Chicken Meet & Greet

I got up early this morning, poured myself a cup of Italian Roast Just Us coffee, and headed to Antigonish in the chickenmobile. Since I wasted my #1 Chicken Farmer outfit on yesterday's Chicken Pick-up - NOT!, I had to resort to my #2 outfit today (actually Cheryl's hoodie, covered in Bluenose II grime, from her days as Mate):

this was before Top Chick had a coffee

My first stop was Pleasant Valley Nurseries for a European plum treelette (to pollenate the Italian plum tree) and some more grape vines. I found a lovely Empress plum tree, but no L'Acadie Blanc grapes; instead, I settled for four Foch d'Or vines ... sour grapes to them!

The next stop was Holna farm supplies for our new chickens. The girl who worked there led me to the back of the barn where a hundred chickens were hanging out; we had to work together to corner them and catch six. During this chicken round-up I learned that if you grab a hen and hold it upside down by her leg (one or both) she calms down and stops squawking (no Daniel, this will not work with me). This technique made stuffing the chickens into the cage much easier than I had anticipated. Once everyone was loaded on the chickenmobile, we sped home on the highway and arrived without incident: no chickens escaped, no leaves blew off the plum tree, no flat tires. 

grapes, plum tree, hens, and laying mash

Now the fun begins. Backyard Chickens advises that the new birds be introduced to the existing flock after dusk, when the old girls are all settled on their roosts; apparently they are much less confrontational at this time. Then, when they wake up in the morning, they figure the new girls have been there all along. Bird brains.

So you're probably wondering how that went. Here is some video of the Chicken Meet & Greet (I would love to install a Hen-cam):

The large brown hen is still missing feathers on her back from her scuffle with Ms. Fox. I would not mess with this chicken either. She is clearly cock-of-the-walk.

I still plan to get up early tomorrow morning to keep an eye on the situation. I'm not convinced it's all peace and love in the hen-house just yet.