I’ve neglected to post anything in a while. I’ve been busy with life and our baby is due any day now.
But I’m not the only one expecting! I have 2 Pekins, one lavender frizzle and one silver partridge both sat on some hatching eggs. A mix of lavender and gold partridge. Both hens are sitting tight but one is not drinking as much as I would like her to. So having to keep a close eye and make sure she gets some water into her system each day.
Due to hatch on May 10th! I’ll be sure to post pics.
Filed under: Chicks, Eggs, Pekin Bantams on April 28th, 2008 | No Comments »
Alas I lost my Pekin cock bird Denzel today. A nasty bout of sour crop that ended up spreading meant that although we tried to treat him and hoped he would recover, in the end meant he had to be put down.
He was a lovely chap to have around. Friendly for a cock bird, didn’t mind being picked up, stroked, carried… and was always very vocal. He’ll be much missed by me.
Filed under: Pekin Bantams, Poultry health on November 20th, 2007 | No Comments »
Little Egg was one of our incubator hatched eggs this year. Alas we had a poor hatch rate and only 2 of 9 made it to the final few days before hatching. Both pipped but then one chick died in it’s shell. Only Litte Egg (the smallest egg from the batch) hatched.
Little Egg aged about 2 weeks
Still Little Egg is a real character and has become very attached to me and my yellow Crocs :p
Little Egg is now about 8 weeks old and I’ve decided we have another cockerel sigh I was so hoping for one pullet this year. And to top it off, Little Egg is a frizzle, so has curly feathers instead of smooth. Not something I had asked for when buying the hatching eggs. I’d wanted gold partridge and lavender eggs was all :p
Anyways, Little Egg is now in the big run with all the others during the day. Otherwise he’ll become too attached to my feet and will never really socialise and mix with them. I’d tried introducing him to a new blue hen, in the hope they would become pally, but it was not to be. Little Egg freaked out and then she started picking on him and he got too distressed. He’s been in a small enclosed run in the main run for weeks now each day, so the others are all used to seeing him around. And have been good in just letting him be and do his thing. They put up with him. He still comes in at night however as I really cannot get him to settle in the hen house.
Still all being well Little Egg will have a friend arriving soon, closer to his size and age, to try to befriend.
Little Egg out and about today
Filed under: Pekin Bantams on August 26th, 2007 | No Comments »
…what I know now, I may never have decided that keeping chickens would be a good idea. Luckily, I was blissfully unaware and a couple of years later, here I am in the process of putting together this weblog on chicken keeping, its joys, its pitfalls and all the bits inbetween.
I arrived at the decision to keep chickens thanks to my neighbour. She had a small flock of Marans who laid lovely dark brown eggs and then we acquired a small flock of Pekin bantams with feathered feet who would all often wander into the kitchen and round our garden/orchard out back. When these were sadly lost to a rogue fox over the course of a summer a few years ago, I decided having been so smitten with the little Pekin bantams and their big personalities that once the fox problem was solved I’d find more and lo, here I am a few years later…
I spent time researching, as having only basic knowledge about chicken keeping and liking to care for all my animals as best I can I wanted to be well read and informed. Once I was content in the knowledge I would be able to care and provide long term for these feathered creatures, I went about finding a good local breeder with decent stock. A few weeks later I came home with a trio of black Pekin bantams, whom I named Denzel, Delilah and Dixie chick (as she was back then, only 18 weeks old).
Delilah, Dixie (in the pot) and Denzel
Filed under: Pekin Bantams on August 3rd, 2007 | No Comments »