I have really gone and done it now!

This is not the only 'butting of heads' I have witnessed today!  We went for our long awaited trip to 'Chicken World'.  Me and Euan call it that, it is really called 'The Domestic Fowl and Rare Breeds Trust' at Honeybourne.  It has changed hands since our last visit and was a very different but really enjoyable day out.
While these two Pygmy goats were butting heads, this one was calmly soaking up the love.

It was incredibly sweet natured and really soft.  When I win the Lottery I will definitely have some of these!

This piggy wig was adorable too and wagged his little tail when you chatted to him.  I will have some of these too!

I actually don't fancy one of these.  Llama's are big and can give you a nasty look!

Euan would like one of these if we win the Lottery and a track!  I think we would need one each.  They were great fun.  It was very quiet so I sneaked the opportunity to pedal around the track a few times 'Like a bat out of hell' racing my son!
          Talking of hell, I saw some 'La Fleche' chickens, otherwise known as 'Devils Head Chickens'. . . look at these:

Complete with horns.

We had a go at 'Den Building'.  Euan really thought carefully about this, selecting sticks for their 'best fit' qualities.

I think we could do more of this in our local woods, the dog could come and have fun too.

We Ooooed and aaaahhhed over the babies.  I think these are Quails.

Ducklings are adorable.  I worked up quite a thirst and an appetite so we stopped for lunch.

I love mismatched crockery.  Over lunch something weird happened.  I got nagged and had a moment of weakness.  One of our hens at home has stopped laying so I get two eggs a day from three hens.  It seemed logical to increase our numbers!  Euan begged and pleaded and promised to be the most committed chicken keeper the world has ever seen, so we chose our new addition.  You only live once eh?  I believe a bit of 'Crazy' is good for the soul.   I have read obsessively about chickens and know introducing a new one is not easy.  The new one is prone to bullying as chickens are flock animal with a fairly rigid pecking order.  My three have a very clear, yet harmonious pecking order.  I worried the new girl would be picked on.  Euan sang to her in the back of the car and told her what a lovely life she would have, for the journey home and by the time we got home he had decided her name was 'Lavender'.

Here is 'The Lovely Lavender'. . . or possibly the 'Not so Lovely lavender'!  She is a 'Speckledy Hybrid'.
 The man at the shop recommended I spray all the chickens with a solution of vinegar so they all smell the same and shut them in the coop and let them 'get on with it'.  My three girls 'Free range' from dawn until dusk.  Ok ok . . . vinegar sprayed. . . all over four hens.   My old girls don't bat an eyelid and even let me 'bath and blow dry' them.  I have had them since they were eggs!  They trust me implicitly and think I am 'Mom'.  Well how I have rocked their world!

Out came Lavender!  All hell let loose!  My three quickly forgot their pecking order and all got terrified.  Lavender is 20 weeks old.  She immediately kept the highest point in the coop and puffed herself up to twice her normal size and began pecking the other three in a really savage fashion.  They submitted, they bowed their heads low, she pecked um!  They lay down, she pecked um!  They tried fighting back she pecked and drew blood on the 'Top Ranking Chicken' Poppy.  My three begged me to be let out of the carnage!  I let them out.  I had four chickens 'honking' loudly for about 30 minutes!
             I have had to race to the 'Cornstores' for Violet anti-bacterial spray for Poppies wound.  She sat and let me clean her up with disinfectant.  Blood is a magnet for all chickens and they will continue to peck wounds, so you spray them violet.  I also bought 'Anti Pecking Spray' and have had to spray all four chickens again.  I sprayed myself liberally too by accident and had to go and shower and literally scrub the revolting stuff off.  The man in the Cornstores thought it was most unusual for the new one to take top of the pecking order. . .typical of me. . .  he even asked me if I had mistakenly got a cockerel.  Normally the new one is bullied and submissive.  All is calm at the moment.  Lavender has the coop and run all to herself, while the others have the garden.  Lord knows what is going to happen at bedtime!  I am going to set my alarm for sunrise and get out there early in the morning to sort the trouble.  Euan thinks it is all fantastically dramatic and entertaining.  He has filled his water gun and put it on top of the coop for me to spray Lavender if she is nasty and I will!  I am not sure how long she will be staying. . .

Edit:  My OH does not read my Blog. . .I hope. . .I wonder how long I can keep a 'Savage Chicken' a secret?