blockhill - forest garden experience & education

North Canterbury

Quooks!

Quooks!

Today the baby quails have hatched and the big clucky chook has become a mother! There are six babies altogether. There were 7 this morning, but that's a sad and rather funny story.....basically the little quail was sitting up in the nest box and was chirping away. It then got excited and jumped giddily out of the nest box, bounced off the ramp, landed on the floor and was promptly picked up in the beak of hungry chook who thought it was a scrap of food. We tried to rescue it, but it was too tiny to survive such a trama. But at least it got to have a near flight experience in it's short little life.
December 05, 2009
  chooks  chickens  quail 
Over the edge

Over the edge

Why did the chicken jump off the cliff? We will never really know for sure. But this morning she was a bit jumpy and a bit edgy...and then she just jumped right over the edge and went flapping and squawking to the blackberries below.
June 01, 2011
  Chicken  Ladder  Cliff 

The Triplets of blockhill

Of the twelve eggs, only three have successfully hatched.  There are three little fluffy feathered babies...all black like the mother, though they may be from other hens eggs...we aren't too sure. We have put some of the remaining eggs under the speckled hen who has also gone clucky, but it's been a few days now, and no other baby chickens have emerged. So it looks like we have just the three. Hopefully they will survive the ferrets and the cat!
November 10, 2009
  chickens  hatch 
Extra long chicken run

Extra long chicken run

The idea behind this chicken run is to provide the inhabitants with a reasonably large area (21 square meters) while being easy to move and providing adequate protection.

Using odds and ends I was able to construct something that looks like it will do the trick. Read more about materials and construction process.
January 30, 2011
Twelve

Twelve

So, the bantam that was sitting on 13 eggs out in the grass just hatched out 12 chicks.
As these are all from her own eggs they share a resemblance to the mother, all tiny and shades of brown.
December 07, 2009
  chickens  hatch  bantam 
Resurrection

Resurrection

As the number of chooks steadily increases so too does the need for housing.
In attempt to prevent the family of bantams from visiting our garden everyday we decided to resurrect the old shed down the far end of the farm.
Click the photo to see before and after
March 09, 2010
Finding the eggs

Finding the eggs

A number of hens have gone clucky, it's that time of year again. Locating the outdoor nests is always a challenge as not only are they well hidden the hens are careful to come and go unnoticed.

Today's nest has 15 eggs slowly turning into 15 tasty chickens.
September 26, 2010
  Bantam  Nest  Clucky  Chicken  Eggs 
little chickens

little chickens

The little bantams have arrived. There are 15 in total: 7 from one mother and 8 from the other. We have put both groups in the same chookhouse. So they have gotten all mixed together and it seems there is a favourite mother. She has 11 at the moment, and the other only has 4. I suppose they will keep swapping and sharing babies.
October 13, 2010
  Chickens  Video  Spring 
Chicken Prism

Chicken Prism

The latest development in our seemingly endless quest for perfect chicken containment, our version of the chicken tractor.
The chicken prism seems, so far, to be a fairly successful system. Good for converting grass to garden or invigorating existing garden while restricting the roaming and destructive nature of the birds.
April 07, 2012