Think it is re roofing time!

My hen house is now 7 years old, which considering it is softwood has done really well. The main body of the house is good for a number more years but the roof is sagging and as you can see the external egg box is less than well! So lets hope for plenty of dy hours tomorrow and will be roofer for the day! no dought the girls will NEED to help! note to self....leave nails in my pocket until wanted!

Own up time!

One of these gorgeous girls has started egg eating.... Ummm first of all if you have an egg eater don't panic 9 times out of 10 they can be cured,  I will do a separate page on the subject soon,  needless to say I am off to purchase some golf balls.... And I don't play golf!

Brrrr

Bit chilli this morning and moved this chap to somewhere safer than the chicken run,  or he will be breakfast 🍳

Brrrrrr autumn

A real feel of autumn in the air this morning letting the girls out ... That Wind definitely had a chill to it! It's still August!

'Golden Dawn'

Bath refill time ⌚

A Friend's Quail

If you have ever seen quail eggs they are tiny and feel so fragile!

As the are Coturnix Quail they hatch at around 16 to 18 days.

Different breeds of quail take different lengths of time.

Elegant Quail:22 days 

Blue Scaled Quail:23 days 

Bobwhite Quail:22-23 days 

Button Quail:16 days 

California Quail:22-23 days 

Gambel's Quail:22 days 

Montezuma Quail:24-25 days 

Mountain Quail:24-25 days

10 minutes old

Nicely dry and very very cute! 

 Keeping an eye on the temperature is crucial - they must be kept warm at around 35 Degrees for the first week, this is slowly deceased until they are fully feathered at four to six weeks.

This 50p shows just how small they are, this chick is 24 hours old.

Wow the wonders of grass!

They are growing at a ferocious rate on the grass. They will be old enough to sell the first week of August, as long as they have started to feather up by then,  which they should of done.  As this will be the last year for goslings we will keep one of the girls to bring the grass cutting numbers up to three, which should keep our field in check,  obviously no more goslings otherwise some may be of father,  daughter parentage.. Not good.. But I have an art project planned for the eggs next summer.... So watch this space!

We are growing!

Spot the Double Yoker!

That's got to hurt!

Week old and doubled in size!

It never ceases to amaze me how fast they grow... If you ever want to see really rapid growth hatch some quail!

Goslings sexed and ringed

My leg rings arrived today,  so braved the torrential rain and a cross Honda!  And it turns out we have two boys and four girls,  a great ratio as girls are always more popular when you sell them.   I was going to photo/film it for you,  but the weather was too bad,  but in a week or two they will need the next size up ring and hopefully the weather will be better, I  will show how to sex them and ring them.  Goslings are hard to sex as everything is internal and the boys are very good at keeping it that way!  The younger you do it the easier it is. But everything is so small you need a keen eye.

New safe playground from Sparrowhawk

Morning Bath Time

My favourite

New strategy

New feeding station,  whilst on run arest till they are bigger,  only out time under supervision,  it seems a sparrowhawk has had two and came back for thirds this afternoon,  but between the crows dive bombing it and me we averted disaster no3

Sad news

When I came home from work tonight their where only six goslings two have vanished,  we do get buzzards around here so looks like he got lucky.  I have searched the field but no sign of them.  Honda and Sally where really pleased to see me and left me with the goslings while they went for something too eat. I did explain to them I'm not a baby sitting service!  But it is sad we have lost two. Just hope Sally and Honda can keep on top of the predators.

Senior pool.... Baby pool

Perhaps I should add lockers and showers!

Sally posing.... I think!

She hasn't lost as much weight as last year sitting,  and her legs are starting to pink up again.

And then 5!