Colorado

[wsmith]

Waking up together has been successful for me.

Also, you can remove the one chick for a while (a day or so), then place it back into the "established flock", which essentially demotes it on the pecking order.

 

[Warner123]

Ok. I will try that. Mine is a Sussex cross, possibly pure, but can't be sure. Turns out it is super aggressive, and has been playing possum with its agility. Way more advanced than previously demonstrated when alone. The other two, we have no idea. Possibly Rhode Island is the father, but that's a guess. We will see when I get home from work, as my Sussex can already get out of the Tupperware.

 

[coloradogal]

Hard egg success: I have been struggling on the way to do hard boiled eggs with fresh eggs for months and months. I finally came upon a method that works. You put them in a pressure cooker. It actually works. I just used my old pressure cooker this time, put in a steaming basket and steamed for 6 minutes. Of 12, only 2 weren't perfectly peeled. Next time, I'm going to try the pressure canner as then I can hold the pressure at 8 psi.

 

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

Just candled (day 10) and removed 3 eggs for blood rings. Two light green and one dark brown egg gone from the mix. :/ Everyone else seems to be developing ok though, including one I was sure I would be tossing right now. Weird air sacks aside, I think it is going really well so far!

 

[kmatt87]

Hard egg success: I have been struggling on the way to do hard boiled eggs with fresh eggs for months and months. I finally came upon a method that works. You put them in a pressure cooker. It actually works. I just used my old pressure cooker this time, put in a steaming basket and steamed for 6 minutes. Of 12, only 2 weren't perfectly peeled. Next time, I'm going to try the pressure canner as then I can hold the pressure at 8 psi.

how do you use a pressure cooker?

 

[dennarahl]

Lookes like she is a Dom. does she have a small up-turned spike at the end of her comb? Her tail is a little above 45*, but that is typical of hatchery Doms. Abe's tail is slightly under 45*, so they're offspring should be closer to SOP. Looks like she and the NN get along well.
Dominiques aren't nearly as heavy as BR or Marans. BR hens have deeper bodies and are longer in the back too. clicked on the photo and saw a closeup. Yet, pretty sure she is a Dom.

Her beak still has some dark in it; that's part of the sex-link trait. Females at hatch have darker legs, darker beaks, and more defined head spots than the males.

She does have the little spike, and the sex-link traits were right for her and her brother. She's almost five months old. She and her siblings were in a straight run batch at Big R, I managed to get 2 Doms, 2 brown naked necks, and 2 black naked necks. I ended up with boy/girl pairs in each type. I should have bought a lotto ticket that day too. The girls all get along very well and I'd be hard pressed to separate them because they're a mini flock in the bigger flock.

 

[dennarahl]

how do you use a pressure cooker?

ditto?

 

[samsr]

I woke up to a nice surprise! The incubator is holding steady at 99.5!! NO variance! It is behaving differently then last night. The light flicks on for just 2 seconds or so then shuts off for a while. I think it just needed to warm up.

The mass of the water is going to help stablize the temp just like eggs will. But to a point. Keep an eye on the temp regularly and you should be good.

 

[WendyGeisler]

advice....
I noticed very few eggs yesterday and today. My husband collected 2 this morning, but with our fabulous weather I was a bit perplexed. We are getting about 5 a day.
So I started looking around and found 8 on the ground under a bush! That is the first time my chickies have done that. Should I get the dummy eggs out and put them back in the
nesting boxes? I put them all in water and they stayed at the bottom of the bowl, so I am guessing they are ok.
Any advice from those more experienced??
thanks, Wendy

 

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

advice....
I noticed very few eggs yesterday and today. My husband collected 2 this morning, but with our fabulous weather I was a bit perplexed. We are getting about 5 a day.
So I started looking around and found 8 on the ground under a bush! That is the first time my chickies have done that. Should I get the dummy eggs out and put them back in the
nesting boxes? I put them all in water and they stayed at the bottom of the bowl, so I am guessing they are ok.
Any advice from those more experienced??

thanks, Wendy

 

My hens decided that under the coop was the preferred place to lay for a while. Stinkers. I put fake eggs in the nest boxes and then made a point of using the 'scary' rake to remove the eggs from under the coop and ruining the dirt nest they had made. It took about two weeks but eventually everyone went back to using the boxes.

Also, you can tell if any of those eggs are still good by putting them in water. Bad eggs float. Eggs that fall to the bottom but stand on one end are still good and total sinkers are absolutely fresh.