check it out later from my desktop as I can't cut and paste links with my Kindle.

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    4. Cool! Really pleased to see you have sold it too - it's a fab painting. :-)

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  3. Wonderful images, Mandy!I think he knows how handsome he is :-)

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  4. Lovely photos, strutting his wares..and lovely photo of you too..
    Amanda xx

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    1. Thanks Amanda, he has been out in the garden today meeting naughty cats and having a great time with his girls. :-) I had fun watching. xx

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  5. What a beautiful blog! Love the photos of your new rooster ... especially with the wind in his bum :) My dog gets the wind blowing up his behind and he whips around wondering who's there!
    Wendy

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    1. Hello September Violets, thanks for visiting. :-) One of my cats goes potty when the wind blows which is funny to watch. Must be fun to see your dog doing that! Randy Rooster has been exploring beyond the chicken run today and having a good time. :-)

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  6. Oh my, isn't he a handsome fella? Lovely to see you looking good xx

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    1. Hi CT - yup he's a handsome beast but still quite timid with us humans, but great seeing him free range this afternoon with his new girls, crowing his head off too! Luckily no neighbours are really close and nobody minds in the countryside anyway. :-) Thanks for the compliment. xx

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  7. He is a beauty. I bet those gals go mad when he struts his stuff, even with windswept wattles and the wind up his bum! :-)

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    1. Hi Deb - he's already doing the male thing of finding buggy treats for his girls - one got given a nice juicy worm! Nice and sunny today so was good to be out watching them. :-)

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  8. Well he's certainly a bit of a 'Lad' Mandy.
    As CT says, you look well.

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    1. Thanks Roy - a hair cut, fresh air and eating well do wonders! And yeah, my boy's a lad, but a nice polite one who looks after his girlies. :-)

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