Hi. Riley & I will be joining the chicken team as of Monday.  We will be at the chickens after 3.30 as Riley has Nursery in the morning and I have work.  We are both really excited and hope to get some fine big eggs, as our favourite breakfast is scrambled eggs :) 

Banff Vets

We are also going to Banff Vets today to get mite power for are chickens at Banff Castle to stop them from getting mites. Hopefully to will be fine once the powered is on.

These our my 5 mixed breed chicks at Eden. I hope that some of them are female so I can give them to Banff Castle and I hope that they are not all roosters!!!

This is our Summer BBQ Chicken Party at Banff Castle 6th of August. We had burger and sausages in buns, alot of people came to the party and all had a good time at the Party. Laura, Riley and John are going to take over the chickens when Emma is away having her baby.

Raising Chickens Under Different Weather Conditions

Chickens, especially when they are young, are quite sensitive and vulnerable. Some chicks have a weak immune system and fall prey to harsh weather conditions and diseases. On the other hand, certain breeds of chickens have a stronger immune system which enables them to survive despite the extremes of weather and the diseases. Hence, the right breed should be chosen based upon the weather conditions in the area. The two main seasons which a person must be careful about are summer and winter.
If a person has his house situated in a location where the temperatures are high most of the time, the chickens can suffer from excess heat exposure leading to dehydration. There is a possibility for excessive eggs being laid by the hens during hot weather. This is not desirable as the chickens might suffer from stress due to this.

Pale eggs

Pale eggs

Although shell colour is mainly determined by genetics, the effect of strong sun and high temperatures on the hens can produce a fading effect on the shells. Why too much sun affects the surface pigmentation in this way is unknown, but it can be a problem for those who sell such eggs.

Matt helps Stephen start chicken project

my name is stephen pearson and i just started today. I did one day at banff castle it was really good fun.
Today i am going to the chickens and start learning how to look after them.  I have never had any real experience with chickens before. I would like to to be able to eventually teach others how to look after chickens and pass on my experience.  I would like free eggs to take back home for my family.

Chicken Party

The community chicken group project will be having a chicken BBQ party at Banff castle at 6th of August at 4:00 to 6:00 pm. We will be having burgers, sausages and other food and drink at the party.  

Chicken Update

The Chicken Update for this month is that the chickens are doing fine and well. Today will gave them some weeds and grass, we also fill up their feed and water and clean their coop and that's the chicken for this month. 

bomb scare evacuation

on friday the 18th we were relaxing in our house then we saw police cars rushing down our street then i went outside and i saw the police had blocked both ends of the street then i told my carers and they went out to check it out aswell and then we found out that there was parts of a bomb in banff somewhere and that everyone in 100yrds was to get evacuated so we went out for a walk and we were on our way round the block and found the police wouldn't let us go past spotty bag so we had to go the longer route and we got back home and found we couldn't get to our street so we had to go to our managers house and we sat there for ten , fifteen minutes then we went up to banff castle and we stayed there for half an hour then we eventually found out we were going to be sleeping on the floor so my manager said we had to go to banff springs and we stayed there all night and we had breakfast the next morning and then we went to check the rooms then we went home.

by matthew taylor(g-unit)

Chicken Whisperer

This is the Chicken whisperer link http://www.chickenwhisperer.net/

Chicken update

The chicken update this month is that we have got a new chicken shelter for the chickens. It was made out of an old gate and we put tarpolen on top of it so it protects the chickens from getting wet. We also gave the coop and the run a good cleaning out. We will move the coop and the run around the garden in the near future. 

Easter Chicken Party

The Banff Community Chicken Project held a Chicken party at Banff castle last Monday on the 9th of April. We discussed about having more chickens and we decorated gingerbread eggs and Harry gave the children Easter eggs. The party was organised by Emma and Harry.  

Chicken Update

In our Chicken Update this month, since we have put the rat poison down there has been no sightings of rats near or in the chicken coop. We hope that the poison has killed all the rats. The chickens are doing well and there is no other news to tell in are chicken update.

chicken group update

The chickens are adding some weight and are starting to look very healthy they are laying at least 6 to 7 eggs per day. The chicken update for this year is that we have got a rat problem near the coop. There has been some rat sightings near the chicken coop so we have called the pest control to help us get rid of the rats by using rat poison. One of the chickens has got a cut on its ear and we suspect that the rats have been attacking the chickens which we hopefully we will exterminate all of the rats.

17/01/2012 at the chickens

Today we visited the chickens at Banff Castle it was very frosty today and some of the water containers were frozen we have had a few reports of rats recently we got a vermin control man in on Saturday to lay poison for the rats we hope to have no more sightings of our furry friends.The ground was very boggy during the storms but putting down hay seemed to make a real difference. Now that the weather is frosty the earth has frozen solid and the bog has vanished.Boyndie horticultural team have agreed to slab a small path for us so we are looking forward to this.