We've have just hatched out a clutch of fluffy chicks in time for Easter. A few weeks ago,we put a batch of fertile eggs into the incubator, plugged it in and hoped for the best.
Twenty one days later we heard faint cheeping and eventually a few damp little chicks pecked their way out of the eggs. After several hours they fluff up and get perky enough to be moved out under the infra red lamp in the Palais des Poulets.
After a few weeks they'll grow pinfeathers and eventually proper plumage. Well have to wait to see which grow little tails, those will grow into fine cockerels and the others will mature into hens. We'll fatten up the cockrels for the pot and the hens will keep us supplied with beautiful eggs.
A few weeks ago I was in New York and guess what were the coolest new hobbies - keeping chickens in your backyard and bees on your roof. At several dinner parties the main topic of conversation was how to look after your fowl, what to feed them, their likes and dislikes, can you imagine! I suddenly found I was an 'expert' on the subject having had chickens since I was a child.
Public demand in many cities is such that the by-laws have changed to enable people to keep their own fowl, isn't that brilliant
It makes perfect sense, food scraps from the kitchen can be fed to the hens and they will come back as eggs a few days later, no waste, and you don't have to pay the council to take away the scraps, perfect recycling. There's hope for the future!
Twenty one days later we heard faint cheeping and eventually a few damp little chicks pecked their way out of the eggs. After several hours they fluff up and get perky enough to be moved out under the infra red lamp in the Palais des Poulets.
After a few weeks they'll grow pinfeathers and eventually proper plumage. Well have to wait to see which grow little tails, those will grow into fine cockerels and the others will mature into hens. We'll fatten up the cockrels for the pot and the hens will keep us supplied with beautiful eggs.
A few weeks ago I was in New York and guess what were the coolest new hobbies - keeping chickens in your backyard and bees on your roof. At several dinner parties the main topic of conversation was how to look after your fowl, what to feed them, their likes and dislikes, can you imagine! I suddenly found I was an 'expert' on the subject having had chickens since I was a child.
Public demand in many cities is such that the by-laws have changed to enable people to keep their own fowl, isn't that brilliant
It makes perfect sense, food scraps from the kitchen can be fed to the hens and they will come back as eggs a few days later, no waste, and you don't have to pay the council to take away the scraps, perfect recycling. There's hope for the future!
