I took a video of Wendy the other day. She does the coolest 'dance/run' when I get her off the eggs for her food/water/ablutions.

I LOVE it.

She is such a dag.

Trina's first egg

Well, not mine, but Sunshines. We think.

Last year we started with some of these.

See that pale brown one on the top right? That egg is going to hatch to be Sunshine. Our Coronation Sussex.

This is what she looked like as a chick....

Now she looks like this....

She is beautiful. And today, she laid her first egg.

See that teeny tiny little squished egg in the middle? That's it. So cute.

She is still learning and the colour isn't quite all over, and obviously it's tiny. But how cool is that? From egg to egg.

Absolutely thrilled and excited.

We think it's hers because leghorns lay white eggs. HOWEVER, I've got to say I'm starting to rethink it. Coronation Sussex's aren't meant to be early layers. Somewhere in the 20-22 week mark. And Sarie's ear lobes are cream. So does this mean her eggs are going to be cream, not white? If so, does this mean this is her egg?

It would make more sense as Leghorns are 'early' layers.

Hmmmmmm. More questions.
T

Wendy

Just thought you might like to see your girl Wendy. She is doing a great job looking after her eggs.

You can see the eggs just poking out the front (like we've discussed before). This picture was taken in the middle of the day. When it's colder, she covers them all totally.

Only a few more days now and those eggs will be babies poking their heads out to see what's going on. Grin.

Johns Home!

Today I got a text from Grandma to say John was over being a mama and could she come home. I said of course so This afternoon she arrived. She laid an egg this morning and has been pecking the little girls, not the boys! She was happy to be home, spent over an hour in the bath, checked in with Luce and told Rose she was back and in charge!

I went out to watch what happened as they 'went up'. Rita was already up (she is ALWAYS first up) and Rose and Grace were getting ready.



Rose lost her footing but I gave her a cuddle and put her back up. John was carrying on in the background ad she did go up too but is sitting in the silliest place.

Another sad candling day for the McClunes

I was still unsure at our last candling about two eggs, so when Wendy got off her nest today, I had another look. It was very obvious about the eggs that have chicks in them. They are a very dark colour (apart from their air sac). It was pretty very cool to see.

The two we lost today were a Blue laced Wyandotte and BBV (Blue laced barnevelder). Very upsetting again. I still struggle with this side of it. But the good news is that we have 9 beautiful eggs waiting to hatch next week.

Wendy's nest is looking so empty now.

I can't wait til she has some beautiful chicks to fill it up again.

This last week and a half has taken forever to pass. Hoping the next week a half will go quicker!

Vickys Barnevelders. Infertility issues ;)

I candled my Barnevelder eggs again together. Arlo took these photos on my iphone so they arent great but ah well

this is number 1. There is definately a chick in here, it moves, has lovely veins and a good air pocket.
Old Barnevelder number 2. The brown spot is a shell spot. I know there is nothing in here but when I candle i always think i see a movement. I am 97% sure this egg is infertile. but that yolk combined with the density of the dark egg fool me.

Grandmas Chicks at 6 weeks

We went to visit GRandma and her chicks in the weekend. They were lovely and friendly This is Grandma holding the black orpington. I thought it would be interesting to note the feathering patterns to use as a sexing reference in the future. The Blue and Black Orpingtons were fully feathered. The Barred Rock was almost totally feathered and the 2 Silver laced Wyandottes were still naked right down their backs. These 2 also had bright red combs and their wattles are developing fast. Boys for sure. Interestingly we did the feet test with this lot at 1-2 weeks and the wyandottes dropped their feet while all the others held theirs up.
Im unsure about this black orp as I can see some red in the comb. The BR is to the left and the Blue orp to the right the one of the Wyandottes on the far right.

Check out the red comb on the wyandotte above!
lovely stripes on the BR
IT was good to see our Johnny.

Nancys spot

Nancy has a lovely spot under the grape vine on the compost heap.

Vickys candling

In our original bunch of eggs we had

2x barred rock from Appletons

2x barnevelder from Appletons

2xblue/gold (?) Laced Wyandottes from Appletons

2x black orpingtns from SAndy

2x Blue orpingtons from Sandy and 2x buff Orpingtons from Sandy.

I put them all under Lucy when we got home from Ngaruawhahia but noticed she was panicked about how to cover them all. I got concerned she would either break some or push some out. Luckily Sarahs NAcy (sister of Lucy and WEndy) had gone clucky and was sitting on 4 eggs from Sandy also (2x Barnevelder and 2 x barred rock). I took one each of the orp eggs around and NAncy will sit on them til they pip at which point we will whip the home. Thanks Nancy!

At our first candling (at one week incubation) I was unsure about 'barnevelder number 2 but decided to leave ittil next candling. Barred rock #1 was clearly infertile. All the others looked good, large air pockets and veins.

I have just re candled (at 11 days incuabtion and I saw good veins and air pockets in them, some movements (YAY) except for Barnevelder number 2. Its clear but because of them having dark shells and being hard to candle I havent taken it away from Luce. I will re candle both Barne's tomorrow at the same time (I did them in 2 different groups today) and make a decision. ew I dont want an exploded egg.

I candled Sarahs eggs on Saturday. One of her barred rocks had cracked and NAncy had gotten rid of it. I was unsure about one or 2 of my orps there but couldnt get dark enough to candle so will leave them be.

So half way through we are down 2 eggs and have 10 left YAY!

Another candling

And another egg gone. We are now down to 11. Quite disappointing, but we think it's the end of the season, plus possibly courier handling? However, it was one of the campines, so I'm more than a little disappointed. Crossing fingers the one we have left is a girl.

Ok, so here is what we saw....

Barnevelder - dark area where chick was and great air sac
Barnevelder - same as above
White orp - same as above
Langshan - same as above, but we saw it MOVING. Was so amazing!
BL - Air sac and dark area where chick was, but air sac is to the side?
BBW - ???? (I must be unsure about this one? Will recandle).
BL - Bacteria ring? (Will recandle).
Araucana - large air sac and dark area where chick is.
White Orp - same as above
Campine - could see through it. Blood spot and bacterial ring. Disposed of (it was just all normal egg).
BR - Perfect.
Campine - ok.

As you can see there are a couple I'm still not sure about. Next time Wendy's off her eggs (tomorrow), I'll recandle and see what's going on. It will be pretty obvious by then. Basically if it's not all dark, it's not a goer.

I wonder if Wendy notices that her egg pile is diminishing?

Candling

Today I candled our eggs. I had 14 to do and it wasn't Wendy's day to get off the nest, so I tried to be a little discreet. Haha. Me?!

I took out 7 to start with and here were the results:

Barnevelder (BV) - good large air sac.
Campine - Good air sac, lots of spider veins.
Araucana - Good air sac, bacterial spots.
Blue Laced Wyandotte - Good air sac.
Blue Laced Wyandotte - good air sac.
Barnevelder - Good air sac, dark area of chick
Barred Rock - Nothing, clear egg. Disposed of it.

Then I took out the other 7 and replaced the first ones. Here's their results:
Langshan - good air, huge spider veins, plus a big bacterial ring. Noticed a tiny hole in the shell. Bother! Disposed of egg.
Campine - Good air sac, dark area where chick is.
Langshan - great air sac.
Barred Rock - Good air sac, dark area where chick is.
White Orpington - good air sac.
White Orpington - good air sac.

I know that last time, even though I didn't see spider veins, if there was a good air sac, then it hatched well. I'm hoping the same will apply, as they were quite hard to see this time.

I think just to be on the safe side, I'll candle again in a couple of days. Maybe even tomorrow. LOL!

So we now have 12 eggs under Wendy.

Cadling pictures

Vicky and I were chatting yesterday about candling today and decided it might be nice to have a reminder of what we are/aren't looking for.

Here's a picture of a good egg. This is what we want ours to look like. You can see a chick starting to grow in the middle with spider veins radiating out from it.

Here are a couple of 'bad' eggs...

They both have rings around a blood spot.

They talk about eggs with bacterial spots, and how they don't hatch, but we've both had eggs hatch from those, so don't think it necessary applies? And we both know what they look like.

Can't wait to candle today. Can't wait!

Roses ear problem

I finally got some photos of Roses ear. just on the iphone but you can still see. its her Left ear shown below

you can see it bulging out here and it seems to have a wax like discharge. her other ear, shown below is much smaller but also has the wax stuff.

Today is here at last...

We started off meeting in Ngarauahia (have I got that spelling right?) and the kids had a play at the playground. It was FUN.

Then we went off home to set our eggs. I'd already put my first 6 from Appletons under Wendy before we left, then when we got home, we got her out of her house for her 2 daily ablutions/water and food, giving us the chance to sneak in the remaining eggs.

Here she is getting out of the nesting box. We'd already popped all the eggs in when she was in the grass area. Look at how many there are!

First stop is off under the orange tree to do 'number 2's' in the grass, and look for bugs to eat (funnily enough this is where Blah and her chicks loved to go too).

Then it was off to Matt's garden to have her dirt bath. She LOVES this. It's her spot. Matt refuses to plant anything else here for the moment as it's Wendy's dirt bath.

Check out the dirt flying through the air.

I feed her some pellets while she's there. It allows me to get close enough to pick her up when the time is right, and also lets her feed while bathing.

Then it was back into her house to sit on the eggs some more.

She comfortably sits on all 14. I must admit today before we got the 8 from Poultry Valley, I was nervous. What if she couldn't take them all? I didn't realise she was already sitting on 12. I thought she had 9. I think the kids snuck some in? So when we added in today's lot, it was only another 2. She coped admirably.

I've kept going back to check on her and she's been doing this all day. Grin. How on earth am I going to get through the next 3 weeks? I'm so excited.

Eggs

I drove out to yesterday to pick up the eggs we had requested a week ago. Its always an adventure. Sage got to see the baby piglets and we saw bendy wendy the duck. WE had to get the eggs that had been laid that morning from the araucanas and the buff orpingtons. We came away with a mixed bunch but its always exciting and isnt this how we fall in loive with new breeds!?!?!?!?

Excited again

Because we have eggs. Well, Vicky does, but I know that means we're on our way to starting the next hatch.

Once again Poultry Valley have let us down with the order.

Out of the 8 eggs I wanted, only 3 are what I ordered. That woman is crazy! However, I'm pretty stoked with the replacements!!!! LOL.

So thought I'd put up some pics of what we'll be getting.....

white orpington

langshan (hoping for a girl this time!)

blue laced barnevelder

Also getting an araucana and a blue laced wyandotte, but not sure what the lacing is from gold or silver, so can't put pics of that up.

Tomorrow eggs will arrive via courier from Nelson. There will be more beautiful eggs for us. I can't wait to receive them and start our journey again.

Crossing fingers for more girls.

Broody question answered....

I was talking to Vicky today and mentioned how I was worried that Wendy kind of sits up off the eggs after she's had her time off for eating drinking etc. I was worried that the eggs would loose some heat. Although the two days I've seen her do this have been very hot!

I googled and found this link where I found some info that helped ease my worry.

Here's an excerpt.

A hen's break will normally last anywhere from 10 minutes to half an hour. This will not harm the eggs; in fact, it has been shown to be beneficial to their development. Sometimes, if it is a hot day, the hen may stay off the nest for up to an hour. Or, if it is cold, she may come off for only a few minutes.

Whew. Feel much better about that now!

Lucys turn

so its finally our dear Lucys turn to become a mama. it didnt take her long to get broody, as i expected. she was funny, sitting on some golfballs til she laid her last egg then she rolled the balls out. a few days ago i added 2 brown eggs, one light one dark just to be sure she'd accept them and to up her numbers (from one) before we get the fertile eggs. today i moved Lucy out while i moved the eggs into our broody box whiich i then put in the place the white cupboard (where she had been) had been. she was not happy about things, took ages in her bath and refused to go inside so i had to put her in myself. hopefully she will be settled in there tomorrow.

the big house is all ready for Rita when she wants to lay in a week or 2!

Heres Lucy taking her sweet time in the bath

3 little girls

We got home last night just after the girls had 'gone up'. they looked so sweet all together on one branch. We thought you'd like to see how high Grace goes!

Starting again

We are starting this amazing process all over again.

Vicky is picking up eggs from Poultry Valley and I'm getting eggs shipped from Appletons.

The current order from Appletons is as follows:

4 plymouth rock/2 campine/4 barnevelder and 2blue laced wyns

I have asked if they can add in another 2 eggs. Either 2 buff Wyandottes, or 2 blue laced silvers. Hoping to hear later today as they are shipping tomorrow. Cross fingers. Will update once I hear.

Eggs are arriving Thurs, and we're meeting on Sat to swap. To say I'm excited is a major understatement. Bring it on!

Feeling sad today

Last night we lost Tuffy. Our little Araucana. She was beautiful, and by far the most friendly of our hatched chicks. Matt would carry her around with him everywhere.

After finding her unwell, and not knowing what to do, we broke the 'no vets' rule and took her to the vet. She was treated for an infection with antibiotics and I was told to feed her 2 mls of electrolytes every 10 mins.

I did this and she looked better in the afternoon, but giving her some food, she very quickly went backwards. At 10pm, she gave one final flutter across the room, then died.

I was there with her the whole day. As were the kids. We looked after her and loved her.

Today we buried her. We miss her incredibly.