Set eggs 3/5. Looking for others to hatch with! - Page 77

Quote:

Originally Posted by wholewheatchicken 

 

What happened to your babies?

Someone stole them from the coop in the back yard.

I set 36 eggs on 3/6.  12 mixed silkies and 24 mixed reds.  I have only had about a 60% hatch rate in my hovabator.  I have been tweeking things and I am hopeful.  This will be my third and largest set.  When you use your own or barter for eggs its just a fun fairly inexpensive hobby that I have become addicted to.  Good luck everyone.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wholewheatchicken 

 

Keep a good eye on her.  Sometimes it will seem like they accept the chick, but then later kill it.  Good luck!!!!

Sat w/my chicks after work today. Mi'a seems to treat her newest foster chick (The Rescued Chick) the same as her other foster chicks. The chick didn't seem to show any stress. I tried letting my  brooder chicks I bought at MFA (kept in same building as Mi'a)  loose to see how Mi'a would act w/them. I purchased them the same day her eggs hatched. So she's seen them every day for the past week. The only thing seprating her & her chicks from the brooder chicks is chicken wire. DID NOT WANT THEM NEAR HER or her chicks. So I could see she doesn't accept just any and all chicks. I believe RC is safe w/Mi'a. I'm glad. After his/her difficult start in life, he/she needs a break. Mi'a took all her babies outside again for about 15-20 min. to scratch in the dirt. 

It's good to see everyone is busy with their chicks and hatching new ones! 

Personally, I need to stop getting and hatching new babies.  It is SO much work getting everyone to their correct tractor or area in the morning...Filling 4 different feeders and waterers...Seperating the Momma hen with babies from the other hens that need to lay eggs in the coop...and then gathering up everyone and putting them back into their prospective brooder or coop for the night!!!  It's ALOT of work!  I really don't mind doing it, but I'm going out of town in a month and I don't know ANYONE who could handle this responsibility.

My chickens are not integrated to one another.  I will always keep my silkies away from my LF, but right now I can't even put all my silkies together because of the age difference. Why do chickens have to be so mean to one another?  When do you guys "join" younger silkie chicks to older chicks?  The older silkies are about 9 weeks old and the younger ones are almost 4 weeks old.  I'm trying to sell my 2 feed store silkies since I don't want them in my breeder stock but especially because ONE OF THEM STARTED CROWING @ 8 weeks old!  It is more of a croak, but he's not far from the real thing.  I'm just so relieved it wasn't my precious BB or MistyBlue....I would have been crushed! 

Then, I have Buffy with her 3 little babies that she doesn't defend from the other hens.  And, I have the 5 week old Easter Eggers which don't really fit anywhere either.  I'm trying to sell 3 of them and keep the 2 that look most like pullets.  They really don't fit in the brooder container anymore and probably want to perch.  When could I add the Easter Eggers to the big girls?

On a lighter/happier note...Here is sweet Buffy with her 2 Trader Joe chicks and her adopted Welsummer chick.  She had them outside ALL day yesterday.  Here she is taking a dust bath and they better just watch out from flying dirt and her scratching feet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wholewheatchicken 

 

 

    Is that the babies you just hatched out??????  Why in the world would someone do that?????  I am so sorry   

 

Maybe you can look on CL and find someone selling chicks and they may sell you hatching eggs that you can pick up local.  Shipped eggs do not hatch too well.

Yeah it was the babies I just hatched that I was going to use for four-h and now I have  to show. So now I am getting 6-7 dozen hatching eggs for the incubator. I will get them sometime next week after my duck eggs hatch on Friday.