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[birchwoodchooks]

I am going to have to tie my hands behind my back I want to candle them eggs so bad! Have to keep reminding myself its way too early.

 

[paws]

Hi all, been a while.... the chicks i was homing last time i spoke have all gone and we have had a fair few more since, i think we have around 60 more bantams around 6 wks old but some real beautiful colours, lemon cuckoos, millefleur various mottled, will grab some pics when i can, have some bigger hens pipping at mo, we brought some eggs at local market havent a clue what their gonna be.. as of yesterday we have 7 hatched, and several pipping today. i do know we have 5 cream legbar eggs in there so cant wait to see what we get out.... the weather here is still lovely and summer like for this time of yr. Hope every one is doing well and are flock happy x

 

[birchwoodchooks]

I candled, looks like 8 out of 12 developing, so not too bad.

 

[rebrascora]

Hi Paula

Good to hear that all is well with you and you managed to find homes for some of your youngsters. Gosh! 60 more!!! I think I'm overrun with 20+ chicks! Did you find homes for the cockerels as well or process them for meat? Can't be much of that on bantams though.

I looked through your other posts and I have to say, your flock are really pretty. I only have one bantam and she is a silkie cochin cross and currently mothering 8 chicks, 2 of which are cream legbars (a cockerel and a pullet). I do love the blue eggs they produce although the colour fades as the season progresses. I'm eagerly awaiting my black copper marans starting to lay now, because they are supposed to be really dark brown eggs. I am also hoping that my cream legbar x RIR chicks will produce olive eggs, but there is a long way to go before I can even tell if they are pullets let alone them start laying if they are.


Hi Birchwoodchooks

Good to hear that you have at least some fertile eggs. I was wondering how you were coping with the long wait. Have you ditched the eggs that aren't developing or are you leaving them until the next candling in the hope that they are just slow? Will keep fingers crossed that they continue to progress well.

Regards

Barbara

 

[birchwoodchooks]

I've left them in for the time being two are clears, one looks like a blood ring and the other I wasn't 100%, so I thought I would leave them in. I'm going to candle tomorrow night with the boys so I thought they would make good comparisons to show them the difference.

 

[rebrascora]

Yes, that's very true. The first time I candled, my broody had a nest of 14 and we couldn't see anything and it was about day 15 and then just by chance as we were leaving the hen house, we candled a freshly laid egg and realised that what we thought we couldn't see, was actually the chick developing and the fresh egg was clear. We were literally just holding the egg over a torch so it was a very rough and ready test but without the comparison it meant nothing. Of course you have done all this before, so will have much more idea of what you are looking for whereas I was clueless! It will definitely help your boys to understand the difference though.

Good luck

Barbara

 

[hxgumdrop]

hey all and welcome to those I haven't spoken to before
Iv not been able to come online for a while as I spent a week bed bound in agony then 3 weeks in hospital, the last couple of weeks iv been trying to recover. It has defiantly been the longest 2months of my life, not being made any easier by not being able to go down the garden and talk to my girls! However I have now made it down there 3days in a row, one of which I got down there twice! Had a break yesterday as had to go back to hospital but that should be it for a month or so I hope!
2 Months of not seeing the girls and they were definitely far from happy about it either! my 3 Sussex girls wouldn't even speak to me until I bribed them with some fresh bread, now they come when I call like they used to. The three silkies haven't changed much and I don't think they noticed my absence much as they have been broody the entire time apparently, although this doesn't surprise me one bit but thankfully stubs and scrambles seem to be coming out of that faze for now. The two chicks babs and ginger have doubled in size in the time I was gone, I always forget how quickly chicks grow! Iv managed to catch Babs a few times as she comes and stands next to me when I sit down on the steps with them, helps she's a little slow, I have no chance of catching Ginger as she's a lot quicker and I'm a lot slower at the moment! I have attempted to pick up Clarissa (light Sussex) but given her full grown weight I just cant manage yet. Hopefully will get down there again today. I am just so grateful my dad has been happy and able to look after the girls for me but this does mean its going to be a while before I can add to the flock which is upsetting!
I am so sorry to read about all the dog attacks! People can be so heartless! Why should chickens be fenced of yet a dog is fine to be off the lead? hardly seems fair. My girls free range but dogs cant get in very easily. One of my neighbours dogs got into next doors garden and nearly fitted through to get in but she's a colly so the most she would do is round them up and my other neighbours dog got in when the girls were still in the run but I think had they been out he wouldn't of stood a chance against the 8 of them given he's not much bigger than my cats who either stay well away from them or goes down and get stuck surrounded by the girls then howls until one of us goes to rescue her!
Here is Ginger, who seems to have turned into a right little poser in my absence! Fingers crossed only a month (or two) before they start to lay. Ginger has started to practice the I've laid an egg song although she hasn't started to squat yet

 

[rebrascora]

Hi Heather

Really sorry to hear that you have been so unwell, but pleased that you are starting to feel better and make a bit of progress. Hopefully spending time with the hens, even if you can't do much yet, will be good therapy and lift your spirits. So fortunate that your Dad was able to look after your chooks for you whilst you were out of action. Dads are such heros!

Hope you continue to improve

Best wishes

Barbara

 

[hxgumdrop]

Managed to get down there yesterday and had a cuddle with the not so little chicks. Ginger is deficiently significantly heavier than Babs so maybe the egg wait wont be so long. Both cats have been avoiding me, I clearly dont smell right to them, Jinny has been like it for months so looking back I think she knew I was unwell, clever kitty!
How is the roost coming along? Any more improvement plans?

 

[birchwoodchooks]

Still got 9 eggs developing, due to hatch on Thursday! The egg I wasn't sure about has caught up glad I didn't take it out!