Moveable Chicken House

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

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

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

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

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

"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

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.