Little blue red joins the flock

Here is one of the chicks waiting his turn at the Dine-A-Chook.

We have had some really wild weather but the grain and pellets have remained utterly dry.

Salt & Pepper and her 3 chicks are off to Earth Fest this weekend.

Last weekend we went to a poultry auction to sell some of our young roosters.  We came home with this gorgeous little girl (see left).

I bought her and her sister because no-one was bidding on them and I desperately didn't want them to go home with the breeder.

It's a bit hard to see in this image but she is a dubbing victim. 

That's when breeders slice the combs off tiny chicks! Yes, they take a chick and literally cut off their comb -- in Australia in 2012.  Difficult to believe this can happen with supposedly civilised people but she and her sister have the scars to prove that it still happens.

They do it so their pretty face isn't obsecured or to prevent the chook from being injured (none of my chooks have EVER had an injury to its comb!) -- they defend this with other equally weak excuses too. 

It is cruel and should be outlawed. 

So anyway... for now she lives with us and loves sitting on my childrens' knees watching TV in the evenings. After a season or two with our lovely mother hens she may learn enough to eventually be allowed to become a mother too.

I don't keep bantams and blue/red isn't in our colour scheme.

Maybe someone at Earth Fest wanting little bantams may decide to give her a home.