The Chicken Daily

hester doing chicken agility in the field

2011-09-30T14:51:00.000-07:00

Looks like Hester's owners are having a lot of fun with their pet, have you ever tried chicken agility?

Another moveable chicken house

2011-04-05T01:01:00.001-07:00

I like the idea of easily moveable chicken houses with integral runs. The chickens can be moved around the garden to fresh grass. If rats move in (as sometimes happens) everything can be picked up and moved and the rat holes safely baited with poison without posing a risk to the birds. But due to the inevitable size restrictions I do feel that chickens kept in this type of housing should be allowed time out of their pen to free range the garden.

Moveable Chicken House

2011-03-02T14:47:00.001-08:00

There seem to be as many different styles of chicken house as there are different breeds of chickens.

This one has wheels so that it can easily be moved around the garden.

Not as stylish as the chicken ark but then I'm guessing it's not as heavy either.

The Poland or Chamois Bantam

2011-02-21T14:26:00.000-08:00

I was very taken by these Chamois Bantams on a recent visit to Norfolk Lavender

and was sorely tempted to add to my little flock of Bantams.

But I have to say that if I had some they wouldn't be looking nearly as lovely as these because it's just so very muddy here at the moment and I really can't imagine myself finding the time to tie those crests up ( see below). So for now I'll just enjoy looking at someone elses beautifully kept birds.

History

Known in England as the Poland, this is the most popular of the crested breeds. It is also one of the oldest. The origin of this bird and its name is still not clear. Crested birds have been described all over Europe, not just in Poland. It has been known as a pure breed as early as the 16th century. They appeared and received classification at the first poultry show in London in 1845. Then available in four colours.

Behaviour

The Poland is an unusual and beautiful bird. They do look rather strange with their big hair do! They lay a good number of white eggs. Generally classed as a non-sitting bird, they can occasionally become broody. Breeders tend to tie the crest up to keep it clean and allow the bird to see well. The Poland has a thin skull and can suffer from hypothermia quite quickly in the cold. Mites need to be looked out for, as they cannot preen themselves very easily to remove them.

Varieties

Colours of the Poland are very varied. The best known being the white crested black with its black body and white crest. The other two similarly patterned colours are white crested blue and white-crested cuckoo. These three colours do not have a beard and have wattles; all the other colours have a beard with no wattles. They have white earlobes. The crest of the female should be very round with the males being spikier. The eyes are red in all colours and beaks and legs are dark blue in all except the white crested cuckoo, which has a paler beak and legs. The chamois, gold and silver are all laced.

Francine Raymond moves

2011-02-18T00:54:00.000-08:00

I was sorry to discover that Francine Raymond has moved from Troston, The Kitchen Garden one of those places that I always intended to visit (one day). I suppose this should be a lesson learned, not to put off what can be done today....

Unusual chicken house or how to upcycle a caravan

2011-02-13T01:15:00.001-08:00

No I haven't been on holiday just an apalling blogger but now that Spring appears to be in the air me thinks that I'll be rather more inclined to catch some of the chickeny goings on for the blog.
I thought I'd kick off with this rather fetching chicken residence recently spotted in a friends orchard it's a bit battered but it keeps the chickens dry and safe from foxy loxy that is unless he tries to enter through that broken window.
Anyway that rooster seems quite proud of his new des res!

Herding Turkeys

2010-07-27T03:44:00.001-07:00

I've been meaning to show you all photographs taken at The Village Show for ages now, finally got round to posting them over at Renaissance Life divided into several seperate posts so hopefully they won't take to long loading. Pop over and take a look at sheepdogs, vintage cars and lots of heavy horses.

The Private Life of Chickens

2010-07-15T12:37:00.000-07:00

"There are more of them on this planet than any other bird. 24 billion in fact.
They are the closest living relative to Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Yet we know little about the lives of chickens. Is there really a pecking order in the farmyard?
Are they truly bird brained or are they quite clever? What does all that clucking mean? Why do some birds change sex?
Farmer Jimmy Doherty wants to know and he spends a week on a Devon farm to discover just what goes on behind the hen house door."

From Edinburgh International Science Festival

How did I manage to miss this, by not looking in a TV guide that's how.

Oh well I'm thinking it will be repeated or there is always BBC i player.

You'll have to tell me if it's worth watching, please...

The plight of commercial free range hens

2010-07-06T01:57:00.000-07:00

John from Going Gently was recently given some battery chickens to, I believe, fatten up as meat birds, he is calling them "Ghost Hens". Go over and take a look, then come back here and see what commercially reared free range hens look like at a year old when they are due to be culled.

These hens were purchased, by a friend of ours, from a free range farm for £2.00 each. The ones he didn't buy were packed in crates and sent for slaughter.

Not sure if these photographs show clearly enough but these hens are frightened of the open space and are huddling round their house. You can see they are in a dreadful state.

A few years ago we "rescued" some ex battery hens and even they weren't in such a bad state as these poor things.

If an individual kept chickens in their gardens and allowed them to get in this state I would imagine the RSPCA would take them away and probably even prosecute and yet this is acceptable for commercially kept chickens.

Most of us are willing to pay a premium for free range eggs believing that the birds have a better quality of life than caged birds, unfortunately it still isn't good enough and the public are being led up the garden path with images of beautiful hens happily clucking around a field.

If anything hi-lights the need to produce our own eggs (and meat if you are so inclined) by keeping a few chickens in the garden I think these hens do.

If anyone would like to use these photographs to hi-light the plight of free range hens then please feel free to do so.

Midsummer Roundup

2010-06-26T04:04:00.000-07:00

We're at Midsummer and what a glorious week it's been hasn't it?
Last night we were at Houghton Hall for a concert and we picniced on the lawn, the evening was just perfect.
What a wonderful setting this would be for a Vintage Party, and what a perfect place to sip homemade elderflower cordial or champagne.
Our Midsummer flower of choice this week was the wild honeysuckle it smells devine especially in the evening.
The roses are marvellous as well right now giving us the perfect excuse to blog a favourite poem, You love the roses - so do I.
And whilst we are on the subject of flowers we've found a delightfully pretty necklace for little girls called the Annabel Necklace of course we blogged about it at Renaissance Children's Notebook.
Not much blogging going on here at The Chicken Daily but rest assured that the girls are all fine and enjoying the sunny days, that photograph above is of them dust bathing, we'll catch up with them again soon....

Just for fun

2010-06-10T04:50:00.000-07:00

This is what a chicken looks like if you are a worm.

thought this mildly amusing, found on the Omelet website.

Chicken Ark

2010-05-18T04:53:00.001-07:00

I like the idea of this movable ark and that ramp can be hauled up at night for safety.

Interesting Chicken House

2010-05-13T05:03:00.001-07:00

Bit of innovative recyclying here by Granary Poultry

a chicken house made from a plastic barrel.

Announcing A Week of Flowers at Renaissance Little Green Book

2010-05-02T09:30:00.000-07:00

This week we've decided to post a spring flower everyday on our other blog

Renaissance Little Green Book

maybe you'd like to pop over and take a look?

Today's post is Plum Blossom

Keeping Quail

2010-04-27T04:52:00.001-07:00

John Gray asked for some more about the quail, so this is for you John:

Ours are the Japanese Coturnix quail and they were actually my Mother's Day present last year. They are housed in an old rabbit hutch, a v. large hutch not one of those small things that the rabbit can't turn aound in.

Quail will fly straight up if startled thus making it well nigh impossible to keep free range, for their own saftey. They like to scratch around the floor and don't need flying space.

They lay throughtout the Spring and summer, usually one egg a day each, sometimes two. I'm told that one can tell which quail layed which egg by the markings on the egg as they are always the same. They don't go broody and they won't sit on their eggs so if you want to hatch them you'll have to use an incubator or a bantam.

We sell our surplus eggs at the farm gate for £2.00 a dozen. We don't have that many so we'll never make a fortune but I guess they pay for themselves. We find that lots of people want the eggs for hatching, ours aren't fertile as we don't have a cock bird. It would appear that they are primarily hatched as food for raptors, in fact our birds were destined for owl food when we bought them. I understand that they are culled at six weeks.

They are endearing little characters and their call is quite charming however they really, really don't cope well with stress of any kind.

Stressful situations like overcrowding can lead to agression which if blood is drawn can end in canabalism. If you have a sick bird I'd always recommend seperating it before the others literally peck it to death.

We have a "sick bay" where three hens now live peacefully together, each one of them had to be removed from the main hutch for a variety of reasons and it seemed safer not to try and re-introduce them when they were fully recovered.

They are fed on chick crumb, layers pellets, seed, corn, scraps etc. They love a bit of greenery and I actually grow chard and spinach near their hutch just for them.

The hutch has flower pots turned on there sides for little resting places, leylandii branches for shelter and some old CDs/DVDs hung from the caging to give the quail something to peck at rather than each other.

They do need constant access to water which can lead to a bit of a problem as they will walk in the water.

The wet feet then pick up bits and before you know it you can end up with a quail with a ball of "soil" set like concrete on it's toe. This has to be carefully soaked and removed or the bird will end up losing a toe.

That's all I can think of for now, hope it helps.

Weekly Roundup

2010-04-18T06:01:00.001-07:00

For the first time we took part in Today's Flowers which is such a nice idea that we think we'll make it a regular post at Renaissance Little Green Notebook

Another first was the rather ludicrous photograph of one of our Silkie Bantams here at The Chicken Daily and talking of firsts our eldest son exhibited some of his photographs in a gallery for the first time. There is a photograph of his photographs on the website http://www.renaissanceshop.co.uk/ in the What we are doing section.

Whilst we are on the subject of photographs isn't the one above adorable?

It's of Charles the baby red squirrel who fell from his nest.

Red squirrels aren't the only wildlife in need of a little help so we were pleased to be able to use the Renaissance Newsletter to help promote a WDCS Walk for Whales in nearby Hunstanton.

Over at Renaissance Vintage Notebook we seem to have spent quite a lot of time at the V & A looking at vintage inspired quilt fabrics and enthusing about the Grace Kelly exhibition.

We're always on the look out for beautiful ways to display vintage books, we are vintage book sellers afterall, and we found a rather lovely photograph whilst blog hopping which of course lead to the discovery of lots of new, to us, blogs

Maybe you'll find the time to visit them?

Silkie Photograph

2010-04-14T03:24:00.001-07:00

Pom Pom left a comment on one of our weekly roundup posts over at Renaissance Vintage Notebook asking to see a photograph of our Silkies ,of course we are only too happy to oblige.

Looking back to the first Silkie post I do hope that the rather glamourous photograph of a Silkie didn't lead anyone astray, ours will never win a rosette at a chicken show, but, boy are they cute.

Rediculous but cute.

And John I'm working on the quail post.

Happy Easter (& a weekly roundup)

2010-04-02T02:57:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy week getting ready for the Easter hols at Renaissance HQ

with little being uploaded to the website www.renaissanceshop.co.uk.

It didn't start well with the news of Elspeth Thompson's death, so sad.

But we've had a reminder of new life with our quail starting to lay again, very seasonal.

And Marmee the photograph of quail eggs is just for you.

We went all Eastery over at Renaissance Childrens Notebook with Easter Gift Bags,

Flowering Bulbs for Easter and How to Make an Easter Chick.

And all wistful over at Renaissance Vintage Notebook with a sort of if we had a real bricks & mortar shop we'd stock:

Flowers in vintage containers & Crochet Blankets, Bags & Cushions.

And now of course it's April ,we had to mark April Fool's Day with a little joke or two,

and Easter is upon us.

We'll be spending it together, the whole family is home this weekend, bliss.

Wishing you all a very happy Easter.

Happy April Fool's

2010-04-01T09:07:00.001-07:00

A new member of the Renaissance flock?

Happy April Fool's Day!

Quail eggs

2010-03-31T02:21:00.000-07:00

Our Quail have started laying again

just in time for Easter.

Weekly Roundup

2010-03-28T05:06:00.000-07:00

It's been a wet, wet week here at Renaissance HQ causing endless frustration with pruning and animals.

As for animals our little menagerie has increased by two Silkie bantams who are now settling in nicely with our tiny Seebright and Nankin bantams.

Of course the weather has given us plently of time to enjoy vintage film : The Innocents , look at books : The Flower Shop and wonder what to do with all those books we've read but know we'll never read again , maybe the answer is Green Metropolis. But I rather suspect they'll go to the charity shop as usual.

We've watched The Delicious Miss Dahl on TV and spent quite some time looking at the kitchen Sophie Dahl used. We even found a seller of vintage items whose wares would fit wonderfully into the kitchen: Jolie Trouvaille.

Talking of vintage we continue to add new items to the shop and there is now a rather nice selection of vintage prints there.

We've also continued to post over at Renaissance Childrens Notebook.

Hope you're all having a lovely weekend.

More on the Silkies, Nankin & Seebright

2010-03-25T14:47:00.000-07:00

They all drank from the same water bowl this morning.

I think they might now be friends.

The Silkies need names.

The Nankin & the Seebright already have names:

Nutmeg & Mace

So sweet

On Silkies, Nankin & Seebright

2010-03-22T14:11:00.000-07:00

The Silkies are ignoring the Nankin and the Seebright, the Seebright is ignoring the Silkies and the Nankin is looking on wondering what on earth is happening.

How different these samller breeds are, if I'd introduced new chickens to our established flock there would have been much chasing, pecking and general nastiness.

Silkies

2010-03-21T11:55:00.000-07:00

The Silkies turned up today in a pet carrier. Very fluffy, very sweet they each have a twisted toe so are of no use to their breeder. They have gone in with the Nankin and the Seebright who seemed somewhat bemused at these two fluffy giants with topknots!

Silkie Bantams

2010-03-20T13:23:00.000-07:00

I've been offered 2 silkie bantams, haven't seen them yet but I think I might have them. I've also been offered a Peking bantam cockerel....

He I have seen and I really hope someone else will take him on, he is so handsome.

Weekly Roundup

2010-03-19T04:29:00.000-07:00

So this week we have had the sad demise of Hetty the ex battery hen, seen above in happier times risking life and limb with the cat. (Actually he wouldn't dare hurt the chickens, one twitch of his whisker and they would chase him off). Now of course we are contemplating additions to our little flock.

Inevitably after joining Lovefilm we've been watching films Kinky Boots and Mr Blanding Builds His Dream House.

Outside by the sea we've been walking on Cromer Pier and the joys of country living continue with pruning in the orchard. After a hard days work outside it's nice to come into a supper of something warm and filling like Pork & Bramley Apple Bake especially when you've grown the apples yourself.

This week in the books to read and keep section of Renaissance Newsletter we've looked at a book you're all bound to love, Home by Anita Kaushal in fact we bet some of you already have it on your book shelf.

We must have spent a long time browsing the internet this week because we've found several blogs new to us, all well worth a visit:

Elspeth Thompson's Gardening Against the Odds

The Flower Shop Stories written by Sally Page

and

Charlie and Caroline's Blog written by the owners of Pedlars

Browsing blogs has given us a date for the diary with Donna Flower's Open House Sale definetly one for lovers of all things vintage.

We've also been inspired by Alicia Paulson and Cherry Menlove to start posting over at Renaissance Children's Notebook for the first time since January.

It hasn't just been browsing on the internet we've also manage to load some new items to the Renaissance shop .

By the way we'd still love to hear your opnion on the Shovel Birdhouse

Wishing you all a lovely weekend.

More Chickens

2010-03-18T10:54:00.001-07:00

Having lost Hetty and last years hatchlings we've decided to get a couple of young hens to join our little flock. We went looking this morning and we think we've settled on a very beautiful Black Rock and a rather pretty little mixed breed. Decisions, decisions....

Sad

2010-03-15T06:41:00.000-07:00

In 2006 we took on 4 ex battery hens, they were rehomed by

The Battery Hen Welfare Trust

who did an excellent job in coordinating the rescue, rehoming etc.

The 4 hens were in a sorry state when they arrived but quicky adapted to their new lives.

Sadly some didn't enjoy their new found freedom for very long, we lost the first after only 6 months, the second after a year and the 3rd after 18 months. But Hetty who was always in charge went on to thrive for a good few years.

Sadly we found her dead in the hen house this morning, she hadn't shown any outward signs of failing so it was a bit of a shock.

We'll miss her.

Weekly Roundup and Giveaway Result

2010-03-13T04:27:00.000-08:00

The winner of our Georgette Heyer giveaway is Jeanne of Tales of a Cottage Garden we'll pop the book in the post to you Jeanne next week when we have your postal details.
Gladys and Annie sorry to disapoint but we do have other Georgette Heyer books to read so look out for another giveaway soon.
So what have we been doing, well apart from the usual horsey and orchardy things we've had to give the ferrets a bath which was fun if messy.
We've found some brilliant greetings cards with little gardens and we've joined Lovefilm we've even managed to add a couple of new items to the shop.
Oh and the chickens are laying....
Whatever you are doing this weekend - enjoy!

Weekly Roundup and Giveaway announcement

2010-03-05T03:23:00.000-08:00

So this week we have successfully rehomed (fingers crossed) our juvenile cockerel and been rather amused by a report from the Sun about chickens killing a fox , you should read it for yourselves the puns are really groan worthy.

Since the beginning of March it has felt really Spring like and we've turned our thoughts to window boxes, and displaying Spring bulbs indoors in vintage china pieces. We've also been looking at a tutorial for making floral necklaces.

Whilst in our dreams we've visited Pedlar's castle in reality we've spent some delightful time watching the boats on the North Norfolk coast.

Far more mundane but never the less worth a mention, we renewed our car tax online, it was very simple to do and personally I would highly recommend it.

There has even been time for some reading, I've been dipping into Gisele Scanlon's The Goddess Experience and I've finished the first of my Georgette Heyer dectective / murder mystery books. Which leads me nicely to the announcement of Renaissance's first giveaway.

Footsteps in the Dark by Georgette Heyer

I've finished reading it and would like to pass it on to someone else, so if you'd like to read it yourself please leave a comment over here at Renaissance Newsletter.

If there is more than one person interested in the book we'll do a little draw and announce the winner next Friday in our weekly roundup.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend and good luck in the giveaway.

Revenge of the Killer Chickens

2010-03-03T11:06:00.000-08:00

Apparently 4 "plucky" chickens "hatched" a plan to take revenge on a fox who had been killing off their flock.

"It seems they kicked over the table and knocked the fox out, then pecked it to death." Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2874450/Fox-comes-last-in-pecking-order.html#ixzz0h8sqSjHh

Amazing!

Ruling the roost

2010-03-02T04:40:00.000-08:00

So as regular readers will know all these little chicks made it to maturity but only one survived the severe winter and what did it turn out to be?

You've guessed it a cockerel!

And one that really likes the sound of his own voice.

Yesterday we moved him to the orchard, to a large chicken house with run and lots of hens.

Unfortunately the large chicken house and run is also temporary home to a trio of fancy fowl, I forget what type, and what was the first thing our youngster did?

Why he went and picked a fight with the other cockerel...

Fortunately no harm was done this time.

Success

2010-02-24T05:55:00.001-08:00

From my in box:

"Great news!
Yesterday the EU Council of Agriculture Ministers rejected Poland's attempt to delay the Europe-wide ban on barren battery cages. As a result, the ban is still due to come into force as planned in 2012.
Thank you to the 10,214 dedicated supporters who lobbied the UK government by sending emails, post cards and letters - once again, you have shown that we can get things done for farm animals when speaking with a united voice. This latest campaign also reiterates the need to be vigilant about the threats that remain, even when victories such as the forthcoming battery cage ban have been gained. Whatever the challenge, Chicken Out! and Compassion in World Farming will continue to take decisive action until the battery cage ban is fully implemented across Europe.
Thank you for your support; we share this victory with you.
Rosie, Siân, Hayley and CarolineOn behalf ofThe Chicken Out! TeamCompassion in World Farming"

Urgent message re battery cage ban from The Chicken Out team

2010-02-21T12:20:00.000-08:00

Help protect the 2012 battery cage ban!
The EU barren battery cage ban is under threat, and we need your help to lobby Defra to protect it.
Barren battery cages present serious animal welfare problems and prevent hens from carrying out their natural behaviours, such as dust-bathing and perching. Yet, last week, Poland proposed a delay to the EU ban on conventional battery cages to 2017. This would allow Member States to continue keeping hens in these cages for a further five years.

The EU Agricultural Council will address this proposal when they meet on 22 February and Jim Fitzpatrick MP, the Defra Minister responsible for animal welfare, will be present. We need him to vigorously oppose Poland’s suggestion and for the Council to reject it.
Help us oppose the Polish government’s proposal. The EU Agricultural Council meets on 22 February so, if you’ve not already done so, please click here today to urge Jim Fitzpatrick to protect the ban.

Fox alert

2010-01-28T10:04:00.000-08:00

Fingers crossed, we're lucky, our little flock lives in town and we don't (yet) have urban foxes here. Sadly though a friend has been less fortunate, he had 13 chickens killed last night.

Reynard went on a killing frenzy.

Lock up your chickens my friends, it has been a long hard winter and Foxy Loxy is hungry.

Catch up

2010-01-13T10:27:00.001-08:00

Still no photograph of the Nankin Bantam, sorry, weather stopped play.

The snow, ice and freezing weather has proved fatal to some of our little flock,

very sadly the younger members just couldn't take it and we are left with only

one survivor out of the five. The older hens were fine including our resident

OAP ex battery.

Surprisingly the Seebright didn't seem at all concerned by the weather and is still

living happily with her Nankin friend.

The above photograph is from last year, I've actually just spent a few days sifting

through 2009's photographs and posted them over on the

website in the What we are doing section

Do pop over and take a look when you have a minute, if you do you'll find my Christmas present from my family - her name is Maddie.

Wishing you all a lovely 2010.

Nankin, Nankin, Nankin

2009-12-11T02:32:00.001-08:00

Okay so the Nankin Bantam arrived and was introduced to the Seebright.....

and for once two chickens meeting for the very first time got on at once.

Amazing!

Sorry no pics at the moment I seem to have squashed the connector on the camera / computer cable ....

Pics will follow one day soon.

Oh and they now have names - Nutmeg & Mace.

Nankin Bantam

2009-12-01T14:55:00.001-08:00

Gosh can't believe that I didn't post here during the whole of November.

So much for The Chicken "Daily" more like The Chicken Once-in-a-while!

Well the latest news from the Renaissance flock is that we've been offered a Nankin hen to keep our little Seebright Hen company.

Same story as our Seebright really, only one survivor from a clutch of eggs and noone to keep her company so hopefully she'll be coming to us soon.

I'll keep you posted....

really I will!

Good homes wanted

2009-10-29T03:02:00.000-07:00

Jane of Snapdragon's Garden is looking for homes for some Light Sussex cockerels, they are free but you'd have to collect from Balfron Station, Stirlingshire, Scotland. If any of you are interested you'll find details here.

Chicken Out

2009-10-14T02:04:00.001-07:00

Chicken Out has 166881 supporters at the time of posting,

Renaissance is one of them.

Are you?

Light Sussex

2009-10-07T01:44:00.000-07:00

Mother

and

Father

of our one Light Sussex chick.

Barred Rock Cockerel

2009-10-01T01:28:00.000-07:00

This is a photograph of the Barred Rock Cockerel who sired our chicks.

At this stage in their life it's hard to sex a chicken, I'm told that if there is

more than one cockerel they often take even longer to show their true colours.

But I have to confess to wondering if any/ or all of ours are going to turn out like their Dad.

Pecked

2009-09-25T03:00:00.000-07:00

It's not been a good week for the "Little -Uns" here in the Renaissance garden.

First their was the incident with the rat and now we have injury.

Probably as a direct result of the forementioned incident stressing the birds.

Two of the little Barred Rocks have had their heads badly pecked.

They will be okay but we've had to seperate them from the others for their own safety.

Don't know who the culprit was but I'm hoping we've seen an end to it as things calm down again.

Hens welcome home party

2009-09-23T05:44:00.000-07:00

"A woman in Buffalo has just held a welcome party for her chickens after a year of being without them. Monique Watts lost her hens Buttercup, Minnie, Meg, Tilda and Mama Effie a year ago after someone had reported her for keeping them illegally. She hadn't realised that there had been a recent city ordinance banning residents from owning chickens.

Monique started keeping chickens in her backyard as she was conscious of where her food came from. She was upset to have them taken away from her and decided to fight for a change in law and to get her pets back. With the help of her councilman she managed to get a new ordinance passed allowing residents of Buffalo to keep up to five chickens as long as their neighbours agree to it.

After welcoming her hens back Monique plans to continue her fight as she believes the ordinance is still restrictive. She believes that everyone deserves to have fresh eggs and she wants keeping hens to be completely legalized."

Extract from Omelet Uk Newsletter 23rd September 2009

Rat Update

2009-09-22T01:30:00.000-07:00

Okay just a quick update on yesterday's post, sensitive souls should turn away...

The rat got into the caged pen with Plum and chicks, they were terrified as was the rat who had somehow managed to get in but couldn't find a way out.

I had to evacuate the birds all the time keeping an eye on that rat.

Then I called my husband and asked him to come home and get rid of the rat, he told me to shoot it.

My response was that I didn't trust myself not to miss so he came home and shot the darn thing. A quick, clean kill but still horrid.

A Mischief of Rats

2009-09-21T01:28:00.001-07:00

One of the downsides of keeping poultry - rats.

I saw one in the garden yesterday evening eyeing up the chicks (who aren't really chicks anymore but more like minature chickens).

I'm afraid I'm going to have to resort to this, the cats don't seem to be doing their job.

Introducing - The Kitchen Garden - Francine Raymond

2009-09-17T03:26:00.001-07:00

UK Hen keepers and readers of Country Living will need no introduction to

Francine Raymond of The Kitchen Garden

But did you know she has a blog? Find it by clicking on Diary at her website.

Go to work on an egg

2009-09-14T01:52:00.000-07:00

It's 50 years since the Little Lion on eggs was launched and as part of their

celebrations the British Egg Marketing Board is giving us the chance to watch

the orginal Tony Hancock "Go to work on an egg" advertisements.

Take a look here

Aracauna Cockerel

2009-09-09T01:05:00.001-07:00

Cute huh?

Don't forget you can join us on a "virtual" apple pick, we're posting photographs from the orchard on our website over the next few days, you'll find them in theWhat we are doing section

Araucana

2009-09-07T06:24:00.000-07:00

We're still fully occupied with apples, the chicks continue to grow at an astonishing rate and I'm rather taken with this little Araucana Bantam hen ( the lilac grey bird) belonging to a friend of ours. I'll show you the little cockerel another day. In the meantime don't forget you can join us on a "virtual" apple pick, we're posting photographs from the orchard on our website over the next few days, you'll find them in theWhat we are doing section

Harvest time

2009-09-02T03:53:00.000-07:00

It's harvest time and the apple crop seems to have disrupted posts on The Chicken Daily.

Normal service will resume shortly in the meantime if you'd like to join us on a "virtual"

apple pick you'll find daily photographs from the orchard on our website you'll find them in the
What we are doing section

Oh by the way chickens love windfalls!

Little & Large

2009-08-21T01:18:00.000-07:00

Chickens' Love Pasta

2009-08-18T07:01:00.001-07:00

Did you know that chickens' love pasta?

Well ours do and we like to give them some as an occasional treat.

You do have to be a bit careful though, because they can become so partial

to carbs that they won't want to eat their layers pellets and egg production

will go down. So it's a good idea to give each of them a handful of layers pellets

in the morning before serving treats.

Of course this doesn't apply to the chicks who will be on chick crumb.

Light Sussex Chick

2009-08-17T11:09:00.000-07:00

Not so shy

2009-08-14T03:25:00.001-07:00

Camera Shy

2009-08-13T06:27:00.001-07:00

New Chicks

2009-08-12T03:56:00.000-07:00

Mother & Chicks

Quail on The Chicken Daily

2009-08-07T02:33:00.000-07:00

We are waiting patiently to see if our second broody hen

manages to hatch any of the eggs she is sitting on.

We should know after the weekend.

In the meantime here is a photograph of our quail.

Sunbathing Chicken

2009-08-04T05:06:00.001-07:00

Apple one of our Amber Stars enjoying the all too infrequent sunshine.

Chicken Dust Bath

2009-08-03T02:29:00.000-07:00

Chickens love their dust baths and of course they are essential to their wellbeing.

They bathe in dust to rid themselves of any nasty parasites

that may have attached themselves to their feathers.

Would you like to see your chickens on this blog?

2009-07-30T05:03:00.000-07:00

My friend also keeps Wyandotte Bantams, pretty aren't they?

As I uploaded this photograph it suddenly occured to me that

it might be nice to feature some of your chickens on this blog.

A sort of Readers Hens!

What do you think?

Leave me a comment and let me know please.

Someone elses chickens

2009-07-28T01:26:00.000-07:00

Isn't he gorgeous?

Everyone who sees this juvenile bantam cockeril falls in love with him.

Not only is he handsome but he has a nice personality too.

Here he is with his harem - don't you just love that topknot?

Chicken Treats

2009-07-26T03:16:00.000-07:00

Your chickens will love you forever if you give them the occasional foodie treat -

a favourite with our lot is sweetcorn, you can buy a large bag of the frozen stuff for around 60p.

Leave it to defrost and serve!

Broody Hen

2009-07-25T04:26:00.000-07:00

Plum the broody Amber Star looking rather unkempt after a dustbath.

Our Chickens

2009-07-23T02:19:00.000-07:00

Our little flock consists of two Black Sussex and two Amber stars who were purchased from http://www.cambridgepoultry.co.uk/ and a rescued battery hen.

New Eggs

2009-07-21T05:36:00.001-07:00

Another of our chickens has gone broody.

This time we have been given a selection of fertile eggs

by a friend who keeps several flocks of different breeds.

These include some Black Rock eggs.

We've set up a broody box and made a neat little nest.

This evening Plum will be placed on the eggs and be given the opportunity to sit.

Breakfast with Mother Hen

2009-07-18T04:51:00.000-07:00

Lots of gentle clucking noises

as Bramble encourages her chicks to eat.

One can almost imagine her saying,

"Just do as I do".

Proud Mother Hen

2009-07-16T03:48:00.001-07:00

Chicks - First photographs

2009-07-15T03:31:00.000-07:00

Bramble eats her breakfast in bed,

only allowing the little ones out when she thinks the coast is clear

How many can you spot?

Birth Announcement

2009-07-14T03:38:00.000-07:00

It wasn't my imagination.

I definetly heard a cheep.

We have a chick, I've seen it's little head.

Mother isn't ready for a photo call.

Waiting patiently

2009-07-13T07:26:00.000-07:00

Or in our case not so patiently.

Have they hatched or haven't they?

We just have to wait until Bramble is ready to show us.

Did I hear a tiny cheep or was it wishful thinking?

Will they? Won't They?

2009-07-11T06:50:00.001-07:00

Broody Hen

2009-07-10T01:11:00.000-07:00

Bramble during one of her breaks,

all fluffed up like a feather duster

and giving me the evil eye.

She really is quite fed up with me lifting her from her eggs

although it is essential otherwise she wouldn't leave them

and might actually starve herself.

Still sitting tight

2009-07-09T01:22:00.000-07:00

Bramble is still sitting tight,

bantam eggs have a gestation period of about 18 days

so she hasn't got much longer to wait.

For more information on Renaissance,what we are doing,the Renaissance Newsletter,our other blogs and our shop,please visit our website.

Silver Lace Sebright

2009-07-08T00:35:00.000-07:00

The Sebright Bantam comes in two colourways,

the Golden Lace as in the picture from the previous post and the Silver Lace as above.

We didn't have a preference to colour and just bid on the the

first lot of Sebright hatching eggs we found.

Sebright Bantams

2009-07-07T01:35:00.001-07:00

Our broody hen Bramble is sitting on eggs from Sebright Bantams, this is the photograph from the ebay auction that we won the eggs from.

"The Sebright is a breed of chicken named after its developer, Sir John Saunders Sebright. Created in the 19th century through a selective breeding program designed to produce an ornamental breed, the Sebright is a true bantam, meaning it is a miniature bird with no corresponding large fowl to which it is related." from Wikipedia.

First Post - Broody Bramble

2009-07-06T02:08:00.001-07:00

Our Black Sussex broody

seen here sitting on a batch of Sebright Bantam eggs

purchased from ebay.

For more information on Renaissance,what we are doing,the Renaissance Newsletter,our other blogs and our shop,please visit our website.