New Chickens

Our adult flock is down to 7 birds at the moment (not including the Pekin growers) and as they're getting older we are getting fewer eggs.

I went out this week and bought four new hybrids, originally two White Stars, a Columbian Blacktail and a Black Star

The Black Star developed a swollen face and bubbly eyes once we got her home. I suspected Mycoplasma (though they are vaccinated against one strain) so isolated her and contacted the supplier. She agreed to swap her straight away which we did for another Blacktail. 

I've kept an eye on the others and they all seem to be in good health so hopefully it was a one off.

The following day one of the Blacktails laid her first egg, it's only tiny and known as a Pullet Egg but they do get bigger with age.

Poultry Dispatch, Pluck & Gut Course

I headed back to Wales this weekend to run another Poultry Dispatch, Pluck & Gut course. I started doing them about 5 years ago now after friends asked me to show them how to prepare excess cockerels for the table and it's grown from there.

We drove down on Sunday and stayed in an awesome little cottage - the previous tenant was a vet and the landlords dad was a vet, which was a nice little coincidence.

The course was held at Denmark Farm Conservation Centre just outside Lampeter which was a great venue.

I had eleven attendees, so one of the biggest courses yet, who all dispatched two chickens, learnt how to dry and wet pluck, skin and joint a bird and then how to gut them. 

They take the second bird home un-eviscerated to hang and practice the gutting process again.