Feed me Seymore!

In the last blog I mentioned that our local pheasant asked nicely for his breakfast.  Well this morning he showed the other side of his character.

There was no sign of him when I went to wake up the chickens this morning.  I had put their various food dishes down, opened the pophole and watched while some came out voluntarily and others were hustled out by Fizz.   As usual, Pom-Pom and the broody Tu-Tu took no notice of him whatsoever and stayed put.

I opened the nest box lid to find the recalcitrant duo sitting there looking stubborn.  I picked Pom-Pom out and plopped her in front of her favourite food dish, then went back to collect Tu-Tu.  I had just deposited her on the ground by my feet when a series of loud, raucous squawks assaulted my ears.  It was the pheasant, marching up and down the garden wall, yelling at me to get myself out of the chicken run and sort his breakfast out.   NOW!!!!!!!!!

Well I know my place.   I grabbed a handful of layers pellets, which I know he enjoys, and flew (not literally) out to put them on the wall for him.  He didn't even say "thankyou", just got his head down and started wrapping his beak round his breakfast.

When I went back into the run, Tu-Tu was sitting exactly where I'd left her.   The bloody-minded little madam was going to be broody, come hell or high water.  If that meant staying put outside, then so be it!   But she relented when I put her in front of a dish of her favourite mash; she quickly got stuck in before anyone else tried to pinch it from her.

With everyone sorted, I trundled back to the house for a well-deserved cuppa.

Breakfast is served

So there I was in the outhouse, busy preparing breakfast for the Mucky Cluckers.  As usual, the door was wide open to let the nice, fresh morning air flush yesterday's old air out.

Hearing a soft "woohooooooo", I glanced up to see our local pheasant standing a few yards away.  He's a lovely lad, even though he did lose his tail a few months ago.  But it's growing back nicely and is about halfway to being its full length now.

If he's around when I'm sorting the chicken food out, he usually comes over for his share of breakfast.  The usual routine is that he waits near the door while I take a handful of mixed corn and put it on the ground a few yards away..  He then munches, while my cat sits at the door watching the pheasant and trying to work out whether he's too big to tackle.  Zac has been trying to work that out for the last couple of years.

This morning was a bit different though.  This time, instead of stopping near the door the pheasant decided to come right in!   That might have been a bit more than Zac would tolerate, so I quickly grabbed some corn and gently ushered him back outside.  I fed Mr Pheasant in his usual spot, Zac watched him and everything returned to normal.


Picture by David Croad

Pom-Pom's punch-up

 I don't know what Prissy said to upset Pom-Pom, but it really annoyed our little Poland.  She was so irritated, she head-butted Prissy three times!   Being walloped by a headful of feathers isn't exactly the most excruciatingly painful thing that can happen to you, but Prissy was mildly surprised that it had happened at all.   Then peace returned and the pair of them carried on mowing the lawn.