mullethunter Posted May 12, 2018 Author Share Posted May 12, 2018 Day 22 today and no sign of anything yet. Penny hasn’t moved from the nest in the last 2 days as far as I know and certainly isn’t moving to let me see now. She’s looking pretty ropey - I’ve hand fed her some mealworms and soaked corn but she won’t drink anything. Should I move her tomorrow to see what’s going on? I’ve just been reading a post from a couple of years ago where peking eggs hatched on day 27, so I’ll leave them a while yet as long as it’s not going to be too bad for broody. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis Posted May 12, 2018 Share Posted May 12, 2018 Soaked corn is good to keep them hydrated, they can lose condition quickly so anything to get her eating is good. Stand next to the coop for a couple of minutes and you can usually hear chicks peeping in the shells. As it's dark she'll be asleep so you can always candle them to see if they're pipping. A few days either side is normal but never heard of Pekin eggs hatching as late as day 27! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted May 13, 2018 Author Share Posted May 13, 2018 EMERGENCY!!! She’s eaten one of the Wyandotte chicks and so I looked to see if there was anything else. There was a fluffy little pekin chick under her which I’ve taken away and is now in a little box in the sun with a handwarmer and stuff to snuggle into. Is it definitely in danger from her or would she have eaten it because it was dead / dying. Help!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted May 13, 2018 Share Posted May 13, 2018 Oh no! How horrible! Maybe the Wyandotte chick died during hatching? And she just got rid of it that way? I don’t have any advice, other than keep that little pekin warm, but maybe also a bit of shade in the box in case it overheats and needs to get out of the sun? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis Posted May 13, 2018 Share Posted May 13, 2018 Sadly it does happen but unless you have a brooder set up I would put the Pekin back and just hope she accepts it. Try and keep whatever housing she is in pretty dark so she stays calm and gets used to the chicks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted May 13, 2018 Author Share Posted May 13, 2018 Well. I did try that Lewis but it did NOT go well. She went for it the same way Bernadette once went for our cat! So, a frantic visit to the local farmers merchants followed and I’m now £170 less well off but the owner of a Brinsea brooder and a Brinsea mini II advance incubator. Pekin chick is under the brooder in a big cardboard box in the big downstairs shower cubicle (only place I can shut the cats out of!). It’s very cheepy but has the brooder, some stuff to cuddle into, chick crumb and water so should physically be OK. The two remaining eggs are now in the incubator - one was cheeping and they’re both constantly moving. Ive managed to line up a couple of 2 day old silver campine bantams to keep the little pekin company if my last two don’t hatch. Really don’t think I can do much else! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted May 13, 2018 Share Posted May 13, 2018 Too bad. But it is really cute! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvachicken Posted May 13, 2018 Share Posted May 13, 2018 What an adorable little chick. I'm sorry things haven't turned out how you had hoped but at least you will have the incubator stuff ready for next time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted May 13, 2018 Author Share Posted May 13, 2018 It is very cute. Doesn’t look like the two remaining eggs are going to hatch which is sad because they were definitely alive this morning. I’ve tracked down some silver campine bantam chicks and I think some pekin chicks that are less than a week old, so if there’re no more hatchlings here in the morning I’m going to pick up some of them to keep it company. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis Posted May 13, 2018 Share Posted May 13, 2018 Sorry to hear it, an expensive learning curve! Hope the others hatch but at least you've managed to find company if not Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted May 14, 2018 Author Share Posted May 14, 2018 Yes these are now extremely expensive chicks!! But, I came down this morning (day 24) and checked the incubator to find the pekin just hatched and the Wyandotte pipped! It’s now 5pm and the Wyandotte is just starting to properly crack the shell open and the pekin is nearly totally fluffed up (that’s taking much longer than I thought it would). Meanwhile in the brooder I now have the little pekin that hatched under Penny yesterday, and the 2 very cute bantam silver campines that I picked up this morning. So hopefully back on track now. Just not the track I had in mind! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted May 14, 2018 Share Posted May 14, 2018 Jeeeh! How exciting! Even if they are expensive chicks, I’m still jealous! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeramaSilly Posted May 14, 2018 Share Posted May 14, 2018 Oh what a roller coaster for you but that pekin chick is sooooo cute!!! Lots of pics please when you're ready!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted May 14, 2018 Author Share Posted May 14, 2018 Proper rollercoaster! No cute pics of the Wyandotte or second pekin chick yet but here they are fresh out of their eggs and exhausted. And then a VERY cute pic of the original pekin and his two imported campine buddies. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis Posted May 14, 2018 Share Posted May 14, 2018 Very cute Does that yellow cup on the outside feed into the water channel in the middle? I have the original version of that incubator and was looking at buying the newer model Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted May 14, 2018 Author Share Posted May 14, 2018 Yes it does. The bit in the middle is separated into two halves by a ‘wall’. One half is filled by a tube that runs from the yellow cup. To fill the other side (which is how he instructions say to achieve high humidity for hatching) you can either over fill the outside cup so it flows over the wall, or manually fill it when the lid is off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeramaSilly Posted May 14, 2018 Share Posted May 14, 2018 Just adorable!! What colour pekins and wyandotte have you got?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrannyTrish Posted May 15, 2018 Share Posted May 15, 2018 Much fluffy cuteness! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted May 15, 2018 Author Share Posted May 15, 2018 21 hours ago, SeramaSilly said: Just adorable!! What colour pekins and wyandotte have you got?? The pekins were sold as mixed so I don’t know. The Wyandotte is from blue laced parents but I don’t think they yield 100% blue laced offspring. I think it’s something like 50% blue 25% black 25% splash. Ideally I want blue one has now fluffed up and is now obviously not going to be black but beyond that I can’t tell yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvachicken Posted May 18, 2018 Share Posted May 18, 2018 Just all so sweet. I'm not sure I'd be brave enough to have a go though. Can't wait to see some more photos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted May 19, 2018 Author Share Posted May 19, 2018 First photo was on Wednesday second is today All chicks here are between 5 and 7 days old (today) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted May 19, 2018 Share Posted May 19, 2018 Very cute!!! The two campines are just gorgeous! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis Posted May 19, 2018 Share Posted May 19, 2018 Gorgeous Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvachicken Posted May 20, 2018 Share Posted May 20, 2018 Soooo sweet Can just see their little wing feathers starting to come through. Are you going to keep them all ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted May 20, 2018 Author Share Posted May 20, 2018 Unfortunately not. I can’t keep cockerels - I had lined up a friend to help me dispatch any but now I’ve had two friends who’ve actually asked me if I’d give them a cockerel each! One to go with a new flock of hens and another to replace an ageing pekin boy in an existing flock. I can’t believe my luck 😁 I’ll keep up to 3 hens. Or maybe 4. But if all 5 were hens that’d only leave 1 3 is the plan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
