Covid-19 has changed many things in our lives but it still astounds me how people have adapted in order to be able to carry on with their businesses. A few weeks ago I was in receipt of three (11) hens from a local farmer who brought them to me and put them in the stable…
The penultimate post in my chicken keeping series is raising chicks. There are two ways to do it. With a cockerel in your flock, if a hen goes broody and wants to sit on eggs, you can let her and let nature take its course. In three weeks, fertility dependant, you could have a clutch…
Spring is supposedly in full swing and, when the weather warms, up my hens lay more. Most of them have laid all winter-the layers especially but the fancy breeds like the Pekins and my silkie tend to have a little break over the winter months. I’m sure you know we love eggs here. To eat…
As I type this, I cant help but notice the silence. Not completely silent, obviously. With three children, the house is never completely silent but the office area is much quieter than this time yesterday. You see, after 28 days of buzzing, the incubator has been switched off. Some 28 days ago, 22 eggs were…
I haven’t successfully hatched eggs since 2016. I did set the incubator up last year and put eggs in but it was in the farm workshop and it got accidentally knocked off the table. The eggs were ruined and my incubator broken and, with a new baby, I just couldn’t be bothered looking into it…
I haven’t written about my chickens for a while so I thought I’d update you. I had the five from Boo’s school-one cockerel (Adam) and the four hens; a pekin and two silkies. Then the trio of white Pekins I got from the livestock auction and the five ex-battery hens. I hatched seven of my…
If you have been within a 20 metre radius of me over the last month, you will no doubt have been bored to tears about my hatching eggs. I have had 30 eggs in two incubators and I have waited. Hen eggs take 21 days to hatch but day 21 came and went with no…
I am sure you have heard of the expression, watching paint dry. It is a boring, thankless activity which demonstrates when something else is mind-numbingly boring. I have a new idea for a phrase which means a similar thing. That’s right folks. When most normal people are sat watching Saturday night television with a packet…
