Baby Chukar partridges

[Bosleeu]

Hatched this morning.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Very sweet.
I was going to ask whether you were going to shoot it but I see it's a fancy breed so will it live with the hens?
One of my broodys hatched some bantams and proceeded to grab them and hurl them about. I saved two and they are in a brooder in the porch......I could have shot her!!!!!

 

[pargyle]

Altogether now ..... AAAAaaaaawwwwwwwww

 

[bontbee]

aw c'mon Phil, they are so cute when they are fluffy like that, and it only lasts a day or two!

It was also a poignant reminder of the blackrock cross and my last little welsummer, both of which ended up as a flurry of feathers earlier this week. Don't know what took them, but the big black rock brooded and raised the welsummer, so the pic took me back! Even worse, only one lonely old black rock cross left, until I can source a couple of replacements.....

I can anticipate the hail - hobbyist beek and PET CHICKENS!!!

 

[pargyle]

aw c'mon Phil, they are so cute when they are fluffy like that, and it only lasts a day or two!

It was also a poignant reminder of the blackrock cross and my last little welsummer, both of which ended up as a flurry of feathers earlier this week. Don't know what took them, but the big black rock brooded and raised the welsummer, so the pic took me back! Even worse, only one lonely old black rock cross left, until I can source a couple of replacements.....

I can anticipate the hail - hobbyist beek and PET CHICKENS!!!

Do you think I wasn't going .. Awwwwwww myself ?

You're talking to the bloke who kept a non laying, ageing ex battery hen alive by hand feeding her with yoghurt and wholemeal bread for a fortnight so that she could recover and live another six months without laying another egg .... they are so cute ... I just hope my OH doesn't see them - I'm under pressure to get Quails at present -if she sees these photos I'm deep in the smelly !!

 

[BeeJayBee]

Altogether now ..... AAAAaaaaawwwwwwwww

You beat me to it. Aren't they gorgeous.

 

[bontbee]

Do you think I wasn't going .. Awwwwwww myself ?

You're talking to the bloke who kept a non laying, ageing ex battery hen alive by hand feeding her with yoghurt and wholemeal bread for a fortnight so that she could recover and live another six months without laying another egg .... they are so cute ... I just hope my OH doesn't see them - I'm under pressure to get Quails at present -if she sees these photos I'm deep in the smelly !!

...thought you might have been being provocative! You're obviously even softer than me so, go on, get the quail.

 

[Erichalfbee]

PET CHICKENS!!!

There is no other kind here in this house

 

[bontbee]

I suspect, perhaps, that you and I aren't the only ones EricA...

Bit sad that no-one commiserated on the murder of my two legged girls. Horrible to find the remains of the black rock - even worse not to find the remains of the welsummer. But hey, they're only chickens, after all......

PS. It's too late now!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

But remember - they're a b*gger to stuff!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Bit sad that no-one commiserated on the murder of my two legged girls. Horrible to find the remains -

Happens with chickens I'm afraid - fox? that's the usual culprit, we try and keep them down in our area, but it's a long running battle with the fluffy bunny brigade. Dreading finding the remains of SWMBO's chickens one morning - she often doesn't lock them in at night, and although I usually check I'm not alwas there to care for her chickens!

 

[Bosleeu]

Very sweet.
I was going to ask whether you were going to shoot it but I see it's a fancy breed so will it live with the hens?
One of my broodys hatched some bantams and proceeded to grab them and hurl them about. I saved two and they are in a brooder in the porch......I could have shot her!!!!!

Yes hopefully they will live in the garden (and the neighbours' gardens) with the chickens, Guinea Fowl and pigeons (and bees). Broody hatched 8 out of 12,one dead in shell, 3 clear eggs.

All eight alive and well this morning and eating under the watchful eyes of mum. There is something quite magical about a hen with chicks. Fingers crossed.

Many thanks for all the replies, great to see so many people like chickens.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

When my grandparents got married one of their presents (from an aunt who learnt they were going to start married life in a remote cottage on the side of the mountain) was a hen with a brood of chicks - thus started our family's long association with poultry with my grandparents having a lucrative sideline to supplement my grandfather's miner's (later factory storeman) pay. they used to slaughter quite a few hundred hens, ducks, geese and the odd turkey at Christmas time.

 

[pargyle]

But remember - they're a b*gger to stuff!

I think she's thinking more along the line of the quails eggs which are a fair delicacy in this neck of the woods .. Also very good for you.

http://a-livinghealthy.--------.co.uk/2012/11/benefit-of-quail-eggs.html

Quails take up less room & eat less food than hens and in our local farm shop the eggs fetch as much for half a dozen as the free range organic hens eggs are a dozen.

'Er indoors ... the Awwww factor I'm afraid.

 

[bontbee]

Happens with chickens I'm afraid - fox? that's the usual culprit,

Dreading finding the remains of SWMBO's chickens one morning - she often doesn't lock them in at night, and although I usually check I'm not alwas there to care for her chickens!

Would a big cat (domestic, not safari type) take chicken? I always shut them in before roosting, (or if no-one is going to be back in time, they are not let out, but confined to the fox proof run), but these were taken at about 10.00am, from the garden. I was home, but didn't hear a thing.... One of the neighbours' large cats was seen skulking, (guiltily?), shortly after finding the remains.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Yes, a cat would do it - that was the other type of vermin that sprung to mind

 

[bontbee]

Well, JBM, you are the first to suggest a cat might have been responsible. Everyone else immediately said "fox" - only a fox would "take the hen away", but the little hen that disappeared completely was just that, little and very light. The one that was mauled and left behind was a big, heavy bird.... I guess I will never know, but I realise that whatever was responsible was just doing what comes naturally. I just wish that little Milly had survived.... (sorry Poll).

 

[Teemore]

I have friends who raise ducks commercially and always keep a selection of bantams and chickens. Foxes occasionally cause the chickens and bantams to "decline" in number but they have commented that pine martins are a greater problem for them. Are there any in your area?

30 odd years ago we had a cat that brought home pheasants she caught. One day she managed to drag home a chicken (feeding kittens at the time) and for some reason she disappeared shortly afterwards.... The kittens ended up being hand reared.

 

[Bosleeu]

No pine martins or mink around here thankfully, just cats and the odd fox. Peregrines will come for the pigeons occasionally.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

they have commented that pine martins are a greater problem for them. Are there any in your area?

No pine martens around here - mink, foxes, cats and (near me anyway) polecats, plenty of the little beauties