Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Poultry and Pets => Chicken Chat => Topic started by: tosca100 on March 16, 2014, 09:32

Title: First chicks of the year
Post by: tosca100 on March 16, 2014, 09:32: Three chunky little marans, eleven days old, but I have a feeling only one will be giving me dark brown eggs! Poor hatch rate but we did get the eggs very early in a cold spell. Will try to get more when the incubators are free.

(http://i673.photobucket.com/albums/vv100/tosca100-dog/hesheychicks017_zpsb136d756.jpg) (http://s673.photobucket.com/user/tosca100-dog/media/hesheychicks017_zpsb136d756.jpg.html)
Title: Re: First chicks of the year
Post by: splash101 on March 16, 2014, 09:36: Congratulations.

Love little chickie pics
Title: Re: First chicks of the year
Post by: Springlands on March 16, 2014, 12:40: Oh they are lovely. Hope they are all girls and give you lots of eggs. :D
Title: Re: First chicks of the year
Post by: nerdle on March 16, 2014, 17:08: Adorable! :)
Title: Re: First chicks of the year
Post by: Mum2mj on March 16, 2014, 18:23: I'm jealous they are gorgeous! :nowink:
Title: Re: First chicks of the year
Post by: BIG ZOOK on March 18, 2014, 17:12: :D Great little chicks .Out of 50 cuckoo maran eggs last yr 44 were fertile and hatched , 6 died and :mad:5 were hens.Not hatching again.
Title: Re: First chicks of the year
Post by: tosca100 on March 18, 2014, 17:23: Quote from: BIG ZOOK on March 18, 2014, 17:12
:D Great little chicks .Out of 50 cuckoo maran eggs last yr 44 were fertile and hatched , 6 died and :mad:5 were hens.Not hatching again.

If we could get pullets we would. We have 12 araucana eggs in at the moment, but there seems to be only two fertile, so we will give up on them.
Title: Re: First chicks of the year
Post by: Mum2mj on March 19, 2014, 17:01: Quote from: BIG ZOOK on March 18, 2014, 17:12
:D Great little chicks .Out of 50 cuckoo maran eggs last yr 44 were fertile and hatched , 6 died and :mad:5 were hens.Not hatching again.

Oh no that's unfortunate. I'd love to hatch something, maybe quail
Title: Re: First chicks of the year
Post by: BIG ZOOK on March 19, 2014, 19:22: If you could sex new born chicks of a mixed parentage easily :)You could cull the cockerels asap even though they are lovely fluffy things .I waited until my boys were 20 weeks old b4 I had them removed :ohmy:.I know that some breeds are easily sexed,but most of us have a mixture.Guess I`m just 2 soft.
Title: Re: First chicks of the year
Post by: tosca100 on March 20, 2014, 01:04: Judging by the chunky legs on two of these it looks as if we will be looking for a home for them, but can't really leave the other on it's own yet. Mosy domestic chickens out here are 'just chickens' or ex-commercial, so recognised reeds or hybrids are sought after. If not there are plenty of poor families in the village who will grow on for the pot.
Title: Re: First chicks of the year
Post by: tosca100 on March 21, 2014, 16:25: The three have been joined by two shumen chicks, looking tiny next to the twoo weeks plus monsters next door. A Dutch ersted (they call them here) has just hatched and it is even smaller.

(http://i673.photobucket.com/albums/vv100/tosca100-dog/048_zpsfb455fdf.jpg) (http://s673.photobucket.com/user/tosca100-dog/media/048_zpsfb455fdf.jpg.html)

(http://i673.photobucket.com/albums/vv100/tosca100-dog/056_zps7988b584.jpg) (http://s673.photobucket.com/user/tosca100-dog/media/056_zps7988b584.jpg.html)
Title: Re: First chicks of the year
Post by: Springlands on March 21, 2014, 16:29: They are lovely Tosca. :D

I had a giggle when I first opened the post because the pic of the black stork appeared. That would have been a surprise. :lol:
Title: Re: First chicks of the year
Post by: tosca100 on March 21, 2014, 16:42: Quote from: Springlands on March 21, 2014, 16:29
They are lovely Tosca. :D

I had a giggle when I first opened the post because the pic of the black stork appeared. That would have been a surprise. :lol:

:lol: :lol: :lol: Good job I checked!
Title: Re: First chicks of the year
Post by: tosca100 on March 22, 2014, 08:19: First day out in the garden for the first chicks. Totally unfazed and rather enjoying themselves.
(http://i673.photobucket.com/albums/vv100/tosca100-dog/chicksintherun004_zps533d8a01.jpg) (http://s673.photobucket.com/user/tosca100-dog/media/chicksintherun004_zps533d8a01.jpg.html)
Title: Re: First chicks of the year
Post by: nerdle on March 22, 2014, 09:58: Wonderful! Sure they are not ostrich chicks????
Title: Re: First chicks of the year
Post by: tosca100 on March 22, 2014, 10:56: Quote from: nerdle on March 22, 2014, 09:58
Wonderful! Sure they are not ostrich chicks????

I did wonder. They make the shumens look positively dainty. :D