The Hatching report and sexing chicks

It is 4 days past the original hatching date, the incubator has been shut down and I have spent tonight dismantling and cleaning it ready for the next batch! Whenever that may be!

After I found just one egg infertile after 7 days, I though I may have ended up with 11 chicks, however as always it is not that straight forward. The final count is 7 chicks out of the 11 fertile hatching eggs.
Hatch
4 Silver Laced Wyandottes
2 Croad Langshan
1 Salmon Faverolle

Not a bad result I think, although I was a little disappointed that the Owl Beard did not hatch.

I liked to try and guess the sex at early stages of my previous hatches, I had no idea previously how to do his so it was total luck and guess work. However I had heard of a way of using the feathers on the wings at one and two days old.
Whether it is possible with my breeds I have no idea so why not try it and find out?
Have a look at the photo I have found on the Internet.  Like I say I don't know if this principal applies to my breed of chicks.

It is quite easy to see the difference.  On this basis I think I have the following:

2 Silver Lace Wyandotte Bantam Cockerels

2 Silver Lace Bantam pullets

2 Croad Langshan Pullets

1 Salmon Faverolle pullet 

Having made a note now I guess I will find out if I am right in 12 or so weeks.  Another waiting game!

Thanks for reading

Next update is on the method I use for integrating new chickens with your existing flock!

Chickens on the allotment - Work begins!

My plot - the good half approx 2 summers ago

Where are all the chickens going when they have hatched and grown?
I don't have a back garden big enough to house all 12 chickens once grown (assuming all of them hatch), but I do have my allotment and I have spent an hour or so the last two days, clearing the over grown land and starting to build an enclosure.

One sheet of glass

It was hard work, with brambles at least 7 foot high, and enough rotten wood to fuel two large bonfires.  I have emerged relatively unscathed which is quite impressive as I was also moving two sheets of glass (6x6 foot) that the previous tenant decided to use as shelter for his chickens on top of his run.

What I had to work with!

The good thing is that I have a plan and the area is clear, but it will take some managing through the year.  I have Japanese knotweed in this corner of the plot.  A very difficult plant to kill.
I have encountered it several times, most of the time as a surveyor managing commercial property.

Japanese Knotweed - from Wiki

One thing is clear, it is very costly to remove, and from a development site point of view quite often the only sure way of removing it from site is to dig it out dispose of all soil and refill.  Very expensive but a lot quicker than injecting it for 3-5 years to kill it off.

Now I am not in the position on my plot to dig out or inject the plant.  But I have discovered a week killer by roundup, called tree stump killer.  It does in fact work on Japanese knotweed and brambles.  I will need to be very careful spraying close to the chickens.

My chicken enclosure - wont win any style awards

I have taken some photos of the enclosure to date.  There is a long way to go and plenty of fox proofing to be done, but I'm hoping to have it finished by end of March latest.

The pen is currently 12 x 12 foot.  I will be covering the top with a heavy duty plastic mesh.  It has big holes and again was left behind by the former tenant of the plot.
I have a hen house and run (cheap version) in my garage at he moment, so will be moving his down to the plot, but will also be splitting the area in to two breeding pens eventually.

Having such a variety in the incubator at the moment means the chickens may have to live together for a while until I establish if they are good enough breeding stock and find cockerels or hens to go with what I have hatched.  I'm starting to think it would have been easier to have bought 2 trios, but hey, where is the fun in that! :-)

To protect against Mr Fox around the perimeter I am digging the fencing into the ground by about 6 inches and then using chicken wire to create a further barrier underground. On top of the chicken wire will go the soil and then some slabs I have that will hopefully prevent any digging.

You can just see the wood in the right of the photo!

I mentioned earlier the top of the enclosure will be covered with some heavy duty plastic mesh, secured with heavy duty cable ties.  You can see it in the photo on the left.  It had to be cut out of the brambles.


I am still working on the door into the pen.  I'm considering using some old pallets I have on the site or an old wooden front door that, yes you guessed it, the previous tenant was trying to use as a door to his shed. (the shed did not have a roof, but he had a lovely solid house door for it!)

In fact that is a very good point, I do need a dry secure place for the feed and bedding.  As the roof on my shed has blown off twice in the last month, I can not rely on it, so will need a solution, perhaps a plastic container in the pen!

It's difficult  planning these things, hard work implementing them, but ultimately the end product, being able to keep pure breed rare poultry will make it worth while!

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.

Quail & hatching update

I have been working on a website for my little poultry adventure.  I would love some feed back on the temporary site at www.andrewspurebreedpoultry.co.uk  There will of course be more information in the full site but at least there is a basis to work from.

If you have read my blog before you will probably know I am little obsessed with chickens and have been keeping them in my back garden for four years.  I have recently ventured into the world of quail keeping.  The Japanese quail arrived on Sunday 3rd February.  9 females and 2 male.

They seem to have settled well into their coop/ aviary.  Although I am surprised how startled they are when I walk up to them.  As explained in the books I have read, they fly directly upwards when scared and usually smack their head off the ceiling of the coop.  Fortunately it is a plastic tray about their head, so I hope it will cause little damage to them.  It does however concern me they do it so frequently, and I think it would be useful if someone could design or breed into the quail some form of helmet device!

They are lovely little birds and have produced 8 eggs already in less than 2 days, however temperatures have dropped and the winds have picked up, so I expect egg production to be limited in the next few days.

My recent attempt at hatching silver laced Wyandottes was a failure.  2 of the eggs were fertile but died at around 16-18 days I think.  I think the humidity may have been too high.  Something I will be keeping a close eye on when I set my next batch of eggs in the next week or so.

Keep tuned in to find out what I will be hatching next using a dry incubating method. ;-)

Thanks for reading