I would frantically start searching for another one. But I try to always keep a backup rooster for each breed/variety. I have a row of small "bachelor" pens where I keep extra roosters.
Here's a pic of a water system that was given to me. It's from a defunct chinchilla farm, and already has the saddles installed. I have chicken nipples to use with it (I already tested and they fit perfectly).
I have everything I need to get this up and running except for a way to attach...
I've got a BCM post for shipment tomorrow: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/754077/just-in-time-hatching-egg-auction-and-bin-thread/4170#post_15426666
My first listing in several weeks, and may be my last for a long while due to more flooding on the way. My feed bill is killing me.
SOLD
UGH. Things *just* got dried out and I got the nest boxes cleaned out and just started saving eggs again. And now that tropical storm is supposed to dump 4-6" of rain on us, so this may be the last BCM eggs until fall or next spring, since they're coming to the end of their cycle...
That sounds good. Maybe I'll go ahead with 5 to make sure.
I have tons of chicks from a few days old to about 4 weeks old - all hatched from the eggs laid by my 6 hens, And those original hens are only 14 weeks old! If I didn't have all the dates written down, I wouldn't believe it LOL...
This is turning into my quail cage. 16' long, 2' wide, 1' tall. It will be divided into 3 sections. Since I want 50 quail hens, I'll have 17 per section. How many males do I need for 17 hens?
This group of roosters is 6 weeks and 5 days old.
How in the world are you supposed to narrow your flock down to a few roosters when you get so many pretty ones?
Usually when I open the cage door, they come up to me and show off, but the camera freaked them out a little.
Everything is still pretty much a disaster around here, but I've made some progress. I'm going to clean up some of the worst of the trash and debris today, and then the quail cage is next, and Serama cages after that.
The first row of grow pens are finished and filled up.
The chick...
When I was a kid the menfolk would chop the turkeys' heads off with an axe, but we kids had to do the plucking.
I wish there was some place around here that would butcher poultry. I do it but I hate it.
Let me tell you a true story.
I once filled a still air Styrofoam incubator with eggs and then forgot all about it. I mean COMPLETELY forgot about it for 21 days! No temperature adjustment, no water in the well, no turning of eggs.
I remembered it when I started hearing some mysterious peeping...
Heat is not a factor in this case, they are in the house.
Usually their breaks haven't been more than a couple weeks, but this time it's been several weeks.