Caldwell, or to give his his full title Caldwell II, thinks he's the daddy ......
... the daddy to these two little bundles of feather and fluff!!
Of course he's not, and biologically Mother Goose is not their Mum, but then parenting is just as confusing with chickens as it sometimes is with us humans :-)
But it's good that he thinks he is the daddy because that makes him look out for them and keep them safe. Not all cockerels are this 'fatherly' but we've found that all our bantam boys have been and it's lovely to see. He offers them tasty tit bits and sits by them if Mum has wandered off and temporarily abandoned them.
They are feathering up nicely now and their proper Pekin Bantam tails of fluff and feather are looking quite impressive. I thought that now they had successfully reached seven weeks of age it was time we gave them names, so after only a very brief deliberation, I came to the conclusion that their names were Jack and Jill.
Meet Jill, who I just couldn't get to look at the camera ....
... and Jack, who likewise faced away every time I tried to get a photo of him.
It's handy that they are boy and girl as it means I can easily tell them apart, unlike Poppy and Daisy, our other Lavender Pekin Bantams who look so alike, and even more so now they are older.
Here's Jack and Jill with Mum running to catch up with them, and Suky looking on in the background, I didn't notice her there until I came to crop the photo, needless to say I didn't crop it!
The chicks are always on the go, running up the hill and down the hill, they've never fetched a pail of water and Jack has never fell down and broken his crown, but the names Jack and Jill just suited them very well ;-)
And I think Daddy approves!!
Sue xx
