Category Archives: Allotments

Integrating the flocks

Posted on January 2, 2013 | Leave a comment

We’ve been maintaining two small flocks of birds for a while, corresponding to our two hatches of eggs early in the season. The first batch turned out to be 3 boys and 5 girls. We chose the best looking (in terms of Ixworth standards) of the cockerels, and culled the other two. The flock became known as “the allotment chickens”, because they were transferred to the allotment first, leaving “the garden chickens” behind for the time being. The garden chickens consisted of 2 cockerels and 4 hens.

We’ve now got just one big happy family.

096a
Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in Allotments, Poultry, Uncategorized

Tagged , ,

More chickeneering part 4 – happy chickens

Posted on November 8, 2012 | 1 comment

Well, I popped over early to the allotment to make sure all was well. It was, of course. This was the sight that greeted me:

Most of the chickens were enjoying a dust bath in the nice fresh woodchip

While a couple strolled unconcernedly about. It was as if they’d lived there ever since they left the brooder.

Just as a postscript, I mentioned in an earlier post that we’d been given some feeders and drinkers with the run. One of these was a bit large for our little flock, so we’ve passed it on to one of fellow allotment holders, Salvador, who has many more chickens than we do. He was delighted with it. But as I carried it into the allotment, it caused much amusement amongst the school run mums after one of the children asked me what it was for.

You can see why from the picture. Luckily chickens can’t read.

1 Comment

Posted in Allotments, Poultry

Tagged , , , , ,

More chickeneering part 3 – they’re in

Posted on November 7, 2012 | Leave a comment

The garden chickens moved to the allotment this evening.

I’d made the connecting bridge between the run and the house, so it was just a matter of fitting it and putting a few finishing touches to the arrangement. Why did it take me all day? These things always take longer than you think.


Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in Allotments, Poultry

Tagged ,

More chickeneering part 2

Posted on October 30, 2012 | 1 comment

But first, some gratuitous pictures of chickens enjoying a dust bath. It was a lovely bright autumn morning, and the cockerel dug himself a nice big hole in front of the feeder. The hens quickly ousted him, and he had to dig another hole nearby. Here they all are:


Continue reading →

1 Comment

Posted in Allotments, Poultry

Tagged , ,

More chickeneering part 1

Posted on October 30, 2012 | Leave a comment

At long last we’ve started to build a new allotment run to extend the space and to accommodate the garden chickens as they develop. The idea is to have two self-contained runs and two free range areas, but with the flexibility to combine or alternate the two.

When we bought our wonderful Maggie’s 24, we also acquired an old but serviceable Flyte so Fancy chicken house.


Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in Allotments, Poultry

Tagged , ,

Organoleptic testing of the Ixworths

Posted on October 17, 2012 | Leave a comment

We culled a couple of the cockerels at the end of August, leaving the one that looked as though it conformed best to Ixworth breed standards.

I know that this is a subject that can upset people, but we chose the Ixworths because they are a utility breed, and so they’re for meat as well as eggs.

We’d been on a course so that we understood how to despatch the birds humanely, and how to pluck and draw them properly. Thanks to Alison Wilson at Hook Farm.

Here’s the end product:

Because this was the first one that we’d cooked, we roasted it very plainly, with just a little rub of olive oil. It was absolutely delicious – chicken as it used to be. Some people think that home-produced chicken can be tough, but thanks to Alison’s instructions on letting the bird rest before drawing it, this was just firm, but not at all chewy.

A real success, and a real treat. Next year I might try raising some special purpose meat birds. We’ll have plenty of laying hens by then.

Leave a comment

Posted in Allotments, Poultry

Tagged , ,

Blackmoor Apple Tasting Day

Posted on October 15, 2012 | 1 comment

Blackmoor Apple Day has become an annual pilgrimage for us, keenly looked forward to as summer turns to autumn. Most of our fruit trees are from Blackmoor Nurseries; most, not all, only because we inherited a line of mature trees on the allotment.

You can see the green gazebos where the apple tasting
takes place in the background of this picture:


Continue reading →

1 Comment

Posted in Allotments, Woodworking

Tagged , ,

After the summer break

Posted on October 14, 2012 | Leave a comment

I’m afraid that I’ve taken a little time off over the last month, but the darker evenings bring an opportunity to resume.

The allotment has been hugely productive of apples, French beans, and runner beans. The raspberries, blackcurrants and gooseberries were pretty good, too. But the tomatoes were almost universally blighted. From over 70 plants, only two or three survived. Courgettes, gherkins, pumpkins, and squash all pretty well failed. We got a crop of onions, but many are rather soft, so they won’t keep too long.

Looking forward, the leeks look OK, although quite a few have bolted. They can recover from that, though. Cabbages and PSB are looking great, and brussels sprouts are coming on, albeit a bit late.

And we’ve been getting a surplus of eggs, although the rate of production is now slowing a little. We’ve actually sold a few, which contributes a little towards feed costs.

I always like to include a picture on each blog post, so here’s our egg label:

Leave a comment

Posted in Allotments, Poultry

Tagged

The allotment hens are laying!

Posted on August 22, 2012 | Leave a comment

Rather to our surprise, a couple of the allotment hens have started laying.


Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in Allotments, Poultry

Tagged , ,

Quail 3 – Success and Fail

Posted on August 6, 2012 | Leave a comment

I’ll start with our quail fail. When we returned from Church on Sunday morning, to our horror we were three down on the count in the brooder. We were conscious that the tiny birds could probably squeeze through the mesh, so we’d installed a cardboard wall. The chicks had discovered and widened a gap and made a bid for freedom.

The left hand corner was the weak point. We reinforced it at once to stop further escapes.


Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in Allotments, Poultry

Tagged , , , ,