Today was the due date for the quail to hatch. Let me start by saying that this time, unlike our poor hatch rate with the duck eggs, we’ve got a really great result. As I write, 17 of the 21 eggs have hatched successfully. Maybe we’ll get another one or two, maybe not, but I read that 75% is regarded as a good outcome for quail, so we’re very happy.
The exact due time was noon today, Saturday. We had our first arrival at around 9:30pm on Friday evening.
Our friend at the allotments for whom we hatched some duck eggs has now extended his range of poultry with a pair of quail. Yesterday we put 21 quail eggs into the incubator for him.
They take 17 days, so they’re due to hatch on Saturday 5th August.
The broody hen’s long wait wasn’t in vain. Last weekend she hatched just one chick. She’d been sitting on four eggs, but the other three didn’t come to anything.
Ixworths aren’t renowned as broodies, but middle hen has decided to have a go. She’s occupying one of the spacious nestboxes, and she’s been there for about two weeks now.
Last Sunday we put together our other small house and run and the chicks, now three weeks old, moved from the brooder to the great outdoors. No more cheeping to greet us when we come downstairs in the morning.
For the chicks, it’s a huge change of environment. Inside there’s no wind, no weather, just a lovely cosy electric hen to snooze under in between eating and drinking. Now, although they’re safe from predators, they have the breeze, the sun, and the rain to contend with, and only each other to cuddle up to.
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I’ll explain why later in this post, but as part of our poultry keeping kit I felt the need for a very precise set of scales. Something like a laboratory balance. And indeed I eventually found exactly what I was looking for on eBay.
But imagine my surprise when I first did an eBay search to find around two and a half thousand sets of precision scales for sale. There couldn’t be that high a demand for weighing jewellery, lab samples, and suchlike, surely?
Posted in Allotments, Poultry
Tagged hatching chicks, hatching ducks, hatching rates, precision scales, R-Com 20 Pro
We have six more Ixworth chicks. This time from our own hens.
It looks as though the long wet spell is finally coming to an end. The chickens are far happier, even though they’ve still got muddy marks on their feathers. It’s still a bit gloomy and cold to attempt to give them a bath!
Posted in Allotments, Poultry
Tagged asparagus, broad beans, growing asparagus, growing broad beans, hatching eggs, Ixworth chickens
It’s rained every day since the beginning of the drought and the hosepipe ban on 5th April.
Posted in Allotments, Poultry
Tagged asparagus, Fiesta apple, floods, hosepipe ban, Ixworth chickens
This is a slightly sad posting on two counts. First, after the early hatch of three ducklings, we had no more. Two more eggs pipped, and one of those almost made it, but the remaining five just didn’t start to hatch. I’ve asked advice on the specialist forums, and it may be that the humidity levels programmed into the incubator were insufficient.
Second, we’ve had to hand them over to their owner. It’s inevitable that you get sentimentally attached to cute fluffy creatures, even ones as messy as ducklings!
Posted in Allotments, Poultry
Tagged ducklings, hatching ducks, Ixworth chickens, poultry brooder
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