chicks, big and small

Last weekend saw our second blue marans hatch – this time twelve. Little disappointed as we set twenty four eggs – never had such a low rate – but we were breeding from a particular breeding group and eggs were limited, and we did set some eggs that were on the old side… maybe that was the reason?  The fertility was high, but they didn’t pip.  We also invested in a turning cradle, as turning the eggs five times a day is a bit of a commitment and makes going out for the day difficult.. so maybe it was that?  Dunno yet.. but twelve is still a good crowd.

Thankfully, we had a broody hen (well three  - like buses they call come at the same time), and we slipped the twelve chicks under our tried and tested broody who accepted them as her own – once again she sat on a plastic egg for a week and hatched 12 offspring and is sure she is very clever!

I do like seeing chicks being raised by a hen, she is so careful with them, taking them inside when it rains, and scratching the ground for worms, with a well practised routine she steps forward, the chicks rush away, she scratches the ground, finds some worms, they all rush in an scoff… and repeat.  These chicks are on a high protein diet thanks to her.

Meanwhile the first hatch are looking good and like mini chickens at at seven weeks, and very happy in their large grassy run.  In this hatch we have two gold tops, which we are naming Enid and Edna as this year is E and we plan to keep them.  The reason we have these is for broody hen futures, my old broodies are knocking on and I am told a Goldtop – which is a gold silkie x light sussex is a good bet for a broody – The silkies are notorious for their brooding, but crossed with a larger hen, are a more sensible size with more sensible feathers etc…

I’ve never seen the attraction of silkies – I like ‘proper looking chickens’ – but actually these goldtops are great looking, and very friendly, so I might be a convert.

With so much more going on for us this year, we decided on just one hatch, so obviously the second hatch is a figment of our imaginations. As is the third in the incubator, the duckling situation, and the meat bird chicks on order. Obviously….

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hen jokes

Ha, ha.  Yes, very funny.  Now concentrate on what you are doing, girls.

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chicks in a trug

A few days ago we had our second (last?) hatch of the year, 15/16 – and they fairly charged out of their eggshells, unlike the last hatch which was a bit slow and troublesome.  This lot are crossbreeds, all from the blue marans cockerel, and crossed with welsummers and welsummerxbuff leghorn.

Partly I just wanted to see what colour combinations we got – I spend a fair bit of time playing with this genetic predictor program - I could get very nerdy and into chicken genetics…     and partly the ongoing quest to find the best combination to get replacement laying hens and decent weight cockerels at 20 weeks.  A lot of the heavier meat birds seem to need a big longer, but 20 weeks is our limit on listening to multiple cock crowing.

I was cleaning their box out today (lack of broodies means these will be hand reared), and put them in the trug on the windowsill whilst room service was going on, and they looked so cute peering out  at the world, that I could not resist taking a picture.

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first hatch

We had figured on our first hatch of the year being muscovy ducks. But the due date came and went.  It is a bit tricky to decide when they start sitting, as they seem to sit some of the time for a while before getting on with it properly. But we are a week over now.. and doubtful of a happy outcome now.  The problem is poor Chloe chose a really difficult time for her brood – she was laying the first of the eggs in the heat wave, and since then we have had all weathers thrown at us – and if the due date was right and it was last week, that was when the Westcountry had floods, the rain was a downpour, and maybe too much wet and cold got into the nest?  We did some egg post mortems – two were bad, and one had a fully formed duckling.  So.. we might have commited duckicide.. or it might have been doomed by the weather.  We are giving her a few more days.

In happier news, the first chick hatch of the year is here. After waiting and waiting for a broody, I finally gave in and set some eggs in the incubator, all from my blue marans crowd.

And just in the nick of time Ginger-Whitey became broody – I was dubious about trying to foster onto her as she had only been sitting tight four days when we slipped 15 chicks under her, but we used her as a broody last year, so I knew she was fairly reliable and  as soon as the first had rummaged under for the warmth, she was clucking at it and giving us a hard time for touching her chicks!. She has been out in today’s sunshine with them today, and they are adorable as always.

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blue marans

We have moved Cosmo and his girls – that is the blue marans crowd, into a private and exclusive hen run.

He is a good lad and attentive to his crowd of girls – but in the main run is outnumbered by twenty plus girls of varying ages.  He does not seem unhappy with this arrangement! – but we want to breed pure blue marans, and at the same time increase the Cosmo to hen ratio to increase the chance of fertile eggs.

After Alvin, our welsummer cockerel, went to live with my parent’s flock, we worried we would not be so lucky as to have another amiable lad – I have experienced mean cockerels and we wont be keeping one.  But Cosmo seems fine, even tolerating the move with a relaxed attitude.

The chocolate brown eggs won’t be gracing the egg skelter for a while now, as we collect for a hatch.

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cosmo and clint

Sounds like a comedy duo, but Cosmo and Clint are  this year’s cockerels – going with the alphabet naming scheme.  Alvin, our old welsummer cockerel has moved to an ideal retirement home on my parent’s farm, where he has a lovely small flock of girls to look after and I am told he is still good as gold.

I spent many months agonising over which way to go with cockerels… keep the cuckoo marans? stick with welsummers? barnevelders? etc etc. but one by one we despatched cockerels until we were left with just the two – Cosmo, featured in the picture is a blue marans.  The turning point was the beautiful dark brown eggs our blue marans pullets started laying.

Clint grew up with Cosmo and is mostly a cuckoo marans, and the  idea is as they are used to each other and have lots of space and lots of girls, they can co-habit.  So far it is working, no fights breaking out.  Any cockerel would struggle to tread just so many girls (20+)   so there might be some sense in keeping more than one…up the fertility  but.. I think I shall focus on the blue marans breeding plan, which means taking Cosmo and some of his blue girls out into a love nest for a while next Spring.  Then when they are reintroduced – there will probably be fighting.

So bad luck for Clint – only the complete lack of freezer space ensures his place for the moment.  Cosmo is our choice this year.

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egg

I don’t think I shall ever get bored of collecting eggs from my chickens.  But it has to be said, it is all the more exciting when they are first eggs from your home reared chickens, and again exciting when you find eggs in the nest box after a long egg-free period.

So double excitement for me when one of my blue marans pullets laid her first egg.

The older girls have packed up for winter and we had collected none for some time, and although we have a stash of eggs, our fresh egg days are limited – gone are the days of having an egg based lunch out of laziness to think of anything else – eggs are special again, and we have had to turn our regular customers away at the door.. no really.. we have no eggs to sell.

I really hope she keeps on laying, and I really hope the other pullets of the same age join in too.

The other joy is the lovely shiny brown it is – I think I am sold on blue marans as a breed – which is a relief to himself as the subject over which cockerel/cockerels we might be keeping has been ongoing ever since Alvin went to live with my parent’s hens.  We still have three.. two cuckoo marans, Charlie and Clint, and a blue marans, Cosmo.  Things are looking up for Cosmo.

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full circle

Himself will call me ‘the chicken whisperer’  *sigh*  -  based on me saying I reckon a certain hen will start to lay soon or some such.

But it is just observation.  I like spending time with the chickens.  Not, obviously, if it is raining, but otherwise spending some time with them watching their antics and getting to know them,.. getting them used to me, is half the point of keeping them (the other half being the eggs!). And as a side benefit, I notice things.. if one is off colour, which hens are the cockerel’s favourites, who spends too much time hanging around the hen house etc.

There are various give aways to when a pullet will first come into lay.  The cockerel’s have a fair idea who is laying (don’t know how?  ), so treading is an indication.  And their comb becomes bright red (maybe that’s how the cockerel knows?), and they start looking for a nest.  In practice this means a lot of visiting the hen house during the day to choose a nest box. This seems to go on for a few days before the eggs arrive.

Having observed a certain pullet had a bright red comb, was visiting the house a lot, and the cockerel was taking a keen interest in her, we spent some time last weekend making three nest boxes to go in the new trailer hen house.  Made from all reclaimed wood, and not looking particularly Heath Robinson for a change.

The last sign for forth coming eggs, if you happen to time it right,  is the pullet missing during a check – as she will be sitting on the nest.  And this afternoon she was missing. Actually four of them were, including two boys.    They weren’t in the hen house, but I found them inside a huge bushy plant.  The suspected pullet was nesting.. fussing about making it just right and the other three had come to see what the fuss was about and whether there was anything in it for them.

You’ll notice she had shunned our lovely new nest boxes….

Anyway, I left her to it – this egg laying business can take a long time and much that I like observing, there is a limit.  Besides, it was time to light the barbecue.

But I went back at dusk, and they had taken themselves off to bed, and leaning into the vegetation, I picked up her first egg.  Small and speckly brown. Not bad for a cuckoo marans at 19 weeks old.

So, 22 weeks ago, that pullet was just an egg, and now the first of the hatches of this year are grown, the cockerels crow and tread, and the pullets have started to lay eggs.  Full circle.

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