Obliging Birds

The Geese and Ducks are now safely and securely locked away in their shed every night. It reminds me a bit of when we had chooks and ducks in England and how imperative it was to lock all of them up every night away from the foxes. The ducks are generally already in their bed when l go to shut them in and the geese quite happily stroll into the pen and up the ramp as soon as they see me coming.
The Chickens however are still in their big airy hole filled shed which is the designated 'fix up' job for New Years Day. The hens are OK l think as they perch high off the ground and l think it would have to be a desperate quoll who would scramble up to try and knock one off.

Especially this girl!

Mr Magnificent is a different matter. In recent weeks he has not been the best and seems to have suffered a bit of a health set back. He's a fairly old rooster so we are not really expecting him to make another Winter. He still eats, drinks, crows and struts around with his girls but his perching days are well and truly over and he has been nesting on the ground. It's a bit of a hassle as each night now on dusk l have had to go and catch him and put him in a dog crate and lock him away till morning. He gets a bit indignant so you can imagine how happy l was when l went to shut him up this evening and found him already snuggled into his safe house for the night! Not real happy but in there all the same!! Well done Mr Magnificent!

The broody hen with the babies (including the precious little baby chook l hatched) also get locked up as they have up till now been nesting in a box on the ground. All very grim but a necessity for sure!