this year I have....

[walldanzig]

Hi All

not been on for a while we have just had a baby girl. I was interested to hear what people had hatched and what their experiances where so I thought i'd start by sharing mine.

I started by putting 6 x mille fleur under a broody 2 hatched one cockeral and one hen
I then got 8 ex batts unfortunatley mr fox got them as well as a warren cock I had.

I bought two bluebells to make up the numbers I had. I have 7 hens all different hybrids from warrens to blackrocks and amberlinks

I have a pen of bantam light sussex with a gold silkie cockeral I hatched from these and got two gold tops. I gave these to my neighbour as someone broke into his lottie and killed all his chickens.

I then bought six silver grey dorking eggs from ebay 4 hatched but one didnt make it.

Someone then broke into the allotment and stole one white silkie. I had one and a cockeral left so these went to the neighbour as well

I found a maran on my lottie(really randomly) turns out it was a cockeral he has gone in with the silver dorkings.

Bought six ross cobb eggs from ebay one hatched hes about 16 weeks now and is an absoloute brute so big if you pat him he actually growls at you.

finally six turkey eggs from ebay two hatched and are looking good for christmas.

[Nicos]

Hi there- and congrats

Nice idea to have a precis of the chook year!!

Urm- so...what have we been up so chook wise???...

Got 6 Black copper Marans eggs which hatched Easter Sunday. One died during hatching leaving one female and 4 boys ( now in freezer). Still waiting for our first Marans egg ( she's 28 weeks)
One had spraddle leg which I had to strap and also a twisty beak!- and the female had a hernia which ( fingers crossed ) has caused no further problem once absorbed.

Got 2 more eggs of same breed from a different source- both now about 8 weeks old- think it's a girl and boy situation.

Bought 3 goslings aged 6 weeks at end of May.
They were dispatched yesterday.

Supposed to be getting 2 cookoo Marans hens already in lay in November .

Oh and in June a peacock decided to move in with us!!!!

so...what have the rest of you been up to???

Total at the moment ...2 cocks,8 hens , 2 chicks.( and a flipping peacock which is munching it's way through our fruit and veg)

[petal]

Yes, busy year.
we have hatched 2 turkeys - currently fattening them.
several ducklings under our broody silver appleyard.
bought 2 call ducks, hatched aylesbury.

hatched our own fertile eggs (countless!)with broodies and incubator- from pekins, buff orpington, light sussex and silkie. 95% hatch/fertility rate.

hatched eggs bought from breeders in practical poultry - dorking and indian game
tried a few fleabay eggs - poland - got 2 out of 12, silver laced wyandotte - got 0 out of 12, 1 out of 12 khaki campbell. useless!!

[Suechooks]

I've done my first hatch in an incubator. Ebay eggs - pretty good results. Bought in some pure beeds so have a "pretty flock" of Cream Legbar, welsummer, white leghorn,2 gold-laced wyandotte bantams, 3 buff orpington bantams and a speckled sussex bantam. Rescued 3 Warrens.
Built my own coops! 1 large and 2 Broody/sick bay.
Busy year!

[RichmondHens]

rate.

hatched eggs bought from breeders in practical poultry - dorking and indian game
!

Out of interest which breeders were they and did you get a good result with these?

[chris]

I bought my first three a few weeks back. aaaaaaaaaaaand that's about it really

[petal]

Out of interest which breeders were they and did you get a good result with these?

mulberry hill stud, yes all their indian game/silver dorking eggs hatched but their australorp eggs were infertile, seller admitted hers were too and promised more but never came back to me...On the upside the dorking and indian games are decent, quality birds.

[RichmondHens]

Thanks. Am looking for an IG hen (difficult to get round here). Can't decide whether to buy one in or try to hatch one and eat surplus boys.

[walldanzig]

we have all had a busy year im already thinking of next year looking to fatten up a few and perhaps have pure bread pens instead of hybrids

[polo]

This is my first year of hen keeping (as an adult anyway!!) I got my first 5 in March - a white leghorn, light sussex, 2 Nero's and a blue star as POL. The two black ones were laying when I got them and the rest followed very soon after. The best bit was seeing my daughters (age 8) face as she found the first two eggs that first morning.

Come August, I got a bigger hen house, contructed a 10x10 metre run and rescued 5 more hens as their owner had died - very sad. Luckily I still had the old set up which was lucky. They were in an appalling state - covered in mites of all types (and so was I) and anaemic. They looked awful, horrible scraggy dull feathers.

The new girls got wormed and dusted and dusted some more and picked up so quickly with proper food (layers) and some poultry spice! As you might remember they took some time to settle together with the others but they are fine now.

I'm not sure what some of the new ladies are - I suspect one is a Nero and one a blue star from the same place near me. There is also a Ginger one and two Maran/speckledy ones. I should post some pictures and see what you all think. The Maran types lay dark speckled eggs.

A busy Chook year here in Yorkshire. Any more stories for the year.....

[MaureenHall]

Love this updating idea

I'm now down to 33 birds. I've hatched some Croad Langshans at Easter and they're looking fabulous! 2 girls (1 is laying lovely little eggs now) and 5 boys (4 to go in the freezer soon unless anyone on here wants one). Hatched 4 cross-breed (Jersey Giant x Black Minorca), 1 died and I'm left with 2 boys and Esmerelda (she's got a bit of a twisted spine, I'm keeping her until she appears to be not coping). Hatched 1 white Araucana bantam (she died the other day ), and 3 cross breed Auraucana x Welsummer (1 boy absolutely stunning but destined for the freezer) and 2 girls. Still got some ex-batts that have now mostly "retired" from laying. Re-homed Crundy's 2 girls and another 3 girls from Newport Pagnall. 4 Bluebelles have just finished moulting so they're definitely not looking their best right now

[walldanzig]

oooh croad langshans. aren't the ones who lay pink eggs. What are they like maureen they where on next years list but the only place I could fin them was t'ebay

[petal]

we have all had a busy year im already thinking of next year looking to fatten up a few and perhaps have pure bread pens instead of hybrids

go for it, its interesting to try the meat of pure breeds and their first crosses. We only have one hybrid bluebelle now as the pure breeds are so much more exciting.

[Gro-Bag]

Three cream legbars living on my patio. One was persistently broody so sat her on 6 marans eggs, and 5 hatched. They were supposed to be copper blacks but I got 3 copper blacks and 2 copper blues. Then there were 8 birds on my patio, - delightful for the first few weeks, then to be honest, a bit much for the last few weeks, the teenagers were mad as a box of frogs. Rehomed 4 (2 boys 2 girls) and now have 3 CLs and 1 copper-blue hen who is now about 4 months old and settling in nicely with the CLs. I'm looking forward to getting nice brown eggs along with the pretty blue ones next year.

[MaureenHall]

oooh croad langshans. aren't the ones who lay pink eggs. What are they like maureen they where on next years list but the only place I could fin them was t'ebay

Yes, lovely little (so far except for the double-yolkers ) pinkish eggs. One of the girls is totally unrelated to the others so I'll be hatching some of her eggs next year. They're gorgeous birds, huge but so far quite docile. Once I get my phone or camera sorted out, I'll post some pics