nikandjoysfieldfarm

New Beginnings

2010-02-17T20:16:00.002Z

Well we're pleased to announce that the hens have a lovely new home, free ranging in a woodland, which they are most happy about. I think the big hens got quite bored recently as they started to pluck one another's feathers out. Now I've heard of oven ready, but I didn't expect the hens to quite do it themselves!! Anyway we bought some anti-pecking spray called 'Scarper' which seemed to do the trick and so, besides the bad smell of the spray, the hens have stopped attacking each other and are starting to look their normal selves again. Did I mention how bad the spray smelt? Like an old ashtray! Yuck!
On a more somber note, one of our Pekins, Speckle, passed away yesterday............ it's so very sad as we knew something was wrong with her crop. The crop for those who are unsure is the place where hens keep their food so they can digest it at a slower pace. This enables them to grab food on the go and save it for later!. Anyway we'd been trying to empty her crop for her by holding her upside-down (I know this sounds harsh but it's the best way)and massaging her crop. This helped somewhat but I think we picked up the problem too late as the next day she was gone. Chickens are brilliant at hiding illness, mainly for fear of being attacked by the other hens. So they pretend to eat and act normal so it can be difficult to spot a sick bird until it's too late.
Well such is life and we carry on.
As one of our pekins, Urchin, has turned out to be male, even if his crow is feeble! we are hoping to breed some chicks this year, so watch this blog for further developements.

Farm On Hold

2009-12-27T10:27:00.000Z

I know we've not posted on here for a while but things have been a little hectic in the field farm world. Our Landshare scheme is not working out as well as we'd planned and we have decided to temporarily move the chickens out to another location. We are expecting the new field farm to be up and running in the next couple of months so will keep you posted!
The chickens are all fine, well one escaped (a speckledy) and we later found out that it had been taken to the vets and rehomed (at least it's being looked after). We also think our Silver Birchen is a cockerel!

Merry Christmas and hopefully we'll have a better new year!

Speckledy’s

2009-09-21T20:39:00.006+01:00

Four more hens have now been added to the coop with the two Warrens. This breed is called Speckledy. They are funny looking birds, quite dinosaur like in appearance but have very beautiful feathers and seem to be holding their own against Bulley and McQueen! They are a little way off laying yet but when they do they should be dark brown eggs, which may be speckled.

EGGSciting!!!

Overflowing with Pekin’s!

2009-09-21T20:33:00.003+01:00

Sorry but we just couldn’t resist their charms and their fluffy flared feet! We’ve got three more Pekin’s. Urmm actually only two because I’d forgotten that one of them is not a Pekin (well we think) but a Silver Birchen, who we’ve named Urchin, which is quite apt seeing as she’s the youngest. Anyway it didn’t take long for them to get settled in and the other birds seemed to accept them quickly (this could be as they are from the same breeder?)
So finally we have some happy hens who may just start laying in the next few weeks?

Here they are: Urchin, Lavender (who is not a blue chicken, LOL! but more of a grey colour) and Buff.

A Good Egg!

2009-09-21T20:26:00.005+01:00

WOW!

Yes we’ve had our very first egg and one every day since! They taste great and it’s so nice to finally not have to go out and buy from the shops, we just pick up an egg from the farm! Ok, they are a little bit smaller than some shop varieties but we really don’t care as they are just beautiful!

One question though, why is one Warren laying and the other not? Surely we should be faced with two eggs and not just the one. I just hope for the Warren’s sake (whichever one it is) this happens soon!!!

Big Coop, Little Coop

2009-09-21T20:19:00.003+01:00

Ok, well the so called ‘pecking order’ seems harsh for the little Pekin’s after all, so after much deliberation we’ve decided separation is in order. So Nik has been hard at work constructing a miniature coop for them.

We’re pleased to say that the separation has worked a treat so no more stressed out Pekin’s, although the two Warren’s seem to pace up and down the fence quite a bit…….. but I think they’re just jealous of the fresh grass …….. well you know the saying!

The “Pekin” Order

2009-09-09T20:52:00.008+01:00

Monday 7^th September was the final ‘move in’ date for our hens. We had two Warrens looked after and given to us by our good friend Andrew and three Pekin Bantams being brought over by our local chicken rearer (who turned up and we then discovered that we got four birds for the price of three, as he chucked (see what I did there!) another one in for free.

So that evening the car laden with boxes of chickens we headed up to the farm.

Initially it was all going so well until one of the Warrens (who we’ve now named Bulls-eye or Bully for short) started to have a go at the smaller Pekins and we had quite a kerfuffle on our hands!

This, we’ve been informed, is the chickens establishing a ‘pecking order’ as there will always be one top hen in the coop.

We’re hoping, given a bit of time this will calm down and every chicken will find its place.

We have admitted to ourselves that this must be like having children, as all we have done over the last few days is worry about the birds!

Home to Roost!

2009-09-09T20:46:00.003+01:00

So finally we have completed one coop! All the hard work paid off (more Nik’s hard work than mine – I just slapped the creosote on!) After a phone call to Nik’s Mum we managed to rope Father-in-Law, Ralph, to bring over his (borrowed) trailer to help us transport the new coop to the farm.

As you can see the move was somewhat ………………. Interesting!

But it it went in ok in the end

On Guard!

2009-09-07T20:49:00.002+01:00

Ok so we’ve established that we’re not fencers, but glad to report that we now have built space for 3 coops and runs, so after much hard work trying to make them fox proof and one wasp sting later we’re nearly there!

The EGGSperiment

2009-09-06T19:41:00.001+01:00

Apparently eggs can be stored in the refrigerator for up to three months! Really??? Well we wanted to find out for sure so we took one lucky egg (out of a cast of ………… erm…. six) and we aim to keep it in our fridge for the full three months just to prove the theory.

Nik said he will crack the egg on my birthday (25th November – just so you don’t forget!!!)

So watch this space for the results.

Plastication Of The Nation

2009-08-26T21:49:00.004+01:00

Monday 24^th August 2009 we started work on converting the land. This entailed strategic placing of plastic (courtesy of our good friend Guy) in the areas where we wanted to kill off the grass.

Here are a couple of pics of how it’s looking so far…………..

Oh and of course the truck had to make it into the pictures (Buildwas mud and all!)

I Name This Chicken ………

2009-08-26T21:46:00.003+01:00

We have CHICKENS! Well……… at least we’ve bought them but have not yet made homes for them, more on this later.

After a trip out with my sister and brother-in-law to Leek livestock auction one Saturday and coming away empty handed we popped in to see a man about some chickens a bit closer to home.

As no-one really knew what to get Nik for his birthday, a chicken or two was looking like a good gift idea. So after some debate Nik decided on three chickens (Pekin Bantams) that he would like to keep, not only as egg layers, but as pets too (Ahh bless!) One was buff coloured, one black and one brown.

My sister and brother-in-law said they would like to buy the buff coloured one for him and asked if they could name it Ginger, this eventually led on to Nik’s sister’s contributing towards buying the black and brown hens and naming them Kiev and Speckle.

We have also acquired a brown hen who did a Steve McQueen from a local chicken farm (no name given yet and breed unknown!) that is currently in the good hands of our friend Andrew.

Now all they need is a home!

To Blog or Not To Blog?

2009-08-26T20:58:00.000+01:00

that is the question! Well luckily for all you readers we've decided to set up this blog to share with you the trials and tribulations of our new mini farm.

Before I go any further I must say a huge thank you to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall for starting up the brilliant Landshare scheme.

http://landshare.channel4.com/

If you wanted to skip reading about the Landshare project then, briefly, this is how it works: A landowner, helper or grower posts a listing on the Landshare site stating what they are looking for or offering, this connects interested parties in their area and before you know it the adventure has begun!

So after seeing Landshare introduced on the River Cottage TV programme we signed up. (I must add at this point for those who don't know us that we live in an apartment in Newport, Shropshire and thus don't have any garden/land to grow anything on). At the start of August 2009, we made contact with a chap called Paul who had a patch of land at Oulton, near Norbury Junction (about a 1/4 of an acre and just a few miles up the road) so after the initial look around we accepted Paul’s offer of the land and then went away all excited and not being able to sleep (Well Nik didn't sleep, I had no problems at all!).

Anyway here is a picture of the land (well some of it)