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littlefoxxx said:
Hi guys! I'm new to BYC and I recently moved to the area between Harrisburg and Lancaster. I grew up in western PA though and all my family still lives there. I work at a commercial broiler hatchery and occasionally I sneak home chicks that get left behind on Friday nights. We're supposed to euthanize them but I can't euthanize a healthy animal in good conscience. I'm not actually allowed to have any birds because of my job and originally a relative was going to take these chicks but now I need to find someone who wants them for free. I posted in the swaps forum about this but it got deleted because apparently that wasn't the right location.

I have 6 total right now, 5 females and 1 male. 2 females are 4 weeks old, 1 female and the male are 3 weeks old and the last 2 females are 1 week old. They're a commercial cross of Hubbard slow feathering males crossed with Cobb 500 fast feathering females. I really need to rehome these babies asap because I live in an apartment and having them puts my job at risk.

They've all been vaccinated for Marek's and received a cocciostat at the hatchery. They're pretty friendly as far as broiler chickens go, but still very skittish to sudden movements and such. I've been told that if you place broiler breeds on a restricted diet then you can keep them as layers. So maybe that's a possibility of their fate.

I really hope this doesn't get deleted because I need to find somewhere semi-local to rehome them to.
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Hi and welcome from Cambria county! I'm too far from you to take them or I would but being broilers, they pretty much have their fate predestined for them. Though, everyone on here would dispatch them quickly and painlessly once they reach butcher size if that helps.
 
dheltzel said:
Fired up the small incubator tonight!  Seems my "vacation" from incubating eggs lasted only 2 weeks. I had to, you know. Those Reese Legbar eggs simply must be hatched, right?

7 of them went into the incubator.   :fl
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Incredibly stupid question but how do you know which eggs are fertilized and which to eat. Sorry, I'm a newbie.
 
Auroradream26 said:
Hi and welcome from Cambria county! I'm too far from you to take them or I would but being broilers, they pretty much have their fate predestined for them. Though, everyone on here would dispatch them quickly and painlessly once they reach butcher size if that helps.
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Unfortunately I've grown fond of them, I really hope that I can find them a home where they wouldn't be slaughtered but as broilers, I understand that that's pretty much what their fate will be.
 
Ge
Chicky Feathers said:
Incredibly stupid question but how do you know which eggs are fertilized and which to eat. Sorry, I'm a newbie.
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Well before being exposed to the proper heat requirements all eggs are technically able to be eaten because there is no embryo development. Eggs produced from having a rooster present are more likely to be fertile but infertile eggs are still produced at times. You have to incubate the eggs for 1-3 days at the proper temperature to start embryo development. Then you could candle the eggs to see which ones have begun development. A lot of people would remove the eggs that don't show any development when candled but sometimes candling at this point isn't reliable so you could candle them further in development to see what's growing and what isn't. It's really obvious at 15-18 days which eggs have chicks growing in them and which ones are infertile or died early in incubation.
 
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littlefoxxx said:
Ge
Well before being exposed to the proper heat requirements all eggs are technically able to be eaten because there is no embryo development. Eggs produced from having a rooster present are more likely to be fertile but infertile eggs are still produced at times. You have to incubate the eggs for 1-3 days at the proper temperature to start embryo development. Then you could candle the eggs to see which ones have begun development. A lot of people would remove the eggs that don't show any development when candled but sometimes candling at this point isn't reliable so you could candle them further in development to see what's growing and what isn't. It's really obvious at 15-18 days which eggs have chicks growing in them and which ones are infertile or died early in incubation.
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Thank you so much- that's fascinating! I would love to try incubation in the future. My sister and I used to think roosters fertilized an egg like fish do.Glad I got a clue ha!:lau
 
Chicky Feathers said:
littlefoxxx said:
Ge
Well before being exposed to the proper heat requirements all eggs are technically able to be eaten because there is no embryo development. Eggs produced from having a rooster present are more likely to be fertile but infertile eggs are still produced at times. You have to incubate the eggs for 1-3 days at the proper temperature to start embryo development. Then you could candle the eggs to see which ones have begun development. A lot of people would remove the eggs that don't show any development when candled but sometimes candling at this point isn't reliable so you could candle them further in development to see what's growing and what isn't. It's really obvious at 15-18 days which eggs have chicks growing in them and which ones are infertile or died early in incubation.
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Thank you so much- that's fascinating! I would love to try incubation in the future. My sister and I used to think roosters fertilized an egg like fish do.Glad I got a clue ha!:lau
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Our parents told us the same thing.

I gave the chickens; a can of tuna, two cans of cat food, some bread, a few raw crushed eggs, a small can of beets and some other stuff I had in a slop bucket. Sturgis followed me into the coop, and choked down. The chickens couldn't get near the bowl. He took the beets out, but seemed to like the rest. I was tempted to lock him up in the coop.
 
I'm in west chester/west goshen. I really need a nice temprement hen (or other compatible critter) to be a companion for my sweet sweet hen who is all by herself. My cat loves hanging with her, but now that it is cooler he doesnt want to go out. Can anyone help me?
No roosters please I dont want her hurt
 
Thanks for all the suggestions of a cold-hardy broody. I've got SLW so I might just stick with them.....unless they don't co-operate. Although I would like to add so Black Laced Red Wyandottes next year and may a Buff Orpington or to if the other birds don't want to sit on eggs for me.
 
For those of you that use mobile devices to access BYC. Is there an easy way to post pictures from them? I use my samsung phone all the time but have a really hard time posting any pics from it.
 

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