the daydream fund challenge thread

lostinrates

I had a good compare of the chicks this morning. The incubator chicks are bigger...bu the outside ones are more active, so I daresay a lot of energy goes into that. When they do scamper, the outdoor ones are faster, more agile and a bit ''wilder'', but they will approach, because their mother is calm about it.

Indoor ones can be made REALLY tame...atm, I'm not spending much time with them, I feel bad about that because their environment is hardly ''enriched'' and without adult chicken lead ''personal development'' they benefit from interaction. This batch of indoors are alarmists...I go to change the water and it causes hysteria. More handling will improve this. They are a kind bunch though. The biggest was surprisingly gentle with later arrivals to to box.


I do love chicks!

CTC, do you recommend any ebay egg sellers?

This is a nice bunch. I've fallen for one inparticular....I'm hoping its a girl....is not got sex linked markings but it looks female and has early feathering.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

LIR..

i have had some good results and bad results with eggs on ebay..

I tend to do a search on their feedback, and see how many breeds they are selling, also at the end of the day, i look at the quality of the birds they got...

by the way there are a few partridge cochin eggs on ebay at the moment;):D

I was thinking of getting some blues or the lavendar splash eggs that are on ebay at hte moment, i have a lavendar splash hen and a black cockeral, they have been producing mainly blues and the odd splash, but i must have a thow back gene in htere, as sometimes i get a lavender splash with clean legs, no feathers at all......

my main pair are getting on a bit now, plus i mix the new stock in to my breeding

Lotus-eater

I wish you lot were close to me, I could really do with some new hens right now.

lostinrates

Lotus-eater wrote: »

I wish you lot were close to me, I could really do with some new hens right now.

That sounds sad...old flock or foxes???

Oh dear I really have to watch the ebay eggs now....I want java green peafowl now! And the cochins......

CTC, have you seen Sicialian Buttercups in the flesh? I like the idea of them but not seen one.

Also trying to decide on something other than maran for brown eggs this year.

choille

Many thanks for all your advice LIR & CTC. I'm gonna go for it. Seems a small thing but I have'nt bought owt as exciting as this is a long while. It's being funded by my declutter on ebay!

Lotus-eater

lostinrates wrote: »

That sounds sad...old flock or foxes???

My flock were killed by a badger last Autumn, I decided it wasn't a decent time to get some more and wait until Spring, I reckon that time is about now

lostinrates

choille wrote: »

Many thanks for all your advice LIR & CTC. I'm gonna go for it. Seems a small thing but I have'nt bought owt as exciting as this is a long while. It's being funded by my declutter on ebay!

Hurrah! Good luck. I love the octagon, its amazing how the rocking is liberating, and the digital display so easy!

lostinrates

Lotus-eater wrote: »

My flock were killed by a badger last Autumn, I decided it wasn't a decent time to get some more and wait until Spring, I reckon that time is about now

Oh poor you. The badger killed them all at once? We've lost some to badgers too, its very disappinting. Area we just left is very over populated with badgers: creatures I love but can cause a lot of damage when too many of them. My guess is that soon they'll start to look ropey as there simply ceases to be enough for them to live off...rural area means fewer bins too.

Lotus-eater

lostinrates wrote: »

Oh poor you. The badger killed them all at once? We've lost some to badgers too, its very disappinting. Area we just left is very over populated with badgers: creatures I love but can cause a lot of damage when too many of them. My guess is that soon they'll start to look ropey as there simply ceases to be enough for them to live off...rural area means fewer bins too.

Killed all 4 at once, I was down to four at that stage because of the fox depreciations the year before
At that time the badger(s) killed alot of chickens around here. I thought I had a wildlife proof coop, but it wasn't a badger proof coop...

lostinrates

Lotus-eater wrote: »

but it wasn't a badger proof coop...

They are very strong and determined. I've seen a railway embankment demolished within a working week when a cete of badgers did some home improvements. Astounding, it would have taken human workers and a mini digger at least as long.