Villageways
Villageways
This little one fell out of its nest, high up in the eaves of the house. It was obviously calling for help and other nearby birds called back and looked on as we made it our mission to get the little one back home. This little baby was so cute and seemed to feel safe [...]
Well, it used to be a futon, but we didn’t have any use for it, so with a couple of modifications … well legs actually … we (hubby did the work, I got the idea) turned it into a potting table. It’s absolutely perfect for what we need. It’s deep and gives us plenty of [...]
We do have quite a few crows and ravens in the area where we live. The only problem we’ve had with crows is that they like to pinch the chickens’ food. Your chickens are naturally going to want to protect their food. Ours did. I was watching out the window one day and a big [...]
Silver Grey Dorkings are chubby, and unusually short-legged, 5-toed chickens. Because of the very short legs you need to ensure that any ramps and perches are accessible to them. Dolly, our Silver Grey Dorking, is the eldest of our chickens, she is also the ‘Mother Hen’ by her very nature. She is very laid back and [...]
Marans are a French breed and are commonly known for their feathered legs and feet. Maisey, our Maran, is a beautiful looking bird with big brown eyes. She’s very ‘girlie’ in appearance, cute and fluffy to the rear, but don’t be deceived as she can change into a bit of a vampire looking creature when she’s [...]
For many chicken keepers foxes can be a menace. Unlike most animals, the fox does not just kill what it needs to feed on, but will launch on a frenzied campaign of death and destruction, slaughtering on an horrific scale, particularly if the fox gets into your run or hen house. The fox will, to [...]
If you decide to purchase ex-battery chickens (rescue chickens) then you’ll find that in the majority of cases that they will have had their beaks cut. This is done by the battery farmers to prevent them from pecking one another in the battery cages. But they are free now, so they’ll be okay, won’t they? [...]
We started our chicken keeping naively with three individual breeds – the Exchequer, Silver Grey Dorking and Copper Blue Maran. All three came to us together and are now a very tight unit. Introducing other birds to these three created all sorts of problems and upset amongst the flock. We did not intend to start this [...]
Point of lay means that a chicken is almost ready to start laying her FIRST EVER eggs. The point of lay period is from when the chickens are around 16 weeks old, until they actually start laying eggs at around 21 weeks. A chicken that is past point of lay will already be laying eggs. [...]
Eggs are never laid constantly all year round. The chucks need a rest! There are various reasons for chickens to stop laying. Broody Chickens At some point your chickens are likely to become broody and when they are broody they don’t lay eggs. Their broodiness can last a couple of weeks or more. It’s unlikely [...]