Windy hill chickens - first flock(s) of my own

[thistlewick]

omg the looks you're getting are AMAZING hahahahah your chickens are spectacularly gorgeous!

 

[kattabelly]

Gave someone a couple of eggs today because they happened to be in my pocket and he asked how many I'm getting and do I have enough spare to sell some at the little shop where he lives. I don't, but it was interesting talking through a few pie in the sky possibilities both in terms of the practicalities and working out what I'd be comfortable with (I could never run a big barn of production hybrids that technically have access to just enough outdoor space to meet free range standards, for example).

Little Shets are still refusing to grow anything that looks like male saddle feathers but I don't quite believe I've managed to hatch six pullets and no cockerels, so not sure yet how many eggs I'll be expecting to get from them when they start laying.

Brambles started ripening a week or two back here and now the seasons have definitely turned. The wind today felt like a reminder that winter's on its way.

 

[Perris]

In case you are not aware of it, to sell to 3rd parties via a shop, you need to be registered as or to use a registered packer. (I think those laws apply to Scotland as well as to England and Wales.)

 

[kattabelly]

In case you are not aware of it, to sell to 3rd parties via a shop, you need to be registered as or to use a registered packer. (I think those laws apply to Scotland as well as to England and Wales.)

I know, ta. I think it's actually four registrations here - egg producer, egg packer, feed business and food business - though I wouldn't be surprised to find a lot of people don't bother with at least some of those here. That shop already sells chicken eggs from a woman who swaps them for her shopping, and duck eggs that just appear sometimes from someone or other. It's not something I'm seriously considering for now, anyway.

 

[cavemanrich]

That shop already sells chicken eggs from a woman who swaps them for her shopping, and duck eggs that just appear sometimes from someone or other. It's not something I'm seriously considering for now, anyway.

In regards to those taxing bodies,
"what they don't know don't hurt them"
Barter has been going on for centuries before these thugs placed themselves on the tax generated payrolls.

 

[kattabelly]

And the Dafty of the Day award goes to...

VID_20250908_194651~2.mp4

• kattabelly
• Sep 8, 2025

He gets really excited about dead leaves and the "woodchip" I sometimes make by dragging some brittle deadwood up from the willows down the hill and stamping on it a bit.

The other day he was dropping and picking up a piece of wood with so much enthusiasm, he managed to headbutt the pullet when she came over (against her better judgement, no doubt) to see what he had. She got her revenge last night by flap-running past and smacking him in the face with her wing while he lost his mind over a very dead courgette leaf

 

[kattabelly]

Way back when I first got the oldest three (four then) and ended up with slightly different birds than I'd asked for and more cockerels, I messaged someone else who was bringing some POL Hylines up soon and asked if they'd be looking to rehome a couple of their older layers at that point, as I know they have in the past. There was a delay in the Hylines getting here and I'd kind of forgotten about the whole thing until I got a message saying my POL pullets would be available to collect this Friday. Don't really want to mess around someone who's one of the main Chicken People here and used to be a neighbour, so I guess I'm just going to take them and maybe ask if there are any older hens still needing homes at the same time I've been planning to try shuffling some of the groups around anyway now a few other pullets are about to start laying, so not the worst time for this to happen - the biggest cockerel is really too big to be mating skinny production hybrids though, which wasn't obviously going to be the case back when I first asked about them.

 

[kattabelly]

About as far outside as they'll go so far but that gives them more time and space to get settled in and eat and drink without looking over their shoulders. Not that there's been much drama - some pecking and chasing but nothing concerning. The one in front is the more timid of the two so far and already earned the name Houdini after appearing on a roost this morning when she definitely wasn't back in their run before I closed it up last night

I wasn't planning to quarantine when I was expecting to get some older hens and I decided not to bother for these. Most folk here seem to have very little trouble with diseases and pretty much everyone free ranges their birds to some extent - I can think of several places there are often chickens out on the verge just along the stretch of main road between the two biggest towns here. These girls had already spent some time at the farm I picked them up from and there were other chickens there, as well as the farmer also keeping a separate flock on a different property nearby where they're free to go and visit the chickens next door at the farm where I lived for a while. They're also "fully" vaccinated, not that I can remember the complete list of what that covers offhand.

 

[ChickyCh00k]

Pretty girls!

 

[ChickyCh00k]

They're also "fully" vaccinated

I'm not sure what that might mean in your part of the world. In the states it would be Marek's and *rarely* coccidiosis (if coming from a hatchery... I believe there's only 1 hatchery here that offers a coccidiosis vaccine for chicks that aren't meat birds, but I think all of them offer Marek's vax).