Single hen

[Charlottechicken]

I've not been on the forum much of late, I've been a litle pre-occupied with some fertilised eggs I bought off eBay, and an incubator from Ascott. This is the result:

 

 

Five beautiful and very healthy chicks all hatched yesterday, out of six eggs. I think the grey one at the back looks like an Arucana, the others all have different markings, so only time will tell what they are! The selection of eggs were sold as pot luck!

 

They are now in their big yellow plastic egg shaped brooder where they spend most of their time sleeping, but I am amazed at how they are able to drink, eat, scratch, preen and chat, at such an early age. One has an unhealthy obsession with its own feet at the moment and keeps pulling its own toes and then cheeping in pain

 

I'm now on a deadline to get my new chicken run set up with nursery accommodation

Edited April 8, 2009 by Guest

[Scramble]

Aw, they are too cute!

Adorable

 

And araucanas?

If you keep them you could be getting some blue eggs

 

Congrats on the successful hatch!

 

x

[Charlottechicken]

Aw, they are too cute!

Adorable

 

And araucanas?

If you keep them you could be getting some blue eggs

 

Congrats on the successful hatch!

 

x

 

Thanks, I can't take my eyes off them at the moment! Yes, I am hoping the grey one is a girl, it was the first one to hatch (out of the smallest egg) and is very mature already, compared to the others.

 

I can't quite believe the success rate of the hatch either, didn't think it would be as high as five out of six

[Hen Watch]

Very cute...... and very brave too, I don't think I'd have the dedication for incubation.

[Griffin]

Lovely babies

 

My first hatch was from a pot luck set of eggs from Ebay. It's fun trying to figure out who the parents are I've got one that looks like a Cuckoo Marans girl but she came from a dark olive green egg, so I can figure out who Dad was but Mum is a mystery. I hope my girl lays green eggs like her Mum

[Egluntyne]

They are lovely. Congratulations.

[Cooks]

ahhhh little cuties!

[susanbb]

Gorgeous and very cute indeed.

[poachedegg]

Aww they are sooooo cute!

[Charlottechicken]

Chicks are now a week old, and growing fast!

 

 

The tiny one at the back is grey with grey legs and horn beak, large black eyes and a hairdo plus fluffy cheeks. I am sure this is an Araucana. The large one to the right shows Welsummer traits, stripy face and yellow beak and legs, the other three are a right mix up, two have brown and black wing feathers, white markings around the eyes, but all three are slightly different and one has very feathered legs!

 

They have been trying to dustbathe for a few days now and I am wondering if it is OK to let them have some soil to play in?

[wiblick]

cuteness! I want babies!!!

 

Congrats

 

What incubator did you go with from Ascott, I'm going to get their deluxe kit for Christmas, but I think I'm quite likely to get a broody hen from what I've chosen... (the voices in my head are telling me to buy a Rablu just in case... )

[Griffin]

I put some compost in an old biscuit tin for mine to dust bath in. After they'd decided it wasn't going to gobble them all up they started to eat it instead I showed them it a few times but it was a good few weeks before one had the intelligence to figure out what it really was.

[Charlottechicken]

What incubator did you go with from Ascott

 

I bought the Novital Covatutto 7 incubator from their ebay shop, it was £30, and is manual, you have to turn the eggs by hand twice a day, their Covatutto 16 is not much more expensive though, so a good buy. They are plastic so really easy to clean. The brooder they are in now(which will hold a dozen chicks) was also from the Ascott ebay shop and cost £45, but p+p was an extra £12 for the two items which I didn't mind as they were such great value anyway. It is also by Novital, and called Caldo Cip, and made of plastic so it keeps warm and is easy to clean. I bought both the incubator and brooder in December, when prices were quite low. I also sourced and bought extra lightbulbs for both appliances before I even put eggs in the incubator, just in case....

 

So the whole lot came in at just under £87, added to that the hatching eggs cost 99p plus £5 p+p, off ebay, and I had an 83% hatch rate. I imagine if I had tried hatching pure breeds I might not have been so lucky

[Charlottechicken]

I put some compost in an old biscuit tin for mine to dust bath in. After they'd decided it wasn't going to gobble them all up they started to eat it instead I showed them it a few times but it was a good few weeks before one had the intelligence to figure out what it really was.

 

Ah, right I might leave it then They are happy writhing and moonwalking around on a bit of newspaper in the recycling box with the brooder lid over them at the moment. I showed them a grape today and they ran off in terror

[Griffin]

 

My pot luck Ebay chicks are almost ten weeks old and still stupid I cleaned out their coop yesterday and when I chucked in the fresh Easibed they ran for their lives screaming their heads off

[Charlottechicken]

My pot luck Ebay chicks are almost ten weeks old and still stupid I cleaned out their coop yesterday and when I chucked in the fresh Easibed they ran for their lives screaming their heads off

 

Ahh

 

Mine were pot luck, who did you buy off? I got mine from Dragonpoultry.

[Griffin]

Mine were from dawn6528. Brilliant eggs, would definitely recommend.

[Charlottechicken]

Here are my chicks aged 2 weeks.

 

 

They are now large enough to manage on the grille floor of the brooder, and are only using the brooder to sleep in and for warmth. I have a large lined cardboard box annexe for them to eat and drink in, covered over with a piece of net as they can happily leap and fly up the sides which are 20 inches high They also have a nice tray of fine soil to dustbathe in, which they have been doing for the past 5 or so days

 

Possible parents are Marans, Welsummers, Araucanas, Light Sussex or Exchequer Leghorn. It looks like most of mine are Marans/Welsummer cross with an Araucana (right of pic with the top knot hairdo) thrown in for good measure If anyone has any opinions on parentage please let me know!

 

Anyone know if Araucanas are small, as the grey chick is not as large as the others

[chelsea]

They are gorgeous!!

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Aww, they're adorable . How fast they grow .

[Jules.]

Lovely chooks

 

The brooder is very posh

[Charlottechicken]

The brooder is very posh

 

It was the cheapest one I could find Jules, it's from Ascott (their ebay shop )

[seraphine]

Awww, they are absolutely gorgeous! And I love your hens' names too, one of my daughters is a Francesca