I found this when I got there this morning.
Looks like a rat tried to gnaw its way in. The inside of the coop was a mess so it may have got in but it wasn't there when I opened up. They didn't seem too put out about being kept in the coop for so long. I wedged the pop door open for the day...
It's finally happened.:clap
If she's having problems with the senior hens you may find moving her to a maternity unit worthwhile. What do you mean you haven't got one!:th:D
Perris mentions shutting her in during the day which works if you're prepared to take her off the nest to bathe, eat, etc...
All afternoon basically.:confused: Got a bit done on the plot. Watched a lot of chicken TV. Cool with a bit of sun.
My first plot veg. I don't know why but everything bolts. I got the spinach mainly because I cut the flowers off the top of the plants. Even the corriander has bolted.
More dad...
An odd day. I couldn't go to the field this morning. I spent the afternoon there from around 1pm with a half hour break for tea in the village.
I took them some blueberries and ham for supper.:lol: I took enough to make sure everybody got one. Giving them directly to the chicks would not only...
Rather sad in my opinion when a person with extensive experience in alternative feeds and a passion for the subject gets called a Troll by people who it seems know very little about the subject.
An hour this morning and three this afternoon. Quite cool at 11C but it stayed dry.
I've got three days worth of commercial chick feed left. I'm not going to buy any more. Mother Fret, is now actively discouraging the chicks to eat the chick feed. The chicks would be in the tray, or under...
Unfortunately yes, but the winged variety. I would like to be able to report they are angels but again unfortunately they're crows. They pull seeds and starter plants out, find out they're not to their taste and drop them elsewhere.:he
The onions are recovering well. I put in another row. The...
This gets next to zero interest here on BYC but as wound treatments go it definitely has it's place. I've treated wounds with a wash and pine tar that if seen by a vet would have been stitched. If you get to the wound quickly, clean it well and when everything is dry, slap on a good thickness of...
An hour this morning and three this afternoon. Mild, greyish but stayed dry.
Mow is back to egg laying. I'm going to have to take the eggs daily for the next few weeks to discourage Mow from going broody as soon as she's laid a few. Really need Frets lot to be independant before I consider...
That one finds a feature and lets the others know can be a real problem.
On the East side of the smallholding in Catalonia was a mainly oak wood going up the side of a steep rocky slope. One hen found section in the woods where the rock had split many years ago leaving a small gorge about 10...
02/06/2024
Two hours in the morning, three hours in the afternoon. Warm 22C dry and sunny.
Fret has been encouraging the chicks to eat the mixed seeds and grains rather than the chick feed.
I don't believe one can control egg laying with diet and keep the hen healthy. What one can do if ones hens go broody is let them sit for three days so their egg laying cycle switches off. Of course one has to deal with making them unbroody and there is lots of advice on how to do this and lots...
One and a half hours this morning and three this afternoon. Warmish while the sun was out.
The rescued chick isn't learning at the speed of the others. It's that noticable that if these were dawn to dusk rangers the chick would probably be dead by now.
The chicks loses easy contact with mother...
I don't feed chickens commercial feed if I can avoid it because it's crap.
Wait!:lol:
I eat a lot of crap. I'm reasonably well informed on nutrition and reasonably intelligent and I still eat stuff science indicates is unlikely to do me good.
I do try and eat an affordable balanced diet...
Per 100g
Energy
1159kJ (277kcal)
Fat
1.7g
of which saturates
0.4g
Carbohydrate
26.1g
of which sugars
5.7g
Fibre
33.1g
Protein
22.8g
Salt
0g
The above is for organic dried split peas.
They are a complete protein containing all nine essential amino acids, high in Lysine but...
An hour this morning and four hours this afternoon. It stayed dry and mainly cloudy at around 14C.
There is something about this particular area that makes a good dustbath. Each year this area, once I've weeded gets dug out by the chickens for dust bathing.
I makes small compost piles in the...