Chickens Everywhere

The last few days have brought an avalanche of chicks hatching in the incubators at the office. Overnight Thursday, nearly 30 were born - MF's OEG, Gibbo's wyandottes and my silkies and barnevelders. We brought them home and put them in the temporary accommodation; they will move on through the nursery as they grow. For weeks now we'll have regular hatchings.

Buff silkie.

 Wyandottes and barnevelders. The black marks on the heads of the wyandottes is felt pen, to mark certain breeding lines until the chicks are toe punched.

 Black silkies, barnies and wyandottes.

 A blurry photo - but I want to keep an eye on this little guy to see what he/she ends up looking like. It's the most unusual colouring I've seen in a black silkie.

 The red racing stripe on the heads - same idea as the black mark. The chicks will be toe punched soon.

 Two incubators run; the eggs have to be tilted morning and night. At about day 10, the eggs are "candled" by placing them on the end of an upturned torch to see if the embryo has started to grow. It's easy to tell what's fertile and what's not. Depending on when they're candled you can seither see a black dot zinging about, a lot of red veins, or a dense mass - if there is no embryo, the egg is very clear and the light shines up through the egg easily.The eggs are checked constantly when hatching is nigh to remove spent shells and to check that the chicks aren't too dry, causing them to get stuck in the shell and not be able to chip their way out.