4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Romany]

Sorry I have not posted in ages - I promised lots of people that I would keep them posted on my first ever incubation attempt but a couple of days after setting the eggs I came down with double pneumonia and ended up in hospital leaving my poor husband with two young children AND an incubator full of eggs to turn and candle!!

 

Anyway, he did a spendid job as we got 7 chicks out of 15 eggs - not bad in the circumstances!

 

Trouble is, I didn't get more than one of any breed (except the bantams) and they are not auto-sexing so I can't even compare their growth rates to work out which are boys and which I will be keeping

 

By the time I can tell, we will be so attached to them...!

[Groovychook]

Poor you! Hope that you're well on the road to recovery!

Your husband sounds like a star!

[Chickvic]

Hope you are feeling much better, well done to your husband though What will you do with the boys? Can you re-home them?

[Cooks]

oh you have had a rough time, I hope you are on the mend now give that husband a gold star, bless him!

 

I have no experience with hatching so I cant help there but I wanted to just say I hope you feel better soon. x

[Egluntyne]

Sorry to hear that you have been ill. I've often wondered about you as we share a birthday.

 

Based on the method described here **click** I am hoping that my two hatchlings are one of each.

 

The Light Sussex chick appears to be a boy (Anton Du Beake) and the Speckled Sussex appears to be a girl. (Claudia) The names chosen by my daughter and continuing the Strictly Come Dancing theme.

 

Of course, it might all be a load of nonsense and I could be in for a surprise.

[Jules.]

 

The Light Sussex chick appears to be a boy (Anton Du Beake) and the Speckled Sussex appears to be a girl. (Claudia) The names chosen by my daughter and continuing the Strictly Come Dancing theme.

 

 

I love the names, Egluntine

[feemcg]

I recently read this about feather sexing

 

Just an FYI - the feather sexing technique only works when you cross a slowing feathering strain with a fast feathering strain!! Wont work with every cock & hen, so dont rely on it unless you KNOW that your crossing a fast onto a slow or visa versa!

 

.....and apparently if they're a pure fast feathering breed both sexes have the female patern .......now I need to go and do more reading up on what breeds are fast or slow!

[Griffin]

My LS chicks are six weeks old now and I feather sexed them at a day old and it said they were all boys. Well I have one boy and two girls! Or two very slow maturing boys but compared to him they have no headgear whatsoever and by now it should be there if they're boys.

[Egluntyne]

A well....back to the drawing board for names then.

 

I guess they will be Dinner and Supper.

[Romany]

Great link Egluntine... unfortunately at around 10 days old mine are a bit too big to use this method now... if only I had seen it before! But then again, I have no idea if my breeds are fast or slow feathering!

 

This morning we had a death, so now we are 6. It's a real shame as the little one that died was the Vorwerk and she was much cuter than the others being all rounded yellowish and fluffy - all the others are mainly black. But although I dripped water into her beak regularly, she never got interested in food, I thought we might have been making progress on Friday when she started walking around and joining in with the others... but then she went downhill again. She was never very steady on her feet (seemed to fall asleep standing up and wobble over a lot!).

 

She was in a very bad way this morning so I picked her up. Her breathing was infrequently and laboured. I showed my daughters and we talked about how weak she was and that she wouldn't make it through the day and then she just died in my hand - all very gentle and peaceful... so I was glad that if they had to witness death at such a young age that it was so calm and peaceful (hadn't really expected it to die there and then though!)

 

So we are off now to find a burial site in the girl's fairy garden and have a little ceremony...

 

PS. Chickvic asked what I was going to do with the boys... well I will attempt to re-home them, but otherwise I will be 'dealing' with them. I've done a course (probably the one Egluntine is going on? Alison Wilson from Hook Farm?). Sadly my chicks are not suitable breeds for meat birds, otherwise that would have been their fate

[feemcg]

Poor wee thing........I had one like that last year. Just nothing you can do sometimes

[Egluntyne]

Sorry to hear about the little Voerwerk.