New bantams

I went today and re-homed the cockerels :) They'll be living in with a flock of ex-barn hens and when they're a bit bigger I think they'll be sold on as breeding cockerels.

I picked up some new bantams while we were there - a Speckled Sussex, a Buff Sussex and 2 Buff rocks.

Speckled Sussex called Pox:
Buff Rock:

They're in a rabbit run next to the Eglu with the Brilley chick in it, and in a few weeks they'll be integrated with her, then a while after that they'll be integrated with Matilda + Theodore.

The Buff Sussex and 1 Buff rock have gone to live with my Aunt + Uncle - their first chickens :D

Home & away

I've managed to find someone that will take all of the cockerels and he has some bantam hens for sale :D

He has a chicken rescue place and they'll eventually be sold on to people that need a cockerel and hopefully they'll be bred from still.
He has some light sussex, speckled sussex and buff rock bantams all for sale, and I've reserved the 3 sussex' and may ask my aunt + uncle if they want the buff rock bantams. I wanted bantams rather than large fowl because the Brilley chickens are classed as LF but are small, so will suit bantams, and being younger the bantams will be a similar size to her.

The chicks (or some of them) are going into school today for open evening, it'll be interesting to see what people think because they haven't seen them since they were a week old!


Now I'll have to juggle intro's with the Brilley Chick and the bantams.

4 cockerels

I've just found out the 4 Cream Crested Legbars are all cockerels :(
They all have big combs coming through, I can't believe I didn't notice it before.

I'm going to have to find homes for 4 now instead of just Fry.
I'm hoping to get some hens to integrate with the Brilley White chick so she isn't lonely before she is integrated with Matilda + Theodore.

Nearly 5 weeks old

The chicks are nearly 5 weeks old tomorrow and they're looking like proper little chickens now!!
Fry is getting wattles + has a big comb

I'm still not sure if the Brilley chicks is a boy or a girl ... no comb as

yet but sometimes stands like a boy. Purkinje's comb is quite big, but still pink.

Chicks Photo Update

Just an update of photos of the chicks:

They're all getting on fine and becoming a bit more friendly, jumping up on top of the brooder - all the time!

Another Brilley ...

I've lost another Brilley chick - the smallest one with the black wings - it was always a bit runty but seemed to be strong, so I don't know whats caused it.


I don't know if they're from bad breeding, my bad care of them or if they have some infection - but the other 4 CCL chicks are all fine.

Another chick died :(

Another one of the Brilley chicks has died :(
It looked like it hadn't been eating. I have no idea why the second one has died, hope its not contagious and that the others don't get it.
I've put some Poultry Tonic in their water to hopefully give them a boost. I was thinking about separating the Brilley chicks and the CCL's, but if it is contagious its too late now :/

I emailed the breeder and he said it sounds like cocci, but they haven't been near any contaminated birds or equipment so I don't think it is, unless it can be passed down in eggs.

Day 10

Its day 10 and the chicks are doing fine. I cleaned them out and switched them onto wood shaving instead of the non-slip mat and they seemed a bit confused!

Brilley Silver + White chicks.

All the chicks together

Its tiny compared to the others! :)

The 4 Cream Crested Legbar chicks together, Fry (male) is at the front.

4 CCL's - Pox, Nugget, Purkinje + Fry

Chicks ar home :D

I bought the chicks home this afternoon and they are all fine and in the breakfast room :D

Up to 7 chicks

Just been to school to check the chicks and a water pipe in Biology has burst!

The chicks are fine, the one that was pipping yesterday (in the video) hatched, another hatched and there is an egg that has pipped and should be out tomorrow. The one from yesterday and the pipped one yesterday have gone into the brooder with the rest of the chicks.

The Brilley Blues are smaller chicks, and they're meant to be autosexing, but I can't see any difference, and I thought they were meant to be blue chicks aswell :lol: - I'll find out.

Up to 5 chicks

The first Brilley Blue chick has hatched this morning, and there is another that is pipping.

I recorded a video of the chick and you can see it breathing inside the egg :D

The CCL chicks are all fine, they seem to have grown loads already! Fry has already got litte wing feathers :)

Up to 4 ...

The 4th chick hatched during the night and I think its a girl, so hopefully we have 1 boy and 3 girls.
We've named them; Blue is called Fry, Yellow is called Nugget, Pink is called Purkinje and th Orange one is called Pox :)
In the brooder

Purkinje

In Biology

Fry :D

3 Chicks

2 more hatched today. The one that hatched yesterday is a male, and the 2 from today are females. There's still one pipping and yet to hatch.
Some photos:
Empty egg shell:

Arjun + a female chick:
Me + Phillipa:

Male chick:

3 chicks in the brooder:

First chick :D

3 eggs pipped earlier during Biology and then I went on a trip and got back just before 4 o'clock - and the first chick was just out of its shell XD

Hatcher

The polyhatch seems to be working well, and we put the first batch of eggs in at 9am. We went back at lunchtime to check the temperature and someone had turned it off at the wall and the eggs felt cold! The temperature was down in the 20's and should be at 37 degrees :(
We quickly put them back in the original incubator while this one heated up and then put them back in. It was a maximum of 4 hours that they were cold for, hopefully they will be ok.
We candled the eggs and got rid of the 2 CCL infertile eggs and one infertile BB egg.

We have a webcam set up and is running on the school network, but can't be viewed outside school which is a bit pointless as you can just go and look at them, but we're going to have them streamed live on the plasma screens around school.

New Hatcher

I went to school on the way back home from Nottingham just to sort the chicks out. I thought I was taking my incubator in for the first batch of chicks to use as a hatcher but school have managed to borrow one from another local school.
Its a Brinsea Polyhatch (which we used to use at the farm all the time) and they're usually good and hold their temperature well. I turned it on and have left it running over the weekend, hopefully it'll keep its temperature and will be ok :)

Candled

We candled the eggs today and I think 2 of each of the breeds are infertile as they are clear. There was one CCL egg which looked ok, but I couldn't see the viens, hopefully it'll be fertile.

We might be using my incubator to hatch the first batch, but it isn't PAT tested so we need that doing, and we're getting a webcam set up to record them hatching.

2nd batch of eggs

The Brilley Blue eggs were delivered today and they're in the school incubator.
We're looking for a second incubator to use as a hatcher for the first set of eggs, so that we can stop turning them and increase the humidity, while this second batch still has a few more days to go. Today being day 0, they take 21 days so are due on the 17th July.

Babies

I feel surrounded by babies.
Theres been some exciting news announced, a newborn today and a baby due withing the next few days.
I always think I'll break new babies so leave them alone for a couple of months! Then I'm fine after that - much rather have a newborn lamb/chick, know I won't break those!!

We set up the incubator this afternoon and I got an email saying that the eggs have been sent out and should be here tomorrow ready to be set on Wednesday, so more babies on the way in a few weeks.

...and just because I like it:
The best thing about a hug? One size fits all

XD

Incubator has arrived

The incubator has arrived at school :D
Its a Cuvatutto 24 with an automatic turner, but the company have forgotten to send the automatic turner with it. It should arrive on Monday but if it doesn't we'll just turn the eggs manually for the first few days.

Hopefully we'll set them next Tuesday/Wednesday so that they hatch and we'll have them for a week in school before they come home with me XD
We're setting it all up on Monday afternoon and I think we have everything but the food which we won't need for a few weeks yet.
I've got leg rings and the eggs have been ordered and paid for, being posted next-day delivery on Monday.