RoadKill

 Went along the drive ( to topup the eggs-for-sale box) 

And saw this 

 

 

Lots of feathers on the road...........................

And looking more closely 

Blood on the road 

And hunting around 

So someone came round the bend and the cockerels was out exploring  at just the wrong moment. 

 

It's usual to knock on the door and say "I'm really sorry , but ......."

Bit this driver didnt . 

 

Growing up , moving on .

 We had some surprise arrivals back in November. 

Since then , they have been growing up. Because of Avian flu they had to be kept apart ( wherever practicable, according to the regulations ) from wild birds, so they hae been in one of the larger chick runs. 

And they have outgrown the chick run . 

 And they are 4 cockerels. So they want to establish a pecking order. And they do that by  displays and pecking at each other. And the run is too small for 4 of them to be doing this . Ideally they would go onto the moor, along with the geese. But geese are aysmptomatic vectors of Avian flu, so they cant go there. 

So they have gone into one of our empty hen houses,  separated from the other of our poultry. They are locked in with food and water for 24 hours or so  as they learn where their new 'home' is. 

And we have done that  and now opened the henhouse to let them out to forage for food. 

But they dont know that. 

They are staying in the hen house 

 So ive removed the food. 

And put trail down the ramp  so hopefully they get the idea. 

 

Too many cockerels

We hatched a lot of chicks last year -  53 in total ,

The intention was always to become self-sufficient in chicken.  Weve been keeping the chickens through the winter. What we didn't realise is that they dont scavenge as well in the winter , perhaps something to do with the short days . And if they don't scavenge  then they will need additional feed or they will lose weight. So they have been getting  additional grain , which costs. And we suspect a ready source of grain has just attracted rats and other things to snack op the  available feed.

Ao we have decided that enough is enough. Its going to be a good few weeks before the days are long enough and its warm enough for the stuff that hens eat to  become more readily available. 

So over the last few days we've have been converting this

 into these

 There are a few intermediate steps. For those of a weak constitution who think  meat is laid into a blue polystyrene tray ready-wrapped in  plastic has best look away now.


You have been warned

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED 

. The chicken that comes in the blue polystyrene plastic is from broiler hens , who are killed at approximately 40 days. Here are details of broiler units ( from the farmers ) or here (from CIWF) . Our birds are approximately  6 months old. The birds need to be hung for a while.  

 

and before that they  need to be slaughtered and plucked. Thanks to a neighbour farmer its a life skill that has been picked up since we have been here ( its been a bit cold recently, hence the hat etc) but they still need to be plucked. Easiest to  do when the body is still warm .