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 !

 

 

you lose some , you win some

We put some eggs to hatch at the end of January 

We were expecting them to start to hatch a few days ago. But nothing has happened  and no signs of activity Unfertilised eggs make a sloshing sound when you shake them gently and we identified one that was like this. But the others ? 

Well, we have waited to see what happens. They were stored in the barn - a suitable cool place and weve put them there before whilst collecting a batch to incubate all at the same time .

But this time ? Nothing. 

So I cracked one open to see what has happened 

Speaking to friends in the Lake District with chickens, they had eggs that were outside freezing  and cracking open. ut that didnt happen to ours . So we are assuming that they got just cold enough to interfere with the germination and growth of the very early embryo. 

But the good news is that the eggs we put to incubate a week later have  started to hatch. 

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. 

Hopefully doing better this time

The turkey has been laying eggs , as reported at the start of the month 

And now she has started sitting on them .  The nest is in the middle of the clump of rushes  - the same place as last year. 

Tiger , the male, is taking his responsibilities seriously and ptrolling up and down , threatening off any intruders 

We hope he's got the hang of it this tine, unlike last year 

More eggs

last year and Lily  laid and then sat on eggs.  Which unfortunately came to to nothing


 And she is laying again , in the same place

So far 5. If the chap has got the hang of things this year it will hopefully be  bit more productive than last year.


And its not just her.

The geese have continued to lay

 so we hope the female starts to sit and we will have geese in addition to whatever comes from the 9 eggs in the incubator.

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.

9am update

 One


And (hopefully)  counting

Coming soon

Hopefully.

Some chicks

We take the automatically rotating thingy out of the incubator a few days before they start to hatch .

And there is an egg that rattles when its shaken, which indicates its not got a chick inside it

And the rest are just waiting .

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.

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 !

the eggless turkey nest

So there have been a couple of ravens around , and the hoodies ( hooded crows) , and the turkey nest is empty .
1 +1 = ?
 Adn weve found some empty, broken eggs

and te nest is empty of eggs

so ive added some netting to see if that dissuades the maruaders.

Turkeys-to-be

We hatched some turkeys last year 

The aim was to have turkey for Christmas, but it didnt actually happen - we#ve ende dup keeping them.
And we have a him-turkey and a her-turkey.

Tiger - the him-turkey

 And Lily , the her-turkey has been busy

There is nest in the rushes.

And getting a bit closer :

We will have to wait and see if we end up with any turkey-lettes

in the paper (again)

Egg update

between 5 am on Friday and 2pm on Saturday ( when a neighbour was passing and noticed the lid was off and the box empty), money was removed.
There were 2 boxes of eggs for sale , so we assume 2 x £1.50 + 50 p float = £3.00 was removed.

As we are a mile off the main road, someone has driven up, stopped their car, removed te money and then gone on their way.    It probably  cost them more in car use and petrol than they have taken from the honesty box.