Hatching Wyandotte's Again :-)

Photo from Backyardchickens.com

So I have the bug!  Not the norovirus thing or the flu, or worse still man flu, I have the the Egg Hatching Bug.

I had considered purchasing an incubator middle of 2012, but had not really given enough thought as to what to do with all the lovely chicks that would then become hens or cockerels.

The good news down at the allotments is that they are allowing me to keep chickens on my plot.  This has resulted in me revisiting the idea late 2012.  I have decided to breed Wyandottes to start with!

 Well a few days into 2013 and I have, sat in front of me on my desk while I type, 6 hopefully fertile Silver Laced Wyandotte Bantam eggs.

On the 8th January I also took delivery of my new incubator pack, which included a brooder, water and drink feeders and cleaner for the incubator.  Everything you need really to get started.

So with the incubator set up and running for the last 17 hours, in 7 hours time I will be setting the eggs in the incubator and starting the 21 day countdown.
Who knows if the eggs will hatch at this time of year, the cockerels may have been "active" so to speak in the mild spell of weather, but if too cold, they are likely to be on strike!

I have been conscious this time around about turning my eggs whilst waiting a day or so after royal mail has played volley ball with them through the post.  This is of course another factor that could effect fertility, but supplies of Wyandottes are practically non-existent around by me and the thought of driving a 300 mile round trip to get some is not very appealing.

I have had some very useful advice over twitter from Norfolk Bantams (Twitter @norfolkbantams) recently.  I have been searching for gold lace wyandotte bantam cockerel but with out much luck.  Now apparently (you can tell science was not my strong point) if you breed a silver lace with a gold lace and then breed the siblings, you would end up with 25% of the chicks hatching as gold laced and the rest as silver laced.  Its obviously an approximate figure, but very interesting. :-)
To help me along my way I have just purchased some breeding books from Grant Bereton (twitter: @gbpoultry) Happy days!!

The eggs I have purchased are from show stock, the male won a first place at the Malvern show and one female won second.  I have lots of fingers crossed with this batch!

Updates to come again soon on the silver lace hatching and the gold lace chicks now 12 weeks old.

Thanks for reading.