21 August 2011

Shooting up


Thought it was time for an update on the chicks that our broody hen hatched in June. They are growing well and at eight weeks old they look like proper chickens, albeit about half the size of a regular bird. The broody got bored of them at five weeks old and is back with the other hens now. The chicks are still in a separate enclosure during the day, as they are too small to run with the big hens. I let them out in the evening, once the adults are shut up for the night, to give them a run outside and a chance to have a dust bath and peck at grass shoots.


This photo shows the young cockerel. He's beginning to crow in the mornings, now. Well, 'crow' is a grand word for the noise he makes. If you imagine a chicken trying to sing the first three notes of 'Three Blind Mice' then you might get an idea of how it sounds.

In the greenhouse I'm starting to think about sowing seeds for late crops. I've never had any luck with direct sowings of peas in there in the spring: they always get eaten by rodents before they get a chance to germinate - I have to sow them indoors and transplant them. I wasn't optimistic about a later sowing, but was proved wrong when all the pea seeds germinated this week within a few days of being sown.


Whether they have time to produce a crop of peas before the winter is another matter, of course, but there's no harm in trying!

1 comment:

Linda said...

Good looking chicks!!