Into the Wild.

Well, the chickens have fluffed up, and look like real chickens now! We took them for their first run outside, which meant I was able to get some decent photos (while trying to stop them running off and hiding behind things). All up we have 10 chickens out of the 12 eggs, which is pretty good I think. The last one hatched at about 7am this morning. The last two eggs are still in the incubator, but I would be very surprised if they hatched at this late stage.

Tiger

Out of the ten, unfortunately there are 3 little ones that are having trouble standing, like the one in the picture above. I believe they have what is commonly known as splayed or spraddle leg, where their legs stick out a little rather than being directly under them. I gleaned this info from the Backyard Poultry Forum, where everyone is most helpful. The treatment for this is to 'hobble' their legs, to pull them back into line, which we have done. This web page gives instructions on how to do it. After 24 hours or so, when they didn't seem to be showing much improvement, we took them into a vet (a bird vet specifically), and they concurred with what we were doing, and were very impressed with the hobbling we'd done. She helped redo them a little, and the worse one, poor little Tiger, so named for the little black stripes on his head, has his feet taped to a piece of cardboard, as they were too out of line for the simple hobble to work. She was hopeful that they would at least recover enough to be able to get themselves around, and since they are pets and egg birds, we will be happy with that.

She said to leave the hobbles on for 3 days, then take them off, so we'll have to see how they go.

They are beautiful birds though, despite the stress of worrying about these three. I can happily just sit and watch them scratching around and pecking at things. I'm so glad we decided to get them. DD is really enjoying it too, and loved playing with them outside. If she walked away from us, half them would rush after her, following her.

And then there were Eight!

We woke up this morning to 4 little chicks. By the time I had taken DH to the train for work and arrived home, there were 5. Now we're up to 8. There are 4 more eggs in the incubator, and at least one is pipping, so I expect there will be more to go yet.

These ones are settling into their new home. I'm still trying to get the lighting sorted out. I blew the original bulb I was using, and am now using an old desk lamp, as I don't want to leave them to go buy a new bulb. I will get DH to pick one up on his way home this afternoon.

Preparing for Chickens

And here's the post you've all been waiting for, more news about the chickens. Before DD went to bed for the night, we bought our little chick out for her to have a cuddle. She was so excited, jumping about everywhere, and kept waking the poor baby up. But before she went to bed, she wanted to say goodnight to him, and blew him a kiss! How cute!

He seemed happy in the brooder, and pecked at a little of the food, although I'm not sure that he actually ate any. When I put my hand in, he came over and cuddled up to it. Aww.

We decided though, to pop him back in the incubator for the night, as I'm not sure if he will be warm enough with just the lights yet, and wanted to have a chance to observe him, not go straight to bed and leave him alone. He also seemed kind of lonely.

I'm pretty sure we made the right choice, because when we put him back, he went right over to the nearest to hatching egg, and curled up to it. It hatched an hour or so later, so now he has company! I'm also wondering if having the other chick in their cheeping encouraged the other one to make his way out too.

There are at least another 4-5 eggs that have pipped, so I expect we'll find more chicks waiting for us when we wake up. I wonder how many?

While I was posting, I thought I'd do a quick post on setting up our brooder box, since we're going to need it in the morning.

For our (hopefully!) 12 chickens, we have a box that's about 50cm x 1m. It's the box that our mower came in, so the biggest one we have. Our 3yo will fit in it quite comfortably. I put a lot of paper on the bottom, mostly newspaper and scrap printer paper. We've suspended a light on a piece of wire. It's only a 40W globe, but I'm hoping it will be enough. If not, I'll have to hunt out another one.

I've made a water container and a feeder from old Milo tins, which seem to work OK. The idea behind these is that you can fill up the container bit, and the water or feed will fill into the little tray at the bottom, just enough for the chicks to eat, but not enough for them to stand in or drown in.

Here is what you need. 2 Milo/Quik/any type of metal sealing container. 2 shallow bowls of some sort for the bottom. Some bolts, and someone to drill for you.

First, the water dispenser.

Drill a hole through both the bowl, and the lid of the tin. Join the two together with a bolt and washers.

Here is what it looks like underneath.

Drill small holes around the end that the lid joins to. You want these small, but not too small, or the water won't come out. At least 6-7mm seems to be good, and larger would be fine too. These need to be below the line of the bowl though, as the water will fill the bowl to this level.

Then turn the tin over, fill with water, and click the lid (with bowl) on. On testing, this works well. Only problem is that the plastic bowl isn't strong enough to use to pull the lid back off. I still haven't worked out a way around this, so for now, we're just unscrewing the bolt each time, so that we can lever the lid off. It only takes a few minutes, so it's survivable for now.

The feeder is even simpler than the water dispenser to make.

This time, drill the holes on the bottom edge of the tin instead of the top, and because the feed is more solid than water, make them larger. Then bolt the dish to the bottom. I haven't tested this one yet, as it was wet from washing the metal filings off, so can't comment on how well it works, or if the holes are big enough. I'll update when we try it out.

On top of having the light to keep the babies warm, I decided to have a go at making a cold brooder. These are designed to be like mummy hen's feathers, and keep the babies warm by trapping their own body heat. I would expect that they are also comforting to baby chicks, who are used to being under mum's feathers. They're really simple to make.

All you need is a cardboard box, and an old towel. This box is about 30cm x 30cm, and one normal sized towel was just enough to finish it.

Cut the towel into 1 inch strips, and about twice the height of the box. A centimeter or two's space at the bottom is fine. I cut them so that I got two strips out of each strip I cut from the towel.

Then, using a sharp knife, cut 2 parallel slits in the top of the box like this.

Poke both ends of the towel strip through the box (I used a knitting needle), taking care not to rip the box. Pull them through evenly. If you do rip the box, you can usually get away with it if you are very careful. This doesn't need to last, just keep the chicks warm for a few weeks.

Repeat this over the top of the box, close together, but not so close that the slits rip into each other.

And this is what it should look like when it's finished. Wonder if the chicks will like it?

Hatched!

Here he is! Our first little chicken!

Chick update

It must be very hard to chip your way out of an eggshell with only your little beak. And it's not like you've even got a lot of room to work on it! It's one of natures miracles taking place. Every now and then, we hear him cheeping, he sounds exactly like one of those squeaky toys!

He's now progressed to this. It looks like he's chipping his way slowly around the end of the eggshell. He's moving faster now, so I'm guessing we'll have a little chick before night tonight.

The other two eggs that have cracked the shell haven't progressed any further yet, but I'm sure they will come in time. What an exciting experience for all of us!

More movement

I can see now that another one has pipped through the shell too, it's just on the underside, so it's harder to see. Another egg is rocking back and forth as the little one inside tries to peck his way out.

(Don't worry, my excitement on reporting every tiny detail will wane soon, you won't have to hear about each and every one of the 12 eggs pipping!)

Pipping!

Well, it's started. Here is our first chick beginning his/her entrance into the world!

After spending yesterday agonising that it was day 21, and our chicks were making no attempt to put in their appearance, I find out that you start counting your first day from the day AFTER you put the eggs in, as it takes a while for them to reach the incubating temperature. So here they are, starting right on schedule. Apparently it can take up to 24 hours for them to go from this point to actually hatched, but I'll keep things updated throughout the day as we have more news!

Look what hatched!

I made this little cutie last night while watching a movie, and popped him in the incubator to surprise DD when she woke up. She was thrilled, and has been carrying him around all day.

She even painted this lovely picture of him.

It's very simple to make, and can be knitted up in a few hours using ends of wool if you have them. I got the pattern from a book of patterns my mum cut of of magazines and stuck into a scrapbook 15-20 years ago!

Knitted with 8 ply yarn, on size 8 (4mm) needles.

Body:
Cast on 7 sts
1st row: Knit, inc in each stitch
2nd row: Purl
3rd row: Knit, inc in each stitch (28 sts)
Work 19 rows stocking stitch
23rd row: K2tog to end
24th row: Purl
25th row: K2tog to end (7 sts)
Cut yarn leaving 30 cm
Thread through remaining stitches, pull tight and secure. Join seam, stuffing as you go.

Head:
Cast on 4 sts
1st row: Knit, inc in each stitch
2nd row: Purl
3rd row: Knit, inc in each stitch (16 sts)
Work 5 rows stocking stitch
9th row: K2tog to end
10th row: P2tog to end
Cut yarn leaving 30 cm
Thread through remaining stitches, pull tight and secure. Join seam, stuffing as you go.
Sew head to body

Wings:

(make 2)

Cast on 6 sts (just realised I only did 4 sts!)
Work 4 rows stocking stitch

5th row: K2tog at beginning and end of row

6th row: P2tog at beginning and end of row

7th row: Inc at beg and end of row

8th row: Inc at beg and end of row

Knit 3 rows stocking stitch

Cast off.

Fold in half and join sides leaving bottom open.

Sew to either side of body.

Beak:

(my own addition)

Cast on 2 sts.

Knit 10 rows stocking stitch

11th row: K2 tog

12th row: Inc

Knit 9 rows stocking stitch

Cast off.

Fold in half, wrong sides together, and sew around outside edge. Fold in half, and sew to duck's head, catching a stitch at either side to keep the beak together.

Embroider eyes, and he's done!

Egg Update

We candled the eggs today. Basically, this means getting into a dark place, and using a light to shine through the egg, so you can see the shadow of it's contents. We used our maglight with a hand around the end to try to keep as much extraneous light in as possible. I didn't manage to get photos, it was a bit chaotic here, and the only way to get them would be to use the tripod and a long exposure. I might try again last night. However, there is a very good article on egg candling on Aussies Living Simply here, that has a great description and photos.

It is all looking good. Every one of the eggs had signs of development. A little blob on once side, with a darker blob in the middle. Some of them you could even see moving. I was a little concerned about having to turn the incubator off during our heat wave on Saturday, but it appears they haven't come to any harm from it.

It was amazing, seeing those little babies in there. And even seeing them move. Kind of like watching your own child on an ultrasound, except that you are more relaxed (and without the overwhelming need to use the bathroom!) I think it was a great thing for DD to see too. She seemed very interested for a few minutes, watching the eggs and touching them, before being distracted by playing games with the torch in the dark!

So looking forward to the 10th of March, when we should see them hatching!

We're Expecting!

Baby chickens that is!

On Monday I picked up a dozen Rhode Island Red fertile eggs from a breeder just up the road, and on Tuesday we put them into the incubator after spending a day getting the temperature just right. Now they are sitting there all cozy and warm, being turned 2-3 times a day, and hopefully in 3 weeks we'll have some fluffy baby chicks!

Keeping the temperature just right is a bit of a hassle, especially when DD decides to adjust it while I'm not looking! The three darker eggs are supermarket eggs that I put in while doing the initial temperature adjusting, and I've left them in because apparently the incubator operates best with with a full load of eggs. Will probably take them out in a week or so.

I'll update with how they're going over the next few weeks, and hopefully a bit more detail on hatching in an incubator once I have a bit more experience myself! Make sure you come and check back around the 10th of March, when our babies are due.