sussexfanpeter
11 Posts
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Hi I wonder if anyone can help me? I am about to take delivery of
24, hopefully fertile, sussex eggs; 6 speckles and 18 lights. I
would like some advice on candling. When is the best time to do
this? How do i do it? and what am i looking for? Secondly i have a
lovely red sussex chick who was hatched on 24th July, so just over
2 weeks old. He/she is currently growing apace in my brooder. How
long should he/she be in there for? i am currently feeding chick
crumb. When should i start feeding other food? How soon can he/she
start taking live food such as mealworms? Any help and advice
greatly appreciated. Pete. x
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matt_p
22 Posts
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Hi Pete,
As for candling, a decent torch should be good enough, and it needs
to be done in a dark room. Put the torch at the rounded end of the
egg (I'd wait until day 7 if you've not done it before) and you
will see veins and blood vessels, as well as a tiny black dot if
the egg is fertile and developing. If the egg is clear, you will
see nothing inside, apart from the yolk, and a ring of blood
indicates bacteria in the egg, and these are no good either. I'd
wait until day 10 until discarding any eggs, just to be on the safe
side.
As for the chick, it will need to be in the brooder until around
5/6 weeks, and this is when you can start to feed different foods,
but do not feed too much, as the chick crumb is important to let
the chick grow. I personally keep birds on chick crumb until at
least 8 weeks, whereas some switch to growers at 5/6 weeks.
I hope this helps, and if you have any more questions I'll do my
best to answer, or I'm sure somebody else will!
Matt
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