Chicks Chicks and More Chicks

Sadly the Vorwerk chick did not make it.  He was still struggling to stand even with legs taped together to stop them spreading apart and my efforts to try and hand feed were causing him some distress.
After several hours and a deterioration in his condition I decided it was best to do the right thing.  It's not easy and the second time in as may hatches that I have had to do it.  That's part and parcel of hatching and raising chickens I guess.

On a brighter note, I have just returned form a local poultry breeder who had a few day old's he was selling.  I bought 3 to keep Nugget as I have decided to call her, company.  

One Cream Legbar (female), one Orpington and one French Wheaton Maran.  

Nugget

The Silver lace Wyandottes are doing very well outside, even in this chilly spell of weather.  They are 5 weeks old and whilst it is difficult to tell at this stage, I'm really hoping for one or two good examples for breeding.

The master plan in all of this is to create at least 2 breeding pairs of Wyandottes.  
I have more hatching eggs arriving in the next few days, 6 gold lace and 6 silver lace Wyandotte hatching eggs.

So I will mixing from the different hatched to hopefully create a couple of good breeding trios.  Lots of  fingers crossed and plenty of things that could and no doubt will go wrong, but it is an adventure.

What then? Well, the pan is to work on improving the breeding pen so I have some good quality Wyandottes.  Along the way I have no doubt there will be a few hens and cockerels sold and hopefully hatching eggs.

Photo from www.araucana.org.uk

I'm trying to concentrate on Wyandottes as I find they are a lovely docile breed and they enjoy being picked up (once you have managed to catch them that is) but I can't help but be drawn to trying new breeds.  This time I have gone for some lavender Araucana.  Blue egg layers and an interesting bird originating from Chile. 

Check out the breeding club website at www.araucana.org.uk

After this? Well ducks are on the agenda, in particular Welsh Harlequin and if possible some buff Orpington or silver appleyard.  That may however be some way down the line!

Thanks for reading.

Cream Legbar & Vorwerk hatching update

Cream Legbar Chick 1 day old

I had hoped to be bringing some positive news tonight with the first hatching of the Cream Legbar yesterday at around 8am and the beginning of pipping of the Volwerk egg.

Sadly the Volwerk chick struggled to hatch and after 24 hours needed assistance. It went to plan fortunately as the best advice in this situation appears to be leave well alone.  However, after a few hours of hatching it became clear that the chick could not walk properly. After a few tweets, splayed leg was suggested and it made total sense, and I have no idea why I did not see it earlier.

This is when the chicks legs spread apart a bit like they are dancing on ice, badly. So I recalled reading some time ago that the best thing to use is a plaster as the non sticky part is just the right width apart for the legs. So with the legs taped together, I hoped the chick would start standing.

Sadly it was lying down and shutting its eyes, almost giving up. Now I'm quite stubborn when I want to be and whether this is the right thing to do or not is debatable. I decided to try and feed a piece of crumb to the chick to give it some energy.

Cream legbar bottom, Vorwerk top not standing

It would not open it's beak, so I pried it open gently and popped the crumb in. It took it fortunately and has been taking quite a few, but I can't get it to peck off the floor or food dish.

I guess I'm giving it the best chance possible, but over night, it will have to fend for itself.
Fingers crossed.


Thanks for reading.

More hatching eggs!!!

Croad Langsham chick

As if I would be able to put the incubator away for any length of time.  As it happens it was only 5 days or so and yes I have more hatching eggs.  This time the eggs were kindly donated by Hillside Pigs in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales.  Most unexpected but when I knew they were Vorwerk and Crested Legbars I could not really say no!


I tried to hatch a Legbar recently but the egg was not fertile, so this is a great chance to try again and the Vorwerk's are, I think, stunning looking birds and they lay light cream colored eggs.  Contrast with the blue of the Legbar and the dark eggs from my speckeldy it will make a lovely box of 6 eggs.

Candling egg

This is something I am actually keen on trying to grow and develop.  I know the free range home reared eggs taste much the same whatever the colour, but to be able to offer free range local multi coloured eggs would be a little different and a little unique.  Add to that the offer of quail eggs and duck eggs, I'm starting to build a picture in my head of something I would like to get involved with!

Enough day dreaming, this hatch will only be 4 eggs, 2 Vorwerk and 2 Crested Legbars.  

I have decided not to add to the 4 at the moment as I am still in the process of building my run enclosure down the allotment, plus I think my wife may just kick me out!
When I returned with the eggs I was met with a "I though we were getting rid of the incubator for a while"!
Ooooops!  Could be worse I suppose especially if I have turned up with a baby Lamb or something similar! :-)
The allotment is key really, whilst I made great progress a few weeks ago, other commitments have stopped me from getting down there to finish the job however I still think I will be ok to complete by end of March!

Vorwork - Photo from www.brbpoultry.co.uk

I have fancied Vorwerks for a while, they are lovely looking birds.  There were suposedly developed in 1900 by a German poultry breeder Oskar Vowerk and was standardised in 1913.  There is a bantam version which was developed later in America in 1966.
They seem a little scarce to me, which is a shame as they are lovely looking birds.
Hers hoping I am successful with my hatch.

Thanks for reading.

Incubating Eggs day 7 again!

Pair of Wyandottes creating a heart shape!

Well I have been away for a few days in London and that meant leaving the incubator running without any monitoring for 3 days.  I did realise this would happen when I set the eggs back on 7th February, I knew it was a bit of a risk, but I was impatient probably due to the failure of the last batch.





Today, Valentines day, is the 7th day so I have been candling the eggs to check for development.  The great news is that at present 11 out of the 12 eggs I set appear to be fertile.  The one egg that appears not to be developing is unfortunately the Cream Legbar which is a shame however it does mean that there is potential for Croad Langsham, Owl Beard, Salmon Faverolle and Silver Lace Wyandottes hatching out in around 14 days.

What did I do differently to my first batch?
Well I'm not going to take all the blame or credit here as I have had loads of useful advice from Andrew from Slate House Farm and from Norfolk Bantams on Twitter, in fact, without their help I may have delayed my next hatch for some time.  There is also the consideration that maybe the eggs were not quite ready as it was so early in the year.

I think I took the instructions with the incubator quite literally with regards humidity.  It stated that one water trough should be filled and two should be filled at day 18. The instructions did not mention anything about ventilation either and I don't recall reading about this, but it is crucial when controlling the the humidity. Ultimately I think I drowned the chicks or prevented them from developing properly which is very sad and a mistake I will never make again.

Secondly, I did not monitor humidity, I had no way of knowing what the relative humidity percentage was at any time.  But again looking back I think levels were far too high.  The condensation on the roof of the incubator was a big sign that I totally missed.

To correct both of these major mistakes I have bought myself a reptile humidity gauge for £5.99.  Why these are not fitted or provided when you buy a Corti incubator I have no idea, but it is an essential piece of kit in my opinion.  I have also worked out how to open the vent holes in my incubator.

You do learn by your mistakes, and it has been a big mistake and quite a large learning curve.  It is almost addictive, learning and putting into practice what you have learnt.

Before setting my current batch of eggs, I ran the incubator for 2 days monitoring humidity.  I ran it initially with no water.  Humidity was as low as 10%, so there was no chance of adding the eggs without water.

Once one water trough was filled the humidity increased, first to 30%, then a few hours later 40% and the next morning it was stable at 50%.

The incubator has continued to remain at 50% with a full water trough and vents fully open.  11 of the 12 eggs are developing so its good news for now.


I will be monitoring carefully and will post more updated soon.


Thanks for reading.

The Next Hatch - Poultry

So after the failure of the Silver laced Wyandottes, I have decided to try again.  It didn't take long, in fact I think I was plotting my next batch before the Wyandotte batch had come to an end.  This time I have a mix of breeds and I have doubled the number of eggs in the incubator.  Hope the wife is not reading this!

The incubator was set up on 6th February in the morning.  I will be leaving it for 24 hours before setting the eggs.  This time I am trying the dry incubation method.  Something that Norfolk Bantams on twitter (@norfolkbantams) and several other people have suggested as a good method.

I have to be honest I had never heard of the method and assumed that every hatch needed water.

From what I have been told, this is how it works.
Incubation from day 1 to day 18 there is no water in the incubator.  Humidity levels in the UK are apparently high enough that water is rarely needed.
It will be interesting to see the results.  At day 18, you add some water to increase the humidity.

Recommended relative humidity (RH) levels for chicken eggs in the incubator vary but it appears sensible to run with 30-40%.  During the hatching stage, 18th day onward, it should be around 60- 70%.
The humidity in my house is currently 45%, so very close to the required level.  When the temperature increases in the incubator this RH will drop in theory. My incubator was continually gathering water droplets on my last hatch that failed which suggested humidity was too high.  So I am feeling confident that this hatch will be more successful.  
My newly purchased humidity gauge from the local reptile shop will hopefully help.  At £5.99 I think it is a bit of a bargain and will assist a great deal.

After 3 hours the incubator is showing 49% humidity without water.  Amazing I think, but then with all the rain we have had in Wales recently I should not be surprised.

What am I attempting to hatch?
A really great  selection and very exciting.  I have another 6 Silver Lace Wyandotte eggs and thanks to Andrew at Slate House Farm (www.slatehousefarm.co.uk) I have the following :

Two Salmon Faverolle, Two Croad Langsham, One Ownbeard and one Cream Legbar.

Photo from Brockabye.com
Salmon Faverolle

Photo from Omlet.co.uk
Croad Langsham

Photo from Slatehousefarm.co.uk
Owlbeard

Photo from Slatehousefarm.co.uk
Cream Legbar

Thanks for reading.