State of the flock, November 2018

100% garden produce, Oct 2018

My flock is currently two small flocks.

At the allotment

Four hens are working hard in their tractor at the allotment.  They've gone over about half the available space (not including the planted cabbage bed or the sheet mulched section), and over the past two weeks or so, regrowth has been minimal.  Up until then, regrowth (mainly grasses but a few nettles and thistles) had been quick and lush.  They'll definitely have a second pass, once they've finished the first.  Hopefully a third pass too, before spring.

We're getting the occasional egg from these hens, though two of them are currently in molt.  Maybe 2 eggs a week in total.  I wish it was more but don't mind too much, as they are doing excellent work in the tractor and luckily not eating too much feed.

At home

Now that we've eaten the two male cheeps hatched this July, there is one remaining cheep left in our garden along with her adopted mother Cookie.  They're joined by Cookie's earlier hatched cockerel, the Australorp/Orpington cross who was bred from our own rooster and hen (both now sadly deceased).  He was hatched in early April, and had been at the allotment up until about three weeks ago.  We discovered he'd started crowing, and brought him back home, put a no-crow collar on him, and let him free range with Cookie and the cheep.

Family photo:  can you spot all three?  Nov 2018

This A/O cockerel is massive, particularly next to his new/old flockmates.  And he's been practicing mating with Cookie;  she honestly looks the size of a chick next to him, so I don't think this will be a successful endeavor.  His technique involves grabbing her by the back of the head (her comb is too small to grab, luckily for her) and pinning her down with his body with his feet on either side of her.  I'm glad he can't seem to properly jump on top of her, because it's entirely possible he'd seriously injure her.  Cookie for the most part seems quite happy for him to try, though the cheep still runs away from him.

Cookie has surprised us by starting to lay again. A Pekin bantam, she only lays eggs in preparation for going broody.  This is not a good time of year to go broody and we won't be giving her any fertilized eggs to sit on until at least February.  If she decides she wants to sit on eggs, we'll try to break her of broodiness;  hopefully it won't throw her off permanently, as we still want her to hatch chicks--just not in the coldest part of winter.

No eggs from the remaining (female) cheep just yet, though she's finally losing her cheepie call and is starting to say "bok" like the rest of them.  She, Cookie, and the A/O cockerel are all quite shy of us, though the cheep is the first to the gate when we bring out the corn!