Billy

Here's the latest addition to our araucana family, Billy. He's a lavender cockerel, about 7 months old, and after just two days in his new home he's already settling with five incubator hatched younger chicks. He replaces Red, to introduce a new bloodline into our flock. Billy is already showing the confident, strong character but gentle temperament that we find typical of a good araucana cockerel.



It's worth remembering that if a cockerel has a bad or aggressive nature then he can pass this trait down to all the hens' progeny, just as he can pass down any inherited weakness! One bad hen will produce one lot of poor chicks, but one bad cock bird can produce a whole flock full of poor chicks, so he needs to be selected with care!

As all of our araucana have descended from Red he will now be given a new harem of Maran and Light Sussex hens. As blue is a dominant gene their future progeny will produce khaki and olive green eggs respectably.

Fighting Cocks

Although some bantam cockerels are reknowned for their ferocious fighting, even the most placid of cockerels will fight to win the hen of his dreams - or to keep his harem safe from other cock birds - when the spring sunshine puts the birds in the mood for love... So beware! Cockerels that have grown up together and spent the winter living in a mixed community might very well take on what seems to be a completely new character as the mating season begins, and will need to be quickly seperated.

Bantams Starting to Lay

The warmer than usual spring has brought bantams in to lay early this year. Our silkies and pekins have been laying steadily most days since the last week of February. Personally, I think that these early eggs are best used for a tasty meal, rather than being set, as fertility rates will only just be starting to rise. It is, however, time to make sure that breeds are seperated to keep chicks pure bred. Remember bantam and chicken hens will remain fertile for 2 weeks after mating , so they need to be kept in with their own cockerels for two weeks before eggs can be known to be pure.

Silkie Chicks

Growing up - These two silkie chicks have not yet reached point of lay. Note the grey/black patches on the nearest one, which shouldn't really be there! It is often thought that silkies are one of the breeds that suffer most from cross or bad breeding. They are a popular bird, renowned for their superior qualities as broodies and mothers.

Araucana Chicks

Two lavender araucana chicks feeding. Feeders such as these discourage the young birds from scratching dry food, and so avoid waste of pellets or mash. However, it is natural for a chicken to scratch among bedding or soil for morsels of food, and it would be sad to deny them this pleasure. Corn makes an ideal "scratch food", and if fed in the late afternoon then it will encoursge birds to keep their bedding turned and fresh, and give them a reason to willingly return to their coops for you, if free-ranged during the day. Those of you who have tried to ask birds to return early to the safety of their coops (so that you can go out, or retreat to the fire or tv early, perhaps!), will have discovered the value of a regular last feed of corn! Don't overfeed late in the day, or you will be feeding the rats and mice!

Quail Chicks

These lovely little bundles of joy are Chinese Quail chicks, and are just 3 days old. Note that the photo was taken at the end of the day, after the chicks had had an active period and were wanting to sleep, not pose, or - more to the point - play! Quail "boing" when startled - and most species are easily startled! That is to say, they simply bounce from a standstill straight upward! Even at a few days old, they will need a net lid on the top of their container, or they will be gone, easily reaching a height of 40 cm from a stationary start, with vertical take-off! Give them a couple of months, and they will hit the room ceiling!