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Well I did ....

8/1/2016

Well I did relent and have settled the little Silkie in the brooder shed on a clutch of eggs, mostly Pekin eggs but also a couple of her own. The setting is primarily for testing fertility as this year I am using a new young frizzle cockerel but It will also be interesting to see what percentage of the Pekin chicks are frizzle. I'm not sure of the parentage of the Silkie eggs as she hadn't been running with Silkie cockerel for very long before she went broody, previous to that I had the older smooth feathered Pekin cockerel running with her. In just under 3 weeks time all will be revealed.

Photo: The three potential fathers. Lavender Cuckoo Pekin. Frizzle Pekin and Gold Silkie

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A New Year begins - 2016

4/1/2016

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I am going to try to resurrect my blog. I'm not sure how committed I'll be, it's easy to think I'll keep it updated regularly when the days are short and it's wet outside but once the drier weather arrives and the outdoor chores beckon it may well be a different matter.We'll see.

A New Year begins - 2016.

The years appear to go by in a flash these days and I find myself often thinking 'was it really that long ago we did ......' and have found having a blog to look back over has proved to be very useful. So here goes.

2016 started as 2015 ended - very wet and very windy. We are having what I am sure is the wettest winter I can remember ( possibly not but it does feel like it ! ). Everywhere is sodden. I pride myself in keeping a good covering of grass in all the pens, all year round, this year I'm struggling. We have been moving the birds into pens I generally rest over winter and merging flocks together to try and 'save' the ground but we really do need a good cold, dry spell.

The breeding season may start a little later than usual this year, through no fault of the birds, the hens have started to lay and the cockerels are treading but as I mentioned before I have merged the flocks and will need to separate them into breeding flocks again before I can start to hatch, also the weather needs to improve and the ground to dry before I can even think of putting chicks out.

However, having said that the little Silkie hen is broody and I am very tempted to sit her on a clutch of Pekin eggs. She can sit in the brooder shed where it is warm and dry and where there will be plenty of room for her and her chicks until the weather improves. So maybe 2016 breeding season is about to begin.

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Well I did ....

A New Year begins - 2016

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