ISO Pucette - chickens

[Alexis]

Or, indeed, any other fanatic!  This year I want chicks.  Does anyone have any idea of the best time to let the chickens sit or is it a natural thing?

I have an Orpington Bleu coq and hen and various other beauties.  His best girl seems to be the Maran or the Aracauna....  Will their eggs be fertile?  I bet Peta is laughing if she reads this!  I bought them all  from her!

Then we will discuss poulardes.....  I am definative.  This year no names and we eat them!

[Wicce]

Alexis, Hi.  Had to laugh at your message.  If your cockerel is doing his job, then the eggs of all hens he is covering should be fertile.  It's perhaps a little early in the year for broody hens - but you never know - they usually come in a bit later.  You can put any fertile eggs under any broody - they will hatch them regardless of who the mum is.  It could look a bit weird to have full size chicks with a bantam foster mum, but hey, bantams make good mothers.  You could try getting yourself a little incubator.   It's better to hatch chicks in the warmer seasons, which is luckily when a lot of hens become broody.  Small chicks can be vulnerable to cold and damp.

Have fun.

Mary

 

[Pucette<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Pucette<FONT><P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">"Qui ne connaît pas la campagne lhiver, ne connaît pas la campagne et ne connaît pas]

No need for an incubator when you've got an Orpington.

I'm hoping mine won't go broody yet so I take all the eggs away as often as I think of it and don't give them too much litter. This doesn't stop them but makes them less likely too if they are in two minds. There was only one egg from ten Orpingtons today so no worries there but my silkies are laying an egg each a day and go broody even more easily.

Given plenty of litter and leaving their eggs in place both races go broody naturally when they are ready; when they've sat for a couple of days I put them in a cosy broody box and add eggs for a couple of days. I take them out morning and evening to eat, drink, stretch their legs and answer the call of nature somewhere other than on the nest. Otherwise they don't move; not all races are as serious, I looked after some which were better not disturbed at all except for popping their provisions in a big enough cage, and some people have hens that will only sit out in the meadows with the foxes. Anyway, I digress... yes, you should have some odd hybrids... hopefully with all the qualities of both parents... don't worry and do enjoy watching them do what comes naturally.

[Alexis]

I'm all excited now.  Hope we get some chicks!

My Orpington bleu female is the only one who doesn't lay with the others.  She used to lay in the 'cave' at the back of the house but since I tidied up she has gone upwards...there is a fireplace next to the house wall with a 'window' above it and she goes up there.  All there before we came, I hasten to add.  All this will be disturbed again when we put the new fosse in.  The old one is below the 'fireplace'.

Heidi (because of her hairstyle) is forever making and remaking her 'nest' which is on the ground in the shed.  She sleeps in a tree.....

We will have to wait and see what nature brings.

Are your Orpington beige Pucette?  Sorry, I do know the colours but it has gone out of my head.

[Hoddy]

"You can put any fertile eggs under any broody - " Wicce

I can confirm this. I've hatched ducks under a broody hen - they have a nervous breakdown when the ducklings take to the water !

Hoddy

[Pucette<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Pucette<FONT><P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">"Qui ne connaît pas la campagne lhiver, ne connaît pas la campagne et ne connaît pas]

Buff if you please Alexis - or fauve. :

[Patf]

For those of you who keep chickens and live near Deux Sevres there's a show on in Niort next weekend of various types of chickens, pigeons and rabbits organised by the Federation Francaise de Volailles. An opportunity to admire all the races reared in France. Friday pm and all day Saturday and Sunday at the Parc des expositions de Niort-Noron. tel 05 49 27 07 38. I would like to go but it's too far. Our chickens are mainly the col nu type and we haven't bred any yet, just buy them in the market. Pat.

[Pucette<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Pucette<FONT><P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">"Qui ne connaît pas la campagne lhiver, ne connaît pas la campagne et ne connaît pas]

Alexis, does ISO mean something other than International Standards Organisation?

[Alexis]

In Search Of......ha ha ha!  Don't fret, I thought OH was Old Husband for ages

Sorry about that, I even looked Orpingtons up and couldn't for the life of me think what fauve was and buff had just 'gone'. 

A Senior moment.

Still, how are the beige chickens today?

[Pucette<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Pucette<FONT><P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">"Qui ne connaît pas la campagne lhiver, ne connaît pas la campagne et ne connaît pas]

They wouldn't come out, say it's too cold.

I thought LOL was Lord Oh Lord for a long time... have recently discovered a friend thinks I mean Lots Of Love

Mind you, I thought ¤¤ might have been kisses with love in the middle.

I'll go see if the chickens are up yet.