Looking after your chickens

Moulting and feather damage in chickens


As we are now well into autumn, it is quite commonplace for many chickens to begin their annual moult, although the time of year that they start can vary between birds.

Moulting is a completely natural process, and many birds will replace their feathers seqentially so as not to be completely bald. However, they will stop producing eggs and you should take measures to help reduce your chicken's stress as much as possible.

Chicken Vet offers a range of products to help your chickens during this time, and also discourage any further, more serious feather loss due to pecking from other chickens.

The Moulting Process

Your chicken's feathers are made up of over 80% protein, and although chicken feed contains enough protein for it's daily needs (including egg production), during a moult it will require additional protein replenishment. Low levels of protein may lead to poor feather regrowth and a prolonged period before laying recommences.

Chicken Vet Amino+


One of the best products that we can recommend to help your bird during feather loss is Chicken Vet Amino+. This contains a combination of vitamins, minerals, and amino acids, which are the building blocks of protein.

It can be used:

as a nutritional aid
during extreme hot or cold weather conditions
as a support for stressed chickens
Chicken Vet Amino+ should be administered in your bird's drinking water for at least 5 consecutive days during a moult.

Chicken Vet Amino+ - £5.95

Chicken Vet Anti Peck 250ml spray


If you have a number of chickens, then even if they are not in moult, you may wish to prevent them from pecking one another or even pecking themselves.

Feather pecking amongst birds can be caused by stress, boredom, or protein deficiency, as birds will often eat their own and each other's feathers. A feather pecked bird may have noticeable bald patches around the head, back, or vent.

Chicken Vet Anti Peck Spray has been carefully formulated to modify this behaviour. The Anti Peck Spray should be sprayed on the pecked areas of your chicken. The unpalatable taste will discourage further pecking of that area. Continue using the product for the full 7 days to ensure that feather pecking does not return.

Chicken Vet Anti Peck Spray - £6.97

All products and prices listed are exclusive of VAT and delivery charges.

For more information, please visit our online shop. Alternatively, please contact us on 01392 872885 or email info@chickenvet.co.uk for further details and ordering.

Many thanks,

The Chicken Vet Team

Visit us at www.chickenvet.co.uk

The Blackwater Wild Food Festival - Report

Don't forget the 2013 EESG Calender is going to be launched at the next meeting, 23rd October 2012 @ THE BELL PURLEIGH Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. Report on The Blackwater Wild Food Festival 6th October 2012    What a wonderful day we all had at the The Blackwater Wild Food Festival at Abbots Hall Farm The Farm is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), Special Protection Area for birds (SPA) and Special Area of Conservation (cSAC). The Farm is also the head office of Essex Wildlife Trust.  It links together over 3,000 acres of wildlife-rich land along a 25 km stretch of the Essex coast.  The farm is situated on the Blackwater Estuary. The 700 acre farm shows how sustainable coastal defences can lead to the creation of coastal marshes which are vital for the future of both wildlife and people.  This is a working farm where Essex Wildlife Trust is aiming to show how wildlife can flourish alongside profitable farming. Although a working farm there are many footpaths for visitors to enjoy.  Essex Wildlife Trust has made changes to the farm, such as improving the farm for wildlife. We arrived at 10.30am to see all member of the trust busy about their work preparing for the day ahead. This was the first outing EESG had attended with no animals in tow and it seemed very strange! Today was to show people the other end of the EESG spectrum, What we produce! We had only had a few weeks to decide and organise what we were demonstrating but in true EESG style all hands to the “The grind stone” a perfect day was soon put together. The Trust had kindly provided a marquee with electrical supply! With in no time at all, the scene was set and the tea was flowing and soon people were arriving. Danni, Phil and Toni were doing “sausage making “from preparing a Hand and Belly of pork ready for mincing, to the end product, a string of wonderful homemade sausages which the visitors to our area were most impressed with, resulting in a round of applause! Phil did mention that Maria has never given him a round applause at home for his sausage making! Georgina was the star of the day. She sat preparing Partridge for many hours with a crowd around her most of that time. Old and young seemed to be amazed at her skill one little lad asked to take some feathers for school on Monday so he could tell his teacher what he had been doing this weekend. Wonderful that so many people seemed interested and more importantly, inspired by what we do as a group What’s our slogan  ............ “The Only way is East Essex” A big thank you to everyone who help make it such a wonderful day. Georgina with her new friends! An amazing selection of Chutneys, Jams and Honey! The apple press. Puffing Billy, the hot and cold smoker. Everyone was so interested in sausage making! Make your own or grow your own! Darren with his loaf of bread! The team at work. Phil and his sausages. | friend on Facebook | Copyright © 2012 East Essex Smallholders Group, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you are a member of EESG.  unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences

Recipe of the week - 29 October 2012 - Roasted cheesy butternut squash

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• 1 small butternut squash, halved, seeds removed
• olive oil
• 2 tbsp grated Parmesan (or vegetarian alternative), grated, plus extra to serve
• a small handful sage leaves, chopped
• 4 tbsp mascarpone

Difficulty and servingSpoon a little oil into each half of butternut squash and add the sage.

1. Roast at 200C/fan 180C/gas 6 for 40-50 minutes or until tender and toasted around the edges.
2. Spoon the mascarpone into the hollows and stir, season and scatter with Parmesan.

Tip

Roasting butternut squash concentrates the flavour and gives a denser, less watery texture
.

Recipe of the Week - 23 October 12 - Pumpkin Risotto

• 1kg butternut squash , peeled and cut into bite-size chunks
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• bunch sage , leaves picked, half roughly chopped, half left whole
• 1½ l vegetable stock
• 50g butter
• 1 onion , finely chopped
• 300g risotto rice (we used arborio)
• 1 small glass white wine
• 50g parmesan or vegetarian alternative, finely grated

Difficulty and servingsRecipe uploaded by

1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/ gas 4. Chop up the pumpkin or squash into 1.5cm cubes (kids- ask for help if it's slippery). Put it on a baking tray, drizzle over some oil, then roast for 30 mins.
2. While the pumpkin is roasting, you can make the risotto. Put the garlic in a sandwich bag, then bash lightly with a rolling pin until it's crushed.
3. Cut up the spring onions with your scissors.
4. Heat 1 tbsp oil with the butter in your pan over a medium heat - not too hot. Add the spring onions and garlic. Once the onions are soft but not getting brown, add the rice and cumin. Stir well to coat in the buttery mix for about 1 min.
5. Now add half a cup of the stock, and stir every now and then until it has all disappeared into the rice. Carry on adding and stirring in a large splash of stock at a time, until you have used up all the stock - this will take about 20 mins.
6. Check the rice is cooked. If it isn't, add a splash more stock, and carry on cooking for a bit. Once the rice is soft enough to eat, gently stir in the grated cheese, chopped coriander and roasted pumpkin.

Harvest Festival - The Bell Purleigh - Tuesday 23 October 2012

The Bell at Purleigh
Tuesday 23 October 2012
7.30pm for 8pm

Directions to The Bell, Purleigh:

The Street  Purleigh, Essex CM3 6QJ 01621 828 348

Join other members for a talk on growing produce - the farming year and the challenges it provides. ALSO A Bread making Competition PRIZE to be won for "The best all round loaf" A class for own recipe or made from a packet ! (please specify which you wish to enter when registering) We would kindly ask that all loaves entered are donated for the bread and cheese supper. Please register your entry to the competition with helenmquinnell@btinternet.com FOLLOWED BY The Bread and cheese supper  Suggested donation on the night of £1 If anyone has any wacky and wonderful homemade chutneys pickles they wish to bring along for everyone to try we would LOVE to taste them. AND FINALLY "Look what I grew" table If any member has any interestingly sized or shaped vegetable they grew on purpose or by mistake we would love to have a look at them! Bring them along and let us have a giggle! or if you have eaten them and only have a photo bring that instead. Please let Helen know if you are entering a 'loaf' for the Bread making competition or bringing anything else along - thanks!

Membership 2013

Please get your membership forms back to the Membership Secretary - carlie@eastessexsmallholders.org.uk - as soon as possible.

Any queries call 07979862952

A classic white loaf - Darren

A classic white loaf - simple and good for experimenting as you can easily add flavour ingredients.

500g very strong white flour plus extra for dusting

1 tsp salt (vary according to own requirements)

2 tsp dried yeast

1 tbsp sunflower oil plus extra for greasing

330ml warm water

Put the flour and salt into a bowl.  In a small bowl dissolve the yeast in 330ml warm water.  Once it has dissolved add the oil.  Make a well in the centre of the flour, pour in the water and stir to form a dough.  Use hands to bring the dough together.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.  Knead for 10 minutes until smooth, glossy and elastic.  Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover loosely with cling film and leave to rise for up to two hours, or until double in size.

When the dough is risen turn it out onto a floured surface and knock it back to its original size.  Knead it further, then form into the desired bread shape.  Place the dough on a baking tray, cover with clingfilm and a tea towel and leave in a warm place until risen to double its size - this is proving, which acts to identify that the yeast is still active.  The bread should be ready to bake if you poke the dough with finger and it springs back quickly.  You can score the bread if you like, which can aid the bread rising while baking.  Dust with flour.

Preheat the oven to 220C (Gas mark 7).  Place the dough in the middle of the oven for about 10 minutes and then reduce to about 190 C (Gas mark 5) for a further 30 minutes or until the crust is golden and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped.  You can reduce the heat at any point if the bread is browning to quick and it hasn't had sufficient time to bake.  Remove the bread and rest on a rack for about 30 minutes before eating.

A tip for increasing the crust of the loaf and it rising is to add a pan of just boiled water to the bottom of the oven when you first put the dough in.  You can always add other ingredients such as chopped sun-dried tomatoes, herbs etc to give a little twist and variation.

Artisan Raspberry Jam

Artisan Raspberry Jam

Ingredients:

500g raspberries – previously frozen

500g granulated sugar

Tools:

Large steel heavy based pan

Oven mitt

Wooden spoons

Cold plate (put in fridge)

7  x 227g ( ½ lb) jars

Method:

§  Put raspberries into pan.

§  Simmer fruit for 30 minutes until lovely and soft.

§  Slowly dissolve the sugar until you don’t hear any “crunching” on the bottom of the pan.

§  Bring to boil over a high heat.

§  Reduce heat to a rolling boil and stir with a wooden spoon in figure of eight for 15 minutes (wear an oven mitt to protect your hand).

§  Remove from heat and test a small amount on the cold plate.  If you get slight ripple in jam when pushed with your finger – DONE.  If not, return to heat for 5 minutes and then re-test. 

§  Whilst raspberry jam cooking – heat jars in hot oven.

§  When raspberry jam ready, pour hot jam into hot jars sealing with lid immediately. 

§  Allow to cool before labeling.

§  Store in cool dry place.

Once opened, store in fridge and use within 4 weeks.

Lovely with hot buttered white toast, on a Cornish vanilla icecream or straight off a spoon from the jar (as my son does!).

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Chutney

 Pumpkin chutney 

• 2lb (900 g) pumpkin, peeled and chopped
• 1 lb (450 g) tomatoes, peeled and chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 pint (570 ml) white vinegar
• 1 ½ teaspoons allspice berries
• 1 ½ teaspoons white peppercorns
• 1 lb (450 g) onion, peeled and sliced
• 1 ½ lb (675 g) brown sugar
• 1 ½ tablespoon salt
• 1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 ½ teaspoons of black peppercorns

Step by Step Instructions

1. Place the chopped pumpkin in a pan and cover with vinegar, add the sliced onions, chopped garlic and chopped tomatoes.
2. Crush the allspice and peppercorns, add both to the pan then stir thoroughly and leave for about 1 hour.
3. Add the ginger, salt and sugar to the mixture and bring it to the boil slowly. Simmer for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally and taking care that the consistency does not get too much like that of jam.
4. Allow the chutney to cool, pour it into clean jars, cover and store.

Notes

This recipe originally appeared in the National Vegetable Society Bulletin.

Plum Chutney

This recipe is from The Preserving book – Lynda Brown

Plum Chutney

Makes approx 3lb – 1.35 kg

Takes 1 – 2 hours

Keeps 12 months

Ingredients

1kg   (2 ¼ lb) plums

350g (12oz) cooking apples

250g (9oz) Onions

125g (4 ¼ oz) Raisins

300g (10oz) light soft brown sugar

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon allspice

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon coriander

1 dried chilli or ¼ teaspoon chilli flakes

1 teaspoon fennel seeds (optional)

600ml (1 pint) white wine or cider vinegar

1 .Halve the plums and remove stones cut into ¼

2. Core peel and dice apple into bite size pieces

3. Peel and finely chop the onion

4. Place all ingredients into preserving pan or a large saucepan

5. Bring slowly to the boil stirring to dissolve the sugar

6. Simmer gently for 1 ½ to 2 hours until a wooden spoon drawn across the base of the pan leaves a trail.

7. Stir frequently towards the so the chutney doesn’t burn

8. The chutney should look thick and glossy

9. Check the seasoning add more salt if needed

10. Pot into warm sterilized jars making sure there are no air gaps

Maturing chutney

Chutney can taste harsh and flat if eaten straight away

So leave them to mature for 1 – 2 months before eating