Allotments 4 All

Hi
Just wanted to share my excitement in a new venture. I have three sussex bantam ladies who are ace but have been hellishly broody since April taking it in turns to hog the nest box with a coincident decline in laying. So just before the season ends ive put six buff sussex bantam eggs under one of them and today is day one of the 1 day countdown.

I'm hopeful that half will hatch and i get a least one new lady and im really looking forward to young chicken rearing.
x sunloving

Ohh...how exciting...you'll be counting the days like before christmas.. ;D

I know
when i woke up this morning my first thought was its days three :)

x sunloving

Its day 21 and i've got four peeping eggs!
Exciting and worrying to. Its turned a bit cold so ive got a heatlamp on order and the new coop all sparkling and mite free, for now

yipee :)
x sunloving

Ohh...how time fly.. ;D Get your camera ready and get some photos of the new born  ;) ;D 4 out of 6 so far..not bag at all!..hopefully you get couple of more..
Keep us posting..

Hope this works, they are adoreable!
x sunloving

Awwww.... what else can I say...;D ;D So young and all life ahead... ;D

I've just broken a late broody, makes me want to start all over again! There's no sight quite like a Mum and her new chicks, enjoy!!

Now have a chair next to the coop becuase i was spending ages just standing there watching mummy hen show them what to eat and how to drink.
Fingers crossed all four make it.

Its a shame about the other two, both were fully developed in the egg but never hatched out.

Its my first time and its been so rewarding already. I hope that they are not all cockerals and that i can despatch the unwanted males when the time comes.

x sunloving

Sunloving - this really has been a heart warming thread for me. I takes me back to my childhood when we kept chickens and always raised our own with broody hens......you never forget the experience!  Those special 'call clucks' from mum hen that the baby chicks seem to recognise & respond to immediately.

A chair so you can watch them? I do understand.  :)

I'm about to start keeping them again...this time 6 point of lay pullets to start with, hoping to have about 12 eventually.

Hi David
How exciting what kind are you getting?

They are adoreable.
I let them out on a small bit of grass in the sun today , jumping on mums back and scratching in the soil and all day cheep cheeping.

Its made me want to raise chicks next spring. Its only dispatching the cockerals that holds me back.
Good luck with yours
x sunloving

Still sounds as though you are totally engrossed with your babies, sunloving....enjoy it, they grow so quickly.
I agree about killing the cockerels.

Hope to get my POL pullets sometime next week, these will be hybrids.

The thrill of hatching and watching chicks (and chickens/hens as well) never tires.  Food for the soul (an some for breakfast too ;D ;D )

All the best
Sue

What a lovely thread and thanks for sharing your experience and pictures with us. Lets hope they are not cockerals. There are commercial chicken hatcheries that will take in cockerals. There is a small breeder/smallholder in essex that might take them in (message me for details)
Good luck with them all they are so cute.

I have enjoyed this thread too  ;D

Here are two of the chicks out in the sun today. I love thier orange legs!



x sunloving

Thanks for the update, sunloving.

They're looking good and healthy.....just the beginnings of wing feathers & tiny combs I see.

Marvelous!  :)