Recent content by Grum P Oldamn

BBC reported that a university had patented the process as it was so valuable to the chicken industry...when I get around to incubating I will try temp change at 3 to 5 days and see results. You never know until you try :)

Hi both, firstly Lauren, yes, I had the same, the girls looked healthy but there were more feathers lying around - I put it down to an over zealous rooster :), it was only when I looked under their existing feathers that I saw the new ones coming through....Next gmyers, it only lasts a little...

The egg production has resumed so it looks like it was simply a case of the girls going through their first moult......happy chappy :)

I go them in May, they were probably around 6 - 8 weeks old, their combs hadn't formed but they were pretty well full grown......checking them yesterday I saw that the layers were definitely in moult, so this exlplains it :) looking forward to production restarting :) Also took photo's so...

It has been suggested to me that they are in moult and therefore will stop laying but, I'm not really seeing signs of that..... will take a good look around the house and see if I can find any nests.

Will get round to taking a few pics of the offenders.....

yeah, I would have thought that too..... but I have been keeping them in until after lunch time, and until the lack of eggs they were coming back to lay.... was considering putting a pepper corn up their bums to see where they run (apparently it works)

I have 5 chickens wandering freely around the farm...I bought pairs of brreds (what I liked the look of rather than specific breeds) (I did have six, but, well there is another thread discussing the issue of predators) My rooster (a fine looking chap) has matured from when he first arrived and...

Things have changed, no further losses to date :) but I am sure that I am still being visited at night. The live trap is failing, in that whatever it is digs under the trap and pulls out the bait, so version 4 will be built over the next few days. I've added a security light that covers the...

It's been a while since my last loss, my remaining guineas are now housed with the rabbits, covered by a double covering of wire netting and the chickens only free range when I am in the area, otherwise they are moved into the goat pen which has a similar double covering. Barney, my dog is...

Hi Nicole I've built up 'secure' fencing around my goat pen that is stone built up to 4 ft high and then logs to about 8ft..... so now I have a secure run for them, I still let them out in the early evening for a quick hour to peck around then they go to bed, I've also laid out a live trap and...

Nothing yet..... another chicken was snatched outside my window last night, only to come back a few hours later as I was securing all the animals away. There were a bunch of feathers at the front of the house and a bunch at the back where I have a lilac bush (well about 10 mtrs by 4 mtrs of...

I've posted this a bit late (by a few years by the look of it!) I hope your guineas are doing well :) I brought some guineas back to my smallholding about a month ago, after three days in the coop I released them into the great wide world and had no problems with them disappearing off, apart...

The bear isn't a major problem out here surprisingly..... I have seen the signs in the woodland and the local warden has confirmed that there is one that wanders around, being close to Estonia and Russia does mean that from time to time bears do cross the border into the area....that's Shengen...

Following 'expert' advice I have been sitting out from 2100 - 0100 and 0430 to 0730... "the times when foxes hunt" and certainly all my birds were taken in the evening/night time (although there is a debate about the strength of a fox and its ability to throw 1 mtr long planks that were screwed...