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: