Chicken deficient

Family photos

The fifth chick has just hatched - I just went to check Myrtle and see if she wanted a drink and peeked at the egg just in time to see it break the membrane and push its lid off! Family photo coming soon...

Chicks one and two: Three and four were still soggy and five was still pipping. I think three is silver partridge and four looks similar to two. (I will improve upon the names...I have some ideas already!)

We had another hatch during the night - it is a bluey grey colour with a few creamy bits. I think it will be black. The other three are all peeping and pipping, so I'll keep you posted and try and get some photos later

we have more pipping!

Thank you for your reply. I'll go to bed a bit happier knowing your hatch did that. Chick has had it's first lunch and they have both food and water right next to the nest. You are right - mum absolutely does not want to get off the eggs, even for a second.

I think this one is going to be salmon. No more have hatched yet - everybody keep your fingers crossed for them!

I thought that the 0.1% was for mouse etc dosing and that the 0.8% was for larger animals, like bantams? I have started adding a little sulphur powder to the dust bath and mixed in with the diatom that I puff around the house after each clean and I've not seen a mite since. I put a link to a paper about sulphur powder on here a while back.

cluck here

Should I be? The first (Pekin bantam) egg pipped yesterday morning and must have hatched around lunchtime. This was day on day 18 of incubation. 24 hrs later and there is no sign of pipping in the remaining eggs. It is still only day 19 and they are under a broody, but I'm still getting anxious that they won't hatch. How long an interval can there be between the first and last to hatch?

Ooooooooooooo...I'm no Marmite hater...off to have a spoonful followed by some cashew nuts until I can find the real deal.

I hope so - I don't want to lift her off the nest to see - I just lifted a wing to get a glimpse of this one. Photos will be posted in due course!

So far we have one chick! It is completely yellow - any ideas what colour it will be?

We have pipping!!!

Today is day 17, so I guess any day from tomorrow for the next week? I can't hear any cheeping coming out of the eggs yet - should I be worried?

When someone is driving aggressively behind me and tailgating etc, wanting to go faster, even though I am driving at the speed limit, I try to wind them up a bit more by slowing down and then let them speed past just as we get to a speed camera I love watching them get flashed

My friend was given a work car that had a funny smell about it. Many weeks of vigorous cleaning and air freshening later, she found the dead hamster under the passenger seat.

It certainly looks like bumblefoot to me. Be very careful about picking the dark bit off - it could leave a deep gaping hole underneath and let more infection in. In addition to the advice about bathing and antibiotics, it is important to try and reduce the pressure that she is putting on that part of her foot - does she perch on anything other than the omlet roosting bars? Evenly shaped perches can cause problems as the pressure is always on the same part of the foot - hence uneven natural branches are better, as they have to use different parts of their feet and the pressure spots vary. Sometimes it can help to just have them on soft, clean bedding and not perching on anything hard at all when it is healing. Make sure all bedding and the run floor are clean, so she doesn't walk in anything dirty or mucky. Bumblefoot can be very difficult to treat successfully - I'd advise going to a good vet to be on the safe side, though it does look like you've spotted it quite early.

I used to go skiing there!

I think, as the others have said, that there would be no problems putting them together as they will all be new, BUT, it does triple your risk of bringing in disease. It is really difficult finding one supplier that has the right selection!

Myrtle is still sitting on her Pekin bantam eggs and being a very good egg mummy. On which day should I expect them to hatch, counting the first day as day 0? Some things I have read have implied 18 days and others 21 days. Thanks Not getting excited and impatient or anything...

Just looked it up - I think easichick is a 10kg bale whilst easibed is 20kg.

I might be mis-remembering? I took up the slabs a few months ago and just have them on green wood chip from the tree surgeon on bare earth, for the summer. Let's see what others say!

I haven't used easichick, but I have used easibed, bedmax, rapport and hemcore. I don't know how the bale sizes compare. My Cube has a 3m run too. It depends on how deep you want the bedding, but I don't think I ever used a whole bale in one go and I generally go for a few inches deep of bedding.