Best liner/ bedding for drop tray

[Snowy]

Gorgeous pics! They really do look very happy don't they?

[mostin]

They look like they are having the best time .

[theherd123]

They are loving the water

[Karen & co.]

They really do look like they are having fun

 

Karen x

[Nicola H]

Brilliant pics. looks like they needed a cool down........

[Chickvic]

Great pics

[Lesley]

Good news .....and bad news........

 

Little lamb is growing!!! - she seems to be growing faster then the lump at the moment and looks much healthier

 

but Vic the Tractor (looks like Vic Reeves) has lost a wheel - it snapped off. My son was just finishing topping the thistles in one paddock when it went, he has a friend who works with agricultural machinery so he'll see if we can get any spares.

[Snowy]

Glad to hear about Little Lamb

But poor Vic! Hope your son wasn't hurt - that could've been nasty

[The Dogmother]

Awww, bless the little lambie, I hope that the lump stays small. Give her and Vic a hug from me xx

[Lesley]

Carl's birthday on Monday.......we went to buy new chickens

 

We went for 6 table birds - Carl's mouth opened and out came "Eight please.." - we ended up with 9 as Carl caught an escapee for Jude

 

We also bought 4 new layers - 2 Bluebelles and 2 Whitestars

 

One Bluebelle has been named Tallulah - my first Omlet hen - 5 years ago - was called Tallulah, the other is called Tilly (thanks Kate ) The Whitestars are un-named as yet.

 

Here are the next batch of 'Dinners'

(the white stuff is over zealous use of Red Mite Powder )

 

We were going to stop at a big Farm Shop/Garden Centre on the way there but decided not to, the lure of new hens was too much ......on the way back the road was closed and we had to pull over to let a fire engine through.....we stopped at a shop in a small village for a snack and found out that the Farm Shop was on fire!! - a lucky escape for us but such a shame for the independant Farm Shop Centre.

[Redwing]

They look smashing Lesley, I got my first lot as day olds and that was hard, that age looks much better especially if they don't have to live in the kitchen

[Egluntyne]

There's something very cute about their feet in that picture.

 

Nice to have the name Tallulah back in circulation.

[Mrs Frugal]

Oh I'm glad you went with "Tilly" . They are so sweet......and I'm seriously chicken broody now .

[Helly Welly]

Tilly is a gorgeous name, i'll have to remember that one. at the farm shop fire, i hope there's not too much damage.

[Lesley]

Here are the Dinners this morning - we left them inside the little shed until then so that they know where they are safe and will - hopefully - go to bed tonight! We've put some fruit cage netting over part of the run area to keep them safe from Buzzards.

 

 

 

...and here are the new girls.......Tallulah is the paler grey - she looks just like the original.

 

 

...and the whole run of Eglus.....the rabbits have a green one which isn't quite in this photo....and we have a blue one for any isolations...

 

[Guest]

Don't they look good and so neat and tidy!

 

What do you do with all the eggs, do you have your own little farm shop?

[Lesley]

No - we just sell to friends and family. We have a fair few freeloaders at the moment - hence the new pullets. We need another 2 now as we have one cockerel with only 4 hens in one of the pens. We were going to split the 4 new ones from yesterday but they have to cope with the Buff Orp and her offspring who is equally as large, so we left them as a set of 4.

 

They might look tidy but it's just as well you can't see inside the Eglus - they all need cleaning. They're not bad but if we don't keep on top of them then it can take a couple of hours with awheelbarrow and a shovel

[Valkyrie]

Nice pics.

 

Looks a bit windy - or it's synchronised tail waving!

[Lesley]

Not windy! - I was sitting and watching their synchronised corn pecking

 

I was watching them as when we took them out of the box and clipped their wings we noticed that three out of the four have trimmed beaks

 

We've never had that before from Jude's and I think she still gets her hens from the same place I'll ask next week.

[Valkyrie]

Do they ever grow back? Sounds rather harsh - something you would expect battery hens to have done to them - even then it isn't nice.

[Lewis]

at the pigs!

 

Glad to hear that the little lamb is growing (and the lump isn't)

 

The new chooks look good, bit strange about the beaks. Our turkey poults had their beaks clipped at the farm last year as they had really bad problems with vent pecking, but I'm convinced they somehow grew back - maybe they weren't done 'properly' but they all had in-tact beaks at adults

[Lesley]

I think they do grow back, I'll ask tomorrow.........

 

Carl has decided we need 4 more layers........

[The Dogmother]

We've never had that before from Jude's and I think she still gets her hens from the same place I'll ask next week.

 

Jude said that she'd had a lovely chat with you

 

She has had the odd delivery where a few birds have clipped beaks - something she's not to happy about at all. They do grow back though. The only time they wouldn't would be if they were clipped so severely as to damage the growth bed.

[chickencam]

Dippy our late White Star had a clipped beak and it did eventuallit grow back but it took about a year, and we couldn't fit her with a bumper bit during this time.

[Lewis]

Dippy our late White Star had a clipped beak and it did eventually grow back but it took about a year, and we couldn't fit her with a bumper bit during this time.

You shouldn't need a beak bit if she has been debeaked as it has the same effect. Although I see what you mean during the period where its between short and 'normal' length .