[Shropshirelass]

I'm not usually 1 to complain but after a few years of stress - which I hope is coming to end, we have had to have had one of the most awful of seasons up until now where poultry keeping & breeding is concerned in chronological order we've had all this happen to us:

* Loads of runs to repair around mid autumn - got repairing for a few weeks & whacked my hand so unable to continue for a week. Followed by weeks of poor weather.

*Got 3 turkeys the 1 hen died after about 3 months.

*The snow which seemed endless, followed by lambing (which I like) so the runs still weren't finished.....

*Fox visit in the 1st lot of snow killed 8 hens, later that week still in the snow the hens were being kept in & a mink / pole cat got in & killed the lot, the few we have now are living in the barn, our 1 drake at the time also got killed on the river.

*Had some good weather, still lambing but my other turkey hen gets found dead & half eaten by the river just after I got my 1st egg too! 

*The dog eats my only remaining Barb D'Anver cockeral I wanted to breed from - Bad  !

*I finally track down 2 turkey hens after about 2 months 

*The geese both mess around laying & go broody early so no eggs for the incubator as of yet & I think all the eggs are addled under them, 1 gosling however hatched under a hen  - not the 15-20 birds we want for xmas though   

*Dad broke the 1 shed door I fixed a week afterwards! Grr!

*Just after all the sheep are moved from the field where we keep the runs, I'm about to start fixing them & put duck eggs in the incubator, I fall down the stairs & tear a few ligaments in my right ankle so am on crutches for god knows how long! Not fun!

I suppose on the upside we have 1 hen with a gosling hatched & a hen with 6 chicks 

[Bionic]

Oh gosh you have been through a bad time. Lets hope your luck is on the turn for the better now 

[Roxy]

I was only thinking to myself that my poultry enterprise has not been good lately, but compared to you, I have been very lucky.  Hope your luck changes for the better now!!

[Shropshirelass]

I do to at least I have youth on my side I'm starting to very lightly touch the ground & can use my toes to a point - but it means I can't drive or anything for weeks - at least I can revise & catch up on my books 

[NormandyMary]

You poor poor thing. I would have overdosed if all that had happened to me. Really hope you are back in fine fettle again soon. Good Luck!!

[Victorian Farmer]

well ass you no i breed a lot off poultry geese and turkey this season has been the worst ever i change the cockerels every 12 months i went to England and bought 3 good specimens and not 1 is fertile i didn't do geese or turkeys as the price of crumbs is not worth paying .So i have 6 chicks no stock rape and barley have been written of so no income this yare i also lost 70 percent of my bees and 60 ewes in the bad wether I'm thinking of taking a ye-re of and have a new start in 18 months .There is no positive with the crops and the wether and i dont wont to gamble eney more money has iv lost most of the income .The rare breeds are finished its just layers and you can get them for a tenner .

[Lesley Silvester]

The people who think that smallholding is a nice easy life and envy those who do it (while sticking to their town houses and well paid jobs) ought to see this side of things.