R.S.'s Diary 2025
16.05.2025
This week has had plenty sunshine but very cold winds from the north and east with low humidity, has given us challenges with hatching eggs, The hens are quite settled and sitting ok, feeding has slowed down but soaked seed and sweetcorn are the ones being taken first.
We have had a couple of warm days and with this combined with the cold days and nights brings a possible coccidiosis problem so I have treated the birds before it takes hold.
I am reaching the end of my season with only a few more eggs to hatch hopefully and then my attention will be turned to preparation for the moult, I will be giving Premolt 100 in the water everyday it has all the nutrients required for a good healthy moult.
The first youngsters have been weaning in two's or three's and now I am singling them off so that feathers don't get pulled out, be mindful of where the perches are so they don't bend their tail feathers, I pick my perches for the individual birds in that if I have a bigger chick I use thicker perches so when they land on them it's substantial and the bird is confident and stands well I have found if you put too thin a perch in they wobble and the confidence is lost, I have three types of perch which are thick wooden, thin wooden and plastic ,the worry when training is stiff claw which is why I only give one perch two inches from the floor until they are 16 weeks then two perches are given one thick wooden and one plastic .
I am still not convinced about the nutrition in the seed but with warmer weather they are ok but when it's cold I add a few oily seeds i.e. hemp, Niger, linseed and rape to keep them in good condition.
09.05.2025
This week has been dry but with cold winds off the sea east and north with the odd warm day and this is probably the reason why fanciers are saying the birds are just not settling, my birds are plodding on and it's not the best season but it's not the worst either it's just a steady grind.
Feeding is still going well with a few more jumping the nest and feeding themselves but it's on the 24/25 day mark a bit later than it used to be. I have found this year the newly removed chicks have been going for the sweetcorn segments before the Perle Morbide and they are doing well.
show cage training for the first ones has started and they are happy to go into the cages in which I have a piece of string with honey on it, also a drinker with condition seed in is given which they find very quickly.
I have found over the last couple of weeks that most hens are settled, but a couple have never been got into that mode as they build get tread and not lay for a week or more then as they finish laying they sit for a few days then abandon the start again, I think these hens are just not mature enough ,we can blame the weather and other things but personally I believe it's maturity so what do we do with them ? , if they are quality hens you must give them another go next year as they will be mature then and I have found this with one of mine , which has gone on to do well.
Another problem that's popped periodically is trichomoniasis which can be treat with Ronidazole, I give mine a treatment once a month for 3 days which I find works well, you can give it to feeding hens as it doesn't affect them or the chicks.
Also, coccidiosis can be done the same but for 2 days.
02.05.2025
This week has been very warm and sunny I was expecting sea fog as this usually happens but it hasn't so far , the humidity has dropped below 40% less than half of what we had last year, so I have been trying to raise it as I don't want hatching chicks to get stuck with the membrane shrinking, I have been washing the floor , hanging wet towels at the door entrance and baths for the hens that are due to hatch all of these things help .
Some of the hens nests are a pretty poor effort and these nests can be a problem for development of eggs as the roll around I was given a tip from Paul Heathcote to cut a piece of Hessian sack into a circle about 12cm across and before setting the eggs form the nest with a bit more nesting material then place the Hessian in the bottom of the nest and work round with a light bulb until it fits snuggly .
Feeding has been going well with most of the hens enjoying the sweetcorn segments I give on top of the egg food to the point one hen is almost feeding this solely I get the sweetcorn in frozen form about £1.50p a kilo and put some in a container overnight to thaw then feed, soak seed is going down well but rinsing it constantly especially during this hot weather is an absolute must as failure to do so will kill nestlings and makes the hens sick .
Taking chicks away from their parents is nearly always a worry, knowing when to do it is the problem as most chicks will happily beg for food for as long as the parents will feed them ,my method is when I have seen them trying to feed themselves 3 times I removed them and find that it works quite well ,I give them Perle Morbide only till I am happy they are feeding well ,but seeing a chick stood on a dish of food crying always bothers me.
25.04.2025
This week has been strange with a few days sunny but cold east winds, Monday was very sunny with warm south winds but the following day sea fog rolled in and humidity went up dramatically.
The birds with chicks have been feeding well and a few more have been rung and on their own the system I use for weaning is a black plastic lid where I put Perle Morbide and a bit of egg food so it stands out and they go for it ,once I am happy they are feeding I change it to a white oval dish , they youngsters are given a few peas and sweetcorn in the mix which they enjoy as this is gone first soaked seed is given at 6 weeks .
As I've said the birds are feeding well on a mix of egg food, Perle Morbide, couscous and pea porridge with sweetcorn, also a bit of green food a few times a week, I also give a slither of cuttlefish bone every other day as the hens seem to like this.
A few hens who have had their chicks taken away are a bit slow going to nest again this is a bit unusual for me as they normally just start building straight away, but the signs are that they are going again but it's taken a week to 10 days ,I have taken all the cocks out of the pairs and have got them at the other end of the cabin so they are competing to out sing each other so hopefully they will fill eggs In the last round which seems these two factors may be the problem whereas in warmer weather this may not happen .to be working.
This year has seen a few addled eggs and I think this is due to two things the first is storage of the eggs and the second is the very cold winds we have had, both these factors don't help in cold weather as the stored eggs get very cold and may affect them also when the hens are off to feed the eggs are chilling if the hens take to long to return to the nest
18.04,2025
This week has been a mixed bag weather wise; we have had plenty sunshine, cold winds and thick sea fog bringing the humidity up to 90%, however the birds have been feeding well and the chicks in the nests are thriving.
I had one nest a day late so I pin pricked the top of the eggs as I was worried the chicks inside would run out of air with them being overdue, I read about this procedure in the journal and I can tell you it worked as the two full eggs duly hatched.
I spend much less time in the cabin when young chicks are in the nest as I find the hens don't come off to feed until the chicks are 4-5 days old and I don't give soak seed till the chicks are 7 days old as I find they can easily get bacterial infections and you can lose them.
I have noticed that the pairs of borders don't seem to tread as often as the ones I run into tread the hens 4 times a day, so I take the cock bird from the pairs out for a couple of hours twice a day and on return you can almost guarantee a tread.
Cleaning out is a problem trying not to disturb feeding hens so I clean the cage when I set the eggs this lasts for 3 weeks if I take the droppings out periodically, hopefully the chicks will be a week old when I need to do a fresh clean out, after this I leave till the chicks vacate the nest .
I had a nest of 3 full eggs fail to hatch when this happens I check them in the Eggbuddy and if there's no sign of life I carefully open the egg to look for what caused the problem ,in this case they look like they had a bacterial problem and died absorbing the yoke sack ,this is helpful knowledge as I can give a treatment before they go to nest again, this treatment is trimethoprim sulpha powder which covers bacterial infections and coccidiosis.
11.04.2025
This week has seen plenty sunshine with a cold fresh breeze from the north and east with very cold nights but humidity at reasonable levels.
Thursday being the best day of the week with a warm west wind and 19°C this is the first time I have had the cabin door open all day for a while
Feeding has been a bit of a struggle with hatching chicks not getting fed straight away so I have hand fed two nests with Versa Laga A19 hand mix which is mixed up with water at a ph. level of 5 to stop fungal and bacterial problems in the crop, after a day and a half the hens have started feeding and the chicks look OK with nice red gapes time to leave alone.
I hand feed using a very small children’s paint brush which I think works really well and it's easy to do, I used to use a 1ml syringe but you can get trapped air in the crop which can cause fungal and bacterial problems.
The first youngsters have been rung and are feeding themselves nicely using a fifty fifty Perle Morbide and Easyyem egg food always a nice sight to see.
On a sad note I lost 3 chicks at 9 days with the hen feeding really well but not sitting on them to keep them warm she was OK till the 9th morning but I noticed that she was not going onto the nest to sit resulting in the chicks getting to cold and sadly died she was still trying to get then up to feed even though they were stone cold ,not much you can do about that one.
I have changed all my nest pans to wooden one’s size 12cm long x12cm wide and 5cm high with a back on 10cm high, with 1cm square mesh on the bottom, I find the borders take to these much better than clay nest pans.
04.04.2025
This week has seen plenty sunshine but very cold during the night, the humidity has been quite good around the 50% to 60% mark which is good for hatching.
A few chicks have hatched this week but we have had some staggered hatching with chicks coming up to a day late which doesn't help them compete for food, so I have been topping the later hatched ones with A19 Versa Laga hand mix, this has helped them to get strong and after a couple of days they are looking well.
The staggered hatching in my opinion is caused by the way we store the eggs after taking them away daily and with the temperature dipping overnight, I think it takes the first one laid a bit longer to get going once they are returned to the nest. So, I will try a few experiments on on different methods of egg storage.
Feeding is going well with soaked seed and a soft food mixture of Easyyem, pea porridge, couscous and Perle Morbide, every time I make a mix, I leave one of the ingredients out to keep them interested.
Fertility is good using Fetura 12 and vitamins twice a week.
I have had some hens which have deserted the nests for reasons only known to them but if this happens. I will rest them for two weeks before I attempt putting another nest pan in.
I clean out the cages when they’re feeding every week to stop food going off and the birds picking it up.
28.03.2025
This week has had good spells of warm weather throughout the day but cold at night with a few foggy days making for high humidity. With my little fan heater I have been able to keep the humidity to around the 70% mark, I would prefer it to be a bit lower at around 60% to 65% which makes for a nice condition for the borders, I will keep trying but the wind direction is the key to doing well north and easterly winds cause problems with colder damper weather whilst south and westerly winds are much warmer and drier so fingers crossed for the latter.
Feeding is going well with a mixture of Perle Morbide, Easyyem egg food and couscous in equal portions also soaked seed for chicks above 6/7 days to stop loose droppings and messing the nests up, which happens to chicks under 6/7 day old, if I do get this problem I give quarter of a teaspoon of Epsom salts in the drinker for two days.
I have continued with the ph. in the water to just below 6ph to try and stop bacterial problems, which seems to be working.
I have a few nests with fertile eggs due this week so fingers crossed
Some hens are still messing about and look like they’re just not settled so I will be swopping these hens’ cages over to see if a different location is more settling.
Fertility has picked up from last week with a bit more Fetura 12 in the water for the cocks making them even louder but the worry this is making their fitness go over the top and attack the hens instead of singing them down to tread, so it's observation time to see if I have got it right.
21.03.2025
This week has turned from cold to warm and it’s confusing the birds some are sitting tight others are looking like they’re going to leave the eggs, so I have been very vigilant and if I think they are going to leave the eggs I will remove them and put them in my incubator which is only used for this purpose.
I have had another few chicks hatch this week and feeding is going well apart from one young hen, who looked like she didn't know what to do, so I mixed up some A19 hand mix with Prolyte water and this combination was fed to the two chicks using a kiddies paint brush, I dip the bristles in the hand mix and then put into the open beaks I find this the easiest and less messy way of doing it ,I used to use a syringe but it not easy to get it right with sometimes too much going in.
The cocks are bouncing fit and doing their job filling eggs.
The hens are a bit unsure where to build but generally it's not going to bad.
The ph of the water which I have lowered to just below 6ph for 4 days a week has got the birds in good condition and looking well.
I am feeding Easyyem soft food mixed with Perle Morbide and pea porridge in equal amounts and it’s going down well
Also soaked seed, which is soaked overnight then thoroughly rinsed and given to any hen feeding chicks over 6 days old as I find you may lose chicks if fed earlier in my experience.
Fertility is not as great as I would like it this may be due to me not wanting to get the birds fat and I will address this in the coming weeks
14/03/2025
This week has started off with southern winds which were a bit warmer allowing me to open the doors and windows but then it turned cold with fog, snow and rain
So, the door and windows have been closed as the temperature has dropped to 3°C through the day and -1°C through the night
I have a little electric fan heater on a timer coming on for 5 minutes every 2hrs which keeps the humidity below 70%
I have had some chicks hatch this week and are getting fed on Perle Morbide and Easyyem egg food at a 50/50 ratio and they are taking it well, at 5 days I introduce soaked seed which I soak overnight then rinse in the morning and give it to the hens, I don't sprout it, I continually rinse the soaked seed throughout day so it's fresh at every 4 hourly food change.
I have two very good young cocks but they have both failed to fill eggs whilst watching them tread they haven't got a clue what to do, so all I can do is let the hen sit and remove the cock. After two weeks hopefully can get an experienced cock to go with the hens, of course this will be my second choice for the hens, if possible, later on I will try these cocks again.
I am using wooden nest pans and have found the borders like these better than clay pans they are hung on a screw about perch height in an attempt to stop chicks getting pulled out of the nest because I find when the hens fly up from the nest this tends to happen.
07.03.2025
This week has seen good weather with sunshine and lower humidity which is very welcome.
A few changes were made This year and one was blackout blinds on the windows which gives complete control of daylight with my LED lights inside the bird room and as my neighbour has put up a security light bright enough to light up Wembley this has blocked out anything to disturb the birds at night, the blinds are opened first thing in the morning to give a little bit more light in.
Last year we touched on the quality of seed and that how small the seeds were in the mix, as I don't think that nutritionally there is enough goodness to get the birds into condition, I have been topping seed up every day and the birds have been cherry picking the best seeds which in years gone by would have made the birds fat, but no longer find this so.I have kept to 4 days of ph. control of the water to 6ph and on other days its 7.3ph
If you live in a high ph. area this could prove invaluable, as if the ph is too high it can unbalance the gut which has a ph. of 4.5 approximately.
Vitamins are given until the hens are carrying and the cocks are dancing and singing
I have been giving greens in the form of savoy cabbage ground up with a teaspoon of wheatgerm oil to aid fertility. My birds are looking really well on this system
So far, half the hens are sitting and apart from one the others are carrying and looking interested.
The first two nests are clear which I expected as I didn't see any treading but this sometimes happens early doors however the next two nest are full so fingers crossed.
Hopefully this weather continues with the humidity staying low as this will help the chicks in the eggs grow properly, as to much high humidity can stop the chick’s development before hatching
01.03.2025
This season has started if with much less rain than last year but very cold with North and east winds split up by a few scattered days of warmer weather from the south, overall the humidity has been lower than last year around the 80% mark to reduce it to 60/70%, I have a small fan heater running for 5 minutes every 1.1/2 hours which is giving me that reduction to 65-70% humidity, with lower humidity bacteria, mould and fungal spores do not form as occurs when it's 80% +.
I have altered a few more things like lighting which I set to 10hrs on the 14th of December, then as I had a holiday in January I put the lighting to 12 hrs on the 4th January before I went, and on my return I added 2 more hours on the 28th of January making 14hrs, a week later I put it up to 14 1/2 hrs which is where it will stay for the breeding season .
Also I am giving Ph control to the water 4 days a week, along with vitamins, reason for PH control 4 days is so the birds don't get accustomed to it continually. The benefits are hopefully less problems when hens are feeding chicks as the acidity of the Ph control makes it a bit more hostile for bacteria , mould and fungal infections, the water is tested using a ph tester which costs about £6- £10.The ph I am looking to be is 6 or slightly under but no higher.
So far the borders are settling down to breed and I have a few nests set, so far things look much better than last year at thus time.
