Wyandotte chicks at 5 weeks

I promised to update on the chicks progress.
Well here they are!!


A few days old

I am surprised how flighty they are, and they seem quite nervous when I am around.  One chick continues to try and ride on Treacles back, but she is not suffering this too aften now.
  


5 Weeks old



At 5 weeks old they are looking very different to 3 or 4 days old as you would expect.

I have been told that they can time a long time to mature, so I guess I am not going to know anytime soon if they are hens or cockerels.  Having said that it took me 15 weeks to finally accept that Rodney the Rhode Island Red cockerel was actually a cockerel! 

Either way Pinky and Perky are looking quite happy and cute.

I love the markings on their wings.  When I first saw a Wyandotte in a magazine I thought I was looking at a computer generated image.  I honestly did not think it was possible to achieve markings like this. 

I have recently applied to join the Laced Wyandotte Club.

The club caters for silver, blue, gold and buff laced Wyandotte's.  Full size and Bantams.

I'm hoping to gather information on standards, breeders and eventually get along to the club show.

I don't know how these little guy's or gals are going to turn out but if they are anything like this I will be very happy!

I'm considering attending the Royal Welsh Winter Fair in Builth Wells.  They apparently have a poultry show on the second day, and of course there are all those lovely stalls with potential Christmas gifts to look around.

I will update the blog with some info if I manage to get there!

Thanks for reading.

Wyandotte Chicks Hatching

I was very pleased to see that one egg had hatched, so much so I actually bounced into work which has not happened for a long time.  

I could not get a photo yesterday morning.  The camera on my phone is not great, so when I returned in the afternoon, I took Rhys (my three and a half year old son) to see the chick as he was very excited.

With a little help we managed to get a photograph of the chick.  See right.

A very cute Wyandotte Black Lace Bantam.

Whilst out with the hens, I decided to watch Treacle for a while.  I noticed that one of the eggs had rolled out from underneath her and there was a crack in the egg. 

I managed to move the egg to the front of Treacle hoping she would pull it under her again for warmth, but she seemed to just watch it.

To my surprise I heard chirping and the egg started moving.  The chick was actually hatching.

I had my phone with me so I took a chance with the video.  See below.
Before you view it, a word of warning it is quite short.  As the chick started breaking through, Treacle pecked at it.  So I decided it would be best for me to tuck it under her.  She accepted it.  I have not edited the video.

 

So that is two out of six Wyandotte eggs that have hatched.  I have checked regularly and at about noon on Saturday 20th October, Treacle left the nest for the first time in approximately two days.  This is normally a pretty good sign that all hatching has finished.

I candled the eggs with an LED torch I have.  Two of the four un-hatched eggs appeared to have died very early on in the first couple of days.  One I believe was not fertile and the last I think died as day 15-17.  It's a shame but these things happen.

Chart from Avianweb.com
Image 7 shows the air sack according to number of days

For now I have disinfected the run with Stalosan F and will move it on Sunday to fresh grass.  I don't want coccidiosis which is a nasty parasite infection that can kill chicks in a few days.  Symptoms are chicks hunched up and blood in their droppings.
The photo below is of the two Black Lace Wyandotte chicks with Treacle.
They are tiny little things even compared to the Rhode Island Red chick I hatched earlier in the year.

I am becoming a little obsessed with hatching chicks and keeping chickens in general so watch this space! ;-)

Soon I will be posting my thoughts on the various old wives tales for breaking a broody hen and posting pictures of the new clean run for my other hens, Custard and Pudding.

Thanks again for reading.

8 days to hatch

Treacle

It's Tuesday and the 13 day that treacle has been sat on the 6 Wynedotte eggs.
There is not a great deal happening apart for a daily stretch of legs, "movement" and food and drink.

So really there is not a great deal to talk about.  I have not candled the eggs yet to see if they are all developing.  I should have done this at day 7 really. 

Candeling is just shining a bright light, like a torch on the egg to check if the chick is developing. 

This is something I will do in the next few days.

In my view 21 days is not really a long time for new life to enter the world, and I started thinking what else can you do in 21 days?

Well one activity I enjoy is brewing beer, and using one of the beer kits you can buy relatively cheaply these days, you can turn the wort into drinkable beer in 21 days! :-)  You can't complain about that can you!

Anyway back to the eggs, I bought the eggs in the spur of the moment from eBay, something I said I would never do.  I can't see how the eggs can be that happy being tossed around by Royal Mail however well packed they are.

I got a very good deal in the end, even including postage I think I paid less that I would have done visiting my local poultry breeder for 6 standard hen eggs.

I suppose that is why I took the chance.  I could not source the Black Lace Wynedotte Bantam locally.  So it was either via post or no eggs.  It seems such a waste to not pop a few eggs under a broody, especially when she had already been sat for 2-3 weeks and was not getting the hint I was giver her by picking her out the nest box twice a day!

If these hatch, and some are hens rather than cockerels, maybe I can breed from them and supply locally, because they are such nice looking birds.

Thanks for reading and Cheers.........