UK Member Please Say HI

Hi Barbara,

Thank you so much for the welcome

We bought our own incubator, nothing to over the top, a small auto turner, which has done well at maintaining the right temp (give or take 0.2c) but has been a nightmare maintaining humidity.

Incubating 10 eggs, by our maths we took off 20% for failures, and possibly 50% cocktails leaving us, hopefully with 4 hens! Obviously it probably won't work like that, but that was the science behind it. We could have just bought some chicks from a local breeder, but we thought the whole magical process would be educational and if there is any that fail, a little life lesson too for our 11, 12 and 2 year old children, plus handling the chicks from so young meaning the birds maybe more used to our contact and be friendlier.
The breeder who we bought the eggs from has agreed to take any boys we have back (and deal with them) I don't think she will raise them for meat tho.. She's offered to swap them for some chicks just incase we don't get many or no hens at all!.

We have 2 X Aracunana, 2 X cream legbar, 2 X French wheaten Moran, 2 X copper blue Moran and 2 X Rhode Island reds! After lots of candling all the eggs seem healthy with lots of movement.. The darker brown eggs are very hard to candle but can make out air sakes and see some movement.. Only concern I have at the moment is that there air sacks are a little small, so keeping the humidity slightly lower until lock down.

We are set up and ready for brooding, having a large large really useful box and heat plate, plus food, grit, wood shavings, drinker and food dispenser.. Looking at a very large rabbit cage as the next step before the coop... Now trying to deside on a coop and run! We don't want anything to small, but also don't want to spend a fortune! Currently looking at a xxl cocoon coop and a metal 3mx4m run... Hens will be able to roam the garden too, but we want them to have as much room as possible if they have to stay in.

We will post some photos when (fingers crossed) we have some hatchlings!

Thanks again

Steve and family

rebrascora said:

@mrmotherhen


Hi and welcome to the crazy and addictive world of chickens. How exciting to be starting off with eggs in an incubator. Hope it's just on loan, otherwise you will soon be battling with a very serious disorder called chicken maths. It's difficult enough controlling the numbers when you are just relying on broody hens, but incubators give you too much free rein to be feed the addiction, unless you are very disciplined.

Yes, do tell what flavour eggs you have cooking? Do you have a plan for the excess cockerels that unfortunately are an unavoidable drawback of the whole process? I rear them to eat but it's not an easy path and the meat is quite different to supermarket chicken as well as not being nearly so much of it for the effort to process them.

Anyway, enough of the drawbacks, lets look forward to seeing some photos of your first fluff balls soon.

Best wishes for a successful hatch and more pullets than cockerels.

Regards

Barbara  .

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@MandS

Hi

You are right to be wary of horses. They eat your money, steal your heart and sometimes break your bones!
Bees are just fascinating and along with chickens, they are quite complimentary to gardening.
My Dad and I converted my parents outbuildings into a house for me, so I know where you are at as regards your extension. My garden is still a mess but I try to grow a few fruit and veg on small plots of it and try to think of the areas that get away as a haven for wildlife..... I can definitely say that I do my bit for providing them with ample habitat!! Just not enough hours in the day!

As regards your chickens, the three in your avatar photo appear to be red sex links rather than Rhode Island Reds. Red sex links, sometimes called Bovans or Comets or various other trade names are a hybrid created specifically to lay really well and for the males to be easily identifiable at hatch, so that pullets can be guaranteed. They will lay better than pure RIRs and often have better temperaments, so they are great birds to keep if you want lots of eggs. I will keep an eye out for your other chicken photos.

Must go now as sun is shining and I have lots to do.

Regards

Barbara.

Hi Barbara

Thanks for identifying my three (unfortunately now two as one was finished by a fox).

How cool is that? I have comet chickens!!

My daughter took a gap year and was a technician at her school where the science department decided to hatch chicks. She was delegated the job of second mum. They were yellow chicks and dark yellow chicks. The lighter ones were boys and the darker ones were girls. We took three, the three in the photo. You are right too about their temperament and egg laying ability. At first I was quite anti chicks but they won me over and here I am.

Still working on uploading the other photos. Should be soon though.

Rebrascora, I think you're right. I like the shed though - might get it at some point anyway.

Serendipitously, a henhouse came up for sale on Gumtree, a self-made one with integrated run and a wildflower meadow on the top. More space in the coop for my girls and more secure. And it turns out to be in the house opposite mine! That makes getting it here significantly easier. So very soon we'll have a new, better house.

Hope every one is well!

@rebrascora

Here are some candling pics ~ https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=230

I also got some pics of the Tolbunt today, coming on well. Please excuse the mess I've not got round to cleaning them out this week

Hi

Oh they are sooo cute.

Here are my new three (finally)

This is Betty


Peggy



Nella

@mrmotherhen

Hi

How is your hatch going? Keeping my fingers crossed for a successful outcome and mostly pullets. It sounds like a lovely mix of birds.

I bet your children are so excited about it now after weeks of staring at eggs and waiting for this day. Hope it all goes smoothly and look forward to seeing some photos perhaps?

Best wishes

Barbara

@MandS

Hi

They are lovely looking birds. I recognise the light sussex, Betty and I'm guessing Peggy is a cuckoo marans and Nella, an araucana? If I'm right, you will be getting light brown, dark brown and blue eggs..... you just need a leghorn for white eggs now and you have the full spectrum of colours.... well apart from green and pink..... and olive.... and this is how chicken maths takes over!! For some reason my white eggs always strike me as the most unusual although my favourite is a large, speckled, olive egg from a welsummer/legbar cross.

Sadly I had a light sussex die this morning. She had ascites (water belly) and I've been struggling to pluck up the courage to drain it. It looks like I left it too late and she had a heart attack. She was still warm when I found her, so I've butchered her as it would be a shame to waste so much meat and she wasn't a pet.... I acquired her from my neighbour a few months ago as he wanted rid of her and her sister because they have been such poor layers. When I opened her up she was shockingly over weight and covered in thick yellow fat over an inch thick in places and all her organs were encased in it.....no wonder she hadn't been laying well for him. Her sister looks healthy though and is laying much better for me than him, but then she is getting a lot more exercise now as she free ranges with my flock. Just a word of warning not to feed your sussex too much mixed corn!

Regards

Barbara

Hi Kim

Thanks for the candling link.

Hope you and the family are feeling a little less sad today and you have had a good ride on Harry and blown away a few cobwebs. Thanks for the photo of Kipper. She looks like she was a real character judging by that cheeky face and clearly spoilt, lying there on the sofa like she owned it!

The tolbunts are looking gorgeous and growing so quickly! Do you have any more recent photos of the pekins and black tails? I see that Waitrose sell the black tail eggs as a speciality range. I need a good marketing ploy for my bantam eggs! I'm starting to get seriously overrun with eggs at the moment..... I have too many chickens of course... but sadly one less today (see above post to MandS) and Henrietta and Anna, my RIR and Blue Haze are under the weather with a respiratory infection, which keeps niggling at my flock every now and then. I'm concerned about Henrietta as she isn't eating, whereas (Scranner) Anna is still tucking in and had a dust up with one of the young leghorns that thought they might take advantage of her feeling poorly to take her pecking order place, but she sharp sorted that out. I'm going to try a little eucalyptus oil and their beaks tonight to see if that will help.

Had a good ride yesterday with Jo and Helen and riding tomorrow morning with my young friend, Lauren and possibly riding with Helen on Monday, so I'm on a roll although I'm getting seriously behind with my chores as a result. This time of year is always so hectic, especially when the weather is fine.

Anyway, must go now as I have evening stables to do.

Take care

Barbara

MandS said:

Hi Oh they are sooo cute. Here are my new three (finally) This is Betty Peggy Nella

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Thanks, your new birds are very nice and I love their names Good luck with them in the future.