I've just candled the eggs...

[TheDuchessOfNorksBride]

on Day 14. And of the 12, 10 are looking good and 2 I'm not sure about. They're not completely clear and there are no blood rings but there's not much dark stuff either.

Anyway, I've left the 2 questionable eggs in but put them at one end of the incy so I'll know whether they hatch or whether I was right to be dubious. I'm not going to bother with Day 18 candling, seems like overkill.

It's much more technical than just letting the hens get on with it isn't it? But rather enjoyable too!

So, chicks due in 7 days. Baby due in 11.

Oh duchesse I'm so sorry, you really have a persistent fox problem don't you? - that was us last year. What are you going to do with the Silkie? Can you surround the coop/run with electric poultry netting?

I've been looking at using electric netting so I can eventually put the new chicks out in a paddock with just a coop. 25m of netting comes with posts and only costs about £45 - we use electric for the horses so I already have energisers/batteries. The only worry is the chickens will jump out, it's only a metre high.

Not normally a violent person, but I was fantasizing at 6am about sitting up for the bloody thing with a shotgun (that I don't know how to fire, or even own). 14 yr old son is begging to be allowed to have a pop at it with a .22 (he's a bit of a dab hand at range shooting, certainly enough to get a fox across the garden. I nearly bashed the bloody thing with the rake the last time... soo angry with it.

And I've had chickens for four years but this the first concerted assault Ive had on them, so I suppose Ive been lucky. It just feels as though they're not going to stop until there are no chickens left.

We had free ranging chickens for 4 years or more, never troubled by foxes until last year. We lost 3 flocks in a row, including a blood-bath inside the henhouse. We then had a miserable couple of months with no hens and bought in new stock at the end of the summer. No problems yet this year (though some neighbours 2 miles up the road are losing their birds).

I'm wondering if the lack of local hunting is beginning to have an effect on the number of foxes we have needing to eat?

How exciting! Mine are due to hatch today and tomorrow - I keep perring at them to see if they've pipped yet!

summersmum - I hope you get to see some of them hatching or about to hatch (though that's more addictive than MNing and I wasted hours sitting at the incy ). We had quite a few that pipped & hatched in the night. Lovely surprise in the morning but it's nice to see happening too.