Hello world
- Thread starter British Red
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Bit early full stop Steve. We incubated a few eggs to test fertility of the new cockerel. Great fertility & its a shame to throw viable eggs away so we hatched them. There's a local farmers son - only about 12 - who is very keen on poultry. His Mum is happy for us to give them to him & loan him the equipment to raise them (brooder plate) etc.. So he gets the experience of raising some chicks & a few free chickens at the end. Winner, winner....Bit early for Easter
You've hooked him for lifeBit early full stop Steve. We incubated a few eggs to test fertility of the new cockerel. Great fertility & its a shame to throw viable eggs away so we hatched them. There's a local farmers son - only about 12 - who is very keen on poultry. His Mum is happy for us to give them to him & loan him the equipment to raise them (brooder plate) etc.. So he gets the experience of raising some chicks & a few free chickens at the end. Winner, winner....
That's the plan. People did these things for us, it's our turn to help the next generation to find their pathYou've hooked him for life
We used to have three large Incubators , huge box like things ( or they seemed so to me at a tender year of single digits.. ) , from the daily turning and 'lamping' of eggs to the patient waiting and ticking off of days until the little egg tooth cracks the shell and an exhausted head unscrews and attempts to meet the world.
I do think baby chicks are cute.
But baby ducks & goslings ... they are indeed even cuter!!!
I do think baby chicks are cute.
But baby ducks & goslings ... they are indeed even cuter!!!
We work very closely with the wonderful people at Brinsea (the finest incubator company in the world). As such they let us offer discounts & extra freebies on a lot of their range so if anyone ever wants an incubator, do DM me & I'll provide some codes!
These cuties were hatched in their latest tiny incubator for family use - a fantastic think that even controls humidity automatically. A great thing to have if you have children who get to watch the whole process!
Totally agree - baby ducks are adorable!
Yup, and better eggs and meat.
Lets see some ducklings on the go, British Red.
Lets see some ducklings on the go, British Red.
Sadly we don't tend to breed ducks - messy creatures! We get given quite a few drakes that we process for the table & we live in the best wildfowling territory there is h we can forage for duck!
Now they are cute compared to baby parrakeets or parrots we use to breed them and show , we really did want chickens when we moved here but well the street has 2 fox families that come and fight and love the food we all put out and plus i do love to see the cubs so we could not have them but we do now also have 2 stray cats that 1 came as a kitten when we had the beast from the east tiny little black ball of fluff fighting with the foxes for the food we put otu so in she came to the porch then the dinning room and last winter well another tiny little ginger kitten hidding from us only coming out to grab food then in to the bushes again but we gained her confidence yup she has now moved in and this fro ma man that said i hate cats lol and only likes dogs lol .
I dare not show my wife the chicks becasue it would be can we not just have a few lol , yup until the fox gets in and gets them
I dare not show my wife the chicks becasue it would be can we not just have a few lol , yup until the fox gets in and gets them
Whilst a determined fox can be a problem, we've thus far managed to prevent them getting at the chickens. A strong coop with an automatic door closer attached to a metal pop hole works well for us. Combined with an electric fence carrying 10,000 volts we've kept them out to date. Of course, never say never
Your very right but the electric fence would be a no for me on the grounds of a pacemaker lol yup had one shock but luckily i was on a ladder with rubber soles and it just threw me off so got lucky , but also my mate had chickens and his dad had what was best called colditz and after a few failed attempts the fox found a way in all chickens died it killed say 8 out of 12 left 4 so injured they had to be put out of pain and the cockrel it left just the head whcih was the funny part , but again with our health issues looking after birds would be a littlep ush to far we have 2 stray cats lol that now own the house and well the foxes come and we have loads of other wild life and what with the garden and veggie growing chickens would be to much , when we were younger we use to keep hundreds of parrots and parrakeet and we would spend each weekend washing and cleanign the flights out food pot scrubbing and so on most days was feed day during breeding season and off season it was every other .
I think if we had made the jump to a rural area when younger we would have gone on the small holding route but then a major accident took that away but life is what it is and you do what you can i guess .
I will love reading on your chicken exploits and yup the good lady saw the chick and went awwwwwwwwwwwwww why not and tried the batting the eye lids i just looked and said you think , oh edit we do have one up on that we have ducks geese moorhens coots and swans and yup the heron is back and now a pair of greebes all at the bottom of the garden
There's definitely ways around fox problems, for example we work with a company that makes unbelievable walk in runs. The uprights are like galvanized scaffolding poles and they can cover them in half inch weld mesh - including a no dig floor and tunnel skirt. A Wolverine with a thermal lance couldn't get in one! I do get the health issues though - all these things need a lot of effort & time. As you say, we do what we can!
