Why do I pick the difficult hobbies!

My Silverlace Wyandotte Bantam Pullet

GRUMPY POST ALERT!!

Hatching in the Homer household has gone quiet for now, not a bad thing as the back garden is full at the moment and the boss has dropped several hints about wanting her garden back.

The accommodation situation has not been helped by the reluctance to put anything back down on the plot for fear of more theft.  I am, as they say up the creek without a paddle.

That saying never made any sense to me really, if you were "up" a creek, I doubt you would want a paddle to go faster? Presumably you could just throw yourself off in your kayak and hope for the best.  Mind you being down in sh1t creek without a paddle would not be much of a concern either I guess.

Where was I?  Oh yes, I'm buggered!  I have too many birds for the back garden.  The garden looks like a pig has been living in it.  If mud were valuable I would be a multi millionaire.

We can't move house, I can't find any land locally to rent. Trying to find land in north Cardiff is like searching for a winning scratch card.  So that's that.  Do I give up?

What is the point if I can't breed the poultry?

That would certainly be a waste of some rather fine silver lace wyandottes I have (photo above) who will be ready for breeding next year.

I guess I have to take on board some advice given to me by Grant Brereton whilst at his Poultry Genetics seminar on 26th October up in Oswestry.  Pick one breed and one type (feather colour) and stick to it. Concentrate on it, give it your all.  Get to know it and love it.
Very sound advice.
So perhaps this is what I should do.
Ducks were possibly a step too far at the moment, even if they are a lovely Welsh Harlequin.  Mind you, I had never planned on keeping them in the garden.

So on that note I'm off down the local shop to buy a lottery ticket.  That way I may be able to keep the ducks!

Thanks for reading.

Sexing Welsh Harlequin at 5 weeks

Welsh Harlequin Ducks at 5 weeks

Some may say this is attempting the impossible.  From research and hours staring at the colours of the feathers, they could very well be right.

What I have established is that Welsh Harlequin are adorable.  I love to watch them waggling their tails around the garden.  They are almost dog like.  The way the collapse on the floor on their belly, and then stretch the back legs out is definitely dog like.

I assessed the sex of the ducklings at 2-3 days old using the colour of beak method that is apparently 90% successful.  I mentioned this is a previous post, but to re cap, slate grey bills are male, lighter bills almost a hint of yellow with a dark tip are female.  On this basis I was expecting definitely one female, maybe two, and definitely three males.

I would add it is rather confusing at this young age as when older the females have slate grey beaks and the males yellow.  Yet it seems to be the reverse at a young age.

Looking at the group at 5 weeks, I am stumped and I know that I should not be trying to sex them until 15 weeks at least, but I can't resist.  The feathers can change drastically and so not reliable at all.
There is however a more reliable method, and that is listening to their quack!  Or if it's a male their rasp.

I have one duckling that has a loud quack, the bill is a lighter colour almost yellow and her colouring is a lot lighter, so I think definitely a female, she is a noisy quacker.  (I will wait for the abuse for this one).  

I'm waiting for the others to develop .  The males are not as noisy, problem is I think the others are not developed enough.   

They are still chirping in duckling mode, so I am hoping in the next week or so to hear a distinct change in the vocal department.  If not, I could be looking at four males and one female.

The duck second from the right in this photo is making a quacking sound at 5 weeks, and is much lighter in colour and has a lighter almost yellow beak, suggesting she is a female.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the photos.

Welsh Harlequin Ducklings at 2 days old

Welsh Harlequin Ducklings Video

Have you seen a ducklings tail waggle as it walks? It's not really its tail, but the whole rear end swaying side to side as it desperately tries to keep up with its siblings.
They are fascinating little birds, and I can see that they will easily become an obsession for me.
The fact is, they are not exactly little birds, even when they first hatch I was amazed at their size.  Now two weeks on they are a substantial little unit and I think mum, Treacle, is a lot more relaxed with them possible due to their size and agility.

They are still yellow at three weeks as you can see in the photos and video, but the dark colours are starting to creep through at the rear end.

I'm under no illusion I will need to create some room for them longer term and at the rate they are growing this could well be in the next two or three weeks.  I have an area that is currently covered with bushes.  So I will need to dig them out and level the ground.  But I am undecided on what to use for the floor.  I have seen pebbles, stone, and concrete used.  I know I can not leave bare earth.
There is also the decision on the enclosure.  The original intention was for them to live down on my allotment next door to the chickens, but with the break in and theft last month I will not be keeping any more of my pure breed birds on the plot.  So I need to accommodate the ducks in the back garden, certainly for the next 4 months or so whilst I keep looking to rent some land.  
I'm considering buying some poultry netting to create an area for them it's relatively cheap and quite flexible. 

  

  

Ducks are the right choice

I can honestly say ducklings are super cute and very entertaining.  I think they may even beat chicken and quail chicks on entertainment.  Mix that with a foster hen for a mum and it's fascinating.
I am surprised how big they are when born and at only one week old they feel very solid to hold in comparison to a chick.  I can already feel there down is very different, it feels almost like wire wool to touch.  At a day old they were happy away from mum, say in the corner of the run watching as she filled her boots with feed and water after 28 long days sitting on the eggs.

The ducks must be born with built in navigation.  They are like sheep or i guess ducks (they are ducks i know) from day one, where one goes the other follow, two by two as if connected by invisible twine.



I am very pleased I chose Welsh Harlequin ducks, they are beautiful birds.  I can not wait for the eggs to start flowing early next year.  I am however still facing the usual problem of space.  The recent searches and enquiries for land have not been successful.  The only land for sale within 5 miles is currently prices at over £10k per acre.

 

Well out of my price range sadly.  It seems as always, I have managed to find a hobby or interest (obsession my wife would say) that is expensive and difficult to follow.  Mind you, isn't everything expensive these days?

I won't give up.
Thanks for reading.

  

  

  

Perfect weather for ducks

To say the weather has been changeable down here in South Wales is a bit of an understatement.  Today is a good day for ducks, quite apt as Treacle, my seemingly forever broody hen, has delivered yet another group of newborns.

This time it is ducklings, Welsh Harlequin, established as its own breed from the Khaki campbell back in the 1940's.

They are on the Rare Breed Survival Trust's Poultry breed at risk list.  I have no idea why, as they look fantastic and are brilliant layers of eggs, (coming from the campbell breed no doubt helps).

Treacle has hatched 5 out of 6 eggs.  Fantastic work as it did seem a challenge for her to cover all the eggs, but never the less, she did it.  The sixth chick was fully formed but just did not hatch, perhaps had a problem or lack of strength.

It is fantastic news for me, especially off the back of the recent theft of 13 of my chickens.  It does however present me with a bit of a problem with space.  I am reluctant to move them or any of my stock back down to my plot as I'm sure it will be watched closely by whoever took all the other birds.  I have successfully intergrated the crested legbar into my back garden hens. (more on this in another post)  However, having freed up that run, Custard, the most famous veteran hen is eating all the eggs being laid. So she has been isolated.  Cue one very noisey and objectionable hen.  My other run and coop is housing three silver lace Wyandotte bantam hens.  So I am full.  In fact overcapacity, double booked you may say.

I have some garden left (just), but with two coops and two runs, plus two double tier rabbit hutches housing my 17 quail, the garden is becoming a B&B for poultry.

My best option is to build a Heath Robinson approach run to extend the broody coop for the ducklings and treacle.  At only 2 days old it is not critical now, but I've no doubt they will grow fast and need more space soon.  

As always, I am trying to guess the sex of the ducklings already.  Having done some research it appears it may be possible with 90% accuracy, to predict the sex at only a few days old.  The colour of the bill on the ducklings is the key area.  The females have a pink coloured bill with a dark spot at the tip, with the males having a dark grey bill all over.

90% accuracy is not bad, but it's not guaranteed so I will be interested to see results.  Using this technique I should end up with two ducks and three drakes.  I bet the one that did not hatch was a duck, but that's life isn't it.

That is the end of hatching for me during 2013.  I will be posting photos of the ducklings as they grow.  My project over the autumn and winter is to find and rent some land locally. That way my wife can have her garden back "almost" animal free.

Thanks for reading.

What's up Duck!

Lucky the crested legbar

It's always useful to have something to concentrate or focus on when things go wrong. Settling the 10 week old birds back in to my garden at home and trying to integrate Lucky, the crested legbar hen that was left behind at the allotment has helped.

I have split the run at home on a temporary basis so that lucky has a small run and can see custard and the gang.  Her home during the day is a plastic box, which she seems to have taken to quite well, laying a lovely blue egg almost every day.

At night, she has settled onto a lovely routine, perching on the plastic box and then letting me pick her up, carry her to the hen house and pop her on a perch with the other hens.

There is no fuss or bullying as they are all rather dopey at night. Every morning I then have to collect her from the perch and carry her to her run.  Cute in a way but not something I fancy carrying on forever.  I just hope the integration will work.

The other distraction is Treacle the broody Speckeldy hen sat of 6 duck eggs.  Time seems to have flown by, as we are now on day 23 of 28.  I'm excited to see ducklings being raised by a hen, but I am a little nervous, as my lack of secure land is still an issue, and I fear that I will not find any in or near by my village.


Going forward the main project is finding land anyway possible, in the mean time, the back garden is turning into a poultry palace.

Thanks for reading

Chicken Theft South Wales - Cardiff

I would never have imagined I would be writing first hand about chicken theft.
It has been almost a year since I started my mini breeding plan for bantam silverlace Wyandottes, along the way I had picked up Bantam Lavender Araucana's, Bantam Croad Langshan's some crested legbar and a rather strange looking lavender Orpington.

The thieves took them all apart from 4 silver lace Wyandotte chicks and 4 lavender Araucana chicks at 8 weeks old plus a crested legbar hen at Point of Lay who from now on is called Lucky.

My show birds and planned breeding stock for next year are all gone and I bet it took the horrible, thieving buggers (toned the language down) all but 10-15 minutes to clear the pen.

Gutted is not the right word.  The shock is still working its way out and I don't think it has quite settled in yet.

It is not the monetary value of the chickens I am concerned about although I'm not happy, it is the impact on my boys who will be devastated that Colin the cockerel and his girls have gone.  I put lots of time and effort into hatching all the birds, looking after them and feeding them the correct foods.
They had a good life and were well looked after, now I don't know where they are or if they will be treated correctly or even slaughtered for meat.

Its almost a year since I had some difficulties and spent significant time off work unwell.  These animals gave me a boost, a purpose and a fantastic hobby, that even if I do say so myself was going very well.  It will not stop me, but I need to solve that long term problem of land and space to keep them.

I have reported the theft to South Wales Police, but to date I have not received a phone call or visit.  Any clues at the scene have no doubt disappeared.  So I have taken it into my own hands to start making enquiries, The local pub next door, my fellow allotment plot holders, I have even contact the local paper and I believe they are going to run a story on it and quote the crime reference number.

 

The chance of getting my birds back in practically nil, but you have to try.

The thieves knew what they were taking.  Whilst they stripped most of the point of lay stock they specifically took 2 of my lavender Araucana chicks that are 8 weeks old and that are almost certainly hens presumably to match up with one of the cockerels they stole assuming they were not related.

What next?  I am not giving up on keeping chickens and breeding Wyandottes, but due to the time of year I will be better starting all over again early 2014.  Gives me plenty of time to find a breeder with hatching eggs but more crucially find a small parcel of land to rent.

Thanks for reading friends and make sure you cheer me up with some nice chicken stories and pictures.