We moved to the peoples republic earlier this year and one thing that cemented my love for the province was the quality of the food. Where a menu read ‘organic’ or ‘fresh’ you could bet your bottom dollar that it was. A neighbour generously picked up ‘the finest chutney’ she had ever had from Farmgate, a restaurant and country store out in Midleton. Their concept towards food “is based on Regional food, supporting in particular local producers. Cheeses are local; duck is free-range; lamb and beef are locally reared; fish is landed at Ballycotton Pier“.

Their chutney was devine. We had our Sunday dinner on in the oven but we devoured the chutney with some mature red cheese and crackers well before dinner was cooked. The chutney was well matured and you could taste how carefully cooked it was.

I became addicted to Chutney and it soon became an expensive habit.

At €5 a jar in our local supermarket, I began to research all the different styles of recipes online and gathered information from sites like allrecipes.com and from chef’s books such as Darina Allen on how to make it from scratch. You’ll be pleased to know, it was fun, easy to make and turned out great. Ingredients simply consist of vinegar (for preserving) tomatoes, apples, sultana’s, garlicand spices, et al.

One jar of chutney locally is €5, but the ingredients for everything came to just over €15 which makes 12 jars. That a whole lotta chutney! I am delighted with the result but sadly have only one jar left after friends and family after a few mouthfuls took the jars home with them to Leinster. Happily, an excuse to make some more!

Mysterious fish eats duck

So, here I am, almost two years later, embarking past hens and into ‘the great unknown’ territory of…. ducks.  On paper, I know quite a bit as I did my research almost a year ago and kept researching in case the lucky day came sooner than later but finding a reputable breeder in Cork has proven tough. This hasn’t turned me off keeping ducks, it just shows me that when I begin to successfully breed them, there will be a market for selling the offspring.

What do I know about ducks? Well, apart from the bare obvious differences between their features – ( beaks and bills, claws and webbed feet) – Ducks are not as agile as hens, in that they don’t have claws to climb up to roosting poles. With their webbed feet they need a coop lower to the ground and clear access in.  Other interesting facts are that ducks don’t need water, they just enjoy splashing around. Mistakes by others in the past have been providing a paddling pool for them to swim in with no access out which has resulted in drowned ducks, so even though I am purchasing this little pool from Argos: I am making sure that there will be plenty of ways for them to get in and out.

I know that my hens lately have taken to jailbreaking out of our back enclosed area and out into the lush grass of the front garden, undestroyed by their scratching. The ducks will keep them interested in reclaiming their territory and reestablishing the pecking order. Better still, when and if one goes broody I can stick duck or hen eggs under the duck or hen and they will hatch them.  However, khaki campbells are known for laying almost 300 eggs a year and because they lay so many, they enjoy being off the nest foraging rather than on it, hatching. In this situation, when one does go broody for her chosen days (rather than the full 21 days term) its best to have an incubator with fertilised eggs running in the background. Just before the hen (or duck) decides she’s fed up with trying to hatch an egg, you carefully lift her from her nest and place the hatched chickens or ducklings underneath. She’s fooled into thinking she’s a mother, probably right up until she see’s what she thought were hens jumping into the pond, quaking and paddling away from her.

Here are some pictures of the house we provided for them. All in all, it cost about €5 and that would be the cost of the lock on the front. Why? Our local co-op allows you to take wooden pallets for free people. FOR FREE. With one handy man and his even handier table saw, alot of valuable wood can be salvaged. The base of the coop is one pallet and the rest of the coop is salvaged wood.

And here are some pictures of our ducks, who should come into lay around September.

There are some amazing designs out there though. The main idea is to have it as a rough dog kennel design off the ground to protect from rodents:

The one thing to consider with any coop build in Ireland whether you are in the country or urban areas is materials. They just don’t come cheap. B&Q, even with deals on can bring an average size coop cost to over €120. Thats just with wood, treatment for the wood and wire mesh. No roofing included as displayed in the nice pic above.

My long term solution to the above is this. If you can get your hands on an old dog kennel, they can be very easily modified without having to spend tons on wood. I also have being trying to lay my hands on old wooden crates and the old wooden tea boxes that I remember my parents moved house with ( and there was still a smell of tea leaves in them).

There are plenty of designs here. Try and get to a timber yard for your wood and stick to your design! We would have driven Kevin McCloud of Grand Designs off in no time with the amount of modifications we make while building!

The difference is definitely noticeable. Egg production is up, egg shells are sturdy and glowing. Egg SIZE has doubled.

The Mobile Pet Shop delivers direct to your door, or in my case, I met them in the village to avoid confusion finding us out in the boonies. There was no extra charge just excellent service and a vast range of products.

With the arrival of the ducks this weekend, I am going to need extra feed and I know where I’ll be getting mine from!

Follow The Mobile Pet Shop on facebook

The chickens grew a fondness for sleeping in the trees. In the beginning we would go out and as I half climbed a tree my partner would shine the torch and I would pluck them from the branch and put them to bed. This went on with some newbies for just a few weeks and was extinguished within a month. I was more nervous of owls than foxes in this situation.

Plenty of she’s turning out to be ‘he’s’. It taught me that when I went out to buy my first set of poultry I was too eager and doe-eyed and the poultry farmers knew they could sneak a cockerel in without me even knowing. Lesson learnt is always quiz the seller if he has sexed the chickens ( if they are before point of lay pullets). Breeders of pure breeds will never pull this trick over but the small / large holders will.  Tell-tale signs of males – the comb.  Always check and dont be too excited to bundle them off to their new home.

A few weeks ago, I purchased a new cockeral – Hector. When I went out to buy him, I had the seller hold him while I dug straight into his plummage and checked for mites and any signs of disease. I also made sure that his legs were free from scaly leg mite. Do not buy chickens with scaly leg mite – although you can treat it – it is advisable to cull the effected one so it doesnt spread ( and it does ).

Bullying. I discovered that one layer only was producing weak shelled eggs over two weeks, whilst the others were rock hard, perfect examples of what a healthy egg should be.  Even after making sure each had access to proper grit and oyster shell I still had one laying weakly. I decided to watch at feeding time and I was sorry to see that even though the dinner plate was big enough for everyone, one hen was being singled out and told to wait to eat until the rest had had their fill. I made sure this hen got fed separately and laid out two bowls and all egg production has returned to normal.

For now – here’s a pic of my current batch of hybrids  new love, Hector. (Named after my love for the 2fm show ‘Tommy y Hector’.

So I was left with some very miserable girls, missing the male action.

The boredom soon past as Spring came on and the recent good weather and sun had them all over the garden investigating all the new creepy crawlies.

On Monday I went to a great breeder in Co. Laois and got a few more girls. I called one Tori already, because of her fiery orange head and the fact she was the first to take food from my hand and let me pick her up, give her a pet.

The new girls were introduced in the right way and I will upload the video I took of when Izzie freaked out when she walked over to the coop and saw the new girls. She freaked! Video coming soon!

A reader in last months edition of Practical Poultry suggested spritzing a small amount of perfume on both the old and new birds, to hide the scent and to help them interact better. I did so and I have to say it worked in the beginning but they copped on to the fact that there were new hens in the coop, sight said it all. After a few days of pecking and re-establishing the pecking order all are getting on great. When my favourite Blondie pecks one of the new girls and Im sitting on my hunkers I gently pecked her in the same spot with my finger, thus establishing myself in their pecking order.

This morning, Hannah was racing up and down inside the coop so I let her and the rest out a little earlier than usual. Hannah raced over at full speed to a mound about 5ft high we have of hay, straw and wood, similarly shaped to a bonfire. Off she disappeared into the middle of the ‘bonfire’ and I creeped over to investigate.

There she was – sitting on 9 eggs. I was absolutely amazed. When we got Hannah first she was the weakling of the group and never interacted with the other hens due to being ‘the weak one’. I thought she was a goner at one stage but after Christmas her breast filled out and all the colours came back into her plumage.

So Hananh, is the first to go broody and that comes just in time for the arrival of my new incubator.

Eric and I have decided to hatch chicks but wanted to wait until one bird at least went broody. I gave Bailey the Welsummer away for free on condition that I could have a decent batch of fertilised eggs for hatching. Babies in the air this summer!

They wander about for new food and then all accumulate at my back door, clucking

away. The sight of several hens waiting through the glass door is hilarious.

Treat of the week is bread crumbs, but the most tastiest morsel is a tiny slice of ham

Which would coax any hen into your arms. Toss it one side and whoever is the luckiest

To have it in their beak runs laps as the others chase suit. Its hilarious.

I rang Eric – we have a problem, I said. While I was on the phone Bailey crowed twice more, then proceeded to jump Blondie and announce he had become a teenager and intended on giving all the hens a good seeing to.  I had intended only on keeping hens and not cockerals, so I set out finding Bailey a good home. Within a day, we found Bailey a home with 9 single young ladies who need protection from a fox living at the end of the field, just a few doors away.

When I let Bailey into the ladies coop, he immediately grabbed one hen and mounted her. He then flew to the top of the coop and crowed three times, then took another young hen into the coop and had his way with her.

The new owner is looking forward to the possible chicks in the Spring and I have my name on a few of Baileys babies. Sorry to see my favourite bird go, but could not have gotton him  a better home.