In your home flock you can choose from a wide variety of chicken breeds. The easiest to buy are the standard layer types, but if as you probably aren’t keeping them just for maximum egg production, you might find heritage breed chickens are more attractive and interesting option.
Read MoreOur ten marans chicks all made it to 7 days, albeit with a couple of near-tragedies. The hen has been marvellous, and it’s fascinating to watch them in action and how they respond to her cues. They are housed in a shed with a door we made to fit, with a small yard outside that I wired in and part-covered with old weed-cloth. I had all sorts of worries; that they wouldn’t be able to get over the threshold, or that they would get out through the chicken wire and…
Read MoreIt was 21 days on Saturday since I got my fertile Marans eggs from friends Phil and Lindy, and put them under my broody hen. Right on time, 9 of the eggs hatched, and another hatched a day later. Ten out of twelve is a pretty good success rate, so fingers crossed that we can keep them all well. As the hen went broody under our house stairs I let her brood there, but had a shed ready to move them too, with weed mat over the concrete and a…
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