Quails, chickens, smallholdings

Photo of Wyandotte chicks at 11 weeks

It's been quiet on the blog front over Christmas and New Year!  So much to do and so little time!  It's been really hard working our way through all the cake, chocolate, biscuits.......
Back to it now though.

Years gone by I have had very little interest in New Year resolutions.  Like most people you tend to cop out and plump for "healthier lifestyle" option.  Not really measurable and no real targets and you've forgotten all about it by the end of January. 

I remember 5 years ago I decided to have a dry January.  It lasted until the 21st January when a friend of mine turned 30.  Very bad planning that, but if your going to break the resolution, why not do it in style!

I have been up to this and that over the break.  I decided to start the new year in the right way with some plans for new additions!
The chicks are doing well.  Pinky and Perky are now 11 weeks.  I started to think one was a cockerel.  It strays from Treacle and is more independent than the other.  That said apart from the darker markings around the neck there is no difference between the two. Let me know what you think from the video.

I have just ordered a 4 foot wide rabbit house and run.  Double level, to accommodate some Quail.
I have liked the idea of keeping them for egg for a while.  My mom has a friend that has a few too many.  So hopefully I may have a few soon.

Photo from Wikipedia

I have also bought a cheap hen house.  Something I said I would never do again.  But being as tight as a ducks backside I could not resist the offer.  It was a 280cm long run, enough I think for a breeding trio. 
We recently viewed a smallholding with 1.3 acres, but have to hold fire for now due to circumstances.  So it is now full steam ahead to get some chickens down the allotment.  

I already have fencing down there and have plenty of paving slabs to dig in to prevent Mr Fox getting in.

So now I'm looking for breeding trios.  I like Frizzles, chocolate and other colours.  Plus I like the idea of  Wyandottes and Lincolnshire buff or Orpington to start with anyway!  :-)
Hopefully I can get to some shows this year as well.

Lots of work to do, so I best crack on!

Thanks for reading and Happy New Year.

Merry Christmas - Hide and Beak

Pudding

Merry Christmas everyone.
I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas.

Hide and beak?  You will see what I mean shortly.

My hens have been getting a real treat with lots of free range time and corn treats in the garden.




So much time that I actually thought I had lost Pudding the other day.
We have a 6 foot fence all around our boundary, so I naturally think this is acceptable to keep chickens in and my neighbours should not have a unexpected visitor.  However Pudding is a particularly good "flyer" and I say flyer in the broadest sense.



Photo from richard-seaman.com

 Chickens tend to take off a little like a harrier jump jet.  Not necessarily with the same grace and effortless way the jet does, but they some how manage to get "airborne" for several seconds, before plummeting to earth like a giant water filled balloon!  The landing is similar to a water balloon hitting the floor as well.  Splat or Sploosh are quite good sound effects!

It was boxing day around 11am and Custard, Pudding, Treacle and the 2 chicks (currently Pinky and Perky) were having a good old explore of the garden.
I peered out of the window just to take the register, and check all were present and correct.
4 out of 5.  Pudding had gone AWOL.

Rather than running out into the garden and checking all sensible places, I decided she must have made her way over the fence, either into my neighbours garden or into our front garden.

I ran upstairs and peered into the neighbours gardens from the back bedroom window.  No sign at all.

I checked the front garden.  No sign.

Then I heard a gun shot!  Not good.

Now thinking rationally, who would want to shoot a domesticated chicken.  You could hardly mistake Pudding for a pheasant!
I decided to don the waterproof trousers, coat and wellies on and venture into the mud and the driving rain!

I spent 10 minutes looking for her.  The last place I had not checked was the nest box................now normally this would be the first place I would check, but recently I installed a piece of wood on a hinge so I could block off the nest box in the evening as both pudding and custard like to sit in the nest box all night and make a right mess of it.

To let them out of the hen house I have to close off the nest box.  Not ideal, but not a major problem.  I thought!
I ignored the nest box, because I thought it was inaccessible.
How wrong I was. 

I can only guess that she managed to open the next box by nudging the door open with her beak and head, similar to a dog when they open doors!
There she was, sitting in the nest box, next to a lovely warm egg!

So for 30 minutes I had been playing hide and seek with a chicken, and she was cuddled up in her nest box the whole time!

Moral of the story, check the most obvious places first, even if they are not necessarily the obvious place at the time!  That makes no sense!!!!!!!!!!!  I know!

Thank you for reading, I hope you had a fantastic Christmas and that you have great fun seeing in the New Year!

Wyandotte Chicks are 7 weeks old!

photo from virginmedia.com

"I can't believe it".  Said in a Victor Meldrew/One Foot in the Grave voice!

7 weeks ago Pinkey and Perky, soon to be Apple and Blackberry (if they are hens) hatched into the big wide world of my back garden.

2 Little Wyandotte Chicks, they could have been any breed at that stage.

Now 7 weeks on they have grown, and developed fantastic markings with unique personalities.



My Wyandotte chicks



I am at the stage now where I try to move them onto growers pellets.  They have been on Chicks crumbs since day one and they are devouring the food every day.  

I'm sure some will already be aware of this, but I will cover it anyway.  Chicks tend to be moved onto growers pellets between 6 to 8 weeks of age.  It gives them more of the nutrients they need to keep growing.  They generally stay on growers pellets until they are between 18 and 22 weeks, i.e. when they start to lay.  They would at this stage move to layers pellets.  If you are keeping birds for meat, your chickens would stay on growers until they are processed.

So I am shortly off to buy growers pellets.  I will then start to gradually mix the pellets into the crumbs so that the chicks get used to them.



the catalogue pose!



I found last time whilst Treacle raised Rodney the rooster, shortly after I introduced growers pellets, Treacle came back into lay.  I recall it took 3 weeks.

So you never know, we may shortly have 2 hens producing eggs.  That would be a great Christmas present.

Both times I have introduced growers food to chicks, I have considered mash as an alternative. 

I regularly think about it, but having done research, I don't see that there is that much benefit.  

I'm shy, honest!



It seems to be more difficult to source, messier and more food wasted.

The only reason I can see people using it is if they have ex-battery hens they have rescued.  They will have been fed mash all their life.  Trying to move them to pellets could be a challenge.

I may be wrong on this point and would be happy to hear if there are benefits to mash.

Pinkey & Perky a few days old!

Thanks for coming back and reading!