Poorly chicken

[The Cast of Rainbow]

Instead of chocolate eggs for Easter (which my son will get plenty of from other people), we are giving him fetilised eggs for our Rhode Islanders to hatch. Does anyone have any tips on doing this?

[Egluntyne]

Hello

 

Love the forum name!

 

I know this is madly off topic but did you notice Rod Jane and Freddy in the Peter Kaye Comic Relief thingy?

 

I'm sure someone sensible will come along and answer your question!

[Lesley]

Yes, I noticed them Egluntine......

 

Are any of your hens broody? - if not, you will need an incubator.

[ubereglu]

If you're going to use an incubator Practical Poultry advised you hatch Light Sussex and Welsummer eggs in it. This is because they're incubator friendly breeds and easy to hatch for the first timer.

[feemcg]

Hi there, as Lesley said one of your RIRs would need to be broody - have any of them been proven 'sitters'? If not you could buy a small incubator (try Hatch It Incubators) and it would be fun and educational for your son to watch. You also need to consider what you will do with any boy chicks that might hatch. I'm incubating my 2nd lot of eggs just now - pm me if you want any more info (I'm no expert but loved hatching my 1st 12 chicks!)

[chocchick]

You could consider an "autosexing" breed like cream legbar where the males and females are different.

Terey Beebee of Practical Poultry magazine recommended the R-com incubator for a total beginner, although the smallest starts at £275

Omlet does one too.

 

You could try a book like

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Incubation-Hatching-Rearing-Katie-Thear/dp/090613725X

I bought it when Susannah went broody last year, with the idea of hatching this year so living in hope one of the others will be a good broody. It's mainly about incubators and getting the conditions right.

 

Are Rhode Island Reds good broodies? You'll have to tell me.

I'd be interested to know what using a broody involves, do you have to do anything apart from leave them too it? I've heard about checking for bad eggs that might explode Would you candle eggs if you had a broody?

[Lesley]

Broodies do all the work CC - no need to candle - if any of the eggs are non viable, she will push them away from the nest. When the chicks hatch, she teaches them all the chickie behaviour they will need and keeps them safe.

 

Chicks from the incubator just seem to have the instincts they need anyway - I've watched ours scratching and then stepping back - just to peck food out of the feeder You do have to show tham what the chick crumb is for the first time but they learn very quickly.

[The Cast of Rainbow]

Many, many thanks for all your advice.

So here's what happened/ answers to questions.....

 

Sadly, Zipppy and Bungle did not oblige us with their bottoms and ignored the eggs- we were ill-advised from other sources that if you don't remove the eggs they lay for afew days they will become broody, but they didn't. They were not proven "sitters" as someone had asked, having never gone broody since their arrival in December. By this time the fertilised eggs we had ordered from ebay had arrived and needed attention so we rustled up an incuabtor from a box, lightbulb and thermometor but they never hatched. So after that fiasco we by-passed the whole chick phase and brought 2 older hens from a local breeder so a warm welcome to Jane and Freddie!