I woke up this morning to a cacophony of cheeps - our last batch of Scots Grey eggs for the year have hatched and so far we have 11 chicks from 12 eggs.
That's a major success as we usually only get two live chicks from 6 to 10 eggs.
I put it down to the fact that we've been buying in stock from all over the UK, and have now been able to breed birds from six, widely separate sources. (There are only a couple of hundred breeding Scots Greys left, so the flocks tend to be in-bred.)
The ones I can hear cheeping are from cockerels from the Western Isles and Inverurie, with the hens coming from two different Inverurie flocks and two English flocks. So I have Inverurie A cockerel with English A and Inverurie B hens; then Western Isles cockerel with English B hens and Inverurie A hens.
For early next year, I'll have an English C cockerel in with Western Isles, Inverurie A and Inverurie B hens.
Hopefully, we'll get a strong flock by mixing the bloodlines carefully, but for now we're well pleased to get so many chicks. Pics to follow.[/b]
Hatching success
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glenniedragon
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