Every egg turned out to be fertile so 19 out of 19. 9 out of 10 of the incubator eggs have hatched ok and this despite UKPowernetworks deciding on a power outage to install buried lines for a whole day last week. I employed sleeping bags and insulation and a very warm room for 8 hours and it seems to have averted disaster.

Doris hatched 5 of her 9 eggs and I took the other 4 eggs away and put in the incubator as she was beginning to spend time mothering her new chicks rather than sitting. 2 of those look to be hatching today but still not sure as yet.

This means a grand total of 14 with 2 more possibly pending.

We have a little black Mabel lookalike and 3 beautiful soft grey Mabel chicks. Doris has produced some super bright yellow blondes and Daisy lots of varying gingery jobs.

Sadly we have Blindy the 1 eyed chick who appears to be sightless. I’ve put him in with Doris so he can have a proper mother hen experience even if he only lives a short time which I suspect might be the case. I’ve helped him drink as he can’t find food or water alone, not sure if I can get him to eat but we’ll see. He spent a happy night in Doris’s wingpit with his brothers and sisters.

See pictures in the gallery of the new chicks.