How is your flock today?

[416bigbore]

@JadeFarms Your incubating projects looks fun, are you keeping these chicks for your flock? You will have to keep us posted with more pics when the big day arrives.

I been looking at buying a small incubator to have on had in case of an emergency. This spring I would like to see if a pair of our ducks will have any baby ducklings naturally first. It would be nice to keep the ducklings but room is an issue right now so we will have to find them a good home.

 

[Walpurgisnacht]

It's the first winter for ours also and luckily for them hasn't been super cold yet, a few nights of 26-F so far.

For some odd reason they all seem to love the thin ice on their pool water in the morning and will stand around the pool with their necks stretched out nibbling away at it, kind of funny to watch and hear all their chatter. LOL

If we do get any snow it won't be much and not last for long, so their first time should be interesting to see who likes it or not.

Oh nice! How many do you have, out of curiosity?
It's been about the same on average, though we've had a few nights of 18F so far. On Christmas Eve it's supposed to get down to 13F, so I'm going to try out that vaseline trick for my Dominiques and see if that helps them. Might give them one of their Christmas presents early, too.

That's amazing! It's so funny hearing the chickens try to crack the ice and how excited they get when one of them finally breaks through. My rooster has this habit of waking up, walking down the ramp to see if the snow is still on the ground, crowing indignantly for about 10 minutes, then walking back up to where it's warm.

 

[JadeFarms]

@JadeFarms Your incubating projects looks fun, are you keeping these chicks for your flock? You will have to keep us posted with more pics when the big day arrives.

I been looking at buying a small incubator to have on had in case of an emergency. This spring I would like to see if a pair of our ducks will have any baby ducklings naturally first. It would be nice to keep the ducklings but room is an issue right now so we will have to find them a good home.

What type of incubator are you getting? I may keep them, may eat them or may sell them. It depends.

 

[416bigbore]

Hello @Walpurgisnacht We have twelve ducks, four chickens and one little Roo. Not so much the chickens playing with the ice, just the ducks.

I have noticed with ours, that when the temps drop quickly they all kind of slow down. The ducks still love their pool regardless of the weather.

What did Santa bring them?

 

[416bigbore]

@JadeFarms O-ok, I put the link below. It came recommender from another member for an emergency, just in case the hens decides to quit sitting on her eggs. That would be disappointing so I thought I best have one on hand.

Maybe someday we may mess around with incubating, but for now we just don't have the extra room to add to our flock.

https://www.amazon.com/Incubator-Di...ndustrial&sr=1-4&ts_id=318009011&tag=backy-20

 

[JadeFarms]

I love that incubator, I also recommend it.

 

[Sally PB]

All the snow storms have missed us. We have yet to get a measureable snowfall! That could change Christmas Eve/Day. I have a covered run, so I don't know if there'll be much snow on the ground for the chickens to discover. I can't wait to see their reaction to it though. Just like with our first two dogs... funny, silly, and very memorable. Orrrrrr.... maybe not. They may just say ho hum and act like it's nothing. It wouldn't surprise me if they hide in the coop, but they always come out when I sing, "Mama has some chickie snack!"

 

[Walpurgisnacht]

@416bigbore aww they sound lovely!

Santa brought them two different mealworm blends. They were on sale at tractor supply, and of course I had to get them something.

 

[416bigbore]

@Sally PB That is too funny, ours just hear the door opening on the house in the morning and our Mallard hens come alive with their very LOUD, Quack! Quack! They know that I am on my way to bring their breakfast and have my morning coffee with them.

A covered run would be nice, hope to do that this next summer sometime, so tired of everyone up to their eyeballs in mud, but those silly turkeys don't seem to mind it!

 

[416bigbore]

@Walpurgisnacht We did get some interesting colors with our duck Hens being mixed and one of our Drakes ( Little d ) has more white on his underside over his Brother ( Big D ) and that gives him a unique look also.

Mealworms awesome, can't go wrong with that Christmas gift. LOL What do you mean by blends?

Ares have yet to know what a mealworm is, unlike earthworms that they all go absolutely crazy over. A few months back we bought a 1000ct live mealworms to try to start a mealworm farm so we will have an ongoing supply for when we start feeding as treats.

What an experience that has been, IMO, if I knew then what I know now, I would have never started this little adventure. I thought I had watched enough videos and done my homework on raising them first before starting and still getting educated as time goes on.

We are on our second round of hatched beetles so the cycle has been happening. The big issue is the different time it takes each worn to morph into beetles. So you can have one container that is an absolute mess with a little of every stage going on at once until you take the time to separate them out. I am getting it figured out, but it wasn't as easy as everyone makes it out to be that's for sure. I will have to write a booklet called, Raising Mealworms for Dummies'!