DARK BROWN EGGS

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Colour on official chart 4

£1.50 each
Colour on official chart 5
£2.50
Colour on official chart 6
(to order - email for availability)
Colour on official chart 7 
(to order - email for availability)

Minimum order 6 eggs
as and when available but will mix colours

Post and Packing using
P.O. Special Next Day Delivery
before 1pm signed for service
£7.50 for 6 eggs
£10 for 12 eggs
£13 for 18 eggs
£14 for 24 eggs

A newly hatched chick has enough nutriment inside it from the absorbed egg yolk to last at least 24 (or even 48) hours. So don't be in too much of a rush to get them feeding. In fact sometimes they will not bother much at first.

If you are hatching in a incubator be sure to leave the chicks in the incubator until they are dry and fluffy. If they don't dry quickly it probably means your humidity is too high.

For a brooder you will need a source of heat and something to stop them wandering off. This can be as simple as an electric light bulb and a cardboard box, or as hi-tech as you want to go. But most people will start with an infra red heat bulb with a suitable shade to direct the warmth, and if they are in a large area, then just contain them with a hardboard ring. Electric hens are also very good, and use less energy, though you may need to "train" the chicks to use them by making sure they are underneath it for the first few hours

There are specific temperatures for each week of a chicks life, and you can measure this by simply placing a thermometer on the floor, but the chicks will regulate themselves given sufficient space, which I feel is the best way of ensuring they get the correct amount of heat.

When undisturbed by noise or movement you should generally find young chicks which are under a heat lamp will lie in a circle. The centre (which is slightly too hot) will be empty of chicks, but just at the margins they will settle themselves at the spot which suits them best.

Chicks which are too hot and cannot get away from the heat of the lamp will push against the outside of the pen, and may lie flat out and panting. Temperature with a heat lamp is easily adjusted by raising or lowering the heat lamp - chicks crowded together and standing up directly under the lamp cheeping means lower the lamp. Chicks round the outside lying flat and panting - raise the lamp

Hatching is a tiring and stressful process for the chicks so in the early days they will spend a lot of their time asleep. Contented chicks will emit soft cheeps or a churring noise. Chicks which are too cold or suffering some other kind of stress will make a sharp, hard, continual plaintive cheep. (think of those wretched smoke alarms when the battery is low) This is their signal to you that something is wrong.

The egg yolk which is absorbed by the chick just before hatching will sustain life for 24-48 hours, but it is best to offer small chick crumbs, and a dish or container of water in which they cannot drown. This can be as simple as a saucer with a few stones in it or a purchased chick water fountain.

If it is an emergency and you don't have any chick starter crumb on hand then a small amount of chopt hardboiled egg will keep them going, and a few breadcrumbs or coarse oatmeal is also fine.

I like to have chick grit on offer to them from day one, but other folk do not bother with grit at all and still have good results, so it is your decision. I also have a small container of dried and ground seaweed meal available for them if they feel the need. (Apparently seaweed meal offers the full range of minerals) Again most breeders do not offer this, so it is up to you.

The flooring of the brooder needs to be "non-slip" as the chick leg muscles and sinews will be weak, and on a slippy surface they may develop "splay legs" - self explanatory really. There are ways of alleviating and even curing this, but I find prevention is better than cure.

The newly hatched (and dried fluffy chicks) are taken from the incubator and put on a brand new piece of corrugated cardboard, with the ridged side uppermost.
On this I scatter a few chick starter crumbs, as the noise of the chicks pecking at the crumbs on the cardboard encourages them to start feeding. I also have a filled container of chick starter crumb available. After about 2 or 3 days as the chicks begin to move around more, and can distinguish feed crumbs from bedding I add a scattering of dried chopt hemp stalks or rape straw (Bliss, Rapport or something similar)

As the bedding becomes soiled it is easy to remove by rolling up the corrugated cardboard and starting afresh.

If there is something I have missed, or not made clear, then please do contact me as this page is meant to be helpful to beginners.

Good luck with the chick rearing......