The Wall

The wall . 

  So the hens were managing to jump over the wall. 

So ive raised the wall. 

So that seems to have stopped them hopping up 

:-)))

The Inside Hens

 

 

 So in line with the diktats about Avian flu, we have  been able to house the new lot of hens inside the greenhouse which , fortuitously , was erected in the autumn. 

 

 

 

 

  And ive fixed up some lights - and a result !

 

 

A surprise

 I went to give the hens some food. 

And i saw this 

Egg prodcution goes down at this time of the year anyway . And the hends are getting elderly , so we assumed that one missing had been got by an otter, or stoat, otr just died in the undergrowth somewhere. 

But  she hadn't. There were  4 chicks with her.  ive had a hunt and cant find the nest and broken shells.  So its nowhere really close to where they were found/fed. And we assume more than 4 hatched but they succumbed on the way - fell down a hole, or into a stream  or got lost in the vegetation . 

Survival  chances wouldn't be great this time of the year - there are plenty of predators around and chicks arent well-endowed with intelligence. 

So we rounded them up  and brought one of our chick runs back into action  and mother and 4 chicks are protected and doing well.

 

Hen lights

 Egg-laying is related to length of daylight. And as daylight hours have fallen, so has the number of eggs . 

So we are trying some artificial lighting to see if we can boost production ( and hence sales !) 

First, a battery .

 

 And a waterproof container to keep it in. 

And I need a timer . The lights need to augment the start of the day . Giving them light after they have roosted , which then goes off  and then daylight comes confuses them ( if such a thing is possible) and doesn't lead to increased laying .

 

 

 

 

And there is a manual override to prove it works !

 

An its in  place.

We'll see how it goes - i can always add a 2nd internal light  or put some low-wattage external spotlights outside. 

moving out

The Buff Sussex chicks that we started in the incubator in March  have continued to grow and are not out in the big wide world.
They are still in a run , but out on the grass.
We will need to sort out the males and females  in due course

Stepping up

As we are selling eggs, and there is a bit of a run on eggs , we need to increase production.

Over the last couple of weeks we have been getting 8-12 a day.
But we need more  at this time of crisis

So I went and had a stern word with the hens.

And today

















21  in total .

Long may it continue.

Buff Sussex

So we got the rescued hens that are laying well .

But we've got a few others around the place -some Buff Sussex breed - good for eggs and meat

and we've decided we want a few more - for eggs, for meat, and possibly for showing  at the Agricultural shows and for selling.

And as we have an incubator, we got some eggs from a couple of different breeders

As expected

We moved a bale of hay.

And  as expected

And on closer inspection

 
Actually 6 eggs  - probably laid over about 10 days.  Still fresh  by supermarket standards 
But as we dont know the dates on which they were laid, we are not going to sell them .

Who knows , we may find somewhere else the hens have been going to lay eggs !


'F

Escape route found

so ive finally caught them at it !

One or two have been getting out of the run whenever we have gone into the shed. When I've  hung around to see if I can catch them at it ,they have stayed put. But not this time !

 so some more netting and see if that stops them !

And with a 60W standard lamp ,n form 10pm  to 8 am, we are getting between 3 and 5 eggs per day. The similar group of hens that are outside aren't laying yet.

Escapees

So we are doing  quite well on the egg front. Between  3 and 7 per day . With a standard lamp on a timer.  It comes on at 10 pm ( so they have roosted for ~6 hours) and then off at 8.30  am ( as it starts to get light

But they are clearly getting bored

and i think they have been  getting out here 

 So tie the netting up a bit tighter and see what happens. 

And 4 eggs today - unless the ones that have got out have laid somewhere else and we will discover some rotting eggs in the summer when all the hay has gone . 

Result !

So we brought the hens inside, and are giving them additional light.

And we have an egg !

Well, only one, but we can hope  it's a start.

And this is close to the Winter Solstice.
The shortest day  has been the 21st December for the last few years - this year it's the 22nd December  , and the day is one second shorter than the 21st.

And here is similar data for London  - that place 'Doon Sooth'

So things on the up from tomorrow !

Indoor hens

We have had quite a lot of rain  so far this winter . Its a bit muddy . Just as muddy as it was in 2015 

And we have moved one of the hen houses to make it more accessible in the winter . But this means that we are walking over the same ground . Did you know that you can get standing water on a slope ?

And the hens are in this bit. And theyu have stopped laying - related to the hours of dalylight ( not a lot up here) at this time of the year and there isnt a lot fo food avaialble to them - bugs dont grow in mud and cold

So we have brougth some of them inside.

We can feed them , give them additional light and hopefully get them back into lay . So a run, constructed with sheep hurdles and netting , some nesting boxes, and food and additional light ( on a timer) and we shall see what happens over the next week or so

More hens

The hens are getting old - and as they get old they dont lay as frequently. And  producing eggs is light-dependent and as the days shorten , we get fewer eggs.  And none for the past 2 weeks.

So something must be done.

And we heard that the British Hen Welfare Trust  were sending some rehomed hens to Orkney.
We've had  resuced hens before. So for a donation to BHWT we are restocked.

So our 20  need fetching -  they are part of a consignment that came up on the boat from Aberdeen.

And its 5 to a box.

And after overnight in their new accommodation they get to explore their new surroundings .

Or perhaps not. For mass-produced chickens they dont get to go out much. So these have spent the day hanging around the henhouses. over the next weeks they will gradually get the hang of exploring and foraging for food. .

And the other thing about mas-produced hens is they are a bit deficient onthe feathers front.
This lot arent too bad. Some we have had in the past have been feather-less

Its mild at the moment so its not so criticla if they dont know how to go into the henhouse at night .

And we got 14 eggs over the last day and a half !