Monday 21 December 2009

Whose footprints are these?





Large footprints in the snow

Big feet - tiny birds
My little bantam babes




I swept all the paths again yesterday and shovelled the snow in their pen, but they wouldn't venture far, so this morning I lifted them out and put them in the lean-to green house for a run about, and left the door open.


And despite another snowfall last night layering on the paths again, the little madams decided to follow me Pied Piper fashion back up the path.
They decided to have a peck at the snow - and seemed to quite like the taste!




The path is crispy and frozen now so they are not getting their little starfish feet wet.  The are only tiny - and smaller than a pigeon.

Gozzie the all black Rosecomb, shed all her feathers two weeks ago - a complete moult - thankfully most of the new ones have grown through.

Don't worry - they are not cold, they are wearing thick duvets after all and are warm as toast when you pick them up!  They have had a scratch around, and are just having a 'conversation' and trying to decide whether to try out the deep snow - which will cover them incidentally - so I think they will wander off into the sunshine to preen, and than maybe take a wander back down to the lean-to green house to scratch around in the tray of compost I have put in there for them - or to perch on the shelving.

I almost bought four more a couple of weeks ago, I had been wanting some for months now - and there is a breeder who works in shop in the town I go to for the course on a Wednesday.  Each week I am so tempted to buy some of his birds - he is the breeder I bought Gozzie and Scrabble the Wheaten Game bird from - the one that looks like a 'stork'.  I decided to be sensible and wait until after the winter - glad I did now.  It is not 'often' that I am sensible, my heart rules me head!