Results of Tidying UP

I have been trying to get some order in my computer files and have been through my photos, and I found this and I thought I would share it. It is my 2 week old duckies still under their "electric chicken" brooder heat pad. If you think baby chicks are cute, ducklings are even cuter (if thats a word)

These two are a large Silver Appleyard at the back and at the front is a large Dark Campbell. Dark Campbells are quite unusual as the more usual colour widely available is the White Campbell and the Khaki Campbell. These two little darlings produce an egg virtually every day until October and they start again just after Christmas. They are also massive, more like a small goose and thankfully they dont fly as for some reason their wings are not long enough to bear their weight. They do flutter a bit but only when extremely bothered. They can jump, but they look like a cute sack of spuds when they do. Not the most elegant.

Weather it Will or Weather It Wont

Summer is finally here as we all rush to buy our total sun block cream so we dont get all wrinkly. The chickens in the garden are going through water like a run on the bank. They cant get enough of it. With all those feathers, they can't sweat it out so they have to pant like a dog to keep cool. It must be very uncomfortable to have to lug round a duvet all day in this heat.

We have a broody on eggs, and three broodies now in the nest boxes squealing at anything that comes near. They warn anything that moves to keep out or they will get a good pecking. Fearsome they are. I got a tip from the web to turf out the broody so she couldnt visit a nest box, and it worked for two I had earlier in the year, but when I turfed these three out, they just paced up and down looking quite stressed against the chicken wire trying to find a way back into their cosy nest. They made their clocking noise for most of the day and when it came time to let them back in the coop they just went back to their nest as though they had been sitting there all day. While it is too hot I cant keep them out of the shelter of the coop in case they overheat so I will try once the weather goes back to being good old British dismal.

We went for a walk along the river in Chester yesterday and it was glorious, but I got disowned by my daughter for wearing an upturned tulip on my head. Actually it was my Eden Project straw sunhat, which I thought didnt look too bad, but she has put me off it now. I need something which stops my poor scalp from burning but doesnt look like a dead plant. Any suggestions most welcome, particularly one which doesnt give you hat hair, the sort of hairdo that you have to keep wearing your hat for as you look really daft once you take it off. The trouble with hats is they make you too hot and you end up with sweaty rivers all over your face. Not a good look, especially on one who also gets hot flushes.

Successful Course

We have just had the most wonderful weekend. The weather was beautiful and we have just completed a successful course to teach the art of chicken keeping to 3 lovely people. Far from being a chore, its more like a social event. We get to spend time getting to know new people and also to talk about one of our favourite subjects - chickens. To top it all we get to eat cream tea out in the sunshine. Any excuse for me to eat cake is rarely refused, and to get praise from our new friends about my baking is always nice.

We have just added some new dates for up and coming courses so if you want to join in the fastest growing pastime in this country, get yourself on our course.  We aim to make as enjoyable for you as it is for us.

Sun 9th June 2013 10:30am
Sun 23rd June 2013 10:30am
Sun 7th July 2013 10:30am
Sun 4th August 2013 10:30am
Sun 25th August 2013 10:30am
Sat 7th September 2013 10:30am
Sat 21st September 2013 10:30am

You can book on the course page on the blog or on the Hedgerow Henporium website HERE

Two more Broodies are on their Sit Down Protest

Once the days get longer you can bet your boots that one or two hens are getting more and more reluctant to get out of the nest box and let the others in. Although we have 8 nest boxes which is more than enough for our 20ish hens, the girls always try to lay where the broody sits. I reckon they are a bit like go-to-work mothers leaving their children with a childminder. They only lay where they know they are going to get the best care. We now have two more broodies settling in when they suddenly lose the ability to stand up. If you pick them up they stay in a sitting position. You put them down and they stay sat down. I moved Bronwen out of the nest and also Persephone. Persephone had been turfed out of the nest box or perhaps she had decided to let one of the other girls in to lay an egg so she could hijack it later because she was sat in the middle of the coop floor all fluffed up. I emptied the eggs from the nest boxes and found 10 eggs under persephone while she was sat on the floor. She was a bit miffed to be hoiked up and had me rummaging underneath her to extract her stolen egg stash. She then moved into the empty nest box and shuffled herself down. I put one egg just out of her reach on the floor to see what she would do. She looked immediately interested in that little package like I had just dropped a tenner. She had a quick look around to see that nobody else was about to pounce and she stretched her neck to the egg and skillfully shuffled it along the floor towards her and up the nest box lip and into her nest box. She then shuffled herself down again and looked quite smug. Another egg successfully snaffled.

There is Nothing Faster Than An Amorous Cockerel

India is in her broody coop on the patio doing a sterling job of patiently tending her eggs which are due to hatch in 14 days. In the chicken area we have two lusty cockerels who pounce on anything that moves, even my wellies. I was opening the gate to their area when they dashed out just as I was letting India out for her daily constitution. When all of a sudden the cockerels spying a beautiful female not being defended by Glamorous Gordon, rushed over to her, while she was calmly munching her corn and gave her quite a shock. She flew into her coop quickly followed by a flurry of excited black feathered males, whereby there was much panicking in the tiny broody coop as they all tried to mate with India. Keith and I dashed over to try to rescue 1. poor India and 2 the eggs in the nest. Lusty cockerels intent on doing the mating deed are not easy to remove from their poor victim who was squashed to the floor and creating quite a fuss. We managed to pull them off her and batten down her broody coop so she could be safely at peace once again. Lesson leaned, try not to let the cockerels out onto the patio.

Well Hens are Not Like Cockerels

Keith, fresh from his chicken dispatching course, enthusiastically decided it was time to hasten the freezer appointment with blue/pink and green cockerel, the colour of their legband, that is. He performed the act of sending them to cockerel heaven and said that cockerels are more difficult than hens to dispatch because they are different. Hmmmm.  He also decided that as ours are not the classic Hubbard meat breed that the lack of huge amounts of meat meant he could not practice his boning skills properly. He did practice his glove cutting skills a couple of times (damned sharp knife) and blamed it on the cockerel. Nevertheless he produced a skillfully presented boned chicken and a neat pile of meatless bones almost as if the chicken had been undressed. We still have two to go, pinky and rufus/greenie who are getting more and more aggressive to my wellies daily.  Once they Woo Woo Wooooooo and raise one shoulder you know they are about to get in a sly dig on my welly tops as if they were a cat pouncing on a mouse. Its quite funny. Once you pick them up they just sit quite happily chatting away. Keith has just thrown away his shredded wellies so I am a bit wary about what they will do to mine if they decide to go down the full aggressive and unpredictable route. At the moment they are just funny. The dynamics of their troop has changed now that the two largest cockerels are no longer with them and Rufus is enjoying becoming head bird. It is keeping GlamorousGordon on his toes as he is not only trying to keep his girls serviced, he is also trying to make sure the other amorous attentions of the two other males are not allowed. What a life!!!

Broody News

Well that time of year is upon us and India has gone broody again. She is currently covering 16 eggs and looking every inch the perfect mother. Although she has had a crafty nibble - apparently - at 2 eggs as she originally had 18 under her. They must have had weak shells or were duds. She is managing to cover them completely by flattening herself out to make sure she keeps them warm enough.  We lift her once a day to make sure she eats and gets the chance to go to the toilet so everything stays nice and clean. She will usually totter around making a nuisance of herself with the other hens and getting quite aggro with them all. They usually respond with a bit of a peck and a chase so I have to keep an eye on her. She is not normally the most friendly hen I have, but she is lovely when broody and I get to give her a cuddle as she appreciates being given sole access to some tasty food offerings to keep her strength up.  I have also put a load of eggs in the incubator to time them when her chicks hatch so she can perform mother duties to an extended brood.