Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[yoopergirl1211]

Trying to figure out which chicks to sell and what to keep. I have two sapiens, two dark Cornish, two Delaware, 3 black Australorp (keeping one I think) 2 barred rocks, one ancona, 1 white laced red Cornish, 1 mystery mix, 5 EEs, and red stars. Plus two more barred rocks set aside for Fluffy butt and 4 boys. Anyone have any thought? I know I want the Ancona and one Black Australorp that loves me. Need to put the rest up for sale. Hubby has me on lock down until I do lol.

 

[fisherlady]

Trying to figure out which chicks to sell and what to keep. I have two sapiens, two dark Cornish, two Delaware, 3 black Australorp (keeping one I think) 2 barred rocks, one ancona, 1 white laced red Cornish, 1 mystery mix, 5 EEs, and red stars. Plus two more barred rocks set aside for Fluffy butt and 4 boys. Anyone have any thought? I know I want the Ancona and one Black Australorp that loves me. Need to put the rest up for sale. Hubby has me on lock down until I do lol.

Consider what you want your flock for.... eggs, meat, self sustaining (broodies) or eye candy....then go from there. Each breed has its own tendancies and merits. With egg production you would definitely keep the red star, Australorp's and EE but get rid of the cornish, for self sustaining you keep the cornish and australorp but get rid of red star and EE....for meat you get rid of the EE and Red Stars but keep the cornish and rocks.
So decide how you want your flock to be and go from there.

 

[yoopergirl1211]

Were going for mainly egg and looks. Eventually for meat but were setting up for that yet. I'd like to have one of every breed lol. We kinda like doing prettiest and ugliest

 

[emorems0]

Finally starting to collect eggs from our breeding pen to incubate. How long can I collect them before the oldest ones start getting too old? I should keep them on the counter until incubation time, right?

Anyone knowledgeable on chicken genetics want to take a crack at what I should expect from the chicks... if there are any gender specific traits or dominant feather colors, etc. I have a Delaware roo over dark Cornish hens. There are a few Delaware hens too, so it would be nice to have an idea what the cross will look like to be sure I can tell the pure Delawares from the crosses.

 

[yoopergirl1211]

I swear I hear peeping from under Bantam that eggs get cold. Afraid to lift her up to check!!

 

[yoopergirl1211]

Is it normal for them to be completely hidden under mom at first? I really didnt think any were going to hatch. Hopefully its more then one! I need to see lol. It'll be my very first hatched baby!

 

[Chaos18]

Is it normal for them to be completely hidden under mom at first? I really didnt think any were going to hatch. Hopefully its more then one! I need to see lol. It'll be my very first hatched baby!

Yes its normal.

 

[yoopergirl1211]

Yes its normal.

I'm going to be checking evert five min. Lol. I checked under coop to make sure no one was undee there messing with me lol. So excited!

 

[BullChick]

@dheltzel , @Auroradream26 I think ALL of the eggs hatched out under my broodies! I didn't find any unhatched eggs, but found lots of egg shells. Amazing, especially since they were all playing musical chairs. So far they are all cooperating, although the poor girls are so hot tonight!

Interesting night tonight. My rooster started challenging the Tom turkey. It did not go well for the rooster, and the Tom continued to pursue him until I broke it up. I did see some blood on the turkeys beak (from the Roo), but when I checked the rooster over, he just seemed to have marks on his comb and wattles. I will have to keep a close eye on them.

So sad and miffed tonight. The neighbor's cat got my midget white baby turkey. I only had one hatch, and he nabbed it. It must have been separated, because there are smaller Langshan chicks, but he didn't bother them. I am so annoyed. He is an outdoor cat, but it is not fair that he comes onto my property to kill my animals. I needed that turkey to replace the two that I lost this year. I am also nervous, because I have the other turkeys that are due to hatch in a week, and I don't know if I can fuse them to the broody turkey, or if she can protect them.

I feel bad saying anything because my neighbor is in a wheelchair, so she probably can't restrain the cat. She does have a boyfriend who lives with her, but he is not very friendly. Any suggestions on how to deal with this without ticking off my neighbors? This is the same one who I asked them to put a bell on his collar, which they did. Apparently it didn't help as much as I had hoped. They said the cat is an outdoor cat.

Kill the cat! Set a trap, and get rid of it!

I could see that! I feed fermented feed... though not very fermented at the start. I tend to restart fresh frequently so it's not so strong. But, wow how ravenous they are when it's a little pungent! The langshan are calm and passive, so far. I can see the value of these gems, in the flock, already!

Dhetzel's chicks (mostly cockerels) are not quite 1 wk old, and are already flying to the edge of the brooder.

Why do you start fresh? The older it is, the more health benefits.

 

[BullChick]

@fisherlady How long has your longest broody taken?
I know Bonnie has fertile eggs. Today is day 22 or 23 (23 according to what I put in the app). I listened to each egg, but didn't hear anything. This is confusing me.