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We keep our ducks in an old dog house, and it works great. We added a door with a latch, so we can lock them up safely at night. No windows, but we added two decent sized ventilation holes up near the roofline.

My two young Muscovy girls have been sharing a nest, which was their very first attempt at brooding. They started with 25 eggs, and as of two days ago, were down to 14. Yesterday, was day 35, by my calculations. This morning, I took a peek when they were off the nest...no babies and no external...

I recently acquired a trio of Muscovy ducks. The two females are being bred regularly by the drake, and one of the ladies has recently started laying eggs. I'd love to have her hatch some soon. How does this work? Do I just stop taking the eggs and wait for her to decide she has enough? Is it...

How do you all house your Seramas? Do they mingle with your other chickens? I ended up with a little Serama (I think) hen through a rescue situation and I haven't a clue what to do with her. She's currently living in my chick brooder, with supervised garden time twice a day. Help...I need ideas!

I picked up these two rescued cuties today, but am completely unsure of what breed they might be. Any guesses? The little red one is about the tiniest bantam I've ever seen. The other one is about the size of a cochin. She also has a couple of feathers on each foot. I'd love to know what you...

Dang it!!!

I got this little beauty about 4 weeks ago and was told at that time that it was definitely a pullet, about 15 weeks old. He/she should be about 19 weeks old now, if the seller was being honest. No eggs, but no crowing either...frankly, I'm starting to feel a bit nervous about whether or not...

Thank you for asking! I was able to hatch 7 out of 12. Half went under my broody and the rest in my new and improved homemade incubator. I'm pretty happy with the results! :)

One of my two week-old buff laced Polish has just started limping out of the blue. HIs right leg seems to be very slightly swollen, just below the feather line. Is there anything I can do to help the little fellow out? He seems otherwise healthy. Thanks!

So, I got my broody moved into a cozy brooder box in my garage and set 1/2 of the eggs I had in my incubator under her. She's now been sitting on them happily for about a week. I don't think she's been off at all to eat or drink. Should I force her off? The eggs aren't due to hatch for another...

Thank you all so much! She's moving into a gigantic Rubbermaid container tonight, with a nice nest box set up for her and her egglettes. I really hope she wants to stay in the broody zone!

I need broody hen help, please. My Buff Orpington just went broody. She is currently sitting on about a half dozen unfertilized eggs, which I will be replacing with fertile eggs I've had in my incubator for a few days. I also want to move her out of the henhouse and into the garage to a safe...

I'm pretty sure my Buff Orpington just went broody. This is a new thing for us. She seems to have collected all of the other hens eggs and is now sitting on them. We don't have a rooster. She's sitting on our breakfast. She got up to eat this morning. Another hen went and sat in her favorite...

What do the stringies mean? I have one lonely egg in the incubator from a couple of days ago. We'll see...

No Sally, she laid it just a few minutes before the picture was taken. She's not at all the type to linger on her eggs. Lay 'em and leave 'em... We can't have roosters where we live, but we adopted her from a home where she was being brutalized by an over-amorous rooster. The first batch of...

I've tried comparing this with every picture I could find, but I'm just not positive. My guess is infertile. Also, does anyone know for sure approximately how long a hen lays fertile eggs after she is separated from the rooster? Thanks!!!

Thanks so much for all of the support! No one else I know really "gets" how much I love my chickens. I'm now working on trying to build a better bator.

I'm definitely going to try again. Now I just have to get my hands on some more eggs, since I'm pretty certain that my Cochin is no longer giving me fertile eggs.

Sally Sunshine - Thank you so much for the wealth of information! Had not heard of calibrating the thermometer...can it be done on a digital? My incubator is homemade, so I wasn't expecting much in the way of success. Temp was pretty regularly at 100-101, though we did have quite a few dips...

Here's what I found in all three of them. Today was supposed to be day 24. Last day of movement was day 17...does this look right? There was tons of fluid and yolk, and the air cells did seem fairly small to me. Gah!!! I don't know what I expected. I wish the chick would have written me a note...