Results

I got a nice e-mail this morning - from the fresher dozen, of 5 fertile at 8 days there are 5 chicks. Of the old dozen, several were candled as being fertile but apparently but in hindsight the best guess is that the age of the eggs probably made them look as dark as a fertile egg. Ah well, we gave them a shot. Apparently they exploded when cracked to be checked. I really hope it didn't make a big mess... ew!

I should pick them up on Friday so be watching for pictures!

Now I've just got to coax my darling hen back into laying at least a few more eggs and keep their bums defluffed. I think nutrition is all right - they get a mix of layer pellets, a free-range scratch mix (seeds, grains, lucerne bits etc) both of which are stored in airtight containers in a cool, dark, relatively low humidity area. Plus whatever bugs and such they gobble from the garden, fresh greens/veggies/healthy scraps in small amounts in the evenings, diced garlic and occasional dobs of yogurt (real stuff), honey or blackstrapmolasses in a mash, applecider vinegar in the water in small amounts. Going to start some codliver oil as soon as I can find some. Plenty of space and free-ranging as they follow me around the garden and we've got heaps of bugs in the mulch. Been wormed so parasites aren't the problem. I think it's just bum fluff and maybe some to do with the recent bout of heat we got for a few days even though they had a shallow tray of water to bathe in spoilt chooks!