Penelope Penguin hatches some eggs - update for 2011 at post 194!

Penelope_Penguin

More pics, anyone :beer:





As I say, there are 2 more eggs pipping (that'll be 4 chicks in total, if they all hatch ) so it looks like another sleepless night :eek:

Penny. x

thriftlady_2

Ooh they are so sweet Pen Pen. I think you should get a piglet too and some rabbits then I could swap some of my rations for your eggs and bacon, will some hm jam do ?

Penelope_Penguin

thriftlady wrote: »

Ooh they are so sweet Pen Pen. I think you should get a piglet too and some rabbits then I could swap some of my rations for your eggs and bacon, will some hm jam do ?

DH and I are off to the Lincolnshire show in Thursday, and I'm hoping to bring home a piglet or two :shhh: :shhh: :shhh: :shhh: :shhh:

Roll on the Penguin Family Smallholding - only about 7 years to go :rolleyes:

Penny. x

donny-gal

Great piccys Pen-Pen, one of my DS's friends is at the Lincoln Show, showing with his pedigree sheep. He has to rush back Thursday a.m. as they are off to Glastonbury (mad fools). DS has gone direct from his GF's he is giddy with excitement.
DG

Penelope_Penguin

Good morning! We have a third chick. She's still pretty weak, so we'll see what the day brings.

The other 2 look really bonny, and are hopping around in their box, and play-fighting. They're pecking at their chick-crumb, whick is tiny pieces of dry food, with everything that a growing chick needs. They also have atiny water drinker, that DH made from a plant saucer and an upturned yeast tin.

Penny. x

theverylast

After completely foxproofing 300 sq. ft. of a bit of land we borrow for gardening, we picked up five chicks on Sunday. Two of them below:-



The run is probably a bit big for the five of them (plus a 'mother'), but we will get a few more at market next week.

Thought you might like to see them :cheesy:

lil_me

Awww they ae so lovely, I'll have to show my son when he gets in from school. Hope the newest little one pulls through fine aswell. Good luck with the possible purchase lips are sealed but fingers are crossed! Extremely jealous, small holdings just something I dream of, but as they say if you keep dreaming then one day it might just happen.

Penelope_Penguin

How cute! Couple of questions:

Any idea what breed they are?

How old are they - will they be going outside straight away?

How did you *completely fox-proof*? The ones in my avatar were taken by fox/es, so any tips to stop it for when my day-olds are old enough to go out, will be welcome.

Thanks, Penny. x

Hapless_2

Foxes can dig and jump, there are also rats (for smaller birds), cats, stray dogs and mink (if you are near a river)to consider. Little birds can be taken by birds of prey too.

The best way to completely fox proof is to have a run which is enclosed by wire underneath and over the top. Either that or stand guard with a 12 bore.

theverylast

The yellow one is a Buff Orpington - there are two of those.

The dark one is a Black Maran (we think), and there are two others that are mixtures of the two.

They're six days old today. We put them straight into the chicken run (with a broody female to look after them for a couple of months. They can go inside the coop or outside in the run, and we obviously shut them in the coop at night.

We aren't sure yet which are male or female, but if either of the pure-bred ones are males they will probably go to market, otherwise they will make a tasty lunch! Females will be obviously kept for egg laying.

Fox proofing - I dug the chicken wire down into the ground, and it is fixed to 6' fence posts, hammered about 18 inches into the ground. I nailed 2x1s around the top of the fence posts and have constructed a roof out of more chicken wire and 2x1s. We've also used the sort of netting you use for fruit cages to cover up any gaps, and to completely the gate after we have shut it so there is no way through.

Although this should be enough, I'm also putting up an electric fence (using poly tape) about eight/twelve inches off the ground and a foot away from the base of the fence, just to discourage anything from getting too close.

They are also locked away at night.

When we went down there yesterday (it's across a couple of fields from our house) there was a cat having a nose around, but it couldn't find any way to get in, which is a good sign

I quite like the 12 bore idea, but my wife isn't so keen... (although I did point out that if I bought one anyway she wouldn't dare argue with me )