[KahlanA]

Hi!!!

We are just starting out, and are hoping to hatch Pekin bantams in a brinsea mini Eco. After a little bit of research they seemed the best choice as my 10yo and 8yo want to be heavily involved, plus they will have a lot of children around them daily.

If we then wanted to introduce some better layers, is there any that would get on well with the pekins? Wouldn't need to hatch them, day old or ex batts even would be fine! Or would we need a seperate coop?

Also a quick question about incubating - the manual is a little conflicting, it says in one point to put the eggs in at a stable temperature, another part says they should warm up slowly. So should we preheat the incubator before putting them in or put them in and then set it up?! And should we have it ready straight from collecting the eggs or let them 'sit' for a bit?

We plan to have them in a guineapig/rabbit cage with ecoglow, what is the next step and at what age? We have a plastic coop and run for the garden, do they off straight into it or is there steps? I wanted to let them free range in the garden for a bit, but I'm concerned they may fly over the fences, and also whether the cats may be a danger. Having said that, the cats were terrified of the children's rabbit so I imagine once the hens get to a certain size they'd be fine.

Any more advice very, very gratefully received!

[B3a5tie]

Hi there.  I can help a bit re the Incubator as I have the same. You need to warm the incubator up first and then add the eggs. Eggs should be room temperature and can be freshly collected or saved and kept (pointy end down) at room temperature (or slightly cooler) for up to a week. Up to 4 days is better though! Once the eggs go in to the incubator you can reset everything. The temperature will then adjust itself to take into account egg temperature and lid lifting. I also have the EcoGlow. I keep my chicks in a vivarium with the EcoGlow in the house for approx 2 weeks - they are very messy! They then go into a large guinea pig run which has lots more space with the EcoGlow - still in the house - until approx 6 weeks. They then go into an ark in the garden and I use the EcoGlow if the weather is cold - depends a bit on the time of year really. We have reinforced the bottom of the ark with weld mesh to protect against rats. We close them in  with the EcoGlow at night with food and water. It all depends a bit on whether you raise them in the house, in an unheated shed/outbuilding or outside and on the time of year, weather etc.

[twizzel]

Ex batts will need a separate coop for the first couple of months after they arrive as they need to moult and generally recover. I got 5 ex free rangers about 3 weeks ago and they are in a separate small coop and house with ad lib barley for condition. Once they are fully feathered they will go in the big hen house but if they go in before they are at risk of being pecked to death as they will be bottom of the pecking order.

[Eve]

Hi KahlanA, welcome,


You made an excellent choice, Pekins are great, very tame, and they go broody easily so they can do the following years' hatches for you    I keep 4 pekins, plus about 20 other birds. I also use a Brinsea Mini (the Advance) and a bigger Brinsea (though the Mini is better) plus 2 ecoglows. I also use plastic coops.


With regards to the stable temperature, I have a different Mini but it probably means the ambient temperature - so not putting the incubator itself in a spot that is in sunlight behind glass or in a draught. Ours is in a heated spare bedroom. The first few days after the chicks have hatched I put the brooder inside a clear plastic box.


My pekins do quite alright with the bigger hens, except one of my bigger ones is quite the bully and thinks the pekins are an easy target - she might just be removed herself. They all live together in a huge fox and rat proof run in a field and use the same coop and nesting boxes. The pekins do have a sheltered area they can hide under should they wish or need to.


You could always buy some day olds of the more prolific layers on the day your pekins hatch, that way they'd grow up together. It wouldn't prevent bullying but at least you wouldn't have to introduce strangers with the upset in the pecking order that that brings.



I would be wary of mixing vaccinated with non-vaccinated birds. Ex-batts will have been vaccinated and carry all sorts of viruses they can cope with because of their vaccinations, but your pekins will not be vaccinated so they would suffer from the live vaccines and viruses the ex-batts (or any commercial vaccinated stock) would carry.
Plus most ex-batts are in poor health and have oodles of problems, their eggs aren't that good and not numerous and they don't live long at all - often just a few months after being rescued, though there is the odd exception. They're called 'spent' hens for a reason, unfortunately. But you do (or at least I do) get great pleasure out of seeing them enjoying life, and the basics such as sunlight, grass and dust bathing. For that alone, I find looking after ex-batts worth it.


Just a few tips: I love cats but they are a major problem where I live - they'd take my Polands and other bantams as soon as I turn my back. I added smaller sized mesh to the garden run (an Eglu) to stop the cats sticking their paws through like I've caught them doing (a children's watergun turned out to be very useful indeed). Crows will take chicks, btw, and foxes will come around in broad daylight even in suburbia.


We just hatched 6 cream legbars last night (another tip: put the eggs in at lunchtime so you can watch them hatch three weeks later during the day - if you put them in in the evening they'll hatch whilst the kids are in bed). We just returned from the field where we placed two of those chicks under a broody pekin and she took to them straight away. Pekins are such good broodies   


Chances are in a few weeks' time you and your kids will be watching the chicken channel rather than ordinary tv!

[KahlanA]

Thank you all for the replies! We have taken it on board, incubator is heated (though getting exact temperature a struggle!) and we have three bantam orpingtons and four pekin bantam eggs waiting to go in!

Regarding timings... We'd ideally like a target hatch day to be Easter Monday, so should we then put them in lunchtime Tuesday? Someone said after midday was day 0 so would they then be born later? Confused! We will all be home Easter Monday so it would be perfect on the off chance it works out that way

Thanks!

[Eve]

Aim for a day earlier as the chicks are wet when they hatch so won't look like the typical fluffy Easter chick until a day later when fully dry. Easter starts on the Friday anyway (in our house, at least, where Easter = chocolate eggs ).


But maybe it would best not to get your hearts set on an Easter Monday hatch. The chicks hatch typically after 21 days but it can differ, hatching can be a day earlier or even 2 days later. And if they hatch on Good Friday you can enjoy them all weekend    From pipping to actually hatching can take over 30 hours, though it's usually more like a day. You could use a good quality meat thermometer to check the temperature readout of your incubator against.



I'd pop the eggs in straight away, no point in letting them get older as the hatching rate decreases after a week. Usually the hatch rate isn't 100% anyway. How old are the eggs now and where did you get them from?

[KahlanA]

Hi! I'm not worried about if they don't hatch at the right time, my heart isn't set on it but the kids are away all weekend until Monday morning so as its so close it felt right to at least try and let them see it. The cat wisely had her kittens the one night they weren't here, so they're keen to see the actual hatching and grubby chicks as opposed to just the finished product

The eggs are from a breeder, and layed this morning.