Candling

Well we candled the eggs on Friday and saw some were fertile and didn't know about the others .. So we candled again tonight and 6 out of the 7 were moving around in their shells :). One was dead with a blood line around the yolk and a hairline crack in the shell...


It's really hard to see in the photo as they are dark shelled eggs and difficult to see through... But you can see a line if you look carefully...
But still 6 out of 7 is great :))
I also have some Poland eggs that were supposed to go under a broody ... But she decided when I got them she didn't want to be broody any more... So... I have made an incubator... Don't know if it will work but I'd rather try that let the eggs go to waste...





It's a poly box with glass in the top so I can see lightbulb and 2 thermometers and hygrometers... The digital thermometer isn't that great it tells outside and inside temps so I have the probe and the thermometer in together.. I would have thought they would say the same temp.. But not.. So I'm just going on the inside temp as that corresponds to my little disk thermometer. There are 6 eggs in here and I'm turning them by hand 3 or 4 times a day. Just set tonight so I'll see how they get on

See you soon
Jos xx



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We are off again!

Well... The boys went to their new home yesterday ... I was surprised at how sad I was saying bye to them :( .. They had become part of the family..
Oh well ..... Onwards and upwards.... We bought 3 new point of lay hens... 2 White stars.... (which we had gone for) who lay beautiful pure White eggs.. And we came back with a gorgeous Bluebell.. Couldn't leave her... :D they are gorgeous



We have also got some more fertilised eggs..... 4 kirmingcham browns.... That lay fabulously dark brown eggs.. And 3 little silkies ... We saw some yesterday and they are sooooo cute ..
Candling should be fun.. Through those dark egg shells .. Well will keep you posted
Jos xxx



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Gosh I can't believe the time has flown! The chicks are 7 weeks old this weekend and getting big... They all have little personalities and are very cheeky lol.. They are off the heat in the day now and get a daily play outside.
They will be going into the little coop to start with but unfortunately they will have to wait.. We have an injured hen in there at the min.. Who is doing well thanks to some antibiotics :).
I have bought their permanent home on bay this week .. An eglu classic and run.. We have some boarders in there, 3 warrens having a holiday while their people are in France :)
Looking forward to getting the babies outside in the next couple of weeks and the boys will be saying goodby as they will go to their new homes soon.
Will see you soon xxxx
Jos xx


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Having a play in the kitchen

Wow I can't believe that the chicks are getting do big! They are growing before our eyes.
Here they are enjoying a piece of string lol

Jos xx




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4 weeks old

Happy 1 month aversary chickys.. They are getting so big now :)


















Thayer had a little time in the coop today... They seemed to like it.. They had a good fly about and loved pecking the ground. Hope it's nice tomorrow so they can go out again :) they are all fast asleep under their lamp now :). Jos xx


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A play on the patio

The chicks had a lovely time this evening on a big adventure on the patio.

And here is the mad chicken boy:))


They love him lol.
Out for 10 mins and then back for a sleep.



So big now :)

Jos xx

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1week old

Wow how they have grown :) in just 1week. They have gorgeous feathery feet.



And lovely wings and tiny little tail feathers starting to grow.
The paper under them needs changing all the time, at least 2-3 times a day, they poo a lot for little chicks, and I clean their feet and bottoms if needed every morning as they walk through the poop and it sticks to their feet... Nice :).

Jos xx


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Cute babies

The chicks are 3 days old now and finding their feet... They have a mad minute or two then fall fast asleep :)) they are all eating and drinking well and are all fluffy and cute:)








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Sad news

Sad news today. One of the yellow chicks was dead this morning. No sign of why but I suppose it happens.
On the up side the rest are doing great. They are running around and are so funny ... They fall asleep in an instant lol very cute
Jos xx


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6&7 out. Pheww that's all

All of them hatched now :)) and little number 5 seems ok now :))


Number 6. Very pretty little thing with yellow feathers around his eyes... Looks like make up :D



Last but not least:)) another black one. Cute little yellow stripe on his head :))
So that's 4 black ones with bits of yellow and 3 yellow ones with bits of black :))
All looking good so far
Jos xx

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4 & 5

4 and 5 hatched now! 2 little black ones with 4 has a yellow belly and head and 5 has yellow tips to his wings :)) We are a bit worried about no. 5 he has what looks like a little hernia of sorts. It's drying up so we shall keep a close eye on him.



Number 4



Number 5

Only 2 to go now.
Jos xx

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Number 2 & 3 hatched

Number 2 and 3 hatched this morning.. It was a race between them lol... They both arrived at 7:10 am :)

Number 2


Number 3. They don't have names yet but I'm sure the kids will come up with something soon.


Twitter under his heat lamp :) all fluffed up now.
Jos xx

Number 1 out. wow!

A mothers day chick :)

Well 6 out of 7 chicks have pipped now and we can see the beaks of 2 of them and some. Sooo cute.. Hope they are ok .. The kids are going to try and stay up tonight to see them .. Lol. Bet they give in and go to bed :D will post again in the morning ... I will have to go to bed soon ish..
Too much Mumm champagne... Well it is mothers day :)) night all xxx
Jos xxx


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Ohhhhhhhhhh excitement 3 chicks have pipped. We can her tweeting and see a little movement in one of them.



It's day 20 tonight :) wasn't expecting anything to happen till tomorrow:)
Jos xx

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Last candling

Ohhh this is the last time we will candle the eggs.. They all look ok and we saw some movement in all the eggs :) worried about one though that had a dark line across a little bit of the egg.. Don't know what it is but there was movement in it, so fingers crossed.


As you can see it's getting full in there.. You can see the air sac clearly. Well I'll post when they arrive and take some pics.
Jos xx

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Another photo for you

Here is another photo for you... It was taken by Scarlet on her phone on saturday night You can see the outline of the chick.. But mostly shadow It's getting big! So I'm sure I won't be able to see much again.

We will stop turning them on Friday :) hopefully they will arrive on Monday or tuesday.
See you soon
Jos xx

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Its day14 today! We candles the eggs again last night!.. they all look ok and you can see small movements but they are getting difficult to see.. as you can see from the video... if you look carefully you can see the outline of the chick...They must be growing and filling up the space..

I will have a quick look them once more but im sure it will all just be shadow.. we are going to stop turning them on Friday... day 18! so getting exciting ... only 1 week to go till hatching day.. we are all really excited!! we are still talking and singing to them lol so hopefully they will all hatch ok...

Will keep you posted

Jos xx

Day 8

Wow! we can see the chicks moving in the eggs...its so amazing!! We candled them last night.. Day 8, and they are all doing really well.. all moving around.. have a look at the little video... its so cute to see them... sorry about the background noise... the radio was on :)
All the kids are talking and singing nursery rhymes to them... lol... Fraser said he wants them to recognise his voice when they hatch :)
We are going to have another look on saturday.. so keep checking back to see how they are getting on.
Jos xx

Hi Everyone

Welcome to my new Blog!!

I have just ventured into the world of hatching chickens!! Its really exciting...

My daughter Erin and I went on an incubating and rearing chicks course, at Bev's Rare Breed Poultry in Cheshire.... it was Fab! Brilliant course and I would throughly recommend Bev's courses lots of support afterwards too :)

Well we now have a small Brincea 7 egg incubator and have bought 7 Sablepoot eggs from Bev.

They have been in the inccy for 7 days now and ALL are fertile....

We have candled them on saturday night and you can see all the little embroys growing nicely... The kids are really pleased and cant wait till they hatch... another 2 weeks to go!!

Here is a photos of Day 5.. you can see the embryo and all the little spider veins around it...

Hopefully they will all hatch... fingers crossed...

Im going to candle them again tomorrow evening.. so watch this space.. :)

See you soon

Jos xx