Rain, longer days and the shed roof

It's raining, again. It shouldn't be a surprise should it? It must have been one of the wettest winters on record.  Yet this morning, it was dry, clear and quite chilly.  The hens seem to be enjoying the slightly longer daylight hours, with the cream legbar, Lucky, and the bluebelle both coming into lay in the last couple of days.  Just in time, as last week I had to buy eggs for the first time in 12 months.

Even the quail seem to be getting a little "frisky".  The males are starting to take interest in the females again, and the odd chirp can be heard coming from the cage.  More good news for us, as the quail eggs have been sorely missed over the winter period.  As a family of five, we can easily get through 36 sometimes 48 in a week if the boys insist on taking them into school as little boiled snacks.

The good news is that the quail hatched at the end of last year should lay well this year.  

We have a total of 10 females (although I'm still waiting to confirm this officially when the mating season starts).

In theory, in the peak of laying, we will get 8-10 eggs a day, and I can't wait.

I know I will have at least one, maybe two males too many as a result of the late hatch, so I need to manage the accommodation carefully to ensure their is not any fighting.

Down on the plot, the chicken pens are empty as a result of the thefts backing in September, and would you believe the metal sheeting on the shed roof has now been stolen.  Nothing is safe these days, so seeing the rain start again has made me realise I need to get down the allotment as soon as possible to at least cover the massive hole and protect some of the tools.  Whilst old, I don't really want to be replacing them especially as thefts seem to be on the increase.

Thanks for reading.

My Welsh National Poultry Show 2014

My Silverlace Wyandotte

It was the best attended Welsh National event so far, the thirty eighth show with around 2000 entries.  Chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys all under one roof.  The noise was deafening, and the smell by the end of the day was "ripe".  That didn't matter as it was an excellent day, helped along by one of my silver lace wyandottes picking up first place in the any other colour Wyandotte female category.

I'm learning something every show I attend, and it was great to see some familiar faces there.  The problem with showing, is that it's like an old fashioned sweetie shop.  So many breeds that can turn your head along with a sale section that could easily have caused a major argument in my house when I returned that Sunday evening.

My Wyandotte following a good bath
& blow dry

 

I returned however, with the same two birds I took to the show along with a little red card for first.  Better than some, especially as we were all kept inside the building for half an hour because someone had accidentally boxed up the wrong birds.

How does that happen?  Well with several birds in the same class, pen numbers falling off and some exhibitors having in excess of 10 birds on show it is easy to see in the rush to get packed how this can happen.  I guess the only answer is to take your time and leave a little marker on your pen.

Talking to one exhibitor, he was feeling particularly sad as he had accidentally left one of his little call ducks in her box for the whole show, so somewhere there must have been an empty pen.  Thankfully she did not seem at all bothered by the experience and I'm sure he will make it up to her.

I'm not likely to be entering any shows now until around April, and that really depends on the condition of the girls and how well breeding is going.  Last thing I want to do is enter a hen that has been trodden on and feathers damaged by a frisky make.  It may be that my next show is with my own hatchings as late as August or September.  

My 1st Place Wyandotte

In the mean time I have plenty to keep me occupied, finding a male Silverlace Wyandotte, rearranging the back garden run, and potentially converting my shed into a coop.

More on this in the next entry, that's if I have had planning permission (from the wife).

Thanks for reading.

 

  

Bath your chicken?

"are people mad? - you will never catch me doing that"
My exact words some 18 months ago.  Now I have to hold my hands up (not whilst the hen is in the water you understand) and admit, I have bathed my hens.

Purely for show purposes you understand, and it was a very good decision.  From a distance, they looked fine, a little dirty on the legs but nothing a quick wipe would not sort out.  Upon closer inspection, I think they have been involved in a mud wrestling competition.  On the edges of their wing feathers the white lacing was brown.

So following the recommendations of Grant Brereton in his new poultry book, Breeding for Success, I  prepared the sink with warm water and washing up liquid, a bowl of clean warm water, laid out a towel and plugged in the hair dryer.
I plugged the hair dryer in with some trepidation, as the last time I touched one, it promptly blew up spraying springs and pieces of plastic everywhere - Not in my hands but the wife's. That is story for another day.

Quite surprisingly, the hens really enjoyed the experience.  Although the second in for the full works, decided flapping the wings when totally drenched was a sensible idea, so I ended up with a shower in dirty chicken water.
That said, it was a very nice experience, bizzar as it sounds, drying the birds with a hair dryer gives you a great opportunity to look them over and check for any problems or faults.

I could not bring myself to put them back in their permenant home, so temporarily they are being housed in the top half of the quail pen.  They have plenty of room for the next day or so, especially if I let them have a run around the garden.
They look a million times better, and I really hope it helps when at the Welsh National Show this Sunday.



Thanks for Reading

  

  

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

 

 

 

Ducks, Rain and the Welsh Poultry Show

Merry Christmas and I hope you have a fantastic New Year tonight.

My ducks are characters and great entertainment.  I'm not sure I would want to be without them now. The problem is they destroy the back garden in a short space of time, especially the grass.  They do not scratch like chickens, but they have an amazing ability to dig over a period of time with their beak, especially around drinkers or water for bathing.

This recent spell of rain (monsoon type conditions at times here in Wales) has destroyed what was left of the grass.  The Chickens, ducks and quail all look very fed up, proof in the pudding is the lack of eggs, even the hybrids have shut up shop.
 
I knew when hatching ducks under broody hen Treacle, that I would have to move some on.  I am fortunate that there are only two males and three females, meaning I have the choice of keeping a pair or a trio.  But I am surprised at the noise the females can make, and the mud that they create.  On top of that, they seem to eat for two constantly.  They are also still very timid and nervous of any human approaching them.  They are 15 weeks old today so  I am interested to see if this changes when they get older and are less dependant on Treacle, who still insists on staking in the run with them.

Needless to say these ducks need space, and I am constantly looking for some land closer to home, not easy when 3.5 acres of grazing land is being sold locally for over £60,000.

I'm off to the Welsh National Poultry Show in Haverford west on 12th January 2014.  I'm taking my 1st and 3rd place Wyandottes to see how they look on a larger scale (some 1700 entries in previous years).

I will of course update the blog with results and the experience.
In the mean time, if I go a little quiet its probably because I am concentrating on some contributions for Home Farmer Magazine www.homefarmer.co.uk

Happy new Year and thanks for reading in 2013.

  

  

 

My Royal Welsh Winter Fair 2013

In 2012 I visited the Winterfair at the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society show ground in Builth Wells as an excited and intrigued fist time visitor, keen to investigate the poultry, pigs and sheep sections.
I returned this year as a poultry exhibitor but just as excited.
My day started with a rather smelly one and a half hour drive from north Cardiff to Builth Wells with three Silverlace Wyandotte Bantams safely stowed away in the boot of the car.  I mention smelly, as the hens seem to have decided to hold off exercising their bowels all night, only to release them when placed in the transport cage in the rear of the car.  I spent the first 20 minutes driving with the windows open with the temperature at 4 degrees on a pitch back early morning.

Smell to one side, I made it to the show ground at 8.45am.  Latest pen time was 9am, so I had to work fast, giving the feet and legs a final clean, the comb and wattles a little oil and Vaseline.  Fortunately for me judging did not start until 9.30am.

There were 9 birds in my class including chocolate and barred wyandottes.  The white wyandotte were separated into their own group which is fortunate as I have found they tend to be preferred over other colours.
With the hens safely in their pens I left the hall and set off to explore the food hall.  First stop was the welsh Venison centre for a bacon roll, then over to the food hall for a coffee.
There was plenty of welsh food and produce on sale in the food hall and at the farmers market, but it didn't take long before I was drawn to the pig and sheep buildings.

Time did fly and by 11:30am majority of judging was finished in the poultry building.  A first and third place out of three entries was not a bad result.
Speaking to other entrants I managed to get a little feed back as I unfortunately missed the judges.  The legs seem to have been a significant factor, not mine but the hens yellow legs.

I have put this down to a combination of things.  Firstly, the leg colour of the parents (obvious I know).  Secondly the fact that they have not quite started laying eggs yet and a reasonably amount of maze and corn is being fed.
I will watch closely to see if the leg colour changes significantly when they do start laying, most likely in the new year around March time.

As you can see the reindeer were visiting again this year.  


Finally I could not finish this entry without including a photo of the First Place Welsh Harlequin duck.

Thanks for reading.

 

 

A Short update

A month, a whole month!  What on earth have I been doing to have left the blog alone for so long?
Well going back several weeks I spent a day in Oswestry at the show ground learning about poultry genetics, a day seminar by Grant Brereton.
It was a great day and to meet up with fellow twitterers and chicken hour contributors made it extra special.

I was fascinated by the subject, and still find it amazing that all chickens are red and black underneath.  Whether they be lavender or white, the basis is built on red and black.

The Royal Welsh Winter Fair is upon us, I have three of my silver lace wyandottes entered into the poultry show on the Tuesday 3rd December.  My first show since the theft of majority of my birds.
I am looking forward to the day, I am not expecting any success, but the day spent chatting about poultry and wandering aimlessly around the stalls and other animal pens will be superb.

Watch this space for photos. :-)