2013 is not going to go down as a great year for poultry production. Our new stag turkey proved unwilling or unable to mate successfully, the Aylesbury drake was well under par in the fertility stakes and my Ixworth cockrel, of which I had high hopes proved a complete dud. All in all a very disappointing effort from the male contingent of our smallholding. Still, eggs have been begged and stud birds changed and the first chicks are hatching. Soon there will be broodies clucking over their charges in pens all over the garden.
Lavender Pekin Bantam chick