Poultry
Take care with leg rings
Tuesday 18 January, 2011
I leg rings my hens - I used to do individual hens, but now I do it by batch. I prefer the spiral type rings as I feel they have a bit of give in them. However, I have used the clip-in ones, although I find they don't persist as long as the spiral ones.
A few days ago, I noticed that one of the Black Rocks was lame. When I caught her (which wasn't difficult), I was appalled to see that the clip-in leg ring was cutting badly into her leg. While I held her, John snipped it off and I gave it a good douse in antibiotic spray. the following morning, she didn't come out of the henhouse and when I investigated, the wound had dried to her breast feathers as she roosted and she couldn't move. Once I'd sorted that, it was another douse with spray and into the broody coop - or Emergency Ward 10.
Sweetie - do I never learn?
Sunday 9 January, 2011
I bought a batch of POL pullets in the summer. One of the Warrens never looked "right" and as winter progressed, she clearly wasn't coping with the bad weather. I called her Sweetie (I used to shout "Come on, sweetie" and she'd come for a treat). For the last month, I've had her in the loosebox, in the broody coop with the heat lamp on. She's been fed on layer pellets, poultry spice, sunflower seeds, mealworms (which she loved), porridge, sardines. She's been wormed twice.
Last of the Hubbards
Sunday 9 January, 2011
We killed the last of the Hubbards on Thursday - 5 hens and one cockerel. They were about 14 weeks old. Dressed, the weights were 2.5kg, 2.8kg, 2.9kg, 3.0kg, 3.2kg and a whopping 3.9kg, total 18.3kg. I did discard quite a lot of internal fat during dressing.
We bought 12 day olds for £18; one broke a leg and had to be culled. We killed the other five, all cockerels, before Christmas. At 11 weeks old, they ranged from 2.62kg to 3.14kg and totalled 14.3kg. Grand total 32.6kg of prime chicken carcase.
Chicken
Tuesday 7 December, 2010
We killed and cleaned our first five Hubbards on Sunday. I'm pretty sure all five were cockerels and their dressed weights were 2.62kg, 2.74kg, 2.88kg, 2.92kg and 3.14kg. They were 11 weeks old. Needless to say the remaining six have far more room now.
The six that are left are one cockerel and five hens, I think. The hens are quite a lot smaller, so we'll give them another couple of weeks.
We did pretty good job of it, I think. Dan had a plan and I just did as I was told - works fine for us. I can't say I enjoy it - I did shed a few tears - but once we get going, I'm fine and I know they've been well looked after and had a quick, relatively stress free end.
Sneezing Hubbards
Wednesday 24 November, 2010
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.
Moving poultry in the orchard
Wednesday 17 November, 2010
Today, Dan and John have been preparing a new pen for the laying hens. We have just under forty birds. Soil Association standards limit stocking density to a maximum of 1000 / hectare or 10 square metres per bird, but the standard also says that land should be rested for 9 months between batches. Our birds have been on about 400 plus square metres for about 4 1/2 months, so it's time to move them.
John put up some new fencing this morning and Dan strimmed and raked up the grass. Although there are sheep on it, they haven't been there long enough to make much impression. Tomorrow, we'll tow the house round and finish the fence, giving them nice fresh grass, that should do them until spring.
Hubbards are growing
Tuesday 2 November, 2010
The Hubbards are now 6 weeks old and moving on to grower pellets. We used two bags of chick crumbs for the twelve of them; I bought two bags of grower pellets yesterday. Their box needs to be cleaned out every morning and have fresh paper in the evening - they do poop a lot!
They still have the heat lamp on at night but are well feathered and could probably come off it now. I have to decide where to put them. At the moment, they are in a box and run under the barn. It's well ventilated and light, and the base is sandy, so they have lots of opportunity to scratch around. I did think about putting them on grass, but they aren't all that interested in grass and they lie down a lot, so would get damp. I think I'll keep them in the barn but build them a bigger pen.
Hubbards
Sunday 10 October, 2010
We bought twelve day old Hubbards a couple weeks ago - they will be three weeks old this weekend. We haven't had table chickens for a while, with the move and all.
They've been in a box - the batchelor pad - in one of the looseboxes, under a heat lamp but they're growing fast so yesterday, we moved the box into the barn and put on a wire extension run. They still have the heat lamp and will have until they are fully feathered, but they now have more room to move around, and being on a sand floor, scratch around.
Snowy, the wanderer
Monday 28 June, 2010
Our White Leghorn, Snowy, has not quite grasped the concept of fences. All the other hens stay in the run, but Snowy gets out every morning and does her own thing. By afternoon, she's back at the run gate waiting to get in.
I noticed when I was up last week that there were no white eggs in the boxes - indicating that Snowy, who's good layer, had set up an alternative nestbox. After much hunting, John found her nest with eleven eggs in it.
We have been a bit worried that Snowy would come a cropper. Yesterday, she disappeared. John found a little pile of white feathers and we thought "that's it." But last night, John and Linda were sitting outside the caravan when who wanders past but the bold Snowy!
Poultry flitting
Sunday 23 May, 2010
Well, the hens have been moved to Dalmore this weekend (21st May). The house has been rebuild, painted, sprayed and puffed and been given a new Onduline roof - hopefully this will fox the red mite, as well as improving the ventilation. John built a temporary run for them until we get the fencing in the paddock done.
Dan brought the hens up on Friday night. He had to wait until they went to bed about 10pm before he could box them for travelling. The last one went in the new house about 1.30am! Naturally, I slept through all this.
