sara | October 14, 2011
On my farmingfriends forum when the members need to take their poultry to the vets there is often talk about whether their vets have a specialist in poultry.
I am lucky where I live we have a local vets surgery with staff who are specially trained in avian veterinary.
I am writing this post as I have [...]
sara | February 21, 2011
I have received a chicken feeder tip from Anthony Marriott from Marriotts Smallholding to help stop your poultry from tipping up their feeder.
Anthony says, “We have found that chickens like to scratch their feeders as much as the grass etc.
To solve this problem just get a couple of galvanised tent pegs and push one [...]
sara | January 18, 2011
The age of maturity of male birds will differ between species of birds. The maturity refers to the age at which the males reach sexual maturity and will start breeding with their female partners.
Quail = about 60 days old.
Hen = about 6-8 months old.
Partridges = male grey partridges mature from about 10-12 months old.
Pheasants [...]
sara | January 13, 2011
The age of maturity of female birds will differ between species of birds. The maturity refers to the age at which the females reach sexual maturity and will start laying eggs and breeding with their male partners.
Quail = about 50 days old (I have observed that female Japanese quail will start to lay eggs from [...]
sara | January 11, 2011
Here is a rough guide to the male to female ratio for keeping different varieties of poultry together.
Quail = 1 male to every 3-4 females.
Hen = 1 males to every 6-10 females. (The Domestic Fowl Trust normally recommend 1 male to 6 females for breeding chickens.)
Partridges = 1 male to 1 female.
Pheasants = 1 male [...]
sara | January 10, 2011
With the recent Wintery weather in the UK and other countries suffering with snow, frosts and minus temperatures, there has been alot of debate about how to keep poultry drinkers and waterfowl ponds from freezing and keeping your poultry supplied with fresh water.
Looking for advice – we are in the north so we do get [...]
sara | August 30, 2010
I have read that double yolked hen eggs are caused by two eggs separating from the birds ovary at the same time and joining into one egg!
I would like to know if double yolks are on the increase. I rarely get a double yolk duck, hen, guinea fowl or quail egg. Occasionally we have had [...]
sara | March 31, 2010
I have been asked what cause curled toes in poultry and waterfowl chicks.
Curled toes is when the chick, keet or duckling is born with toes or feet that are curled up.
This can be caused by a number of things:
Curled feet can be genetic and due to inbreeding. It’s only safe to breed ducks down by [...]
sara | March 26, 2010
I received a couple of tips if your chicks have splayed legs that I thought would be useful to share.
“Its my opinion from many years of hatching, that getting the splayed (spraddled) legged chick on 1/8 inch wire as soon as possible will correct most chicks with this defect. Keith”
“My wife has cured splayed legs [...]
sara | March 4, 2010
I have received this tip and advice about litter for a brooder.
“The safest, most comfortable ,most hygienic, most chick friendly and cheapest litter for a brooder is clean chopped straw. All you need is a small bale of straw and your lawnmower (with it’s collection bag on if possible). Lay straw on a [...]
