Wyandotte, Araucana Chicks at 4 weeks and quail

 

It is four weeks since the latest batch of silverlace wyandottes and lavender araucana chicks hatched.  11 out of 12 fertile eggs hatched, and so far all have survived.   A great result for me and now I am itching to work out if I have a nice mix of male and female.
I hope I have. It will enable me to match up with the earlier hatches and create one or two breeding pairs or trios.

I do need to get into gear with the enclosure as my current pen is full to capacity. 

But I am also itching to get à trio of Welsh harlequin.  I think I have found a good breeder so really it is all down to how quickly I can create space. I can then be collecting duck, hen and quail eggs.  How lucky!

Talking about quail, I have 24 mixed colour courtnix eggs arriving shortly.  
It is a little unplanned, as I was more than comfortable with the group I have.  
With the loss of two of my hens recently I decided it was time to keep egg production at a reasonable level as we have become quite a quail egg obsessive family since they started laying.  If we were to run out of quail eggs I can see there being a revolt in the household from the children.

Introducing new quail to an existing group is very difficult and many say impossible as the established group will pick on the newcomers and can seriously injure them.  So the hatching of a new group has been something I have been thinking carefully about.  I have allowed for the new hatching's o be kept separate permanently, although I believe with careful management I could integrate two larger groups once the younger birds are of a good age.  Say 3-4 months old.     Watch this space.

Thanks for reading. 

  

If I stare at the incubator will they hatch quicker?!

My Silver Lave Wyandotte Hen and Cockerel

I'm at it again, without really planning that much either.  The problem is I can't resist, particularly the wyandottes and now the Lavender Araucana.

I have fired up the incubator again, all seems to be working well.  I'm gave the eggs 24 hours to settle after coming through the post.  Mark at Norfolk Bantams has kindly sorted me some eggs.  Last time I had 100% hatch rate.  So I am excited to see the results this time round.

I candelled the eggs on Sunday 16th June and there were 12 fertile eggs.  6 silver lace and 6 lavender Araucana.  I hope there is a good mixture of male and female in them.

Araucana cockerel 8 weeks

I currently have 3 male lavender Araucana from an earlier hatch, and 2 male and one hen silver lace from a previous hatch.  

This time I hope to be able to put a pair or trio together of both breeds.  Doing it this way, from hatching eggs, is a long process, but fun.  I'm certainly not going to be in a position to try and hatch any of my own eggs until next year.  Something to look forward to I guess.

My Croad Langshan Hen

So what now?  There is plenty to do.  I'm already planning another enclosure to take the extra chickens and then once I have reduced numbers sufficiently, it will be partially used for some ducks.  Welsh Harlequin I hope.  The other part, looking way ahead, maybe space for turkeys or more hens.

I still have one Silver Lave Wyandotte Cockerel for sale (Bantam) and in a few weeks the Lavender Bantam Araucana cockerels will be available too!

Thanks for reading and I will be back soon!

You need the lows to appreciate the highs!

What a day I had Sunday. I have been harping on about it for long enough on twitter now. I'm still no closer to knowing what caused it, but the potential reasons for the chicks I have been hatching all of a sudden moving on to the coop in the sky have increased. So I am putting it down to bad luck and will be keeping a close eye on future hatches.

I had 11 chicks in total, most were 2-3 days old. 3 gold lace Wyandotte chicks were recent hatches, they had fluffed up and so I added them to the brooder.
Long story short, one check all seemed fine, 30minutes later the gold lace were dead on their backs with 2 lavender Araucana staggering around and one silver lace wyandotte in a similar condition. I put them straight back in my incubator thinking it may have been a heat issue. Sadly they did not make it.

There are many theories including loss of heat, infection, bullying, fighting or maybe it was just a defect inherited from parents.

It's sad, but it is time to move on. I have 3 Araucana Lavender bantams and 1 silver lace Wyandotte bantam to add to the 4 silver lace hatched 10 weeks ago and 2 croad langshan.
I'm lucky to have these and hope the silver lace will be good enough to create a breeding trio from.
Looking forward, I am still fascinated by the Wyandotte, so I'm sure they will be on the agenda at some point again soon, but I'm thinking long and hard on what breed to hatch next.

I currently have 2 CLB females at 4 weeks old and I hope a wheaten maran to go with them, but what other pure breed would you add to this collection producing dark brown and blue eggs?

The leghorn has been suggested and I like this idea due to the white eggs that it lays. I also like the idea of Rhode Island Red. Great looking, good layers and of course a good size.
Some careful thinking required over the next few weeks is required.

I am also being drawn to ducks, specifically the Welsh Harlequin. I don't want many, just a drake with two ladies. To hatch or to buy a trio, that is the question. The other decision is how to provide a water source for them to bath in. Plastic paddling pool, trug, old bath?

Short term there is a pause in the hatching whilst I catch up on all the veg jobs I have been putting off. Main crop potatoes need to go in, carrots and parsnips need sowing, along with runner beans, butternut squash and sweetcorn.
It's amazing how in control you can feel in February and March, then all of a sudden it is 1st May, we hit the panic button and I find I sow everything at once and end up with a glut of veg.

Thanks for reading