Quite Simply, Chook Chat

[its hilly]

G4-I would have Ez back in a flash, but having someone else to care for does distract you. Luckily the yard owner is the best and buried her at the yard, in a field with his old friends. A lovely place. Hmm, like the car loan idea lol
After having yet another meeting with foxie I so feel for you. At least my visitor DID take all the bodies.
Petal..I cried laughing as I pictured your NF dumping daughter. Been there done that lol. I used to have a 13.2 welshie who was an angel with numpties but a demon in wings for those who had progressed enough.
There have been some superb buffs at Carlisle for very sensible money, you'll have to talk Dad into bidding for you. You know you want to
Jess, coffee? Much more fun with a fellow chookaholic to chat to. Will arrange times etc very shortly.

[petal]

my dad won't bid for me, he thinks i am mad.

[its hilly]

Well there were very low entries this time. And although there were a few buffs there were nothing like the usual amount and quality. There will be better in September.
I came away empty handed, sort of lol Jess and I met up for the day . Well we went for a last look round as everyone was packing up. As we walked past one cage it was empty bar for a lovely blue egg..(cream legbar)..I said I was thinking of taking it home and putting in the inci, Jess offered to put it under her broody, we giggled guiltily and after we carried on it was just empty . My fault I'm afraid. Then I walked past the pen the silver dorkings were in and there were two eggs. I did ask a steward and he said 'Well if they haven't taken them they will just get thrown out with the rubbish, or taken home for tea, you may as well have them. A lovely lady nearby saw me collect them and when I confessed to having deprived the stewards of their egg supper she laughed and gave me the egg her lovely gold brahmas had laid. Jess collected some as well so her broody has a lovely mixed batch, and we shall see if anything hatches. Such fun. I could have had at least half a dozen duck eggs too...

[jessmorris]

No you flippin' well couldn't! I draw the line at bladdy DUCKS! ;-))

[petal]

noo , love ikkle duckies!

[jessmorris]

Sigh.

Hmm, on second thoughts, maybe with orange sauce, roasties, spring greens, new peas....

[Munch]

Hiya

I thought I might share with you our new addition, he is handsome! We managed to snap him up to marry our Crele hen, who is supposed to be cuckoo!! (dont ya just luv the bay!)

We are now on the hunt for a couple more Crele Hens (Orpington LF) soooo if anyone knows anyone that can help.... much appreciation will dished out!

[petal]

Very pretty indeed.

[jessmorris]

He is, indeed, gorgeous.

[RichmondHens]

Well it's been a bit of a week ....... Started with losing my daughter's pet pekin to the fox (we think), then culled out four cocks (one redundant, one ill and two fighting each other all the time), then despatched one of the turkey stags (eating him tomorrow with friends). Reshuffle of hens due to cockerel losses but they have all taken it in their stride with no bullying. Then chicks and goslings hatching Wed/Thurs. 100% on the chick front, really chuffed with 3 out of 3 cream legbar pullets and 4 out of 4 Exchequer Leghorns all under one of my Buff Orps. Alas the goslings have not been so successful but have ended up with 3, one is being hand reared as had to have assisted hatching and not v strong, 3 others hatched well and went under hen but found one squashed dead this morning, which I think was probably my fault for putting it out before it was strong enough to evade great stomping Orp feet. The other two are doing ok though and have already wobbled out onto the grass and plucked at a few stalks. Also tucking into chick crumb and hard boiled egg. Still waiting for my turkey hen to go broody, the pile of eggs is growing daily, but no sign yet. Oh forgot, also finally culled our sex change Minorca hen, who has been growing more cock like each day after two seasons of excellent laying.

[petal]

Keeps you busy, doesn't it! i have had a disastrous duck hatch- 4 live out of 40 summit. Terrible- but I suspect a power failure had something to do with it... Never mind, got a pekin hen stoicly sat on 9 call duck eggs- fingers crossed!! The other pekin adopted the 4 surviving ducklings.
15/15 bronze turkey eggs fertile and very, very lively. Got 6 eggs sat on side I will try to sell, got lots of people wanting turkey eggs but didn't want to sell any until I knew the turkey stag was fertile.
Our pens are getting boggy, got wood chip being delivered tomorrow to top up- think that might be a paid teenage son job.....

[BarleySugar]

Getting the ladies to bed is quite funny really. 4 go into the coop on their own, Calypso has always roosted on top, but we've got her tame enough that when we call she'll walk along the roof, hop down and go inside. She knows where she should sleep, she just needs tucking in.
Yuki used to go in on her own, now she's decided to keep Calypso company. Tonight she walks along the roof, hops down and goes under the coop. Calypso goes in, then comes back out as if to say 'why are you still hanging around?'. Yuki finally goes in, followed eventually by Calypso. In the meantime, the others are all snuggled up on the same perch.
Still no eggs, although their combs are reddening now, and Suzi squatted when Son No2 stroked her this morning. They should be 20 weeks old now, so hopefully not much longer. I'm still hoping to get a couple of skylines, but money's a bit tight, so �44 for 2 more hens isn't a priority at the moment.
I found today they really like wallflowers, they were pecking at some bits I'd cut off, I was cleaning up a bit, and didn't realise what they were doing. All seem to be fine, so I suppose wallflowers are OK to eat, alongside violets and raspberry leaves.

[RichmondHens]

Oh Petal 4 out of 40, how disappointing for you. We candled some eggs last night that have been in the incy for about 6 days and all are blank. They are from the wives of the infamous Mr Jones our IG cock which doesn't bode well for him. Will try another batch just to make sure but if he's now infertile he's going to have to go. Shame, he's only 3 but he does seem more interested in eating than attending to his ladies I have to say.

[polo]

Disappointing for you Petal. And RH for your blank batch!

We are awaiting our friend with his 9 light sussex eggs to pop under the broody. How exciting! Have cleared day 21 so I can spend most of it with ear pressed to side of broody coop!!

And its a dry day here at last :-)

[elizajay]

Spudnick died last night.

Last year she was taken twice by an unknown predator and we got her back twice. Both times she was taken from the back to the front of the house and could only get there through (tight squeeze) or over a gate or by flying over the house. So I assumed it was a bird of prey. Both times she had the same injury around her neck next to her ear with swelling to her eye. Antibiotics sorted her out.

Yesterday evening I went out to put the chooks to bed at around 7:30 pm and found feathers everywhere. Some looked as if they came from one of the other chickens. I thought they had all been taken until my Japanese bantam called from the top of the trellis. I got her and put her in the run. She kept calling and 2 others came through the hedge from our neighbours, the other chook was safe being broody.

Spudnick was lying dead near the gate and looking at her there were no obvious serious injuries. The feathers were spread literally all over the garden. It looked like cat attack, something teasing and playing rather than going for the kill. I concluded that Spudnick probably died from fear/heart attack. There were 3 people in the house at the time, I had been out not long before and we were eating in the kitchen at the back of the house just before I found her.

The other chooks were so spooked they didn't come out of the house into the run until I went out and told them it was time to get up at 9:45am. Never done that before.

Any suggestions about the predator?

The feathers had almost all been cleared by wild birds by the time I got up. Good recycling.