Chick Emporium

I sell hatching eggs for my Buff Sussex bantams, but only having two hens coupled with their propensity to go broody means that accumulating many eggs for customers can be a little tricky. One lady was after 12 and the day after I had that conversation, Herbert went broody. Thankfully the lady in question was happy for me to incubate the eggs I had been able to collect and have chicks rather than eggs!

6 were already under a friend's Pekin as she was so resolutely broody I thought I may as well put her to work, and I put 6 more under the willing Herbert. The chicks would be a week or so apart which is not ideal but is do-able. 5 of the first batch hatched:

I'm awaiting the arrival of the next batch to see how many emerge, but usually hatch rates are good when they're in the care of a hen, and it's lovely for the chicks to have some time with their 'mother' to show them how to be a chicken. Much of their behaviour of course is instinctive but they learn important social and developmental lessons when they're raised by another hen rather than under a lamp.

I also purchased some day-old Rhode Island x Light Sussex chicks - this hybrid is sex-linking so you can tell the boys from the girls. These will be my replacement layers and I was thrilled to find someone who was selling these chicks as I take a dim view of the commercial hybrid industry (as per a previous post), especially as I only had to go 5 minutes up the road from my house to collect them! I also took the 4 week-old 'sister' from a previous batch and she seems to be coping with being the largest now that the chicks have stopped trying to brood underneath her....

They are in a puppy crate in my study overnight and go in an admittedly tiny run during the day. I'm expecting their new ark to arrive this week so if it stays mild they can start being in there full time as the young ones should have most of their feathers. They have an infra-red lamp on for an hour or so to calm them in the evening and I then turn it off once they're asleep.

I also have 8 eggs in the incubator which were given to me by a friend - they acquired them in France while they were on holiday so I've no idea if they'll hatch but I'll candle them at the end of the week and see what's going on...

First Lot of New Chicks

Beatrice the bantam has been sitting calmly on her 5 eggs - she only got up twice but I did give the eggs a spray with lukewarm water on a number of occasions to increase the humidity. All went well and the eggs hatched so I have 3 Welsummer (or at least meant to be!) and 2 buff Sussex bantam chicks. One is actually Beatrice's chick, the other being Herbert's.

I put the eggs from my new Welsummer hens to hatch on the basis that they would be Henry's offspring but they aren't looking very Welsummer-ish, although I'm not sure how variable the colouration is...according to Google Images they're meant to be really stripy but two of them are golden. I thought/read that hens can be fertile for a week after they've been mated so a new cockerel needs over that to ensure any eggs are indeed his. My friend said she thought it was ten days, and I read in another book that it can be a month!! So, I'm not sure who the hens were running with before I bought them, or maybe Henry isn't a pure Welsummer after all. Sadly my new hens were taken by a fox so unless I raise some more from hatching eggs I'm a bit stuck with breeding more.

Anyway, after the sadness of losing hens, chicks are always a welcome sight! Cue lots of pictures of the little angels:

Incubator

I have always been fortunate to have a procession of broody hens with which to hatch eggs for me - they love it and do a brilliant job so have always been rather relieved that I've never had need of an incubator. However, I have just acquired a Brinsea Mini Eco from Flyte So Fancy as I have a rather sad reason for hatching some eggs. 

At the allotments, my plot runs alongside the boundary fence, and opposite me is a field with some beautiful Vorwerk chickens that I admire whenever I'm up there, a cockerel and four hens. The girls noticed one of the chickens was 'lying really still' and unfortunately the cockerel had died, having apparently been fine that morning according to one of the other people up there. 

Knowing that eggs remain fertile for about a week after the hens have been mated, I took 7 eggs and ordered an incubator, as of course there's never a broody hen when you really need one...

I did also think it would be good to have one as a precaution and also to compare natural hatching with artificial. The chicks will be about ten days behind the ones currently under my broody Buff Sussex bantam but will be able to run together in a brooder once they've grown a bit. 

So, fingers crossed for a decent hatch. I met the gentleman who owns the hens and he's very happy to exchange the eggs for a cockerel, which is a great deal as far as I'm concerned as I've got quite a few cockerels already. The hens are beautiful though so I'm looking forward to seeing how they get on. 

Meanwhile Beatrice is sitting patiently with the odd hour off for a preen and a bathe and a peck of grass.