Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

Katharine

Any update on how many you have yet?

Mojisola

DON79 wrote: »

:rotfl: he is definitely not for the pot! but seriously, if he does start crowing, then I am putting him up for adoption! He is not going back to bro in law who would have him in the pot as he has too many cockerels.

Be very careful who you rehome him with. People who are in to c*ck fighting look out for adverts for young cockerels. They are used as sparing partners to train their fighting birds.

We would rather give our cockerels a short and happy life than risk them going to people like that.

Frugaldom

Hi guys Yesterday's wee chappie seemed to be one of only two last night - Cuddles and Snuggles - but I didn't name them. Today I see another 3 empty shells but it's been such miserable weather that I'm scared to move mum to look in case the eggs are still hatching and get chilled. I'm assuming we have at least 5 now, but she was sitting on an absolute mountain of eggs, so the cooloer ones may take longer to hatch.

Re Fife, when I said pass within 100 miles of us, I meant when crossing the border LOL I'm in the southwest corner, about 30 miles from the Irish ferry port. Fife's quite a bit from here

I do wish I could bring myself to fatten the cockerals for our own freezer, it would be so much cheaper. But as long as I get enough to cover the cost of buying a chicken from the supermarket, all's fair in my book I'm still hopeful there won't be too many cockerals, like maybe some warp in the temperature made only the females hatch LOL

Will check nest box once more after dinner if the rain goes off and then it'll be a case of waiting until tomorrow.

Katharine

Sorry I just assumed you were northerly like me!

We tried eating one of our cockrels, the flavour was lovely the texture was disgusting! The ferrets had the other one as he was undermineing Lyall, (and making too much noise), who is a wonderfully careing chap, always looking out for his girls. I love the "here's some food, you have it" noise he does. They all seem happier now Dinner has gone, although he was a handsome chap, but aren't they all?

I'll have to post a pic of my chooks, they must be mixed breed, but certainly some sussex in there I believe.

DON79

Hi, my cockerel has done a quarter/semi sort of crow this morning! :eek: He promptly got told off and told that if he starts a proper crow then he has to go! He has also started to grow longer side feathers near his tail which is going to give him a lovely stripey plumage when it all grows in!

I am not sure he is a very brave cockerel, the head hen - a total bossy boots - pecks him loads!

Have you found out how many chicks you have yet Nykmedia?? Please post more pics when you get the chance, they are so cute!

Donna

Frugaldom

Hi HenFriends

Broody hen managed to hatch out 8 of her eggs in total and I've tried my very best to get a photograph of them all, but to no avail. Here's the best I can get, so far.


Friend has just sent me the sales returns from last week's poultry auction, so I'm about to have a look at that and find out what a chicken's worth on a good day at market.

Edited in - just read the sales report for Thainstone (Aberdeenshire)! My little flock here comprises the 5 Wyandotte X hens plus a growing flock of Araucanas, Silkies, Pekins and Coturnix Quail... quoting from the report, top prices during the sale:

"Poultry: Araucana Pullets £150; White Call, Baikal Teal Ducks £150; Baikal Teal £150; Croad Lanshan £130; Buff Cochin Trio £120; Buff Orpington chicks £110; White Crested Poland Trio £110; Indian Blue Peahens £100.
Eggs: Wyandotte £45; Silver laced Wyandotte, Bronze Turkey, Wheaten Maran, Buff Orpington £30; Call, Courtinix Quail £28; Black Indian Runner £25; Barnvelder £25; Cuckoo Maran £25."

HOW MUCH????!!!! :eek::eek:

Gigervamp

Blimey!!!!

Love the photo!

hungrynurse_2

how much do people pay for feed & straw on a weekly/ monthly basis? Do they need a special feed or just kitchen scraps?

As for the other side of it, how many eggs come from a young & healthy hen a week?

Thinking of it, but need to convince the wife! Wondering if this might swing it!

DON79

Hi hungrynurse, we have only just started getting eggs in the past couple of weeks, getting at least one a day from three hens but they are still young and I think only one is actually laying as yet.

We bought a 20kg bag of corn and am sure it only cost £5/£6 and its lasted for a couple of months so far with plenty left. We give them vegetable scraps and some bread but according to my hubby you should not give them any cooked foods and no meats obviously. Am not sure about the straw but you can easily get that at places like Pets at Home etc.

Funny today - I went out with the potato peelings unaware that our hen which is laying was actually in the coop laying, so I put the peelings in and she came bolting out of the coop to get the peelings! She came so fast she brought her egg with her and actually laid it in the run! :rotfl:

Frugaldom

Hi guys,

Welcome hungrynurse If you get good, point of lay (advertised as POL) pullets about 18 - 20 weeks old then they should lay you an egg a day for about 10 out of the 12 months, reducing/stopping whilst the birds moult. That's the stage you can get the cheap ex-battery hens - at point of moult when first season of laying is ending, so egg production will be reduced for a while and then they'll start again. You might not get a guaranteed egg every single day from them after that, though. I get about 5 eggs per week per bird from mature hens that freerange in the garden. They refuse to eat the vegetable scraps, preferring slugs, snails, worms, flies, grass and whatever else they can gain access to at the time. Hens are not vegetarians, but, to my knowledge, it's illegal to feed them household scraps containing meat products, especially if you intend selling eggs etc. You can feed them leftover cooked veggies, rice, pulses & stuff like that, though (Edited in - please check this for your area, as per Katharine's post, I hadn't heard it was illegal to feed veggies etc if they've been prepared in the kitchen, apologies for that.) . Loads of info online about diets for chickens, do a little research before making up your mind. Good luck, hope you join the 'chicken club' soon.

I pay between £6 and £8 for the large sacks of mixed grain, pellets, mash and chick crumbs but my couple of hens has now become a rather large flock with all the chicks around just now. I haven't bought eggs for some time, now but I still have to buy chicken out the supermarket. :rotfl:

Edited in - apparently everything is working just fine with the Pekin bantam - 2 of the extra eggs I stuck under the broody hen appear to have hatched amongst the 8 - it isn't difficult to tell which are which - fluffy legs are a real giveaway!