There is apparently some contention about which comes first, but at our
place it was the chooks. We built them a house out of an old swing-set
we got for nothing, some bird netting, the old front fence we have
replaced with the new front fence, some pine pallets, quite a few cable
ties, some wire, lots of self-drilling roofing screws (my favourite!)
and so on. Helping were my parents
[Ann](http://www.usyd.edu.au/senate/sefton.shtml)&
[Ian](http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/super/sefton.html) Sefton.
Here's the chook house:
The long suffering Sandra and our offspring painted it.
Then we got chooks. They are:
- Mrs Dot,
- The chook formerly known as Stinger, who currently has no name,
- [Krishna](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krishna)(for whom we leave
offerings at every meal, via a small white bucket) and
- Charmaine Harriet Ophelia Odetta Krystal.
Actually, the chook with no name wants to be called Billie, but we
already have a Billie, she's pictured below, admiring the fence I
erected between her and the poultry.
And no Krishna is not a rooster she just has a boy-god's name.
Andrew Treloar, whose name I am practicing spelling is an expert on
chooks. He [has
lots](http://andrew.treloar.net/garden/index.shtml#chooks).
Our chooks come from a supplier in Top Camp. I know the ad says Hodgson
Vale, but it's definitely Top Camp. Mr Wissemann says that they're not
related to Rhode Island reds. But they look like Andrew's ISA Browns to
me. They're some kind of commercially viable cross-breed that lays a lot
of eggs. Bron Dye from the RUBRIC project has a couple too and she tells
me they've been at it for years.
So, Andrew what kind of chook do we have here?
And for extra points what kind of animal is this? Goes by the name of
Spensa.
(Answer: Spensa is ½ Kelpie, ½ German Shepard, ½ Bull Terrier & ½ Fruit
Bat)
And finally, the first egg, which came along today a few weeks after the
chooks.
