Posts Tagged beginners keeping chickens
Preparations for Breeding this Spring
Posted by Tim Daniels in Tim's Blog on January 20th, 2010
This is the time of year that I find the hardest. The chickens, ducks, and guinea fowl have all been (up until last weekend) in their ‘winter’ quarters, kept together in big groups but since the snow of early January melted, the runs are getting far muddier than I would like. It doesn’t help having clay soil, most of the water sits on the surface but fortunately there is a slope to the field and most of the surface water runs off.
My Abacot Ranger Ducks have started laying and this year I have a German strain that I imported to breed from. I’m getting the odd egg from my Copper Black Marans and Cream Legbars and I know it won’t be long before my incubators are full again.
Last weekend I decided it was time to separate the breeds back out again, ready for the breeding season. I like to leave the cockerels in with the hens at least 3 weeks to settle in before I test for fertility. My guess is that most of my birds will be laying by the end of February which is in 5 weeks time, enough time for them all to settle into their new homes and runs. I will start them on breeding rations at the end of this month, they are more expensive but do result in healthier / stronger chicks.
This year, I have decided to sell a few surplus eggs on Ebay. I don’t normally do this since I hatch most of my own eggs and by word of mouth have sold on any surplus birds but I’m thinking of hatching a little less this year to allow me to spend more time concentrating on hatching some goslings.
Keeping the Chickens together over Winter.
Posted by Tim Daniels in Tim's Blog on November 1st, 2009
During the winter, I put all of my different breeds of hens together in one big house and run that hasn’t been used over the autumn months. This is the nearest run to my house so it makes life easier when it comes to keeping water containers from freezing and provides the girls with some grass that hasn’t been grazed for a while. I do the same for the ducks and drakes, again, giving them fresh pasture and bringing them closer to home to make my job easier. The boys are kept together in another run, away from the hens which allows them to recharge their batteries and more importantly gives the hens a rest from their constant attention.
I’m often asked how I manage to keep a run of cockerels together because cockerels will fight. It’s straight forward enough if you keep docile breeds and providing you don’t hurry things too much and follow a few simple rules.
- First of all, cockerels are territorial, they will protect their ‘territory’ (usually their run) from others. Secondly, they are competitive so if there are hens around, they will compete with one another. I remove the hens so that they are out of sight, then I decide which house and run the boys will end up in. This has to be a run that hasn’t had any of the boys in recently – in other words, it is neutral territory. I open the door to this run as well as the door to the boys runs. They can slowly leave their territory and go into the neutral territory and meet. There are usually a few squabbles but often, they will stay in their own territory and providing there is sufficient space, ignore one another in the neutral territory as they explore it, they are fine.
- They still get fed and watered and continue to sleep in their own house, but there is food in the new ‘neutral territory’ run too. After 3 or 4 weeks, I find they are tolerating one another and will come for food together in the new run and I stop feeding them in their own houses.
- After another couple of weeks, I transfer them at night into the new house together and shut their runs so they are now all together in the new territory. The next morning, I always make sure I am there at first light but more often than not, there aren’t many serious squabbles. This house is neutral territory so none of them feel they need to protect it as their own territory.
The smaller ‘summer’ runs now get to rest for a while and with luck, the frosty weather will kill off any worm eggs or larvae that are living in the ground. Hopefully before we get any frost, the grass will recover a little, ready for late winter / early spring when I re-populate the runs. That is if I can keep the rabbit numbers down but that’s another story!
It wasn’t my idea, but it is turning into my obsession…
Posted by VickiW in Vicki's Blog on May 5th, 2009
The chickens were S’s (my husband) idea. But they are rapidly becoming a minor obsession of mine! And we haven’t even brought them home yet…
S has always wanted chickens, which was first randomly announced when we bought our first house together 5 years ago, in an area with restrictions that categorically stated no livestock! Wind on to last year and we got the keys to our new home. We’ve spent the last year bashing the house around and rebuilding it and generally making it our own and now its time for chooks!
Chillichick Chat!
Posted by chillichick in Alma's Blog on May 2nd, 2009
Alma AKA Chillichick!
Last year we (the bill payer, who will be known as BP from now on, and I) where looking around for a new house. We looked at quiet a few, one of them came with chickens……..
Hummm I always fancied keeping a chuck or two, the seed was planted. We didn’t get the house and we decided to stay where we were/are. September last year I said to BP that I fancied getting a couple of chucks for eggs, “ok” he said. Off we went looking for a “cute” chicken house.
