Poultry
Chicks
Saturday 28 April, 2007
The three cheeps seem to be doing fine - eating loads and scurrying around.
Tomorrow, we're going to isolate the three Light Sussex hens for a couple of days and collect the eggs from them for incubation. At least then we'll know that it's pure Light Sussex we're hatching this time. The three cheeps look identical but I don't know if that's because they are all the same cross or if all chicks look much the same at hatching.
Hobbes seems to like the Light Sussex hens best anyway, so hopefully the fertility rate will be high and the hens are only about 18 months old, so should be in good nick. The RIR are probably a bit past it.
Book review - Incubation: A Guide to Hatching and Rearing
Saturday 28 April, 2007
Quick note: now we've finally managed to hatch some chicks I've posted a short review of Katie Thear's Incubation: A Guide to Hatching and Rearing over at Revish.
(Those of you who enjoy reading and who haven't heard of Revish before might like to take a look - it lets you keep lists of books you're reading, are going to read and have read, and write reviews of books.)
If you're already bored hearing about the chicks our apologies - it will wear off soon (we get new weaners today) and we'll get back to boring you about everything else!
Read more on Book review - Incubation: A Guide to Hatching and Rearing
Hot cute young chicks
Thursday 26 April, 2007
They're hot (well, they've got a heat lamp), cute, young chicks. Here they are, our first successful hatchlings, just over a day old:
Hot cute young chicks on Vimeo
They are great entertainment, and seem to be doing swimmingly. Rosemary's praying that they are all girls so we can keep them, while I'm hoping one's a boy so we can finally try a home-grown table bird. It's a little early to tell what the breeding is - there's a good chance they will be pure light sussex, but we'll need to see.
Chick No3
Wednesday 25 April, 2007
Sorry, but you might get bored with the minute by minute updates but bear with me until the novelty wears off. Once you see the pics, you'll be as hooked as me.
Chick 3 is now completely detached from the egg, has perked up and is now in the brooder with his /her two half-siblings. Unlike humans, I know who the father is but not the mothers! All three look exactly the same. I hope they're girls, so they can join the flock
Nothing from 4 and 5 yet, but my book says to give them three days past the 21st day, so there's time yet.
Guess what?
Wednesday 25 April, 2007
We've got two chicks. They hatched this morning. A third one is working on it but doesn't look to chipper at the moment; eggs four and five aren't doing anything yet.
The two that have hatched are lovely - cream with pale brown stripes on their heads. They are in their new brooder.
I know we've a long way to go yet but this is further than we've ever got before, so fingers crossed.
I can't tell you how excited I am. Pics to follow.
Don't count your chickens...
Sunday 22 April, 2007
You'll remember a couple of weeks ago we put eight eggs in our new Brinsea incubator; shortly after that we had a fuse trip, turning the incubator off for a short while. We decided to leave the eggs and see what happened.
Last night, we decided we should really candle them - I suppose I was working on ignorance being bliss, but if any were likely to hatch on Wednesday, I really had to think about building some sort of brooder. So we found the candling lamp, and five out of the eight seem to be full of feathery chicks.
The incubator suffers a power cut
Tuesday 10 April, 2007
I feel like Private Fraser - "we're doomed" never to raise any chicks. This morning we had a power cut - we don't know how long the power was off - not long, we think, but of course the incubator lost power. We sorted the problem (tripped fuse) and the incubator was up to temperature in literally minutes. We've left the eggs in mainly because we can't decide what to do for the best. My heart says give it a go, my head says cut the losses and start again. I thought we could leave it for a few days, then candle the eggs and see if there is any development. Advice welcome.
Brinsea Octagon 10
Thursday 5 April, 2007
Now, I'm definitely NOT counting my chicks but I have, at least, finally got some in an incubator. We took delivery of our new Brinsea Octagon 10 incubator yesterday, so I've set it up with eight eggs. They weighted 550g in total. I'm trying not to mess with the set-up but it's so tempting to fiddle.
Naturally, I'll keep you posted.
Hobbes goes missing again
Thursday 5 April, 2007
This boy is doing my head in! I went to throw some corn to the chooks this afternoon - all the hens were there but no Hobbes. Now, I could HEAR him, but he was nowhere to be seen and he doesn't miss a meal. I checked the nest box, just in case he hadn't learned his lesson, the compost bins (!) and finally found him stuck under the comfrey barrel.
The barrel is aginst the wall and propped up on two brise blocks - Hobbes was underneath. I couldn't move the barrel so he had to come out backwards with a lot of ruffled feathers and dignity. I hope he's OK. I don't know how long he'd been there - he was bit lame but headed off to the corn, so I'll keep an eye on him (I hope).
Where's Hobbes?
Tuesday 3 April, 2007
For a short time today, we thought our plans to raise our own chickens had been thwarted yet again. You will recall our trials with the incubator than let us down everytime we used it; you will recall the demise of Henry, our first cockerel.
Now, we have Hobbes and a new Brinsea incubator on order. I was in the garden this afternoon and I didn't see Hobbes. I was moving some manure so all the hens were "helping" by moving it back on to the path. No Hobbes.
Dan was duly despatched to find him - he wasn't with the hens, he wasn't in the ark and there was quite a lot of white feathers around. Oh, dear - had Mr Fox been to call?
