I have seen the hatchings loads of time now but I still can't stop myself from checking for cracks in the eggs every couple of hours from hatching day and getting so excited when an egg cheeps or shows the first sign of exit.
One is soon joined by more and the wait is on, will they all hatch, do they need any help, should I help?
Finally the eleven are all fluffed and ready for their new home. There are 10 white and one brown, don't know what breeds they will be as we took the eggs from our egg layers running with the Light Sussex cockerel Buddy. Hopefully some of them will be Sussex hens, but it doesn't matter as they will be grown on for the freezer (sorry).
Diz has built a new brooder for the chicks instead of using a heat lamp, which will be cheaper on the electric. The material tassels replicate the chicks getting under the mothers feathers (use your imagination please), which will be raised as the chicks get bigger.
We have also just got some Barnevelder chicks, which are a new breed for us. They are meant to be good winter layers, which is what we need to keep our customers happy and lay a very dark egg. We have decided to get rid of the Rhode Island Red's and have these instead. They are not so readily available in Ireland, but thankfully a breeder we have used before has a flock, so got the babies from him. He also threw in a couple of Golden Brahma's which make brilliant broody birds and are big so they can hatch a lot of eggs. I'm not that keen on them as they have feathery legs, but good brooders are what we need.
They look so cute at this age. Kip spends hours glued to the side of their run waiting for movement, I think she sees 'mice'!
We are waiting for Indy to hatch her 6 eggs, she is due on Mon 13th and another hen has just sat on 12 eggs which I will candle on Sun 12th to see what is fertile. Fingers crossed.
Byee
Stella xx
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