Unproductive Black Rock Hens
I just realised we are nearly at the end of October ! What happened ? Probably something to do with the arrival of a new (human !) baby on the farm (born on the farm which means a true Forester – with foresters rights in due course ) and an incredibly busy time since the last blog entry. We have been featured in the local newspaper. We are now in the sausage king’s regional UK links and we have been incredibly busy selling our fine organic meat and produce at Beechenhurst Forest Showcase food fair and our local markets in Soudley and near Lydney.
The only downside of the month has been the poor laying performance of our new Black Rock hens. Allegedly they came in at 18 weeks old ie point of lay – thus far we are getting 2 -4 eggs a day from nearly 60 birds !! Not great economics … perhaps they think there’s a credit crunch on too !
Four piggies to the butcher this week in preparation for an upcoming food fair at Abergavenny… we are supplying lots of tasty organic sausages and some bacon too. Meanwhile, Eleanor the sow has farrowed- five healthy piglets followed some hours later by two more ! Well done her. Last year shed had ten but this year we tried a different boar (Oxford Sandy) to try and get leaner meat. We will see ! 
