Poultry
Meet Hugo!
Monday 9 February, 2009
Hugo is our new Cream Crested Legbar cockerel. I think he might be brother to the late, lamented Chip. I'm sure when I bought the eggs Chip came from, I gave the ones I couldn't get in the incubator to my chum, Carol, to put under her broody hen. Must think a bit more about that!
He's in an ark with two of the CCL hens - we'll move the others in with him over the next few days. In a few weeks, all being well, I might be able to set some eggs from them.
I've run off the breed standard, so I'll "score" my lot and see how they compare to the "perfect" CCL. Not that any of them are in any danger of being less than perfect in my eyes!
Lil' Hubbards
Sunday 8 February, 2009
We took delivery of our ten Hubbards yesterday. They hatched last Wednesday so are a wee bit older than day-old. The cardboard box brooder was all prepared - lined with four sheets of newspaper, so I can simply remove one a day to give them a clean surface. Not tried thsi before but it worked fine today. They're messy little beggars.
All seem to be eating and drinking fine; when I went in tonight, they were sound asleep, all together under the light. I was worried last night - we've never had chicks at this time of year and outside ( i.e. not in the spare room!) but they seemed fine and it's not so cold tonight. It's actually snowing a bit.
Chip
Monday 20 October, 2008
I don't think Chip is very well. He seems a bit lethargic, so I've kept him in today (in the broody coop / sick bay) and put him back in the little ark and run tonight with five of the Cream Legbar hens. I'll keep them all in tomorrow and worm them, just in case, and see how he goes. I hope he's OK.
I don't think he's being bullied by Hector - Hector seems to ignore Chip completely. Maybe he's upset at having a wimpy name - when we named Hector, I wanted to change Chip's name to Lysander, but Dan wouldn't let me.
Busy hens and a dead chick
Thursday 16 October, 2008
I'm on holiday this week so I've been taking advantage of the good weather today to do some weeding. We had a border made along the pig pen fence this year - I love the pigs but I don't necessarily want to look at them ALL the time. We're going to plant a hedge of Scotch roses; the plants should be with us early November. I picked them because a) they are the right height, b) they have scented flowers and c) they have black hips; the latter two should make them quite wildlife friendly. They are also quite prickly, which (hopefully) will deter the pigs from messing with the hedge (it's on our side of the fence not theirs). I'm hoping that it will be well established before the next batch of pigs arrives in Spring.
Mr Fox again
Wednesday 24 September, 2008
We've lost two hens this week - an old Light Sussex and my Black Rock broody. I assume it's a fox - I know there are foxes around. I'm afraid this time the ultimate sanctions will have to be applied.
Cheeky Chick
Monday 15 September, 2008
Yesterday was lovely - warm, still, sunny, but autumnal. You know how the light changes and there's just something in the air? The trees are starting to change to gold and red now - and I get the urge to prepare for winter. I think in a previous life, I must have lived somewhere where battening down the hatches was truly required.
Anyway, yesterday, I decided to rationalise the hens i.e. let Cheeky Chick, the Cuckoo Maran and his / her mommy out of their run. I was confident that mommy would look after Cheeky - but no! She set Cheeky to scratch around the base of one of the trees and then legged it with her pals! Cheeky had a great time - I kept checking on him / her - I'll use the feminine so that she'll be a girl! - but come bedtime, she went all alone into her big empty coop. Mommy had gone off with the big girls.
First egg from the Copper Black Marans
Saturday 13 September, 2008
We got our first egg from the Copper Black Marans today - it is without doubt, the smallest hen's egg I have ever seen. It's like a Cadbury Mini Egg! Still, they are only 21 weeks old.
I think we might have scared it out of them. We culled two of the three CB Maran cockerels last night, keeping the biggest and best looking as our new stock cockerel. He has been named Hector (and he has a house! Children of the 60s will understand this).
Chip's new girls
Saturday 13 September, 2008
You will recall that Chip is a Crested Cream Legbar cockerel, who was the sole survivor of a very poor hatch. Although we bought 6 day old Black Rocks as company for him, I don't really think they bonded and now that they are free-ranging, he's quite often on his own. Aawww...
With that in mind, Claire and I were up at 6am this morning to get to the rare breed sale at Carlisle in good time for the poultry sale at 10.30am - with a view to getting Chip a new harem!
And we were successful! We came home this afternoon with 2 lots of three Crested Cream Legbar pullets; one lot was a May hatch and the other a bit later. They look nice and healthy and have already mastered the ladders in the small ark. They are leg ringed and recorded on my poultry register!
Baby Black Rocks
Tuesday 9 September, 2008
Dan tootled off yesterday to pick up 13 x day old Black Rocks. They are in the garage - usually, I have them in the spare room to start but Dan has it earmarked as a training room / home cinema, so chicks are banned.
So far they look well - much stronger today than yesterday. Tomorrow, I'll let them out of the box into the run. I did buy these ones with the intention of selling some of them at POL. They are such good hens. The Marans are so flighty - they were all perched on the fence today. Hopefully, they will start laying soon.
Any colour so long as it's red
Sunday 31 August, 2008
Some of you mey recall from an earlier post that I am determined to keep better records of our poultry flock. At the beginning of August, I carried out a headcount and committed this to a spreadsheet. I also decided to leg ring different batches of hens - as opposed to marking individual hens. Our two RIR are Mrs Red and Mrs Green, and three of our Light Sussex are Misses Yellow, Pink and Purple respectively. This doesn't really work now that we've got bigger numbers and more Black Rocks - not enough colours, you see.
