Hi from Suffolk

J

janukey

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Hi
I recently realised something was missing from my life so i bought all the kit and have hatched 5 cute Barbu d`Uccle millefleurs, i hope thats their correct name as i have seen every description of the breed /colour under the sun lol..i have also ordered 6 blue /gold/porcelane eggs from a lady who has imported the parents from Belgium so fingers crossed for a good hatch.

i kept modern and old English game in a past life as well as the odd misfit chook no one wanted but this was my first time using a bator and my partner and i get so much enjoyment watching the 3 day old chicks shennagens dashing from one end of the brooder to the other and scratching like little adults and the game of tag when one found a small dry leaf LOL i have them brooding in a marine tank in the dining room atm.


jan xx
 
Hi Janukey and welcome to the forum. Unusual thing to be hatching at this time of year, but if you have the space that you can keep them warm then it's not really a problem. Good result if you got 5 from 6 eggs. What incubator were you using and did you run it 'dry' to start?
 
Hi Chris

yes i have plenty of room :-) the hatch ratio was 5 from 12 eggs sent via post the incubator was bought off fleabay it doesnt have a name as such just has egg incubator written on the top, but the seller had good feedback so took a chance..as for running it dry it took no time at all to heat to right temp and instructions said add 100ml of water every two days after eggs had settled pointy end down after 24 hours..shame i cannot share pictures on here of these delightful lil fuzz bums.my partner who forbade me to keep chickens in any shape or form is now a confirmed a bantam fan and comes home from work to see how the "kids" are even inviting his work mates round to share in their comical antics..i am awaiting red porcelain and blue/gold porcelain eggs from a breeder who has imports from top breeder in belgium :-)

one problem i am having is trying to find a british breed standard ( is there such a thing ? ) for these lil darlings not that i am overly concerned as my birds will be kept for pleasure/ eggs and their looks but if and when i need to sell some i would like to be able to have some knowledge of what a good bird is from an indifferent one as i seem to see quite a few "variations on a theme " markings wise on some sites like preloved etc..any kind guidance would be very much appreciated.

jan xx
 
Hi, it sounds like you may have a "Janoel" incubator… is that it? I have the same and have dry incubated in that with success.

The British Poultry Standard 6th edition is rather pricey and I haven't been able to find it second hand yet. The ISBN is 1405156422 if you want to have a look. If someone has a better idea of finding standards, then I'd love to hear it as £80 to look up a couple of breeds is rather pricey, but it seems to be an interesting book (found a sample at http://samples.sainsburysebooks.co.uk/9781444309386_sample_379349.pdf ).
 
thank you Kat :-)17

i agree quite a price for looking up a breed or two but the link you sent was very informative so may ask my partner for an extra xmas pressie :-)

oh and yes it is a janoel :D please could you explain to me about dry incubating..i have read many explanations but dry incubating and adding water still does not compute ..btw i dont have a hydrometer
 
You inspired me to buy the 5th edition for £25 second hand… that's more than I've spent on any book in many years! If you want to treat yourself, I can recommend Katie Thear's "Incubation: A Guide to Hatching and Rearing" (ISBN 090613725X): I bought it for about £2 delivered second hand and it's a really good book. I'm currently wondering if the Free-range Poultry is any good, has anyone here read that?

My incubator is the Janoel12. It's supposed to take 9 or 12 chicken eggs but actually takes only 6 full sized eggs if it auto-turns them properly which is why people get bad hatching rates with it. I have taken out the auto-turning mechanism altogether and now manually turn without opening it by tilting the whole incubator. This all came about as I got the incubator and then 12 eggs a couple of days later thinking that I was buying a 12 egg incubator. If you use egg boxes to sit the eggs upright, then it can take as many as 15-18 or so. It's also disassemblable so that it's easy to disinfect most of the parts.

Dry incubation… I was asking about it only a couple of months ago which might be of help: http://poultrykeeperforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=9162

I'm not sure how many more chickens you're looking to get, but I have 5 bantam Wyandottes of both sexes which were sold to me as large fowl and a bantam calico Cochin cockerel which I'm looking to sell. They're all about 6-7 months old now.
 
Hi Jan, just received the 5th edition of the breed standard in the post today and it's great. I can highly recommend it!
 
Thank you Kat..please forgive me for late replies , i work mental shifts and cannot access this site from work so when i get home i make a great imitation of a chick falling asleep on it head lol..yesterday i received 6 blue/gold porcelain booted eggs so i have upended them over night so air sac is in right position so fingers crossed they will be viable , struggling to find images online of this color .the person selling them on ebay has imported the parents and they are rare as hens teeth..pun intended lol..best i go bed..another two night shifts to go with a heavy cold not good.:-)
 
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