[amalthea]

Ishmael, on 11 July 2011 - 08:45 AM, said:

Are they femmed?

Best of luck with them. I used to keep a few hens but the foxes did seem to get brave after the hunting ban, popped over a six foot fence in the middle of the afternoon (Luckily I saw him and chased him out but I have lost a few hens to foxes in the past) so I couldn't let the dear girls out in the daytime. I gave them to someone with a dog who lived in a garden kennel - that will usually discourage Foxy.

ETA yep bantams will be happy in a permanent run.

Yeah they really need to introduce fox culling, there must be some kind of high pressure air gun with lethal tranqualiser which would do the job nicely in cities. I might try poison bait if the foxes get too bold or too many.

I'm planning a permanent run, bantams are tiny. I'll also let them free range when someone is in the garden. I've now decided to get the chicks once sexed and at about 6 weeks old. Much easier for a first timer. The future plans are to breed them myself, larger birds such as Marans or Brahmas for the meat. They'll be killed soon as they reach a reasonable weight. I'll be using a automatic incubator so no manual turning or broody hen required. The eggs (50pence each) will be bought online (ebay) ready fertilised so no noisy cock needed either.

I'm weaning myself off commercially raised meat and growing my own quality , fine textured and rich tasting meat In theory it sounds easy, Aside from a couple of miniature show hens I'll have no permanent flock. Each individual batch ive incubated and hatched will be quickly killed soon as they're young tender adolescents.

This is going to be a fun project for a city boy I blame growing pot. The media/givernment is right, Cannabis is a doorway drug into a life of vegetable growing and raising rare breed chickens

I never should have joined this site

Amalthea

[Ishmael]

Yep no-one needs a noisy cock.

Best of luck with them. Poultry are nice to have around I think. They look nice, make nice shapes as they move around, cluck peaceably, and if they get enough greens the eggs are gorgeous! I used to sleep with the window open so I could hear the little clucky noises they made in their sleep, yes I was in love with a Rhode Island Red.

[wildbill]

See my avvy, thats a "showgirl" breed silky.

e2a:nice plan amalthea, good luck with it.

silkies are not particularly frequent egg producers. or much meat on 'em. But they (females)are very sweet, friendly, extremely broody & excellent for children imo.

This post has been edited by b.wild: 12 July 2011 - 08:57 AM

[farmer boy]

b.wild, on 12 July 2011 - 08:50 AM, said:

silkies are not particularly frequent egg producers. or much meat on 'em. But they (females)are very sweet, friendly, extremely broody & excellent for children imo.

they have a tendancy to get board half way through sitting there eggs and leave them to die ! had it loads of time when i keeped them so much so that i stoped them from sitting eggs as it was a waste of time

peace out farmer boy

[GrowStar]

farmer boy, on 10 July 2011 - 08:28 PM, said:

...get some chick starter crumb or crumed up boiled egg and make sure tey have access to water...

peace out farmer boy

Wow, is that not, well, just evil? Can you really feed a chick a bit of boiled egg??? It seems slightly ghoulish to me (although I know nothing of farming and am addressing a post from Farmer Boy...)

Is it because the nutrition is identical to what they were born from and these eggs aren't fertilised? Its not cannibalistic like in the same way bonemeal was fed to cows (I never liked the sound of that! Suppose we all see where it went in the end). I'm trying the get into more agriculture and self-sufficiency too, there's a lot I need to know!

[Mephitis]

amalthea, on 11 July 2011 - 03:49 PM, said:

Ishmael, on 11 July 2011 - 08:45 AM, said:

Are they femmed?

Best of luck with them. I used to keep a few hens but the foxes did seem to get brave after the hunting ban, popped over a six foot fence in the middle of the afternoon (Luckily I saw him and chased him out but I have lost a few hens to foxes in the past) so I couldn't let the dear girls out in the daytime. I gave them to someone with a dog who lived in a garden kennel - that will usually discourage Foxy.

ETA yep bantams will be happy in a permanent run.

Yeah they really need to introduce fox culling, there must be some kind of high pressure air gun with lethal tranqualiser which would do the job nicely in cities. I might try poison bait if the foxes get too bold or too many.

I'm planning a permanent run, bantams are tiny. I'll also let them free range when someone is in the garden. I've now decided to get the chicks once sexed and at about 6 weeks old. Much easier for a first timer. The future plans are to breed them myself, larger birds such as Marans or Brahmas for the meat. They'll be killed soon as they reach a reasonable weight. I'll be using a automatic incubator so no manual turning or broody hen required. The eggs (50pence each) will be bought online (ebay) ready fertilised so no noisy cock needed either.

I'm weaning myself off commercially raised meat and growing my own quality , fine textured and rich tasting meat In theory it sounds easy, Aside from a couple of miniature show hens I'll have no permanent flock. Each individual batch ive incubated and hatched will be quickly killed soon as they're young tender adolescents.

This is going to be a fun project for a city boy I blame growing pot. The media/givernment is right, Cannabis is a doorway drug into a life of vegetable growing and raising rare breed chickens

I never should have joined this site

Amalthea

Pleasse don't put poison bait down, just make sure your chicken run is uber-secure and fox proof.