Growing up

A good while since I've put anything on here, as the original intention to build a chicken house became a grander scheme to cover the garden in sheds. While I've been busy with this off and on over the last couple of weeks, the chicks have kept on hoovering up the food and growing at a good old rate; they are now completely feathered and white, with the distincitve blue feet of the Bresse Gauloise. Up to date pictures to follow, but in the meantime here are some photos from the last few weeks:

In the brooder - 9th September

A 'chick's-eye' view - 10th September

More chick-cam - 10th September

First trip out. In the garden - 12th September

Plenty of wing feathers coming - 17th September

Curious chicks -  17th September.

Sex

Always a tricky issue for the poultry keeper, not least when attempting to determine the gender of chicks.

Ben's research into the subject on Tuesday led us to a website which described how to sex 2-3 day old chicks on the basis of the outer wing feathers. According to the video we watched, if there are two rows of feathers, one long, one short, on the end of the wing, the bird is female. If there is only one row of feathers visible, it's a male. So off to the brooder we went to haul out some chicks for inspection...

First out: two rows of feathers. Second out: two rows of feathers. Third out: two rows of feathers. Fourth out: two rows of feathers. And so on. At this point we began to wonder just how reliable this method is. Being naturally inclined to pessimism, I was quite prepared to believe that we had seven cockerels in the brooder, but seven hens seemed a tad implausible. Several possibilities therefore occurred to us:

1. We had misunderstood the video and were doing it wrong. A quick check seemed to indicate that we had got it right, though.

2. We had left it too late to sex chicks by this method. The first chick hatched on Friday, the last ones on Saturday evening. So it could be that we were too late on Tuesday, but not by much. On the other hand, the wing feathers do come in at quite a rate. So a day could make a big difference.

3. We were picking up the same chicks every time. Erm... This is certainly a possibility as we weren't particularly methodical in terms of separating the chicks which had been checked. Well,  in truth we didn't do it at all. After a half hour of picking up random chicks, though, we couldn't find one with a single row of feathers on the wing tip.

So, it looks like it's either back to the interwebs to find alternative sexing methods, or sit back and let time do the work for us. In the meantime, a more pressing issue is sorting out some accommodation for them as they continue to grow at an alarming rate.

Pasty butt

... as the Americans call it. I've just spent a happy morning wiping chicks' bottoms to clean off caked muck. Thankfully the chicks don't object too much to handling at this stage and, though a rather long-winded and painstaking process, all of those affected are now cleaned up and their backside fluff trimmed to reduce further clogging.

All are now tucking into a mix of crumb and mashed hard-boiled egg, with the aim of promoting bacteria growth in their gut so as to improve their digestion, as advised here.

First out

I just discovered this movie on the camera, which I had forgotten amongst the hubbub of hatching.

This is the number 8 chick (first to hatch) just after breaking out on Friday afternoon and about to begin its brief reign of chaos in the incubator.

The Magnificent Seven

As predicted, the 100% record didn't hold up. Number 12 chick failed to absorb its yolk properly, as well as having what looked to be problems around the vent and with one foot. Despite this, it initially looked lively,  but soon weakened and died on Sunday having never made it out of the incubator.

The number 7, however, which looked like it had similarly failed to absorb the yolk at hatching, made good progress overnight and transferred to the brooder without a problem. While it looked tiny in comparison to the others when first moved over, it has caught up quickly and we are now hard put to tell it apart.

Thus, we now have seven chicks happily charging around in the guinea pig cage, all feeding and drinking without problem.

Update: Ben has just looked at this post and suggests that it is not a good idea to refer to them as the "Magnificent Seven", as only two of their namesakes survived in the film. I will be taking measures to ensure that this bunch don't attempt to ride to the rescue of any Mexican villages, however.

Day 23: hatching continues

2215: All eight fertile eggs have now hatched and, at the moment, we have eight live chicks. Whether this will still be the case in the morning remains to be seen.

2130: Number 4 hatched, looks in better shape than 12 and 7. Still attached to its shell by a string of yolk, which is causing it some grief. We'll see how it gets on before deciding whether to intervene.

1645: Number 7 hatched, also towing a good amount of bloody yolk. Again, doesn't look too good.

1628: Number 12 hatched at around 2pm, but has not properly absorbed the yolk. Doesn't look too good for this one.

A quick summary of the situation so far:

8 hatched 1515 yesterday: in brooder 0030
9 hatched 2330 yesterday: in brooder 0945 today
2 hatched 0020 day today: in brooder 0945 today
6 hatched 0100-0445 today: in brooder 0945 today
5 hatched 0930 today: drying out in incubator
7,12,4 all pipped and moving in shell

1125: Number 6 hatched at some time between 0100 and 0445 and has now moved to the brooder along with 9&2. Number 5 hatched at 0930 and is now merrily flopping about in the incubator. 7,4 and 12 have all pipped and their beaks can be seen moving through the holes in the shell.

0020: Number 2 has hatched and looks good. 9 has perked up a bit. 8 has been moved to the brooder because of the chaos he was causing.

Day 22: hatching live blog

It looks like things are starting to happen. We'll try to keep up to date with hatching as it happens (family visits and shed construction permitting).

2359: Confusion reigns due to the antics of number 8, which has turned over all the other eggs. Number 9 hatched at around 11pm, but looks weak. Number 2 looks more hopeful and should hatch very soon. Number 5 pipped at some stage earlier in the evening.

2049: Nothing new. Number 8 is till charging around the incubator knocking the other eggs flying and cheeping away. 2,6,7,9 & 12 have all pipped, but gone no further toward breaking out.

1559: Number eight is alternating between dozing and storming about in the incubator. Number 2 is sticking its beak out of the egg shell and chatting loudly to number 8.

We have a winner! Chick number 8 breaks out.

1515 Number 8 has broken out and started bumbling about in the incubator, revealing in the process that number 9 has also pipped on the underside of the shell.

1220: Number 2 has pipped. Number 6 rocking and cheeping.

1050: Number 6 has pipped, possibly in response to a  French accordion medley.

1024: Number 4 looking agitated. Movement from number7 also.

0957: Number 6 wobbling about a lot.

0935: Number 8 cheeping in response to "mother hen" noises. No signs of movement from any of the other eggs yet.

0800: Number 8 has pipped (made a hole in the shell). Cheeping from inside number 4, though it has yet to pip.

Day 21: still waiting

Still no sign of any of the eggs hatching. Some eggs have been seen twitching, indicating movement inside, but nothing more than that as yet.

Messieurs, dames. Faites vos jeux!

Day 20. One incubator, eight live eggs. Which will hatch first?

Still in the running of the original twelve are numbers 2,4,5,6,7,8,9&12. The only form guide we can offer is the photo from the first candling:

First candling photo. 1,3,10&11 were listed 'DNS'.

As of now, none of the eggs have pipped, but we have seen some 'twitching' from 4,5 and 7. Meanwhile, the guinea pigs' indoor cage is being converted to a brooder with the addition of a heat lamp.

Updates as they happen...

Ladies and gentlemen...

....please fasten your seatbelts, as we are now approaching hatching.

It's day 19, the incubator temperature is down to 98, the humidity is up to 70 (not quite 70, but we've had problems with this from the off in the dry East Anglian climate) and the auto turner tray is out. We still have eight live eggs and so have been frantically running around today in search of fire-glow bulbs (the poor man's infra-red) and chick crumb in preparation for the new arrivals.

We'll keep you posted.

Candling 2

We candled again last night and all eight fertile eggs still appear to be live, though it took a fair amount of clucking on our part to make some of them move. No photos, unfortunately, as they are now so big that they block out most of the light from our small torch, leaving nothing for the camera to see.

Day 14: the pre-hatching experience

As medical science advances and scientists compete to produce ever-more extravagant claims, it has become popular to ascribe the life path of an individual to an increasingly short period at the beginning of his or her life. In the last week I have read one claim that the first thousand days after conception irrevocably define a person's character and prospects and another that these matters are decided even before a child draws its first breath. The number of 'whale music' CDs and books urging parents to sing and talk to their unborn offspring certainly suggests that these beliefs are not confined to the scientific community.

The Postman: agent of specist imperialism?

But does what goes for humans go for chickens? Certainly, we want our impending chicks to grow into well-balanced and productive members of avian society, but what is the best way to achieve this end? Looking to the human experience, it seems that music is the most popular approach. But what music? Is Mozart or Metallica the route to happy chickens?

And then there is the thorny issue of cultural identity. These eggs where laid in Scotland, but are of French stock. So should it be out with the fiddle for a few reels and Strathspeys, or to the accordion for some cafe waltzes from the Rive Gauche? As future citizens of Norfolk, perhaps they should be encouraged to assimilate with a few old favourites from the Singing Postman.

Ultimately though, we have to face the frightening possibility that playing any human music to chicken eggs may be an unforgivable act of specist imperialism. So many issues, so little time...

Time for another Chicken Dance, I think.

Candling 3

Here is my third set of photos

Egg 9 fertile

Egg 10 infertile

Egg 11 infertile

Egg 12 fertile

8 Eggs fertile, 4 infertile. Not a bad result

Candling 2

Here is my second set of  photos.

Egg 4 fertile

Egg 5 fertile

Egg 6 fertile

Egg 7 fertile

Egg 8 fertile

Candling.

Last Night I candled the eggs.  I made a candler using a torch, a glass jar, some tin foil and some black tape.
I lined the glass jar with tin foil stuck black tape along the edges of the jar to hide any light overspills, put the torch in and placed the egg on top.

Egg 1 infertile

Egg 2 fertile

Egg 3 infertile

Interlude

Candling results and photos tomorrow.

Day 7: excitement mounts

Excitement mounts as we approach day 8 and the prospect of being able to candle the eggs for the first time. This should mean that we will be able to determine to some extent which of the eggs are alive and developing normally. As the saying goes "don't count your chickens before they hatch", but we hope to get at least a rough idea of how things are going so far. Technology allowing, it should also mean that we will have some new photos to post.

Candling guide

I can't pretend to be an expert at interpreting the silhouettes created by candling an egg. Fortunately,.the incubator handbook provides a visual guide. Click on the image above to see it full size.

Disaster averted

Disaster narrowly avoided yesterday: All appeared normal in the incubator, but concern began to mount when it seemed that the eggs had not moved in some time. An early evening check of the turning mechanism revealed that the crank which pushes the tray back and forward across the incubator was stuck "top dead centre". Thankfully a gentle nudge of the roller tray had the eggs once again sauntering across the machine.

Once we were sure that everything was back to normal, a debriefing session was held and some consideration given to turning the eggs manually. There were concerns that this would mean getting up every two hours in the night to turn the eggs, but it appears that the normal procedure is to turn them once after every meal (breakfast dinner, tea), then once more before going to bed. For now, though it was decided to continue with automatic turning, but to keep a close eye on the mechanism to make sure all is working as it should be.

Hopefully the eggs will be none the worse for their slightly longer than usual inactivity.

Eggs on the move

The eggs going for their two-hourly roll across the incubator.

It doesn't get much more exciting* than this...






As it turns out, the eggs actually move every two hours and ten minutes - about the same length of time as the latest Harry Potter movie. I know which I would rather be watching. But since I refuse to pay ludicrous cinema popcorn prices the eggs will have to do for now. I wonder if Spielberg would be interested in the rights. Or perhaps it's more Richard Curtis territory.

Mind, having seen how popular a web cam of piece of ripening cheese became, perhaps 'incubator cam' is the way forward.

* Apologies for lack of egg pun.

Ben's eggs 2

I put the eggs into the incubator at 7pm yesterday and now I can start counting the days until they hatch. At 7 days I need to candle the eggs to check if they are fertile, at 19 days I need to turn the temparature down a tiny bit and put the humidity up a lot, and after 21 days the eggs should hatch.

The eggs in the incubator.

Now properly arranged.

Ready to go.

Bens eggs

Welcome to my blog. A friend has just given me some very rare french Bresse Gauloise eggs and I am beginning to incubate them.

This is the incubator set up in the kitchen with the eggs in a box ready to go in.

This is the incubator all set up.

Perfect temperature.

Humidity: bang on.

The eggs waiting in their polystyrene travel containers.

All ready to go but the eggs must rest for another 12 hours before they go in.