A friend of mine gave me a registered pair of bantam Black Minorcas, a hen and a rooster. They're very pretty, and fairly sweet. After my ordeal with Cogburn, the thought of having another rooster has been the farthest thing from my thoughts, but this guy is pleasant!
Unfortunately the former owners (who had them before my friend) clipped their wings, so unlike my little bantam Brahma mixes, they can't fly up to the hopper bins and get to the roost near the ceiling. And knowing that my big hens wouldn't want anything to do with them, nor would they allow them to roost with them at night, I had to create a roost for them, up off the floor but low enough for them to jump to. Since I just took my old bookcase out of the living room and threw it on the burn pile, I realized that I could repurpose it into bantam nesting boxes, roosts and storage space.
I took the bottom shelf out, leaving long legs (which are mostly cover by pellet bedding now), boxed out the next shelf for nesting and created ledges, big enough to fit 2 bantams, under each shelf on alternating sides like stairs. The first one, just under one of the nesting boxes, is about 8" or 10" off the floor. Then next is on the other side and about 19" or 20" up. This gives them the ability to hop from ledge to ledge. I was worried that they wouldn't get it, that they'd sit on the floor like my sister's silkie frizzles and be cold all winter. Tonight, when I went out to close up and make sure everyone was accounted for, the Minorcas were on the 3rd ledge up, about 3 feet or so off the floor!
I was worried about trying to add new birds to the flock, but I think these two are going to work out well. And with a rooster in the house, I'm hoping to see some baby bantam Minorcas and maybe some Minorca/Brahma mixes!
I still haven't thought of names for them, but I'm leaning toward Gomez and Morticia or Frida and Diego.
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