Sad day

Yesterday I rehomed 4 of my Pekin boys.

A lady that breeds hybrids and keeps a few Pekins herself agreed to take them and find good homes for them. I did feel sorry for the little chaps as they were put into an ark with some other young pekins, as they were so tiny compared to the other birds, but I'm sure they'll be ok. I still worried about them last night though. When you hatch your own chicken you tend to look on them as 'your babies'.

I came home with 3 hens. 2 Cuckoo and 1 blue.

I sprayed them with lice/mite spray before putting them in with my birds, just as a precaution. Although the new birds are 12 maybe 14 weeks old and mine are 8 weeks old, the difference in size is quite a bit. The 12 week old ones look almost full grown, whereas mine look like miniature versions.

The new girls loved their big new run, 15ft x 7ft and happily ran around scratching at the grass and discovering where they were. However, the blue frizzle cockerel had other ideas. The girls may have been almost twice his size, but he was going to show them who was boss from the start. He spent all evening chasing them around and pecking them and I felt really sorry for them. Just before bed time the Lavendar hen joined in and had a go at them as well.

Come dusk, when I went out to put them all to bed, all mine had gone to bed in the house but were sat huddled near the pophole so the new girls couldnt go to bed. So I had to put the newbies in and close the door. I half expected to hear a kafuffle and a few shrieks but it was surprisingly quiet.

This morning when I let them out, they all ran into the run and there doesnt seem to be so much bullying by the Blue boy, but they're still getting chased quite a bit.

I expect it will all settle down in a day or two as they determine the pecking order.

I now have to find a home for one more Blue straight feathered Pekin boy and I'm hoping a friend will take him. He's a lovely little chap and I really dont want to have him culled. He'd make a lovely pet for someone or a great dad if he had some wives.

Today I've been busy building a forum, Pekin Heaven. I've put the link in my links section on the blog here, so if anyone reads this blog and would like to come along and join the forum I'd be really pleased to see you.

It's a bit bare on there at the moment with just myself to talk to.

Here's a pic of my 3 new hens.

Pekin Heaven

Pekin Heaven

My Pekin Forum, all Pekin owners and enthusiasts welcome, we have a section for other breeds too!

They're out!

I decided I can't wait for the weather to improve, so bought 3 more sheets of corrugated plastic sheeting to cover more of the run roof, fitted it then moved the 7wk old pekins out into their new house and run today.



The weather was dismal. Torrential rain showers on and off all day long today!

I carried the babies out to their new house in a large cat carrier and took the lid off inside the hen house. They were reluctant to get out of it, so had to pick them out one by one. Put the roof back on the house and went around and opened the pophole.



An hour and a half later they decided to test the run. The Sable Poot was the first out, then the blue pekin hen followed by the lavendar frizzle cockerel 'Sparky'.



Once 2 or 3 were outside they all piled out and went crazy scratching around and picking up the insects. They were loving it.

It was great to see them outside at last, scratching around, pecking at the grass (and weeds). Doing what chicken should do, or trying to. Without a mother hen to show them they've learnt pretty fast, bless them.

Unfortunately there was a really severe downpour and my roof leaked in one place, but nothing too serious. I'm no carpenter and the majority of the run is dry.

At bed time they were all huddled in a little group near the house and some were going to sleep, so I had to go and put them in the house one by one and shut the pophole up for the night and made sure it was fox proof. Although to get to the pophole the fox would have to cut his way through the weldmesh to get to the house.



I'm feeling pretty proud of them, they're fine birds for 7wks old. Can't wait for the next half dozen to feather up and get old enough to join them.


I spent ages sat watching them, not in the rain I might add. I went indoors and watched from my window, I spent almost 2hrs sat there just watching each one in turn. It was so relaxing, I'd forgotten how peaceful it is to watch animals and birds doing their own thing. A great way to forget all the troubles of the world, and be in your own little bit of paradise for a while, oblivious of all the turmoil going on elsewhere.

Wet Wet Wet

Well so much for moving my young Pekins into their new Pekin Palace this weekend!

It's been gale force winds and torrential rain now since Friday evening. There was a terrific thunder and lightening storm Friday night, really scarey! So I've not moved them into their new home.

Although a third of the run is covered to keep it dry, because they're so young it wouldnt be fair to put them in there, they'd only get chilled and then probably die on me, and I've taken such good care of them since hatching them, I don't want to risk losing them, and they're quite happy in the big shed. They have plenty of room to exercise and toys hanging down to play with if they get bored.

Hopefully the weather will pick up this week so they can go out. Climate change has certainly cocked up our British weather! We seem to be having all 4 seasons within 4 weeks, and our summers are really weird with storms and rain when it should be warm and sunny. If the summer is much wetter my poor little Pekins will get webbed feet!

I'll take some photographs of the Pekins this week and post them on here, they are now 6weeks old and look like miniature Pekins! They are so cute.

Finished at last!

After several weeks of hot sunny weather it's decided to rain right up til next week. So I made the effort to get outside and finish my new Pekin run. It's 15ft x 7ft x 4ft high. Netted at the top with half covered with clear corrugated pvc (Pekins feet are a nightmare if they get too wet and muddy). There's a side gate so I can get in there if I have to, and a top hatch near the chook house to put their food hopper in and take it out easily. The sides are weldmesh. I'm really pleased with it and will add a photo asap.

It's as fox proof as humanly possible, so if a fox tries to get in there to snatch my birds he'll need wire cutters and an oxcycetaline lamp.

The Pekins are 6 weeks old this weekend and have been off heat for just over a week, so they're moving in Pekin Palace either tomorrow or Sunday.

I have 2 definate boys, the lavendar frizzle pekin is staying but the black mottled frizzle boy is going to have to be sold. One of the hens, the brown/red I'm not too sure is a girl so that one may be going to if it's a boy.

The next hatch are 2 weeks old this weekend and still brooding under heat, they're more like chicks now instead of bumble bees and are the cutest little things. There's 4 Gold Partridge Pekins (3 hens and 1 cock) and one Silver Partridge Pekin hen.

The Golds came from a breeder here in Cornwall, but the Silver came from 6 fertile eggs I bought from the Highlands, Scotland, and only the one hatched out. I was disappointed as I particularly like the Silver Partridge Pekins. Never mind, I have one so mustn't complain.

I won't be hatching anymore this year, or next probably. As Pekins are always going broody I'm sure I'll have plenty of chicks next year. I'll probably sell those as I don't really have room for anymore.

Several of the hen chicks were hard to sex, they had large combs like the boys and they should have had tiny white combs. This confused me, I thought they were boys at first and would have to sell them. I've noticed with some colours in Pekins the hens do have large combs, and the only thing I can think is that when new colours were brought in using another breed, the new coloured birds kept the comb size from the non-pekin ancestors.

As I have so many different coloured Pekins and only one cockerel, my 'babies' will be non standard colours and there should be quite a pretty mixture. These dolly mixtures can't be shown or sold for breeding as they wouldn't throw true coloured babies, but they'll be beautiful colour mixes and will be great as pets.

In this blog

I'd kept a lot of rare breed poultry in the past, and also waterfowl. We had a smallholding with goats and sheep. Keeping poultry was so rewarding, especially when any of our birds we took to shows won the top prizes.

Now I just keep a few pekins of mixed colours for my own pleasure, they're good little layers, but go broody so often you can't rely on them for a regular supply of lovely free range eggs.

I bought some fertile eggs to start my Pekin collection from various places, including Ebay. Hatchability was not good, mainly due to the eggs arriving via Royal Mail. But I soon hatched a lovely selection of a dozen birds of different colours. My aim was to keep a small flock and to try and have one of each colour if possible.

I hatched the eggs in a Hovabator still air incubator, set to 101 degrees at the top of the egg, and didn't add any water to the trays, as in the UK we have enough humidity. I marked the eggs with a 'X' one side and a '0' the other, to make it easier to see they had all been turned. I turned them 3 times a day. On the 18th day I stopped turning them and added enough water to the trays to give 65% humidity to help hatching. This was about a tablespoon of warm water. I checked the humidity with a hygrometer that I bought from Amazon for about £3, and one used for reptiles. It proved a good little gadget and quite accurate.

On day 21 the chicks hatched, apart from one late hatcher. I kept the chicks in the incubator for 24hrs to allow them to fluff up, (they're wet and sticky when they first hatch and quite weak). The next evening the late hatcher still hadn't hatched but had made a small hole in the egg. So I helped her out. (thankfully it was a hen chick).

They stayed in a brooder box with a heatlamp for 4 weeks, reducing the heat each week to wean them off heat. Once they were almost feathered up I moved them into a puppy exercise pen in the garage, and grew them on in there until this weekend when they go out into their proper hen house and run in the garden.

I have 5 more chicks 2 weeks old in the brooder box, golden partridge and one silver partridge pekin, so they will be moving into the garage in the next couple of weeks or so.

The Pekin Bantam doesnt like getting it's feet wet. As they are heavily feathered if they get wet and muddy they suffer from a variety of foot problems, they also don't like drafts, so the hen house has to be draft free but with some ventilation.

If you want to show your Pekins, its advisable not to give them perches like other chicken, as when they push and shove each other on the perch they damage the foot feathers, which are quite brittle and break easily.

My Pekin run is about 17ft long x 7ft wide and 3ft high. Half of this is covered with clear corrugated pvc to keep it dry and the other half open to the elements. The complete run is made of weldmesh and wood frame with chicken wire across the roof to keep wild birds out and stop them getting Avian Flu from wild birds. It's also relatively fox proof.

They have their food hopper suspended from the run to discourage vermin, and I will take the hopper indoors every night when the Pekins go to bed. Their water hopper is on legs so it doesnt get full of bits of grass, straw or anything else they flick about when scratching outside.

At the moment the colours I have are: Lavendar, Blue, White, Lemon Cuckoo, Brown/Red, Millefleur, Gold Partridge and Silver Partridge, Black Frizzle and Lavendar Frizzle.

About Pekin Bantams

History
The first Pekins are said to have been stolen from a private collection held by the emperor of China in Peking around 1860. Another story states they were imported from China around 1830-1840 and were presented to Queen Victoria. These imported birds were originally Buff colour, and poultry breeders bred them with other bantam breeds to get the variety of colours that we see today, but keeping the standard of the bird's plumage and stance.

Behaviour The Pekin is a very gentle bird. They are good layers of reasonably sized small eggs but are well known for becoming broody, making them great mums. They make excellent pets for children as they are tame. They settle very well and require little space. Pekins can look rather pale and anaemic if not allowed on grass to forage. They tend not to scratch around in flower beds so are good birds to keep in an urban garden. They are normally a robust and long-lived bird that loves company.

Varieties
Pekins are a very popular breed here in the UK. They are available in a whole range of colours. Lavender, blue, silver partridge, red partridge, blue mottled, Columbian, cuckoo, mottled, buff, black, millefluer, crele, red/brown, lavendar, lemon cuckoo, white and wheaten. With all their feathers they actually look larger than they really are. All colours have short legs and feathered feet and toes.