Ammonia smell in coop-first time owner

[sarahbowyer]

I'm not sure there's any way of telling whether fertilized eggs are actually going to hatch until fairly late on, but you can certainly tell when there's something growing inside by holding them up to a lightbulb. When we hatched bantams (actually Old English Fighting Cocks - quite a surprise as we were expecting Rhode Island Reds! ), they had to be hatched in an incubator (old fish tank with a couple of lightbulbs) and turned every so often. Much easier to get a broody to do it for you, but quite magical when they hatch.

I'm rather envious of anyone planning to grow eaters - I always buy free range chickens to eat, and they make the best soup (recipe on request!), but I don't think I could face despatching them, unless I was hungry enough. But in terms of animal welfare, I think you're doing a good thing.

[Louise]

You can tell if they are growing early on as they start as a speck which turns into a 'halo' after a couple of days and then it starts to look bean shaped if after a few days checking it hasn't changed then the embryo has died

 

It is easy to do all you need is a sheet of card with an egg sized hole in it a dark room and a torch. Place the egg in the hole and shine the torch under it the card will concentrate where you look and you just need to rotate the egg to see it. once it gets to more than 5 days old you should also see blood vessels feeding the embryo

 

Candling eggs is easy once you get your eye in

[Lesley]

Well, I suppose it beats looking at the TV?

[Louise]

Hey its a sad life but its all mine

 

It really is satisfying to see them growing honest

[The Dogmother]

I'd love to do that - I read about it somewhere and got really interested.

[Louise]

It isn't difficult Clare even the incubating if you get decent quality eggs is easy. The incubator I used for Betty and Wilma may have come off the arc it was so basic and most of the eggs I had hatched I then had the hassle of finding a home for the rest of the chooks

[The Dogmother]

That's just the problem for me; I would love one of my girls to hatch chickies, but I don't have anywhere to put a broody cage and then I would have to find homes for the babies too...

[Louise]

Mine went en masse to a farm where they would be allowed to free range and I got the two back I wanted for my own eggs. As far as I know apart from the boys who were dispatched the rest are still okay

[The Dogmother]

That's a happy ending

[Mel (& Paul)]

Not so much for the boy chooks though

[Lesley]

No, but they taste good!

[myles]

Louise is right it's not difficult,we made our incubator out of a card board box ,light bulb and pot of water.but the turning and checking the temperature for four weeks sveral times day and night does get alittle waring.if i was to do it again i think i buy a broody

[motherhen]

Lesley - I've just been admiring your new list of your girls and realised that Ellie is a cream legbar - ie there must be a good chance of her going broody this year. Did she go broody last year? I'm sure someone's legbar did but at my age the brain cells can't recall whose hen it was. Anyway, if Ellie will do the deed for you then that could be your easiest option - she should be able to manage 11 eggs if not the full bakers dozen

[Lesley]

Nicola's Legbar has been broody 3 times - we are hoping that Ellie might go broody this year and that is why we have been looking around so that we know where to get hatching eggs from in a hurry.

 

We would rather do it that way because she would look after the little ones and the others wouldn't attack them - or so i read. Otherwise, we've got to keep the little ones seperate after hatching, and we'd rather have them all together.

[motherhen]

You've got it spot on Lesley - if one of an established flock goes broody, then reintroducing her and introducing her chicks to the rest of the flock should be no problem - well it never was for me anyway. I think I kept the broody and chicks separate until the chicks started feathering up and didn't need chickcrumbs anymore.

 

I'll try and send broody vibes to Ellie

[Louise]

http://www.homestead.com/shilala/title.html

 

Found this website Lesley they have some good beginners stuff for hatching

 

I am not smart enough to make it say click here

[Lesley]

Thanks for that Louise - there's loads of info. on there

[Lesley]

One of our 'Dinners' has just laid an egg

[Nicola H]

Oh dear can you bring yourself to eat it the chicken not the egg..........What colour egg did it lay.

[Lesley]

It will be even more difficult now to 'do the deed' - it would have been done had we not had three Estate Agents coming round last week

 

It was a pale brown egg.

[Sheilaz]

Oh help, isn't life complicated!

[Mrs Frugal]

Oh no ! What a problem!

[The Dogmother]

Does that mean that it now isn't seen as a dinner/

[Lesley]

No - they will still have to be seen as Dinner. They are Ross/Cobb type of chicken and are naturally bred to be big. They are the supermarket bird of choice and are grown very quickly, they don't usually live longer than a few weeks.

 

We have grown ours slowly but they are getting big and heavy. They can hop up onto the brick sewer covers which are about 15" high and can run and flap but they waddle around now and we don't know what health implications there may be if they get much bigger.(a bit like their owner really )

[The Dogmother]