celeste Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 Looks like the same stuff I found, but the one I found comes in a rather natty metal container and I'm a sucker for packaging. Good luck with the hatching, I'd be so tempted to help them once they started hatching, I suppose that sort of things frowned upon where is the incubator ? will you have it near to hand ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celeste Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 I completly forgot to say my housing arrived today , and two rolls of weld mesh, how can I be excited about weld mesh So I'll have a lovely set up and no hens, I might just have to stuff Spud and Daisy in their and pretend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoebejo Posted January 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 The incy is in my bedroom about three foot away from me I'm not going to help anybody out of their shells. If I wade in they might bleed to death so I'll leave it up to them to sort themselves out. A lot of people on the other forums say that if a chick isn't fit enough to hatch itself it's not worth saving, it's probably got something wrong with it. As long as I can get the conditions right there isn't anything else I can do. I'm just going to have to sit on my hands once they start hatching! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wendbert Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7847172.stm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoebejo Posted January 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 That must've hurt And she's only a dainty little chicken I think my Maisy is twice the size! On the Omlet forum they have a large egg leaderboard and another for tiny eggs. The biggest on there so far weighed 154g. My ladies are on average about 60g and Maisy lays the biggest ones. Poor girl had a bit of bother in the egg laying department this week. Laid a softie, was miserable for three days then laid an absolute whopper which I thought would be a double yolker but when I cooked it it had the biggest yolk I've ever seen! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celeste Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 I wonder if it's sore to lay an egg I always buy the medium sized eggs cos' I worry about that sort of thing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoebejo Posted January 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2009 Candled the eggs again tonight (day 15) and another six have bitten the dust so that just leaves six All the cream legbars are gone now I said at the beginning I'd be lucky to get five didn't I? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celeste Posted January 26, 2009 Report Share Posted January 26, 2009 Awww no, that is dissapointing , fingers crossed no more go . Went to the poultry show yesterday...............well, can't say I'd go again, too many birds sitting with dry water cups, I felt especially sorry for the ducks .......at least now I've seen Orps and Sussex in the flesh, and know thats what I want, couldn't believe the size of some of the Orps, the champion one wasn't that much smaller than Spud, he was hooooooge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoebejo Posted January 26, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2009 Incubating is bad for your health I barely slept at all last night for worrying about the remaining six I'm assuming I lost them due to low humidity so I've bumped it up and I hope that's enough to save the others I'm already formulating Plan B in my head. I'm not feeling particularly confident at all now about these ones. I'll be grateful of any live chicks at all but the last thing I wanted was just one or two. It's expensive and time consuming rearing them, and not at all cost effective if there is only one or two. Also they'll benefit from having quite a few brothers and sisters to cuddle up to to keep warm once I move them to the garage. So I'm already on the verge of buying more eggs that I can start incubating at the weekend after this lot have finished. That means there'll be a three week age difference between them but I can still keep them all together. Plan C is to drive to Reading to buy chicks to keep mine company but that kind of defies the point of me learning about incubating and it'll not help me in the future. It's a shame you didn't enjoy the show. What sort of Sussexes did you like? My Juliet is a Sussex based hybrid and I love her, she's so chunky too! I'd definitely like some of the Speckled Sussex. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celeste Posted January 26, 2009 Report Share Posted January 26, 2009 It's a shame you didn't enjoy the show. What sort of Sussexes did you like? My Juliet is a Sussex based hybrid and I love her, she's so chunky too! I'd definitely like some of the Speckled Sussex. I liked all of them but the light Sussex were very eye catching. You must be so dissapointed with the eggs : I know I would be, you'll be getting paranoid about the remaining ones to is there nowhere closer that you could pick eggs up from ? I don't suppose going through the post helps them much I ordered my hens this morning, I was going to get six, but after seeing the house I bought built ( at the show) I think five will be a better number, so in about 3-4 months time I will be picking up 1 Gold Laced Orp (hopefully) and either a black or buff Orp, and three mixed Sussex I also spent a bit of cash yesterday, bloody hell but it dosen't half mount up I bought. Poultry Spice Red Mite Powder Louse Powder Verm X (and a pair of Muddies short wellies....oops, how did that happen) 8 Lt drinker and one of those big plastic shovels with an upright handle that you get for mucking out stables Still need to get Bokoshi Bran and Respite, oh and some of that Stafosan, or whatever it's called, powdered disinfectant. any other suggestion as to what I will need would be appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoebejo Posted January 26, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2009 Off the top of my head the only thing I could think of was a big plastic scoop for the food. I've just started using apple cider vinegar in my lots water. Already it's cleared up Primroses cough so I'm chuffed to bits. I guess you'll just pick up whichever supplements you need as you go along. I got some limestone flour to use in their porridge when Maisy was going through a phase of laying thin shelled eggs. I did start off using Vermex but considering how much free ranging mine do I was concerned it might not be enough so I bought Flubenvet online and will use that a few times a year. Initially it is a very expensive hobby Lesley joked I should have a chicken called Faberge because that's how expensive their eggs have become I've easily spent a grand since last summer I've just spent almost two hours outside cleaning their coop and giving everyone a good going over to make sure they're all ok. I'm very pleased that Primrose has gained a little weight Maisy and Juliet, who both have Sussex in them, could do with losing a few ounces I noticed earlier that Tallulah looked a bit off colour but just now in the nest box I found a massive egg of hers so I guess that was causing her some discomfort this morning. Before I got chickens I never realised just how much effort goes into making an egg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celeste Posted January 26, 2009 Report Share Posted January 26, 2009 Your right about it being expensive, but I hope it will be reasonably cheap once I've got all those bit's n' bobs, I did get a scoop, I just forgot , I bought so much, and none of it from the poultry show, I got all of it from the horse tack shop. I'll grab a bottle of ACV too, it's cheap enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoebejo Posted January 27, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 I've spoken to the lady who I bought my last lot of chickens from near Reading. She's going to supply me with some fertile eggs on Sunday if I end up with less than three chicks. She's about 45 minutes away from here and has got large fowl hybrids, Light Sussex, various Orpingtons and Faverolles. I'll get a mixed dozen of those eggs and any resulting Faverolles will be rehomed because their feathered legs are totally unsuited to my garden. I'm feeling more confident about my remaining six today though. I candled them again last night and they're all still ok. Fingers crossed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celeste Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 So you might get that black Orp after all Keeping my fingers crossed for the remaining six Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celeste Posted January 29, 2009 Report Share Posted January 29, 2009 Is tomorrow (Friday) hatching day ?............hope there's still six Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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