Send your Hens to work!

Have you ever taken over a plot or a piece of land that is overgrown? 

I suspect most of us who have an allotment have been in this position.  Ifyou are considering taking on an allotment, it would be good practice spending a considerable amount of time clearing the plot, or a section if it is a large allotment, even though the urge to sow and plant will be practically unbearable.

When I took on my allotment in 2008 it was overgrown, covered in wood, plastic fencing and chicken wire.  

Due to the size of the plot I have tackled it in sections.

We all look for ways of cutting corners and often they don't work, however I have been discussing an alternative with my allotment neighbour recently.

An army of hard worker goats could be very useful. I'm sure they would make short work of all the weeds and brambles.  You are however unlikely to get permission from your council or allotment association to graze a goat on the land, and there is no way you could be 100% sure that they would not escape and munch their way through all the lovely produce being grown by your neighbours.  I can see the eviction notice now!

Chickens!  You may not be permitted to keep chickens on your allotment permanently, but if I use my situation as an example. I have a significant area that needs clearing but do not have time to clear it at present.

I have 3 fully grown hens in my garden at home.  It is feasible to take the hens to the allotment when I visit for an hour or two.  A cat box or cardboard box with ventilation would do the trick.  They can be let loose on the over grown area, even fenced in if required with some cheap netting and bamboo canes.

They will scratch, clear the plot, eat any bugs and slugs and fertilise as they go!
Now this is not a quick solution, and you certainly need to ensure that it does not stress the hens and that you have approval.  But why not give it a go.

Another one bites the dust but the rest are thriving

I started to think I was doing something seriously wrong. It had only been one week since the last episode and they were a totally separate hatching group.
Why all of a sudden, my Wheaton maran decided it was time to flutter from the coop at 4 weeks old I still do not know.
I am starting to appreciate that symptoms are very similar for many of the poultry illnesses and unless you visit the local vets surgery for a postmortem you will never know.
An educated guess is the closest you can get and it is quite frankly frustrating.
The Wheaton was four weeks old, and so I expected to be past the most dangerous period, and having mysteriously lost 7 chicks a week earlier I was not expecting further losses.
All the symptoms pointed to cocsiodiccis

Ruffled, spikes feathers
Hunched posture
Shutting of eyes
Unstable on legs
Not eating and drinking very little

The only symptom missing was blood in the droppings.
However the crackle from the chest area when breathing maybe suggested a respiratory infection.

To avoid any further losses I am treating the chicks with Coxoid for 7 days. I will then follow with a tonic to give them a boost.

Fingers crossed and thanks for reading.

You need the lows to appreciate the highs!

What a day I had Sunday. I have been harping on about it for long enough on twitter now. I'm still no closer to knowing what caused it, but the potential reasons for the chicks I have been hatching all of a sudden moving on to the coop in the sky have increased. So I am putting it down to bad luck and will be keeping a close eye on future hatches.

I had 11 chicks in total, most were 2-3 days old. 3 gold lace Wyandotte chicks were recent hatches, they had fluffed up and so I added them to the brooder.
Long story short, one check all seemed fine, 30minutes later the gold lace were dead on their backs with 2 lavender Araucana staggering around and one silver lace wyandotte in a similar condition. I put them straight back in my incubator thinking it may have been a heat issue. Sadly they did not make it.

There are many theories including loss of heat, infection, bullying, fighting or maybe it was just a defect inherited from parents.

It's sad, but it is time to move on. I have 3 Araucana Lavender bantams and 1 silver lace Wyandotte bantam to add to the 4 silver lace hatched 10 weeks ago and 2 croad langshan.
I'm lucky to have these and hope the silver lace will be good enough to create a breeding trio from.
Looking forward, I am still fascinated by the Wyandotte, so I'm sure they will be on the agenda at some point again soon, but I'm thinking long and hard on what breed to hatch next.

I currently have 2 CLB females at 4 weeks old and I hope a wheaten maran to go with them, but what other pure breed would you add to this collection producing dark brown and blue eggs?

The leghorn has been suggested and I like this idea due to the white eggs that it lays. I also like the idea of Rhode Island Red. Great looking, good layers and of course a good size.
Some careful thinking required over the next few weeks is required.

I am also being drawn to ducks, specifically the Welsh Harlequin. I don't want many, just a drake with two ladies. To hatch or to buy a trio, that is the question. The other decision is how to provide a water source for them to bath in. Plastic paddling pool, trug, old bath?

Short term there is a pause in the hatching whilst I catch up on all the veg jobs I have been putting off. Main crop potatoes need to go in, carrots and parsnips need sowing, along with runner beans, butternut squash and sweetcorn.
It's amazing how in control you can feel in February and March, then all of a sudden it is 1st May, we hit the panic button and I find I sow everything at once and end up with a glut of veg.

Thanks for reading