| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| Chez |
Hatching eggs experiment - pay postage onlyAnyone want to have a crack (ho ho) at testing my new boy's fertility? (Not personally, obviously). He's been on his own with the hens for three weeks now and I want to see how he's performing. I'm going to set an incubator full of eggs myself this week ... but if anyone fancies taking the risk of paying for postage, you can have the hatching eggs for nothing until the end of August, so long as you candle them on day 9 and let me know what results you get.In theory they should be purebred barnevelders. They are quite nicely marked and the girls do lay well. Oh; and we have one of the boys for tea in a pie with some leeks last night and he was lovely. Postage and packing prices are: -- 6 eggs - £8.40 -- 12 eggs - £9.40 -- 18 eggs - £12.25 -- 24 eggs - £13.25 Subject to the girls pushing them out fast enough, obviously. |
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| wellington womble |
*sits on hands* | ||||||
| Penny |
*Ditto* | ||||||
| Penny |
....but - you'd need an incubator and all that stuff wouldn't you?? | ||||||
| wizz |
or perhaps a broody....? (though they never go broody to order!) | ||||||
| wellington womble |
Stop being so practical! |
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| Chez |
Basic incubators aren't that expensive, you know 
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| Cathryn |
I've got a heat lamp you can borrow. Save me getting tempted. 
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| wellington womble |
Divorces are! |
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| Penny |
Hmm - he's already notice me reading the thread 
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| Jonnyboy |
One thing I found with barnvelder eggs is that they are very hard to candle. | ||||||
| Chez |
Yes. Hence I'm getting someone else to do it  .
Pookie and I had quite a lot of success 'bobbing' them in their shells when they were close to hatching though; you gently place them in a bowl of still, warm water, wait for it to stop wibbling around and then see how they float and if they twitch. According to Pookie, it doesn't work very well if the chicks inside are asleep, though .
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| Rosemary Judy |
I am sitting on my hands too.............
What do barnvelders look like ????? |
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| mochyn |
Why do that when you could be sitting on some eggs... |
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| pookie |
you are a baggage that Chez!
I will put 6 in my bator for you, I'm just going to have to put a last hatch in for this year now  
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| Chez |
They are brown with black lacing on the feathers and crinoline-clad undercarriages:
Baby chicks (See how cute they are! See!) Some pics of the grownups here. They are quite difficult to photograph because they are so tame that they are more interested in what you're doing than posing for you .
Pookie - Ha! Okay! |
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| Rosemary Judy |
I don't have a candler.........
and already have enough chooks....... |
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| tahir |
Still a little way off for me. Are they utilities? | ||||||
| Penny |
Behave..........
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| pookie |
Bring them when you pick Leo up if you like..........but only 6 
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| Chez |
Rosemary-Judy: You can make a candler by shining a strong torch through a little hole in a bit of card ...
Tahir: Yes. Very much so. 200-ish eggs PA from the girls, boys ready for killing at about 24 weeks. Pookie: Okay, you're on . Only 12, was it?
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| tahir |
Hmm, tempting, are they pretty (like wot I is) |
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| pookie |
GGGRRRRRRRRR 
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| mochyn |
12 dozen, was that? |
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| Chez |
Well, I think so. But I fully admit to being a Chicken Obsessive. They have nice skirts that flounce when they walk .
No beards though - for those, you might want to consider Salmon Faverolles
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| tahir |
Just seen the pics on your site, handsome indeed. Those Faverolles have summat though don't they?
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| Chez |
My sister keeps them - she's got a good laying strain and the cockerels are HUGE, although they don't eat them. The most endearing thing about them, though, is, because the beard often impedes their vision they have panic attacks when they lose sight of the rest of the flock. I somehow find that endearing .
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| tahir |
I'll talk to you nearer the time but I reckon that (to start with) I'll probably be buying sassos (from www.sandtpoultry.co.uk) for meat and I'd probably keep 12-16 layers, maybe 4 breeds that lay different colour eggs. | ||||||
| mochyn |
Sounds like the average MDSC member. |
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| Chez |
Remember to talk to Pookie about her legbars, too, when you're ready - they are really nice birds.
If you want to breed your own meat-birds, I reckon that a barnie boy cross with a LS girl gives a slightly better weight than a PB barnie - and they seem to be sex-colour linked. The LS lay lighter coloured eggs, too. |
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| Chez |
That's just the comforts of cliquishness, currently  .
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| tahir |
It's npot about want, it's about what's practical, can't see how I (or the missus) can do everything. |
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| Chez |
Yeah - I do like bringing on our own - but I dread Chicken Necking Day. Are you planning on buying in sassos at 21 days? And when are they ready to go? |
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| tahir |
Actually day olds, I know that only misses out one stage in the process, but haven't found anyone localish that'll deliver older. They're "designed" to kill at between 70-110 days depending on strain. |
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| Chez |
We keep tossing round the idea of doing something that grows that quickly - just to compare what it tastes like. The barnevelders definitely benefit from long/slow type cooking - but that's because they run round all the time. They do taste fantastic though. | ||||||
| tahir |
How slow is a barnvelder to a decent weight then? | ||||||
| Chez |
Well, we did our most recent batch at 23 weeks. There's a reasonable amount of meat on them - ie, they were definitely worth doing, particularly because feed costs have shot up. But I reckon that if you leave them another month they fill out considerably. Have a look at Jonnyboy's photo towards the end of the Chez Chez Chez thread - I think that one is 26 weeks? | ||||||
| colour it green |
ooo tempted to get some more hatching eggs.. hen has just gone broody agian.. but isn't it a bit late in the year for chicks? (ones that are going to be raised outdoors) | ||||||
| Chez |
No, not at all - the hen will look after them. Some people say you get a higher percentage of boys in the autumn ... I don't know though, it's difficult to test empirically.
I can do you a dozen? 
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| mochyn |
Do you think I should have 6 to try out this here incubator? | ||||||
| Chez |
I thought you had some in it already? |
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| colour it green |
oh dear and we just decided to try and break her broodiness... she is fairly determined... and we already have 10 chickens.. and only gettng 1 egg a day ish.. - as only 4 are old enough to lay.. 2 are useless and now one is broody....
chickens or eggs..... |
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| Chez |
Hmmm. Sensibly, I'd say chickens. *shoots self in foot*.
Have you tried these chaps? http://www.fentonpoultry.co.uk/ Haven't tried them myself, but I do like the cut of their jib. |
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| colour it green |
ooh they look good.
what i mean by 'chickens or eggs' was do we get her to give us chickens to eat.. or eggs to eat.... |
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| Chez |
Ooooh, I see. Oh. Well. In that case, I take it all back. Have some eggs!
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| colour it green |
do you have a dozen ready to go soon? | ||||||
| Chez |
Might have. Can post tomorrow if you want. And if I drop off Pookie's and Mochyn's this week, they'll all be much of a muchness - would be interesting to see how the fertility is effected by the post.
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| colour it green |
i just let the broody hen out of solitary confinement and she shot back into the hen house to brood some more... so yess please, can I have some eggs.
we could take less than a doz if you dont have enough.. I'll pm you |
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| Faithmead |
I've got an incubator full at the moment, but I've also got 3 BROODY HENS ....so would quite like to try some if you have any left? Am in Carmarthenshire.......so hopefully a short postage journey ?!?! 
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| Chez |
Faith - okay, I've got a dozen you can have? PM your address and I'll send you my paypal details for the postage.
So, that's: Pookie - 6 Mochyn - 6 (I think, unless she was teasing) Colour It Green - 12 GSHP - 12 or 18 in a week or two, if her OH doesn't instantly divorce her when she mentions it Faithmead - 12 That's it for now, unless there's some kind of laying miracle next week . I'm really interested in the difference that postage makes to the hatch percentage, as well as if the new boy is firing will a full chamber.
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| GSHP |
Chez...he said yes Well not exactly yes,after alot of whats wheres and hows he said I suppose so !! That's a yes isn't it
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| Northern_Lad |
You missed off WW... |
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| Chez |
I didn't want her to bill me for her divorce fees ...
GSHP - fab, I will collect for you over the next seven days and you can paypal me appropriate postage when we work out how many there are! |
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| GSHP |
Sounds great.Can't wait.Thank you !! | ||||||
| Northern_Lad |
True, but you are after a lodger... |
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| colour it green |
how many chickens do you have Chez? | ||||||
| mochyn |
too many... |
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| Northern_Lad |
Is that technically possible? |
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| Chez |
Not in my experience .
At the moment I have a dozen full grown ladies with a cockerel, four pekins with a cockerel and a dozen growers. I've run everything down because of the coming baby. The most I've had was a hundred Warren layers in my teens - I earned my pocket money by selling the eggs. And I used to keep fancy breeds with my Pa when I lived at home - Frizzles, Silkies, Appenzellers, Wyandottes, that kind of thing. I have an apology to make - due to manic circumstances this afternoon I haven't got to the post office - I have Faithmead's and Colour It Green's eggs wrapped and ready to go; but they won't go out until tomorrow now. Sorry .
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| colour it green |
thats ok - broody hen is wearing a face of grim determination, and we are making broody coup into fort knox..... | ||||||
| wellington womble |
slightly extreme way to go about getting one! |
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| Faithmead |
Had 3 broody yesterday.....now 2 !!! One has been broody for WEEKS and I've ejected her so many times....without success, that I gave up. So what's the betting the eggs arrive and she decides that its time to go back to being 'normal' Still got one other but its a Black Rock and I never trust them to go the distance - so fort knox x 2 here too 
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| Faithmead |
Eggs arrived safely yesterday and beautifully packed - thanks. Have left them to settle and will pop them under the broody girls later today. Will keep you posted
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