Diary

Sneezing HubbardsRSS feed

Posted: Wednesday 24 November, 2010

by Rosemary at 9:00pm in Poultry Comments closed

I think (hope) I've had a lucky escape with the Hubbards. They are now nearly nine weeks old. There are eleven now, as we had to cull one with a bad leg.

Because this is our first meat chickens since moving and our first ever at this time of year, it's all a bit trial and error.

They are in the "batchelor pad" which is basically a wooden box with a small run, sited in the open-sided barn. It's just adequate for the eleven birds - the box needs cleaned out every day and the whole thing moved on to clean ground twice a week. Next time, I'll need to find a way to give them more space, while keeping them safe from cats and dogs.

The box has a wooden lid and I noticed the other day that it was getting a bit warm - the birds are quite big and pretty much fill it if they are all inside. One or two are a bit snuffly / rattley, but I've replaced the wooden lid with a mesh one to improve the ventilation - hopefully in time to avoid any serious repercussions.

I'll try and weigh a couple soon - some look like they could be suitable weight for killing now, which would give the remaining ones a bit more room.

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