What's been happening on the farm

A New Flock Arrives

After a fox attack last summer then missing out on a new flock of laying hens by 1 day!! (due to bird lockdown) I have been desperate for some more egg laying hens.

Finally the other week I managed to source some from my original supplier. Hired the trailer, got up nice and early to do my daily chicken jobs, dropped off the dog, picked up the trailer, came back to fill it with chicken crates and just as I was turning onto my street, the clutch on my car broke. What a disaster, it meant I couldn't collect the hens that day either. So, a bit of reorganising, new car hired, trailer still hired, 1 week later I made it up to North Yorkshire to collect 100 lovely healthy pullets. Phew!

R.I.P to my trusty blue Freelander. They don't have the best reputation but I loved mine, it got to 18 years old and in that time it truly worked hard.

Before the hens arrived I spent a bit of time freshening up the egg mobile! It got kitted out with some poop resistant paint, nice new curvy perches perfect for chicken shaped feet and had a thorough wash.

Chicken Training Underway

Since then I've been on operation 'teach the chickens how to use it'. The new hens are in wonderful condition, bright eyed, alert and oh my goodness so clean! The commercial laying hen market can be quite limited especially at certain times of year. Ideally young hens that come to me would already know how to use perches, free range and take themselves to bed but with limited suppliers I have always gone for barn reared.

That means that for roughly the first 20 weeks of life the hen has been reared strictly in a barn. Although I practice pasture rearing and that style of rearing is important to me I really don't mind having barn reared pullets. As it's been winter the chicks would have had to spend a good few weeks in their brooder anyway and it's far more important to me that they come healthy, vaccinated and well looked after. The downside is that I have to teach them how to be pasture raised chickens.

Cut to me at dusk every night this week following chickens around with a broom or net, herding them to the coop at night then climbing on my hands and knees to get the few who haven't figured it out yet. It's all very new for them, they have never seen grass before, never stood on ground that is uneven and never had a perch so I also physically lift some onto the perches at night so they get the idea. I have done this type of chicken training a couple of times now, it usually takes a week or so before they all have the hang of it. They aren't laying quite yet but I expect that to change over the coming weeks. 

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/ff1c1f_6dd768dd8d6e488c940d1b338a971327/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Securing The Future Flock

It's all well and good having another new flock but what happens when they stop laying I hear you asking? You have been on rationed egg numbers for the best part of a year. What am I doing to ensure we have enough eggs in the future?

Introducing... the incubator. Well thats half of the plan. I generally keep my pullets in production for around 2 years. During that time the hens will go through one or two moles, when they either stop laying completley or slow down significantly.

After that point thier egg production drops enough that it's no longer viable for a small commercial flock like mine. So to keep egg numbers steady, I need a regular supply of new young hens coming into the flock. Buying pullets will still be part of the plan but this year I'm also experimenting with something new, the incubator.

The idea is to hatch some hatch some chicks myself so I can begin raising a small number of future laying hens myself. It's something I've wanted to try for a while and it feels like a good time to start learning. Hatching chicks comes with its own set of challenges, temperature control, humidity, turning eggs - so we'll see how it goes. I'll try and keep you posted on how the process goes.