New Baby

I had 6 Buff Pekin eggs in my incubator due last Wednesday (17.9.08). Unfortunately I was taken ill and had to be rushed into Hospital early Friday morning (2am) with a suspected heart attack. Very very scarey.

Thankfully it wasn't a heart attack, but I had shingles and it was the pain from that. I was kept in for a day while they did different tests, and my brother called into my house to turn the lights off. Sadly he turned the lights off at the socket, which my incubator extension lead was also plugged into. Needless to say when I got home late Friday afternoon the eggs were stone cold. One had pipped and I could see a tiny beak through the hole, so I switched the incubator back on, held the egg in my hands to warm it through, as the chick was still alive, and when the temperature had risen in the incubator popped the egg back inside for a few moments. It was obvious after a few minutes the chick was too weak to hatch under it's own steam, so I took the egg out and proceeded to peel the shell and membrane away so the chick could hatch. Luckily it did and is now a healthy bouncing baby girl Buff Pekin.

I kept her on her own for 24hrs in the incubator then put her in the brooder with the 3 other babies from previous hatches, the oldest being 2 wks and the millefleur twins who are a week old. One of which is the wobbly legged one that had to be hobbled. She's now walking and running around normally with 2 nice straight legs.

The new baby settled in with them as if they'd always been together, and the 2 week old Silver Partridge pekin acts like mother to the others. It's very cute to see.

So if you have a power cut or lose power to the incubator at all don't give up on the eggs. These eggs had been cold for about 8hrs, and the chick survived. Sadly the other eggs were no good as they hadn't even pipped so had died in the shell.

I've been lucky in a way, as the last 3 hatches have all been girls. But the number of hatched chicks to the number of eggs set has been abysmal this year. I think mainly due to the weather being so wet and cold, and then hot and sunny. The parent birds probably weren't as fertile or as strong as they could have been maybe. All my eggs this year were bought in to hatch and not from my own birds, so it's hard to say.

A little healing!

I had one silver partridge pekin hatch last week out of 6 eggs, a hen chick. She was terribly lonely but wednesday the mille fleurs were due to hatch. One hen chick hatched ok, the other had to be peeled out of the shell on Thursday.

I kept her (Fleur) in the hatcher and made a hobble from a bandaid plaster to keep her legs straight as they were slightly splayed and she couldnt walk.

Today she went in the brooder with her sister Millie and Twinkle the silver partridge pekin.

Her legs are straight and strong and she's glad of the company as is Twinkle! So 3 lovely pekin girlies!



It just shows that even if a chick is born splay legged, you can cure it if you put a hobble on straight away.

It's a bit fiddly, and on your own it's very difficult but can be done.

To hobble a chick, cut a 3/4" plaster in half lengthways. Place the padded section around one leg and stick the ends together, then put the other half around the other leg and stick the ends to the first piece on the other leg, so that the sticky ends are together between the legs, it's about 1" gap between the legs, which is about the right distance to keep the legs straight.


TLC is needed for 2 to 3 days until the legs are straight and strong and the chick is able to stand on it's own. Then you can take the hobble off.

Keep an eye on the chick while it's hobbled, so it doesnt fall onto it's back and make sure it has water and chick crumb. You may have to hold it over the water and feed so it can eat and drink, but it should be able to manage on it's own once it's got used to the hobble.

Rain Rain and more Rain

When is it going to stop raining? We had some sunshine today but it was brief and inbetween torrential downpours.

I'm so pleased the pekin runs have roofs on them, otherwise the chooks would look like drowned rats.

I'm pleased to report the 3 youngsters managed to suss out how to negotiate the ladder tonight to go to bed, although I did have to drop them through the hatch this morning or they'd have stayed in the sleeping area all day without food or water.

I spent most of today, when it wasn't raining, splitting stone which had been delivered, to make a dry wall around my new raised fish pond. The stones were much too big to lift and if I'd employed a goliath to do the job for me, the wall would have looked out of proportion to the pond.

I managed to put my poor goldfish in the pond this afternoon as well. They'd been stuck in that small fish tank ever since last October when I moved here, and they are big fish! So I had to clean the tamk out every other day to keep the water clean even though there was a powerful filter and pump in there.

As soon as the fish were dropped in the pond they were like maniacs! Racing each other up and down the length of the pond and darting inbetween the pond plants like things possessed.

I have some extra room now in my lounge where the fish tank was. My house cat isn't amused that the fish have gone, they were her real time tv system, now all she has to entertain her is catching the occasional spider that gets in, sit on the incubator peering through the window to see if the chicks have hatched, or sit on the lounge window ledge staring at the pekins in their run.

Hopefully the weather will be slightly better tomorrow and I can get on with my stone splitting and make a start on the pond wall.

Swinging that lump hammer and hitting the stone splitter has made me feel tired let alone build up my muscles.

How thick can a chicken be?

My 3 growers that were in the garage are now relaxing in the new ark, were pathetic yesterday.

I put them in the new ark 'upstairs'. They stayed there all morning and wouldnt come down the ladder. So lunchtime I grabbed each one and bunged them in the run 'downstairs'.

Last night as it was getting dark, I go out to pull the ladder up and shut them in for the night and there they are still in the run looking confused and peering skyward towards the hole in the 'upstairs' where the ladder goes up to.

So I manage to catch 2 by laying commando style on me belly on the wet gravel, and poke them thru the hole and they immediately sit on the perch and settle down.

The other so and so runs all round the 'downstairs' like a whippet each time I go to grab it, so I gave up.

I watched for about half an hour, it kept walking round the bottom of the ladder peering up at the other 2 who were peering down.

Finally, just as I was about to help it up the ladder with a broomstick, it hops on the ladder, inspects each rung for a minute or so then gets to the top one and stops.

So it's neither in or out.

I pulled the drawstring to raise the ladder with the dozy bird still on the top of it, waiting to hear that strange gurgle noise when you accidentally squash a chook, but nothing. So secured the drawstring and raced round the other side to peer into the egg box end to see if it was on the perch or sliced in two with the ladder.

Neither!

It was still on the top of the ladder which was now horizonal and closing the entrance to the 'upstairs'.

I've opened the ladder this morning at 7.30am but the dozy things are still 'upstairs', even though their food is 'downstairs'.

Automatic pophole opener

I've finally succumbed to getting one! Dead easy to install as long as your pophole door opens up. Mine opened sideways so I had to move the battens holding the door against the house, but once I'd done that it was really simple, just a matter of fixing the unit to the front of the house and hooking the cord that pulls the door up and lowers it, to the hook on the door. I also got the timer with it, which is seperate but again, easy to fix and connect to the opener. I made a boo boo though, and put the timer next to the opener unit. And with the evenings drawing in I had to get in the run and adjust the time so it shut earlier. Once the weathers good enough I'll move it to the side of the house (there's enough cable supplied with it), so I don't have to get in the run again, as the run's only 3ft high.

Ideal height for Pekins but not very nice when you have to do a commando crawl to reach the house!

I had thought the openers were expensive, I got mine for about £79 and the timer was £35, but to be honest it's paid for itself in time spent going out in all weathers to open and close the chooks house door. It's so nice to know that they are shut up safe at night and let out at 8.30am in the morning, without me having to battle the elements. I still have to go out to take the food out of the run for the night, but that's not really a chore, and the run's covered to protect the Pekins from the weather, so if I forget one night, it's not a disaster as the food hoppers suspended off the ground, (to stop mice and vermin eating the food).

So all in all, I'd recommend everyone get an auto opener. It's money well spent.

Pity I can't afford another one just yet for my new ark.

A great day for ducks!

But not for Pekins. After a lovely week of sunny weather it's tipping down now and will be until next weekend the weather men reckon. Oh joy!

Well I'm glad the lady who took the 2 Pekin boys last week took the ones she did, as one of the remaining 2 boys has turned out to be a girl!!! They all had red combs and big wattles, and thought all 4 were boys, but evidently I was wrong.

I've noticed some colours are difficult to sex by combe/wattles, and one or two I've had this year I've thought were one thing then have turned out to be the opposite.

I'm waiting on the delivery of a new Ark for my youngsters. I saw the advert on Ebay, and checked out the website of the seller and all their chicken coops seemed really strong. So I went mad and bought it. It's 6ft long and 4ft wide, with a free 5ft x 4ft run free on special offer. On the website the Ark is £290 and with the run almost £350, so I grabbed a bargain!

I've attached a couple of pics of the Ark so you can see how strong and well designed it is. A friend of mine who lives in Wales where the company who make these coops is based, said he gets a lot of things from the company and they're really well made. So thats a relief, because you never know what things are like til they arrive.




Looks like my babies will be happy in there!

New Pekin website!!

Just launched our new Pekin Bantam website, with a comprehensive history of Pekins, a really friendly forum, bookshop and lots more to be added shortly!

Hope you can visit us and make yourself at home!

Just park the Pekins in the coop and we'll put the kettle on ready!

Well my Silver Partridge Pekin eggs that were due to hatch last w/end were a bit of a failure. I'd had 6 eggs sent from the Highlands back in April and none hatched, but the lady sent 6 replacements which was really kind of her. Out of this last six only one hatched, and thankfully it's a little pullet. She's the sweetest little thing, but very lonely. She's got an alarm clock ticking away in the brooder and a small tidy for company that she cuddles up to every night. Although I hate to see a chick on it's own, she seems ok and by the weekend she'll have some company as I have some millefleur pekin eggs due to hatch.

Here's a pic of her:

Sad day

Yesterday I rehomed 4 of my Pekin boys.

A lady that breeds hybrids and keeps a few Pekins herself agreed to take them and find good homes for them. I did feel sorry for the little chaps as they were put into an ark with some other young pekins, as they were so tiny compared to the other birds, but I'm sure they'll be ok. I still worried about them last night though. When you hatch your own chicken you tend to look on them as 'your babies'.

I came home with 3 hens. 2 Cuckoo and 1 blue.

I sprayed them with lice/mite spray before putting them in with my birds, just as a precaution. Although the new birds are 12 maybe 14 weeks old and mine are 8 weeks old, the difference in size is quite a bit. The 12 week old ones look almost full grown, whereas mine look like miniature versions.

The new girls loved their big new run, 15ft x 7ft and happily ran around scratching at the grass and discovering where they were. However, the blue frizzle cockerel had other ideas. The girls may have been almost twice his size, but he was going to show them who was boss from the start. He spent all evening chasing them around and pecking them and I felt really sorry for them. Just before bed time the Lavendar hen joined in and had a go at them as well.

Come dusk, when I went out to put them all to bed, all mine had gone to bed in the house but were sat huddled near the pophole so the new girls couldnt go to bed. So I had to put the newbies in and close the door. I half expected to hear a kafuffle and a few shrieks but it was surprisingly quiet.

This morning when I let them out, they all ran into the run and there doesnt seem to be so much bullying by the Blue boy, but they're still getting chased quite a bit.

I expect it will all settle down in a day or two as they determine the pecking order.

I now have to find a home for one more Blue straight feathered Pekin boy and I'm hoping a friend will take him. He's a lovely little chap and I really dont want to have him culled. He'd make a lovely pet for someone or a great dad if he had some wives.

Today I've been busy building a forum, Pekin Heaven. I've put the link in my links section on the blog here, so if anyone reads this blog and would like to come along and join the forum I'd be really pleased to see you.

It's a bit bare on there at the moment with just myself to talk to.

Here's a pic of my 3 new hens.

Pekin Heaven

Pekin Heaven

My Pekin Forum, all Pekin owners and enthusiasts welcome, we have a section for other breeds too!

They're out!

I decided I can't wait for the weather to improve, so bought 3 more sheets of corrugated plastic sheeting to cover more of the run roof, fitted it then moved the 7wk old pekins out into their new house and run today.



The weather was dismal. Torrential rain showers on and off all day long today!

I carried the babies out to their new house in a large cat carrier and took the lid off inside the hen house. They were reluctant to get out of it, so had to pick them out one by one. Put the roof back on the house and went around and opened the pophole.



An hour and a half later they decided to test the run. The Sable Poot was the first out, then the blue pekin hen followed by the lavendar frizzle cockerel 'Sparky'.



Once 2 or 3 were outside they all piled out and went crazy scratching around and picking up the insects. They were loving it.

It was great to see them outside at last, scratching around, pecking at the grass (and weeds). Doing what chicken should do, or trying to. Without a mother hen to show them they've learnt pretty fast, bless them.

Unfortunately there was a really severe downpour and my roof leaked in one place, but nothing too serious. I'm no carpenter and the majority of the run is dry.

At bed time they were all huddled in a little group near the house and some were going to sleep, so I had to go and put them in the house one by one and shut the pophole up for the night and made sure it was fox proof. Although to get to the pophole the fox would have to cut his way through the weldmesh to get to the house.



I'm feeling pretty proud of them, they're fine birds for 7wks old. Can't wait for the next half dozen to feather up and get old enough to join them.


I spent ages sat watching them, not in the rain I might add. I went indoors and watched from my window, I spent almost 2hrs sat there just watching each one in turn. It was so relaxing, I'd forgotten how peaceful it is to watch animals and birds doing their own thing. A great way to forget all the troubles of the world, and be in your own little bit of paradise for a while, oblivious of all the turmoil going on elsewhere.

Wet Wet Wet

Well so much for moving my young Pekins into their new Pekin Palace this weekend!

It's been gale force winds and torrential rain now since Friday evening. There was a terrific thunder and lightening storm Friday night, really scarey! So I've not moved them into their new home.

Although a third of the run is covered to keep it dry, because they're so young it wouldnt be fair to put them in there, they'd only get chilled and then probably die on me, and I've taken such good care of them since hatching them, I don't want to risk losing them, and they're quite happy in the big shed. They have plenty of room to exercise and toys hanging down to play with if they get bored.

Hopefully the weather will pick up this week so they can go out. Climate change has certainly cocked up our British weather! We seem to be having all 4 seasons within 4 weeks, and our summers are really weird with storms and rain when it should be warm and sunny. If the summer is much wetter my poor little Pekins will get webbed feet!

I'll take some photographs of the Pekins this week and post them on here, they are now 6weeks old and look like miniature Pekins! They are so cute.

Finished at last!

After several weeks of hot sunny weather it's decided to rain right up til next week. So I made the effort to get outside and finish my new Pekin run. It's 15ft x 7ft x 4ft high. Netted at the top with half covered with clear corrugated pvc (Pekins feet are a nightmare if they get too wet and muddy). There's a side gate so I can get in there if I have to, and a top hatch near the chook house to put their food hopper in and take it out easily. The sides are weldmesh. I'm really pleased with it and will add a photo asap.

It's as fox proof as humanly possible, so if a fox tries to get in there to snatch my birds he'll need wire cutters and an oxcycetaline lamp.

The Pekins are 6 weeks old this weekend and have been off heat for just over a week, so they're moving in Pekin Palace either tomorrow or Sunday.

I have 2 definate boys, the lavendar frizzle pekin is staying but the black mottled frizzle boy is going to have to be sold. One of the hens, the brown/red I'm not too sure is a girl so that one may be going to if it's a boy.

The next hatch are 2 weeks old this weekend and still brooding under heat, they're more like chicks now instead of bumble bees and are the cutest little things. There's 4 Gold Partridge Pekins (3 hens and 1 cock) and one Silver Partridge Pekin hen.

The Golds came from a breeder here in Cornwall, but the Silver came from 6 fertile eggs I bought from the Highlands, Scotland, and only the one hatched out. I was disappointed as I particularly like the Silver Partridge Pekins. Never mind, I have one so mustn't complain.

I won't be hatching anymore this year, or next probably. As Pekins are always going broody I'm sure I'll have plenty of chicks next year. I'll probably sell those as I don't really have room for anymore.

Several of the hen chicks were hard to sex, they had large combs like the boys and they should have had tiny white combs. This confused me, I thought they were boys at first and would have to sell them. I've noticed with some colours in Pekins the hens do have large combs, and the only thing I can think is that when new colours were brought in using another breed, the new coloured birds kept the comb size from the non-pekin ancestors.

As I have so many different coloured Pekins and only one cockerel, my 'babies' will be non standard colours and there should be quite a pretty mixture. These dolly mixtures can't be shown or sold for breeding as they wouldn't throw true coloured babies, but they'll be beautiful colour mixes and will be great as pets.

In this blog

I'd kept a lot of rare breed poultry in the past, and also waterfowl. We had a smallholding with goats and sheep. Keeping poultry was so rewarding, especially when any of our birds we took to shows won the top prizes.

Now I just keep a few pekins of mixed colours for my own pleasure, they're good little layers, but go broody so often you can't rely on them for a regular supply of lovely free range eggs.

I bought some fertile eggs to start my Pekin collection from various places, including Ebay. Hatchability was not good, mainly due to the eggs arriving via Royal Mail. But I soon hatched a lovely selection of a dozen birds of different colours. My aim was to keep a small flock and to try and have one of each colour if possible.

I hatched the eggs in a Hovabator still air incubator, set to 101 degrees at the top of the egg, and didn't add any water to the trays, as in the UK we have enough humidity. I marked the eggs with a 'X' one side and a '0' the other, to make it easier to see they had all been turned. I turned them 3 times a day. On the 18th day I stopped turning them and added enough water to the trays to give 65% humidity to help hatching. This was about a tablespoon of warm water. I checked the humidity with a hygrometer that I bought from Amazon for about £3, and one used for reptiles. It proved a good little gadget and quite accurate.

On day 21 the chicks hatched, apart from one late hatcher. I kept the chicks in the incubator for 24hrs to allow them to fluff up, (they're wet and sticky when they first hatch and quite weak). The next evening the late hatcher still hadn't hatched but had made a small hole in the egg. So I helped her out. (thankfully it was a hen chick).

They stayed in a brooder box with a heatlamp for 4 weeks, reducing the heat each week to wean them off heat. Once they were almost feathered up I moved them into a puppy exercise pen in the garage, and grew them on in there until this weekend when they go out into their proper hen house and run in the garden.

I have 5 more chicks 2 weeks old in the brooder box, golden partridge and one silver partridge pekin, so they will be moving into the garage in the next couple of weeks or so.

The Pekin Bantam doesnt like getting it's feet wet. As they are heavily feathered if they get wet and muddy they suffer from a variety of foot problems, they also don't like drafts, so the hen house has to be draft free but with some ventilation.

If you want to show your Pekins, its advisable not to give them perches like other chicken, as when they push and shove each other on the perch they damage the foot feathers, which are quite brittle and break easily.

My Pekin run is about 17ft long x 7ft wide and 3ft high. Half of this is covered with clear corrugated pvc to keep it dry and the other half open to the elements. The complete run is made of weldmesh and wood frame with chicken wire across the roof to keep wild birds out and stop them getting Avian Flu from wild birds. It's also relatively fox proof.

They have their food hopper suspended from the run to discourage vermin, and I will take the hopper indoors every night when the Pekins go to bed. Their water hopper is on legs so it doesnt get full of bits of grass, straw or anything else they flick about when scratching outside.

At the moment the colours I have are: Lavendar, Blue, White, Lemon Cuckoo, Brown/Red, Millefleur, Gold Partridge and Silver Partridge, Black Frizzle and Lavendar Frizzle.

About Pekin Bantams

History
The first Pekins are said to have been stolen from a private collection held by the emperor of China in Peking around 1860. Another story states they were imported from China around 1830-1840 and were presented to Queen Victoria. These imported birds were originally Buff colour, and poultry breeders bred them with other bantam breeds to get the variety of colours that we see today, but keeping the standard of the bird's plumage and stance.

Behaviour The Pekin is a very gentle bird. They are good layers of reasonably sized small eggs but are well known for becoming broody, making them great mums. They make excellent pets for children as they are tame. They settle very well and require little space. Pekins can look rather pale and anaemic if not allowed on grass to forage. They tend not to scratch around in flower beds so are good birds to keep in an urban garden. They are normally a robust and long-lived bird that loves company.

Varieties
Pekins are a very popular breed here in the UK. They are available in a whole range of colours. Lavender, blue, silver partridge, red partridge, blue mottled, Columbian, cuckoo, mottled, buff, black, millefluer, crele, red/brown, lavendar, lemon cuckoo, white and wheaten. With all their feathers they actually look larger than they really are. All colours have short legs and feathered feet and toes.