What are you currently incubating/brooding?

[walldanzig]

Ha Ha can you feel the justifaction setting in

[petal]

First hatch of the season



they are frightened of the camera!! the food in the bowl is emp- I always start them on this.
incubator used:brinsea 40, water added in last week
eggs set: 50(some were bantam and small)
eggs infertile: 4
dead in shell: 4
didn't develop past week 1: 2

A very good hatch for this time of year- we have buff orpingtons plus a couple of crosses, silver laced wyandotte bantams, pekins, silkies, silkie cross light sussex.

[Suechooks]

Petal - whats emp? How long are they on that? Do you use chick crumb after?
Sorry for all questions but always looking to improve and learn!

[petal]

emp is a feed devised for young budgies/canaries etc- it has to be reconstituted in hot water and gives them a huge energy boost- it stir chick crumb in after too. I use medicated chick crumb only if they have no broody hen to raise them. they get emp for a couple of days and also its great for poorly chooks.

[RichmondHens]

They look so sweet. Well done, that's a good hatch.

How big do your silkie x LS come up? As big as a LS or a bit smaller? Just thinking ahead ............ !

[petal]

Somewhere between the two. autosexing too.

[RichmondHens]

And presumably guaranteed to go broody?

[RichmondHens]

Somewhere between the two. autosexing too.

Given that you know which are which from hatch, do you cull out the cocks? I'm having a dilemma re my cream legbars. Have raised the cocks for the last two seasons but they are little ******s, fight like the devil and only the really tame ones who tend to be dominant make a vaguely decent meal. Am thinking I need to cull the males at hatch but oh that's so hard. They wouldn't be wasted, would go to a friend for ferret food but even so, it's a tough decision to take. Strange how I have no emotion over culling a 6 month old bird who I've "known" for the table, but a day old fluffy, that's another matter.

[petal]

I cull unwanted chicks and give to our ferret. I have to wait until my daughter is not looking, mind.......
About breeding broodies- i suppose you can never guarantee anything will go broody- one of our buff orps does, one doesn't. All of our silkies go broody regularly!

[Mikey]

Sorry for ignorance, but what is an LS, is it short for Light Sussex?

I've been thinking about getting some autosexing eggs for my cream legbar when she goes broody.

Would any of you have recommendations for a good layer.

[RichmondHens]

Yes LS is short for light sussex. Sorry to abbreviate.

Re good layers my cream legbars have been excellent layers, and they are autosexing. Another good layer also sexed at hatch is the classic Rhode Island Red x Light Sussex - the cross is made with the Rhode cock onto the LS hen then the chicks come out yellow for male and light brown for female. This one has stood the test of time - my father kept these way back when I was a tiny girl, I remember going into the shed and him showing me how to tell the sexes apart (I'm nearly 50 now).

Marans are also distinguishable at hatch by the males having a light spot on their head, although laying strength is determined by strain, some strains are better than others.

All the modern hybrids are good layers, but I'm not sure which ones, if any, are autosexing. I believe anything with 'bar' in the name is autosexing but the only ones I've kept are cream legbars.

[petal]

and cream legbars lay blue eggs as a bonus! There are also other breeds that auto sex but you need to google them!

[Mikey]

My broody is a Cotswold Legbar, which is a prolific layer, when she's not broody!!

I'll bear in mind the marans, at present I have a white star and the legbar, I did have a bluebelle aswell but had to give her away cos she was a bully.

I'll have to speak with our local supplier, and see if we can come to an arrangement. My DD wants to hatch some eggs but I only want another 2 birds, I'd like one dark brown egg layer like a maran, and a standard brown, perhaps we can come to an arrangement with him having some back.

[stuart.s]

Hi new to this,first time on a forum, saw somone askin about yokohamas, have9 hatching eggs going, they are pure bred game colours(phonix type) v rare. tested fertility and got 90% hatch 0n 19th feb. on bird trader for 3.00 each which is cheap, holiday looms so no point doing anymore hatching quite yet. Im in Lancashire,best if collected for higher fertillity. call for details 07900680285. rubbish at checking e mails.

[petal]

tempted but have to stop at the breeds we have!!!!