San Diego Chicken meetup and Chat thread

DonaldFan · May 6, 2013

Aumlet said:
Four broody hens.

I have a broody duck!

DonaldFan · May 6, 2013

My friend and I got eggs from Indigo Ridge to hatch in our kids' classrooms. In mine I used my incubator while the other they used the teachers. Sadly, my incubator is now in the trash. Out of all the eggs that I got only one hatched that survived. Since the other clutch almost all hatched (except for the ones whose fertilitly wasn't unsure of) I knew it had to be my incubator. The class had been keeping close record of everything as a science project so I know everything was technically looking right. Thankfully, my son is in 4th grade so the kids are old enough to understand. Did get one chick from the successfull clutch to keep ours company. Now I'm not sure if the teacher will give them up. She is 8 mo pregnant herself and in love with the chicks. Very cute!

So...any suggestions for a new brooder? Hubby said I could get a new one in a couple of months.

dfdesigns · May 7, 2013

Awww Jenn... so sorry about your awful hatch! I think it's happened to just about everybody at one time or another. (My worst hatch resulted in a single chick out of a bunch of *very* pricy shipped eggs. SO depressing!) At least your singleton has a friend for company! As an aside, I believe your partridge chick is a Welsummer x Ameraucana F-1 OE, and the black chick is either a Marans or an OE.

Just to throw this out there, I have SEVEN broodies right now. Just ridiculous. Five of them are up in the layer coop, and they are all black. Five black hens taking up five of the seven nest boxes is quite a sight, and has the other hens (who are actually laying eggs - imagine that!) in quite a tizzy. Sigh.

I just put my first round of eggs into lockdown in my new incubator... I hope things go well! I have Blue Double Laced Barnevelders, Marans, OEs and W/BW Ameraucanas in there. The hatching tray has movable dividers, which is going to be so helpful! Sometimes those Marans and OEs are quite difficult to tell apart.

WFF · May 7, 2013

dfdesigns said:
Awww Jenn... so sorry about your awful hatch! I think it's happened to just about everybody at one time or another. (My worst hatch resulted in a single chick out of a bunch of *very* pricy shipped eggs. SO depressing!) At least your singleton has a friend for company! As an aside, I believe your partridge chick is a Welsummer x Ameraucana F-1 OE, and the black chick is either a Marans or an OE.

Just to throw this out there, I have SEVEN broodies right now. Just ridiculous. Five of them are up in the layer coop, and they are all black. Five black hens taking up five of the seven nest boxes is quite a sight, and has the other hens (who are actually laying eggs - imagine that!) in quite a tizzy. Sigh.

I just put my first round of eggs into lockdown in my new incubator... I hope things go well! I have Blue Double Laced Barnevelders, Marans, OEs and W/BW Ameraucanas in there. The hatching tray has movable dividers, which is going to be so helpful! Sometimes those Marans and OEs are quite difficult to tell apart.

I hatched some of the Blue Double Laced Barnevelders and I had 14 out of 18 hatch. Since I only paid for 12 and the others were extras I figure I had over 100% hatch rate. (Don't tell the people that pay me to do accounting that this is how I figure percentages)

LaPetiteFarmer · May 7, 2013

Good luck Dana with the chicks. I am pretty confident you will have 100% rate after seeing your wonderful incubator.
I guess I am not too far behind you... I currently have 5 broodies now. I am trying to break 2 but they are quite stubborns and I don't have anything to put them in beside a dog crate.

OffGridMAMA · May 8, 2013

It must be broody season in SD

I have four set, two acting awfully broody-like but still laying...hmmm :/

My broody # 1, who now has five chicks just started laying again... yaay

the funny thing is.... she's supposed to be my only wellie and she is laying bright blue eggs Lol.... so I guess she's not a wellie

no worries.

On an unrelated note....
What happened to spring??? I miss the sunshine

Aumlet · May 8, 2013

One of my broodies gave up, but I still have 3. I collect the new eggs daily, but there are 3 bantam EE eggs from alisar in there (the dwarf olandsk weren't fertile). So what happens if/when three chicks hatch to three broodies? Maybe I'll choose the best mother of the three and isolate her before hatch day. All three have raised chicks before, but one is a far better mother than the other two.
Oh the drama. "As the coop turns."

Knock Kneed Hen · May 8, 2013

This message was sent to me:

Hi.
Can any of you spread the word about a 2 year old mallard drake in Rancho Santa Fe that was released by its owner for attacking their chickens? I guess it's got food and water, but no protection from predators. Perhaps you can post this on the San Diego thread or just pass the word around to people in the area. I will see if I can get contact information. They said they can provide transport.
If you know anyone else I should contact from San Diego, let me know.
Thanks so much!
Darlene

If anyone is interested in giving this mallard a home please contact desertdarlene through a PM. Thanks!

Aumlet, I'd go along with your plan. Dealing with three broodies, who may or may not accept anothers chicks, means you could have to set up three different pens. Make it easy on yourself.