California - Northern

[chickee]

I think all 12 of my golden cuckoo Marans pullet eggs are growing

The eggs are so dark that I can't see veins, even with the high intensity Ova Scope candler. They are definitely not clear, half the egg is dark, so I am going to assume all of them are growing. They are 7 days along today.

Saw my GCM rooster breeding one of the blue wheaten pullets this morning so I should be getting some blue eggs soon!

Might just have to hatch some OEs from them. The offspring should be real pretty!

My 9 Catdance Silkie chicks went out to the chick grow out house today. They have been in the guest bedroom, but at 3 weeks old get too stinky to keep in the house anymore. I am guessing that I have 4 pullets and 5 cockerels. They are turning out really nice! Fat and healthy!

Ron . . where did you get your Australorps? It sure is hard to find good ones! I have a BYC friend in Michigan who wants some hatching eggs in the spring.

 

[PetRock]

I have a question about growing out cockerels. I have decided that I am going to give processing a go and will start with boys in this latest hatch if there are any. So that's not a big deal or anything since there are just three babies and I have extra space for them. But I am anticipating that in the future I will have more boys particularly if I order st. runs of chicks like I am planning to do. So I will need Camp Kenmore like Deb has and I don't know the best set up for dual purpose boys. I saw this http://www.the-design-eye.com/2013/05/40-diy-chicken-coop/ but it doesn't offer roosts or enough night time security for dual purpose boys so what do your grow out pens look like? Also what about boys of different ages? I am picturing hatches happening from March to October and boys of multiple ages living together but will that work? We don't have the space to build multiple Camp Kenmores.

Help Please!

What breed are you going to raise? If it is a fast growing breed, you would probably be processing them at or before 18 weeks so all the grow out chicks could be kept together until then.

 

[chickee]

Guess who got the stomach flu!!! Had to run out of art class!

I'm sorry to hear that! We had some sort of bug a week ago. Guess it is that time of year!

 

[ronott1]

What breed are you going to raise? If it is a fast growing breed, you would probably be processing them at or before 18 weeks so all the grow out chicks could be kept together until then.

Bresse or Pita Pintas grow very quickly--16 to 20 weeks is plenty of time to process them.

 

[ronott1]

I think all 12 of my golden cuckoo Marans pullet eggs are growing

The eggs are so dark that I can't see veins, even with the high intensity Ova Scope candler. They are definitely not clear, half the egg is dark, so I am going to assume all of them are growing. They are 7 days along today.

Saw my GCM rooster breeding one of the blue wheaten pullets this morning so I should be getting some blue eggs soon!

Might just have to hatch some OEs from them. The offspring should be real pretty!

My 9 Catdance Silkie chicks went out to the chick grow out house today. They have been in the guest bedroom, but at 3 weeks old get too stinky to keep in the house anymore. I am guessing that I have 4 pullets and 5 cockerels. They are turning out really nice! Fat and healthy!

Ron . . where did you get your Australorps? It sure is hard to find good ones! I have a BYC friend in Michigan who wants some hatching eggs in the spring.

They are from Chester Hupp @huppfarm and are from his Blue Australorp project.

He sells hatching eggs, so have them send him a pm to get on his list.

 

[juststruttin]

We've been told she is a pure German Shepard, and her size and coat would lead me to believe that is probably true. When's she's fluffy she looks much more like a GSD. She's so good with the kids, especially my two year old son. She follows him around outside and plays in the dirt with him. We think she's only about one. She was abandoned at a nearby horse ranch by one of their seasonal workers.

Deann, that is so frustrating! Maybe they mentioned it because they were also frustrated by their inability to do anything? I don't know. It would still infuriate me as well. They definitely should have. How are your current goats doing? My heart stopped for a second when you said something had killed your goats. Mark thought it sounded more like a coyote that killed the lamb, as well.

The goats are great. They are now locked up every night so that nothing can get them. My nephew recently got new ones. They are Nubian Dwarfs and he plans to show them in 4-h. They are sooo cute! He also got rabbits and plans to show them too. He will be the 3rd generation 4-h'er.

My kids had no interested in showing in 4-h. I finally gave up. I am working on getting my other nephew into showing chickens. If it does, I may decide to become a leader again. I was a leader in the 80's for rabbits and horses, so I am a tad bit rusty.

 

[juststruttin]

Speaking of 4-h, I thought I would share a photo of my aunt (on right). She and her friend won this steer in the calf wrangling contest at Santa Rosa Fair 55 years ago. My aunt turned 70 yesterday.

 

[tommysgirl]

I think all 12 of my golden cuckoo Marans pullet eggs are growing

The eggs are so dark that I can't see veins, even with the high intensity Ova Scope candler. They are definitely not clear, half the egg is dark, so I am going to assume all of them are growing. They are 7 days along today.

Saw my GCM rooster breeding one of the blue wheaten pullets this morning so I should be getting some blue eggs soon!

Might just have to hatch some OEs from them. The offspring should be real pretty!

My 9 Catdance Silkie chicks went out to the chick grow out house today. They have been in the guest bedroom, but at 3 weeks old get too stinky to keep in the house anymore. I am guessing that I have 4 pullets and 5 cockerels. They are turning out really nice! Fat and healthy!

Ron . . where did you get your Australorps? It sure is hard to find good ones! I have a BYC friend in Michigan who wants some hatching eggs in the spring.

So glad you got your Silkies and that things looks so promising in the marans eggs!!

What breed are you going to raise? If it is a fast growing breed, you would probably be processing them at or before 18 weeks so all the grow out chicks could be kept together until then.

Within the next year I assume that I will have Delawares, New Hampshires and their crosses as well as various other dual purpose crosses from my own flock. My boys are Del and NH

In addition I plan to hatch both Australorps and Javas next year. I have read that NH mature fairly early Java's will take the longest. Somewhere I read that if they are more than 2 or so weeks apart in age the older ones will kill the younger and hence my question about mixed age groups.

In addition at some point I will be ordering st run chicks from any number of small hatcheries and I would sort of like to get set up to raise and process all the chicken DH and I consume. I figure if I process a bird for every week that should do it.

It just seems like an enormous deal and way more complex than a laying flock is but I am committed to the idea of raising my own. I just feel overwhelmed about how to start.

 

[ronott1]

So glad you got your Silkies and that things looks so promising in the marans eggs!!
Within the next year I assume that I will have Delawares, New Hampshires and their crosses as well as various other dual purpose crosses from my own flock. My boys are Del and NH

In addition I plan to hatch both Australorps and Javas next year. I have read that NH mature fairly early Java's will take the longest. Somewhere I read that if they are more than 2 or so weeks apart in age the older ones will kill the younger and hence my question about mixed age groups.

In addition at some point I will be ordering st run chicks from any number of small hatcheries and I would sort of like to get set up to raise and process all the chicken DH and I consume. I figure if I process a bird for every week that should do it.

It just seems like an enormous deal and way more complex than a laying flock is but I am committed to the idea of raising my own. I just feel overwhelmed about how to start.

If they are within a couple weeks apart, I combine them. I separate the pullets from the cockerels when the boys start to crow or get too frisky. I let them go up to 20 weeks but if they get on my nerves they go sooner.

It does not seem to be too hard to do so far.

 

[chickee]

They are from Chester Hupp @huppfarm and are from his Blue Australorp project.

He sells hatching eggs, so have them send him a pm to get on his list.

Thanks! I will tell her