Tuesday 12 March 2013

New chicks update 2 weeks on

One of my little friends from the farm
Well, I have been busy over the last few weeks, sowing broad beans and leek seeds, looking after newly hatched chicks, lambing..................yes Lambing.  At Humble by Nature as it happens in the Monmouthshire area.  A lovely farm owned by Kate Humble and her husband Ludo Graham.  Their tenant farmers are Tim and Sarah Stephens and they are all brilliant, lovely people.
If you get opportunity to visit on a course you will not be disappointed.  I will be posting a short review of my experience soon.  In the mean time click on the link about to see what the farm is all about.

With all this going on I feel that I may have neglected the blog and my poultry posts recently, although some of you may be thinking thank goodness for that, he has stopped talking!

7 of my 11 eggs hatched, unfortunately the Salmon Faverolle was not a healthy chick and was suffering so I had to deal with him as humanely as possible.  That's where Andy @chickenstreet and his great blog came in very useful.  Gave me that confidence that I was doing everything right.  Have a read if you get chance.   Chicken Street Blog

Silver Lace Wyandotte Bantam Chick
Croad Lanshan chick
So I have 6 chicks left, all looking healthy, 2 of them being Croad Langshan on the Rare Breeds Survival Trust watch list.  The other 4 are Silver Lace Wyandottes.

I have 4 more eggs in the incubator.  It was a little unexpected and un-planned but I was offered them recently and I could not refuse.
The question is, what next?
I could keep hatching, but it will take a long time before I will be hatching my own eggs, so I am considering buying a trio or two of birds.  But what breed?  So much choice and not enough space.  One that needs careful consideration.  Any ideas would be welcome.
In the mean time I'm going to plough on with my Wyandottes and experiment with colours. 

I am also starting to considering getting some turkeys to rear for Christmas time.  But that's for another entry so come back soon and find out how I will be preparing! :-)

Thanks for reading






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