ALABAMA!!

[Wisher1000]

Quote:
Wisher, I lost power for over 18 hours once and 26 out of 28 hatched with no problems. I was pleasantly surprised and I hope you will be too.

I've heard this from many people. I hope it holds true for me, I just can't get my hopes set on it. I told her I wanted to wait a few days and then I would candle a few to see what I had. The problem is, all of them were less than 10 days into incubation and I understand that is the WORST time to have a problem with temp. Thanks for the well wishes, I will keep them cooking until I know there is no hope.

 

[icandi]

Is there ANY pink in those combs? They look all yellow to me. The roos usually pink up by the time they are feathered out. Maybe a good sign, you could have two pullets. On the other hand, one def has more comb than the other.......

No pink in them that I could tell and in person one comb is a little bigger than the other but not too bad. IDK if feather texture can tell you anything or if it's merely just different with each breed but the darker more solid one has glossier and more coarse feathers than the one with spots it has duller and softer feathers.

For your comparison pleasure: My flock at 9 weeks old. Only one boy present.... notice the tiny combs and wattles.

I'm afraid you may have a bunch of boys.. but, you might get lucky.. you never know!

Well I should hope not! lol I bought all pullets except those two RIRs which were straight run. You never know though

 

[Orps]

Hawk's back again. I know because it was sitting on the bird cage I had the chicks in when I got home. Chicks okay. Little bit of blood on one of my quail chick but it will survive.

And now thinking about it. I think it got my one of my quail a couple of day ago. He went missing from dog crated converted tractor. I thought he escaped through the bars but I couldn't understand why I couldn't find him in the yard because his wings are clipped. Now I know why.

I got to figure out what to do about the hawk before my chicks are too old to be in the brooder. Any thoughts?

 

[mbfarmer94]

Blast him

 

[mbfarmer94]

Wait I didn't say that

 

[Orps]

Wait I didn't say that

 

[waynec1955]

Hawk's back again. I know because it was sitting on the bird cage I had the chicks in when I got home. Chicks okay. Little bit of blood on one of my quail chick but it will survive.

And now thinking about it. I think it got my one of my quail a couple of day ago. He went missing from dog crated converted tractor. I thought he escaped through the bars but I couldn't understand why I couldn't find him in the yard because his wings are clipped. Now I know why.

I got to figure out what to do about the hawk before my chicks are too old to be in the brooder. Any thoughts?

Shoot it, Game Warden near me says you can protect your flock. Of course, if you live in city limits, that may be a problem. My next suggestion would be to get one of those blow up owls.

 

[Tomtommom]

Well I should hope not! lol I bought all pullets except those two RIRs which were straight run. You never know though

Ofcourse, yours don't look like that little cockeral either.... so it's a toss up.

Wait and see seems to be the only answer.

Things I usually look at:
-wattles, boys get them way earlier than the girls.
-combs, again, boys get them earlier, they're bigger and often will start turning pink LONG before the girls.
-thick legs... you can only compare these between birds of the same breed ofcourse.

I've never had much luck judging them by tails.. but it is possible. A boy will have a longer, pointy tail. A girl has a more rounded tail, that kinda flips up.

They say you can tell once hackle feathers start coming in, but that honestly had me thinking all my RIR were boys, and they are girls.

You can't go by attitude either... some breeds are just far more brazen than others.. when I got my chicks, I was pestering folks on here about sexing too. And at some point I thought I had lots of boys because they were having chest bumping matches in the brooder

All girls, just one guy in the end.

It's a real guessing game, as they say, you can't know for sure until they crow or lay an egg... and I have heard GIRLS crow.

Hawk's back again. I know because it was sitting on the bird cage I had the chicks in when I got home. Chicks okay. Little bit of blood on one of my quail chick but it will survive.

And now thinking about it. I think it got my one of my quail a couple of day ago. He went missing from dog crated converted tractor. I thought he escaped through the bars but I couldn't understand why I couldn't find him in the yard because his wings are clipped. Now I know why.

I got to figure out what to do about the hawk before my chicks are too old to be in the brooder. Any thoughts?

Bird netting? Fishing line with bits of mylar blanket tied to it? If you want to post pics of your setup we may be able to think with you.

 

[Dragonfly216]

Hawk's back again.   I know because it was sitting on the bird cage I had the chicks in when I got home.  Chicks okay.  Little bit of blood on one of my quail chick but it will survive.

And now thinking about it.  I think it got my one of my quail a couple of day ago.  He went missing from dog crated converted tractor.  I thought he escaped through the bars but I couldn't understand why I couldn't find him in the yard because his wings are clipped.  Now I know why.

I got to figure out what to do about the hawk before my chicks are too old to be in the brooder. Any thoughts?

I have heard of people tying CDs to fishing line from trees so that they hang vertically and spin around. It apparently freaks out the hawks to have that spinning, shiny disk nearby and they leave. I think you may have said you don't have a lot of trees anymore, but I bet you could attach sticks or poles around where you keep the birds, maybe one in each corner? Couldn't hurt

 

[Lovere]

Hi, I'm looking at moving to Hoover, Al in May and am wondering what the rules are for backyard chicks there. Anyone know or have experience to share.? Thanks