Category Archives: Poultry

Incubation 8 days in

Posted on March 11, 2012 | Leave a comment

Well, we candled our eggs after 8 days. I suppose that it depends whether you’re a glass-half-full or a glass-half-empty sort of person as to whether the results were good or poor. Of our 17 eggs, 8 are developing normally.

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Posted in Allotments, Poultry

Tagged Brinsea OvaScope, Brinsea OvaView, chicken egg incubation, chicken embryo development, hatching eggs, Ixworth chickens

Our first egg incubation

Posted on March 3, 2012 | 2 comments

I’d planned to have started incubating our first batch of eggs by the end of February. If all three hens were laying, we should be able to collect 14 or so eggs in a week, which would make a reasonable load for our 20 egg incubator.

Alas, only senior hen is laying. The other two have seemed on the brink of starting to lay for weeks now, but no actual action. So I ordered eggs from two breeders, one in Lincolnshire, the other in Argyll & Bute. So there are 6 each of theirs plus 5 of ours in the incubator.

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Posted in Poultry

Tagged Brinsea OvaScope, Brinsea OvaView, candler, chicken egg incubation, P&T Poultry, R-Com 20 incubator, R-Com 20 Pro

Catching up with the chickens

Posted on February 29, 2012 | Leave a comment

I’m afraid that I’ve rather neglected the blog in recent weeks, so this is something of a catch-up. The snow and very cold nights inhibited the other two hens from coming into lay, so we still only have senior hen laying at a steady rate of two eggs every three days. The much milder weather that followed the wintry spell hasn’t yet persuaded either of the others to start again, although all three are the object of much attention from the cockerel.

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Posted in Allotments, Poultry

Tagged chicken keeping, Ixworth chickens, snow chickens, woodchip chicken run

The first egg of 2012

Posted on January 22, 2012 | 1 comment

Well, it’s finally happened. The chickens are coming back into lay, and on Saturday, we got an egg.

The first egg of 2012 in the nestbox

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Posted in Allotments, Poultry

Tagged breeders pellets, eggs, Ixworth chickens, layers pellets

Chicken Project 2 launches

Posted on January 9, 2012 | 1 comment

And so, the new year being a time for firm resolve, Chicken Project 2 is under way. We’ve been extremely pleased with our Flyte so Fancy house and run, and we’ll need another one alongside the first.

Here’s the site:

Looking from the south at the empty bed that the new run will occupy

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Posted in Allotments, Poultry

Tagged chicken house, chicken run, Flyte So Fancy, foxproofing, Ixworth chickens

When animal cruelty propaganda is harmful

Posted on January 3, 2012 | Leave a comment

A bit of a serious posting, this one. I’ve been burbling on about chickens for months now, ever since we decided to get them. But it wasn’t a trivial decision. I’ve never kept animals, as a child or as an adult. I had neither the time nor the inclination.

So I’m immensely aware of our obligation to treat our livestock properly and humanely. We’ve read as widely as we can, attended courses and lectures, and talked to experienced poultry keepers. We’re also acutely aware of the unpleasant practices of the poultry industry, and the impact that the laws and regulations intended for commercial farms have on domestic chicken keepers, not always for the better.

Before going on, here’s a picture of real and commonplace animal cruelty, taken at a French street market just before Christmas.

Turkeys at Desvres market, Christmas 2011

Spot the problem? No, neither did I at the time. More later in the post.
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Posted in Politics, Poultry

Tagged animal cruelty, Chicken Out, propaganda, turkeys

Grandpa’s Feeder

Posted on January 2, 2012 | Leave a comment

We had a lot of trouble trying to introduce the chickens to a treadle feeder. The one that we first bought was a cheapy – around £40. The idea of a treadle feeder is that it keeps the food clean and dry, and doesn’t present a temptation to vermin, while still making the food instantly available to the chickens.

You can see it in the picture below.

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Posted in Allotments, Poultry

Tagged Grandpa's Feeder, treadle feeder

We went to the Fed

Posted on December 30, 2011 | Leave a comment

aka the National Federation of Poultry Clubs Championship Show. I know that we’d only recently been to the National Show, but we were keen to further our knowledge, and the Fed is if anything even larger than the National.

And another jolly nice day it was. It was very similar to the National, about which I’ve recently written, so this entry is more of a story in pictures …

The entrance to the show, not yet busy as we arrived

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Posted in Allotments, Poultry

Tagged Derbyshire Redcaps, Federation Poultry Show, Ixworth chickens, Lincolnshire Buffs

The National Poultry Show

Posted on November 21, 2011 | 1 comment

The end of November normally marks a visit to the NEC for the Motorcycle Show, but this year we went to the National Poultry Show instead, because of our new interest in chickens.

What a super day out. We arrived in time for the opening at 10am, and didn’t leave until chucking out time at 5pm. This could easily become a diary fixture.
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Posted in Allotments, Poultry

Tagged Andy Marshall, Ixworth chickens, Martin Smith, National Poultry Show, Svart Höna