Going to try hatching for the first time, advice?

Cor, it's all changed since I was last on here

Anyhoo, I bought 2 Millfleur Pekin hens last year and we all love them to bits, theyre sooooooooooo cute!! Now they've gone broody, so I phoned the lady I got them from and tomorrow I'll be picking up 10 fertile eggs for our girls to incubate.

Now we've had chickens for years, both full sized and bantam/pekin, but we have no experience with chicks, so I need some advice please

The pekin hens are housed in a coop with a run, and the wire is small enough for tiny chicks NOT to escape & to keep predators out, so they can be left alone to hatch out their babies.

I am a bit concerned about the hens not eating & drinking properly whilst sitting. They are quite tame, so they won't mind me popping my head into the coop with food and water for them. Or should I shoo them off the eggs once a day so they can eat & drink?

The eggs take 21 days to hatch dont they?

When the chicks hatch, do I feed them chick crumb? Will the mums be ok eating the crumb as well, or do I carry on with their normal food? Do I feed them in open dishes or use normal feeders? Anything else I need to know?

 

Welcome back RandyRos

Not got as far as chicks but when ours went broody she would come off the nest by herself once a day, eat, drink & do an enormous, well, you can guess

 

Bumping this for further chickeney attention

 

Thank you I must say I like the new look here.
yes, there have been plenty of those enormous.......

my youngest (11) has been crazing me for chicks since last year & I quite like the idea too, so I'm giving in to her lol But I bet I know who will be doing all the looking after

 

Oops

 

I've changed my Avatar so you can see the girls in question....Bubble and Squeak

 

Thank you Randy, its nice to have a compliment

 

Welcome back RR! Geeze it HAS been a while. Hope you have been well.

 

Thanks catztail. My life's been rather the last 7 months or so, but you know what they say.......what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.

 

Yep, know THAT feeling........!!

 

Sorry can't help you on the chick front Randy...but good to see you back

 

thanks lolimac.

I picked up the eggs this morning & got some advice. Apparently the eggs will take 22-25 days to hatch! I had to put food and water in the coop with them and they moved to eat/drink, so I put all 12 eggs (we got 2 free) in 2 lots of 6 right next to each other. Squeak was the first one to sit on 10 of the eggs lol and Bubble only got 2!! But the lady said they will "juggle" the eggs between them as the brooding goes on.

In the eggs there were 5 Millefleur (like my girls), 4 lemon MF and 3 blue MF, so it should be interesting

 

Keep us posted Randy can't wait...i'll get Jenny to get her knitting out

 

cor, how time flies!!! We should be seeing little chicks anytime from sunday onwards.
Can't wait!!! Not least so I can clean the stinky things out

 

Do post a few pics RR!! I LOVE baby Peeps!!!