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
We’ve swapped the chickens’ free range area from the pumpkin bed to an area under the fruit trees.
Posted in Allotments, Poultry
Tagged chicken keeping, free range chickens, Ixworth chickens
We went on a course today. The title says it all, really. “Kill, Pluck, Gut, and Bone”.
If we’re going to breed our own chickens next year, then all the boys and some of the girls will be destined for the freezer. Ixworths are, after all, dual purpose birds, and the meat is reputedly delicious. But if we’re going to raise birds for the table, then we need to be able to cull them humanely and efficiently.
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Posted in Allotments, Poultry
Tagged chicken keeping course, Ixworth chickens, meat chickens
Today we let the chickens out onto the pumpkin bed. Junior hen led the way:
The chickens have been confined to the safety of their run in the 8 weeks since they arrived. They have plenty of room (12 square metres) but there’s no doubt that Ixworths love to scratch. So on Saturday we plucked up courage to allow them out. The reasons for our trepidation were that they are very reluctant to be caught and picked up, and we had no idea whether they could and would fly over our rather flimsy fencing and head off over various allotments wreaking havoc as they went.
We needn’t have worried. They were as good as gold. We set up a “chicken patio” outside the main door of the run, about 3 metres square, and scattered a few tempting mealworms around the doorway. The cockerel was the first out:
The chickens have affected my behaviour in two previously unheard of ways. I’ve taken to skip diving and checking out the cheap shelf in Morrisons. All in a good cause, natch. And here are the four good causes:
Posted in Allotments, Poultry
Tagged chicken keeping, chicken treats, Ixworth chickens, treadle feeder
Well, yesterday the great day arrived, and we went to collect our four Ixworth chickens. I couldn’t take pictures of them yesterday evening, though, since they went straight into the coop on arrival, and have only been let out to explore the run this morning:
Posted in Allotments, Poultry
Tagged Ixworth, Ixworth chickens, Orego-Stim, treadle feeder
We’ve taken the plunge, and committed to buy a breeding four of Ixworth chickens.
The picture was commissioned by the creator of the Ixworth breed, Reginald Appleyard, from the artist Whippell. It shows his ideal Ixworth pair. I’ll be able to post an actual picture of ours when we pick them up in late August.
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