Word of warning on cockerels
Q- I have been told a cockerel will make my hens happier and more productive, but my children love collecting eggs, and I’ve heard cockerels can be aggressive. Could a person actually be harmed by a chicken?
Kay Flowers, Sussex
Quandry about hatching Khaki Campbell eggs
Q- We have a (young) sitting Khaki Campbell, and a big rat problem. We’d really like to pinch the eggs to incubate at home (in our new secondhand Polyhatch incubator), but don’t know how long she’s been sitting, and, therefore, when to stop turning the eggs once they are in the incubator. Also, I'm worried she's sitting on too many and the bottom ones are chilling. Any eggs we hatch out at our plot get attacked by rats, so I don’t much fancy the ducklings’ chances au naturel. Do you have any suggestions?
Alistair Abbott, via email