My chicks are now 3 weeks old

My chicks are now 3 weeks old, they have grown soooo quickly, here are some pics of them...

just look at those feet!

This is Buttercup

And this is my 2 week old "Lucky"

Magpie chick pictures

Here are the pics of the Magpies that i was given to look after, as you can see they have grown quite a bit and have started to get there feathers.

heres when i first got them 26th April 09

And here they are today, 30th April 09, they are quite a bit bigger and have some feathers, all ive been feeding them iis chick crumb mashed with dog food, seems to be working great.

Ive Aquired Magpie chics!!

Apparently some boys had wrecked a magpies nest and dumped the chics, so my daughters friend brought them to me, they look as if they are about 4 or 5 days old, i've put them in the incubator and am feeding them chic crumb mashed with water. i will add some pics soon, so watch this space

My little hatchling

This is the one & only chick that i managed to hatch, Ive called him/her "Lucky", Incubating & hatching was an amazing experience and am really glad I had a go. Below are some pics of Lucky...

Below are the other chics thaat I brought from "merrydales", these were 2 weeks old last friday being 24th April. Lucky was put straight in with these and was perfectly alright, infact Lucky became the boss!!...lol

I've Hatched a chick

Well out of the 4 eggs that were in the "forced air incubator", that i brought, only 1 managed to hatch last Saturday 18th April at 3 in the morning, 1 did live till day 23 but the incubator went wrong and started flickering, making a loud clicking noise and didnt keep the temperature so i was very dissapointed with it! But the chick that did hatch is beautiful, I think he/she is a "blue Lace", Ive decided to call him/her "Lucky" as its the only one thats survived...lol..I have some pics but havent uploaded them yet but will do it in a few days so you can see it. The other 4 chicks that I brought will be 2 weeks old tommorow being Friday, they have grown sooooo much and already are getting feathers, their wing feathers came first, they are scratching around and love to jump on and over the small branches i put in the brooder, they are now in a "Dog Crate" brooder as they out grown the hamster cage brooder. Ive also put the little one that I hatched with them, hes/shes a week younger than them but seems to be copying everything they do, its great to watch! watch this space for the pics

We Have Chicks

But we cheated, yep the 1st batch of eggs that were in the borrowed incubator didnt hatch, and the kids were sooooo dissapointed. I took them with me to "merrydales" in Enderberry, (a lovely, friendly place which you can visit here.... http://www.merrydalepoultry.co.uk/ ) to get some grit, oh boy what a mistake to take them with me, as Merrydales had day old chicks for sale! well my daughter Paige and my son Connor just fell in love with them and literary begged me to get some!!! so we ended up with the minimum that you can buy which was 4. I really shouldnt have but what do you do when you see your kids sooooo happy...lol... ok ok yep It didnt take much persuading..hahaha.

One of the chicks is a beautiful yellow,, just like you see them on the TV, he/she is a lemon cuckoo pekin, and Paige has namned it "Buttercup", the other we yet have to name, and to be honest forgot what they are...oopps! All we have to wish for now is that they arent Cockerals!!!! just my look for them all to be..hahaha. Below are some pics of them in our brooder set up, which is by the way a hamster cage.

Another incubator...lol... am i addicted???

I visted a poultry place near me and they said that eggs had to be at a temperature 0f 37c well the borrowed incubator was set at 35.6 so ooooops was tlold they might not hatch but to leave them longer and see. Soooooo i went on ebay and brought a "Forced air incubator" which is really cheap (just £21 +P&P) and people have said it works, ive pinched the picture of it for now till i get my camera out.here it is

You can find them on ebay here....

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/New-Forced-Air-Incubator-hatching-eggs_W0QQitemZ270364592629QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Pet_Supplies_Poultry?hash=item270364592629&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1686%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

I have put 2 "Blue lace pekins" and 2 "Lemon Pekins" in there and have made sure its 37C...lol so watch this space and see if i have any success ;)