Hatching plans for 2014

Any plans to hatch your own in 2014?
Personally I thought I may have hatched my last back in 2013 when majority of my pure breed birds were stolen from my plot early September 2013.
The festive period has brought many more reports of theft, from Poultry to Pigs. Majority of these I have seen reported via Twitter.  So any thoughts of restocking my original plot with more birds and hatchings over the next 6-12 months has well and truly disappeared. 

 

This left me in somewhat of a grim mood for a few days (Rachel would say, only a few days?!)

 

In order for me to hatch in 2014, I have had to make a difficult decision.  Land to keep all my birds including the recently hatched Welsh Harlequin ducks is just not available.  I am getting to crunch point with all the poultry in the garden (it looks as though a team of Tamworth piggies have been resident for a few months). Sadly I will have to move the ducks on.
I can see the Benny Hill type scene now as I slip and slide around trying to catch the little blighters whilst at the same time trying to avoid Treacle the merciless.  Treacle is in a way the perfect broody. Don't even think about going near her chicks, even if they are now 16 weeks old and bigger than her.  On cue, every September she goes broody, and there is no point trying to break her.  So I will definitely be hatching under her again this year.  What I hatch will depend on circumstances and egg availability at the time she goes broody, which I will let her do naturally.

 

I have enjoyed hatching from eggs purchased from breeders, but I still have a desire to create my own so to speak.  From my own trio, I will hatch say a dozen and take it from there.  The overall aim to enter a bird or two into a national poultry show.  Yes there will be plenty of cockerels and below standard hens along the way, but it is something I have dealt with over the last year or two quite well.

I have a fairly good starting point I think with my Silverlace Bantam Wyandottes.  I am hopefully acquiring a cockerel shortly, and his location along with a couple of my older hens, will be top secret.

 

As and when required, I plan to move him in with the SLW bantam hens for three weeks, collect eggs and then move him out again.  This way I hope to control any potential complaints from neighbours due to crowing.

It's the only way I can breed at present, and rather than stay grumpy and frustrated for months on end, this way I can at least develop my SLW obsession.

If you know anyone who may want Welsh Harlequin Ducks, please get in touch.  I have two drakes and  three females.

Thanks for reading

 

 

 

100% broody - signs your hen is broody

100% broody and 110% grumpy.  That is how I would describe Treacle the speckledy hen at the moment.
I had a close encounter earlier this summer but managed to avoid it. This time around Treacle will not be moved.  She is determined and will not be broken despite being locked out of her nest box daily for the last week.
I have had to move her to the broody coop as her antics were upsetting the other hens and my boys, as the egg supply was becoming erratic.  Combine the broody Treacle with a spot of egg eating and supplies in our household have dropped significantly.

Just in time the bantams on the plot have come to the rescue and have started laying, and they are laying well.  We are still waiting for the crested legbars to start laying, but at 21 weeks old it will not be long.  I think inspection of the nest box for blue eggs is the main reason for the boys insisting on coming with me to the plot on a daily basis.  It's nice they are that interested though.

Back to Treacle, and she has form.  Going broody this time last year, I gave in and purchased some goldlace wyandotte eggs.  Two hatched and they are now thankfully providing us with some lovely little eggs.  So do I give in again, and let her sit on eggs?  

I never thought I would say this, but I did have to think very hard.  I was not sure I wanted her hatching any more, this year anyway.  
I have a pen full (and more) on the plot, but it is hard if not impossible to resist the lure of hatching under a broody.
I have heard that chickens make great surrogate mothers for ducks, and I am keen to see how it works in practice.  
So there you have it, after a little searching I have 6 Welsh Harlequin duck eggs on the way from a breeder in Ammanford, Wales.

A few things to look out for to establish if your hen is broody.

1. Sitting in the nest box refusing to move.
2. Looking as though they are in a trance, staring at the wall.
3. Loss of condition, comb going pale, not looking after themselves.
4. Being aggressive and trying to peck you if you try and move her or retrieve the eggs.
5. Plucking out feathers on the chest area to line the nest and enable skin contact with the eggs.  

Thanks for reading.

Broody Bantam!

Croad Langsan Chick

Two days ago I was smiling smugly to myself. The 7 week old chicks were down the allotment, 3 week old chicks were outside under heat, the next batch of chicks are due to hatch in a few days, all five hens were laying, the asparagus starting to show and I was starting to imagine poached eggs on top of asparagus and toast for breakfast.

Today however, I discovered one of the Wyandotte bantam chicks I hatched approximately 6 months ago has gone all maternal on me. Yes, its broody bantam syndrome.

I should have realised sooner as she was spending more time in the coop than usual. When I returned from a night away, eight eggs had been pooled together neatly in the bottom of the coop. A perfect little spot for a bantam to sit.  Today I had to fight to get the two freshly laid eggs. At least she did not peck me, but she did look rather disgusted at being shoved off her nest area.

A final check on the undercarriage area confirmed the broody status, as she was free from feathers, plucked so neatly, I am sure in a past like she had been a beauty therapist.

My Bantam Goldlace Wyandottes

I have a few options I guess. I think any more fertile eggs may result in a divorce just at the moment, so I will try and encourage her to stop as soon as possible by collecting eggs frequently so she can not sit and if need be move her to her own little drafty cool coop/nest box for a few days. Something that has no bedding and lots of ventilation so that it cools her a little.


The other option is dunking her in a cold bucket of water (up to the neck I might add) but that does seem a little harsh as we are still getting some cool mornings.

Would be interesting to hear if anyone has any other ways of bringing a hen out of the broody cycle.

Thanks for reading.