Monday 26th June 2017
It's a big world out there!
As the photo shows, our goslings, now aged just four weeks, are just ever so slightly bigger than their 'mum' (Queenie Baby Blue) and somewhat substantially bigger than the ducklings, now aged just under three weeks. We have been keeping them all penned in one of the field shelters but tonight we moved them back to the stables so that tomorrow, they can go outside and start to peck at a bit of live grass (as opposed to the straw of their shelter).
We have moved the geese back OUT - just in case - we are still very unsure whether the geese were responsible for the ‘disappearance’ of Banana’s ducklings last month but we don’t want to take any chances. Nonetheless, we are nervous about the ducklings in particular being outside. The grass is very long in the poultry area and whilst they are fast moving, because they rely on the ‘sight’ of mum (Pear) more than her sounds (unlike chickens), this may make them quite vulnerable to getting lost. The goslings are not yet that fast but being bigger and certainly as big as their mum, they should have an advantage!!
Elsewhere amongst the poultry Hedgerow Broody (or Row for short) has yet again gone broody in one of our hedgerows (not far from where she was the last time) and she is now sitting on 11 eggs. We ‘found’ her two days ago after many a fruitless search over the last week or so. This time however, we won’t let her hatch these eggs but instead give her a load of Indian Game eggs that our only IG without chicks has laid. We only have three so far but when we have nearer eight or nine, we will swap them for Row’s. The reason for this is simple, pure Indian Game birds will make more money than crossbreeds and yet won’t cost us more to raise. So, it’s a bit of a non brainer (although we will feel a tad guilty that her own eggs will have started to develop…).
We also have three of our four new ducks sitting on eggs and Apple, who has laid 11 so far, won’t be far behind. Some of the resulting ducklings won’t be pure Muscovy so our plan is to sell those as young ducklings (probably as ‘off-heat’ four-week olds) OR raise them for meat. We also have a plan to erect an old polytunnel frame and cover it in fine netting and to use this as our ‘duckling’ sanctuary for a few weeks. It will hopefully give them the best of both worlds: outside space, grass and fresh air, as well as protection!!
Elsewhere amongst the poultry Hedgerow Broody (or Row for short) has yet again gone broody in one of our hedgerows (not far from where she was the last time) and she is now sitting on 11 eggs. We ‘found’ her two days ago after many a fruitless search over the last week or so. This time however, we won’t let her hatch these eggs but instead give her a load of Indian Game eggs that our only IG without chicks has laid. We only have three so far but when we have nearer eight or nine, we will swap them for Row’s. The reason for this is simple, pure Indian Game birds will make more money than crossbreeds and yet won’t cost us more to raise. So, it’s a bit of a non brainer (although we will feel a tad guilty that her own eggs will have started to develop…).
We also have three of our four new ducks sitting on eggs and Apple, who has laid 11 so far, won’t be far behind. Some of the resulting ducklings won’t be pure Muscovy so our plan is to sell those as young ducklings (probably as ‘off-heat’ four-week olds) OR raise them for meat. We also have a plan to erect an old polytunnel frame and cover it in fine netting and to use this as our ‘duckling’ sanctuary for a few weeks. It will hopefully give them the best of both worlds: outside space, grass and fresh air, as well as protection!!