So by popular request here is the news about our four little ones. We bought them from the Saturday Ansião market – a bargain at 2 euros each. They are about 4 weeks old with ruffles of baby hair around their necks. They had all been de-beaked, unfortunately, but they seem none the worse for this now. They don’t cluck, they cheep. All the time! Even when they are snoozing (which seems to be a lot) they cheep, cheep, cheep.

Of course they had this wonderful 5 star hotel waiting for them. This has meant that they were very reluctant to leave the house and venture into the run for a few days, despite cajoling them with pellet food and cabbage leaves.

However, once one decides to enter the big, wide world the others are not far behind. But as soon as a dog barks they hurtle back into the house until they feel brave enough to give it another go. They have mastered the water and food feeder already.

We bought some more straw today for the floor of the house as the temperature is due to drop to single figures tonight and until they have all their feathers, in about 2 more weeks, they will still be able to feel the cold. Apart from snoozing, cheeping, eating and drinking they love sitting together on their perch inside the house, all huddled together. The main problem we have at the mo is that we can’t tell them apart!