May 2010

Tuesday 4

The season is off to a solid start with about 50% fertility of all of the eggs laid, I expect this sort of level from the first round as unflighted birds continue to develop. All bar 1 of my 20 hens has now laid it's first round, with several hens already on their second round and others not far behind.

One of the benefits of running with a good number of hens is the ability to move chicks and eggs round, making sure to mark them first of course! I've had a couple of dead in shell and one hen let two young die, I moved the third to a foster hen and so far she's feeding it well. The first two nests are 8 days old now and the pins are starting to appear, there were 3 from one hen and 1 from another so i've made them into 2 twos. It's still very early days and anything can happen - as has already been proved this morning when 2 eggs in seperate nests from completely different hens hatched after 16 days. I've had birds that have hatched after 15 before but in 10 years 16 days is a first for me.

Reports from my fellow fanciers around the country are mixed, some have had strong first rounds then the second rounds have seen hens walk off whilst others have got off to a really slow start. Still if it was too easy we wouldn't enjoy the challenge!! (although easy every now and again would be good!)

Monday 10

The majority of the first rounds nests are now out, with three more set last week and the final hen mated and built up, just waiting for her to lay. 4 Hens have already started on the 2nd round and I expect to set another 4-5 nests by this weekend.

It's too early to count the youngsters as they range from 1 day to 15 days old and already I've lost a couple. With some luck the pairs that I'm running together will feed their nests of 4's and 5's without problem, although if past experience is anything to go by there are always one or two challenges.

The variences in temps from one week to the next are a cause for concern and i remain convinced they have an impact on both the sitting hens and those raising chicks - they certainly do to me!.

I'll have a fair idea by the end of the month how the season is likely to pan out as the first round chicks will be fledged or near fledging and the second round eggs will be in a good place to check fertility. One of the challenges of operating the system I do by running the best cocks over a number of hens is the risk of clear eggs, and as the breeding season is quite a small window (I didn't start until early April and don't plan to set any nests after the end of June) it can have a limiting factor on the volume of birds produced, however I've always retained its the quality not the quantity that counts - would be good to get both though!!

Monday 17

The first young are out of the nest and starting to feed themselves, they'll remain with their mothers for a couple more days as they're only 21 days today and until i'm convinced they're self sufficient I won't take the risk.

It's always good to see the first young out and whilst they change over the coming weeks and months its good to get an early look. I've got two blues a self and a heavily variegated, a three parts dark and a variegated out and I have to say I'm thrilled, the varigated and self inparticular look very tidy indeed. Based on this I've run the same pairs again for the second round with the cocks and hens mating up regularly over the last 5 days so fingers crossed.

All first round hens have now laid, with two nest due on wednesday and one more still to set. With clear eggs always in the mix in the first round the second round never seems to have the same uniformity as the first round - however I still aim to set a minimum of 2 hens at a time, three if possible even if that means holding a hen back three or so days so that I've got the option to move youngsters around if required. There's more hens laying each day and youngsters developing nicely.

Hopefully the second round yield will be even better as birds get into improved condition and hopefully limit the number of clear eggs.

Friday 29 May

The first 15 young are now on the sticks with a similar number in the nest ranging from 1 day to 20 days old. Two more nests are due to hatch out today, with 4 more nests due on Monday and a further 4 due the following weekend. The fertility ratio is a lot higher with upwards of 80% of the eggs laid full when checked at 7 days. Not all will make it through to hatching, but if they start full there's always a chance.

There are a further 4 hens built up that I expect to lay anyday, it's been a solid start although I've lost a few youngsters for a variety of different reasons and I'm hopeful the second round will yield at least double the numbers from the first. I've a good range of colours already out of the nest from clears to 10%'s to variegateds, some nice looking darks and a couple of blues that I really like the look of.

It's a funny time at the moment with the young, they go from being very nice babies when they come out of the nest, good shape and good position, through that teenager stage when they develop and different levels in diffferent times and can look a bit gangly to their pre-moult stage when they look good again - the hope is they come out of the moult looking good too! doesn't always happen that way but it's enjoyable when it does.

The next two weeks will undoubtedly shape the success of the season, fingers crossed that it all goes well!