The broody hen

Daffodil, the brown hen on the left, is a typical broody hen. Every spring she decides it's time to 'sit' on a nest of eggs and wait for them to hatch. Usually this means that she waits for the other hens to lay, say, 8 or 9 eggs between them in one place and then she firmly plonks herself down and says "I'm not moving". And there she sits for the next 21 days, which is the time it takes to hatch a chick. During that time she will get off the nest for very brief periods to stretch her wings, eat and preen - and whilst she's off the other hens may well come and add to it in the hope, no doubt, that Daffodil will do their job for them. She could end up sitting on as many as 20 eggs. This, of course, makes it all the more difficult when it comes to judging when and if all the eggs have finished hatching! But the broody hen always knows: she will not leave the nest - except under dire circumstances - until she's sure all the live eggs have hatched. Which means some early hatching chicks could be sitting under her, keeping snug and safe, for several days.

On the left you can see Daffodil with Solo and two Light Sussex hens, with their familiar ruff of black feathers. Daffodil, being a Sussex cross Rhode Island Red has a similar ruff of black feathers around her neck.

Number one Cockerel

Solo is one of the smaller creatures that live in The Poultry Palace on the Rectory Reserve. The Palace is a rather grand traditional 30' x 15' hen house which has probably been on the site here since the 1940s or '50s.

Solo is a very handsome Maran cockerel and was our first chick to be born here five years ago. He was hatched by Daffodil, who is a Light Sussex cross Rhode Island Red hen, whom he probably regards as chief hennie. She's certainly our oldest hen. Although Daffodil 'sat' on a number of eggs, Solo was the only one to hatch. He was quite an adventurous little chick and was soon scampering around outside. Unfortunately, it was a very wet summer - much like this one - so as soon as he left the nest Daffodil went out to protect him from the rain, thereby deserting all her other eggs. He's clearly appreciated it ever since; unlike some other cockerels I could (and will) mention, he has always been the sweetest natured chap and has never, ever chased off a human. Thankfully, however, he does chase off the other cockerels if they get out of line or too 'cocky'.

Newest recruit to Rectoryreserve

On Tuesday 19th June we collected our latest recruit. We travelled up to North Yorkshire to collect him from his breeder, who had brought him down from Sutherland in the Highlands - so for a tiny chap he's already travelled a long way. He was born on 8/3/07 and has been christened 'Gunner', which really suits his chunky build and feisty nature. The numerous Field Trials champions and winners in his pedigree have endowed him with a remarkable ability to learn quickly. He had a collar and lead on for the first time on Wednesday and walked to heel straight away. Two days later he obeyed 'sit' and 'stay' and signs are that it'll not be long before he's fully house-trained! So far he's been introduced to the smaller animals but horses and pigs are still unknown surprises yet to come!

The bestest dog in all the world

Lancer, at 10, is the elder spaniel. The first year of his life was spent in Milton Keynes. We 'rescued' him from there when his natural energy and exuberance became too much for the confined area he had to live in. He is the kindest natured and most obedient dog and very soon earned the nickname of "the bestest dog in all the world".

His most favourite things are food, attention and flushing birds out of the hedgerows. One of his main jobs though is to keep the poultry in order; he oversees their care, making sure they are shut up in their houses each evening and let out in the mornings and that they have food and water; and if any of them stray he's responsible for catching them and returning them either to their pens or one of the available humans. His mouth is so soft that they don't even notice they have been 'caught'.

Pilot doing his second most favourite thing

Now... when it comes to having their backs and ears rubbed - not to mention tummies - there are two other characters who are past masters in getting humans to pander to their needs....

Lancer and Pilot, the springer spaniels.

Pilot, who celebrated his 7th birthday last week, is the younger of the two. He has lived here since he was 12 weeks old. His most favourite thing in all the world is digging for rabbits.... which he has more than enough opportunity to do around here as this is an overspill area for Watership Down.... His next most favourite thing is lying by the fireside, preferably with his nose almost in the grate. Third on his list of favourites would be chew sticks (Pedigree Denta stix) and fourth would have to be his 'snake' - a ten foot long soft toy fluorescent yellow and black snake which he drags almost everywhere. That includes through the dog flap! It's even been buried in the garden a couple of times! Any spaniel afficienados might be surprised that food doesn't figure in Pilot's list of favourite things. That's because he only eats when he's hungry and, unlike most every other spaniel, he is not always hungry even though it may be 'tea time'!

Then came Ginger and Pepper

Mangel and Wurzel arrived here on 14 April. Originally, their stay was intended to be relatively short! Think Bacon.

We knew next to nothing about pigs but the 'boys' set about changing that with a vengeance. Within a few days we were smitten; and plans for the future took on a rather different aspect.

Soon the phone lines between The Old Rectory and Pig Paradise in Wiltshire were burning as the possibilities of purchasing a female were discussed. Within a few weeks Ginger (on the left) and her brother, Pepper, arrived.

She has the most amazingly long eyelashes and a real Miss Piggy 'look at me' attitude.

Our experiences with Mangel and Wurzel had led us to believe that pigs are boisterous and 'me now' characters, but Pepper and Ginger soon put us right on that. They were shy and almost disinterested in us. It took a while to gain their confidence. Mostly they were happy to sleep. When we entered their 'orbit' they calmly observed what was going on... very different from Mangel and Wurzel who can't wait to bowl us over and demand back and ear rubs!

The guys responsible for the 'Rectory reserve'

Over the next few days we will introduce the characters who live on the Rectory Reserve. First and foremost, we have the Rectoryreserve herd of Mangalitzas. Until these guys came along, this was just a Rectory. But once you have pigs, they have to be registered with DEFRA and that process involves having a herd number and name.. so these two led to the 'Rectoryreserve herd' of Mangalitzas.

We'll tell you more about Mangalitzas later, but suffice for now to say that they are mega rare. The first to arrive were Mangel (nearest camera) and Wurzel. They arrived here just two months ago. This is them - examining the possibilities of breaking into the feed bin - just a couple of days after they arrived. They travelled up from Wiltshire, where they were bred, in the back of a Saab estate, from which they were carried into the 'stalls' where they lived for the first 4 weeks. They're a little bit bigger now - you'd need to be at least the size of Schwarzenegger to lift either of them now. More of that another day.

A watershed moment

Today 13th June is the first day of the Rectory Reserve Web Site. Here we will demonstrate the life and times of the Rectory Reserve Animals. We've spent so much time over the past few years watching, and laughing at or being amazed by, the antics of our (and the wild) animals. Our friends and family have been regaled (or inundated) with stories of the goings-on and have frequently said we should publish them. So, from now on we will....

And since it is a watershed moment, we're starting with these two characters. Dippy II and one of his 'favourites', Molly. They're actually residents of the Poultry palace but, as you can see here, they are pretty free-ranging. This is Molly taking her morning bath in one of the horses' feed bowls..... Yes - they do have a pond but, clearly, this is much more exclusive!