The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[BlueMouse]

So, a question for you experienced incubators! We're getting ready for our first attempt at incubating and hatching our own chicks, and were planning on doing guinea and chicken eggs at the same time, but are getting mixed opinions on whether this is possible. will it work out fine as long as i start the guineas a week early? I was ready mumsy's excellent article on that thing, and had a couple questions. Our humidity is currently VERY LOW here. especially since we're still heating with wood. Is the 33% that she uses ideal, or should we go with the 45-50% recommended by other sites? I don't want to be drowning any chicks!!! Very excited and a little nervous!

 

[FridayYet]

Welcome to the thread I'm in So Cal too! Where are you getting your pullets? Dare 2 dream farm in Lompoc delivers down to LA and they have a variety of chicks & sometimes pullets. What kind of hens did you decide on!?? You'll want more once you start

Keep us posted on your progress!!!

Well I decided to change gears and will be picking up 2 (female) cream legbar chicks this weekend in San Diego.

Of course I have nothing set up for chicks (never done this before) so I'll be making another run to the feed store and surfing threads for the easiest & healthiest ways to care for them! Now to search for some Welsummers.... Thanks for the tip on Dare 2 dream Farm - I'll check them out now.

 

[delisha]

Quote: I have never had that experience in a year. I have the opposite.

Quote: I had read that the really dark shells were hard to candle. I'm just practicing incubating with production red eggs till I get the hang of it. right now my incubator is really dependent on the room temperature. With it being spring our house temp is changing during the night. It is one of the reasons I'm looking at the genesis. I'm hoping the genesis would not require as many temperature adjustments. My children like to do as mom. So besides trying to stay on top of checking the temp in the incubator I have to make sure the children are not touching the tiny dial.

Was this the article you were looking for on the incubators?

yes thanks so much

Quote: does the peep thing apply to all chicks or just the BCM ones?
I do it for all eggs. I prefer to do it for internal pip. The taping and peeping is a good indicator. Sometimes non are piped until the next morning, than you have to scramble to get them out of the turner if you do not have a different hatcher. I have one.

So, a question for you experienced incubators! We're getting ready for our first attempt at incubating and hatching our own chicks, and were planning on doing guinea and chicken eggs at the same time, but are getting mixed opinions on whether this is possible. will it work out fine as long as i start the guineas a week early? I was ready mumsy's excellent article on that thing, and had a couple questions. Our humidity is currently VERY LOW here. especially since we're still heating with wood. Is the 33% that she uses ideal, or should we go with the 45-50% recommended by other sites? I don't want to be drowning any chicks!!! Very excited and a little nervous!

Good question..
Your environment is critical. That is what will make your hatch a success. Monitor your humidity levels. Choose a room that has the most even temperature controls. A room that has low traffic, no sun beating in the window and no drafts. Find one that has a humidity level that stays around 40%. You can add a pan of water to a dry room to help. Hatches work if you can keep inside and outside close. If outside is 30-40% humidity, the inside can b maintained easier at 30-40 %.

The recomended numbers work great for the large incubators and hatchery's and for people who hatch at higher temps. It will work if you have egg turners and fans and keep it at 101

 

[CoopChick719]

Henry is growing way too fast! Slow down so I can enjoy you small Henry!

He's getting so big!!

Wait till you have kids!

x2 what LM said!!

I know right! I'm going to cry at every milestone I know it Did I mention I'm going to be an aunt again? A little girl this time. FINALLY!

Congrats on being an Auntie again!

Time for some 15 week photos. First the "mystery chick".

Black Australorp??

Little Black

Hi LeahsMom! I hope you find out what Little Black is because my Pitch looks just like her...black legs...black feathers w/a green sheen. It got too late for me to finish reading all the posts---had to go to bed.

 

[delisha]

The Gold Laced Orpingtons are growing so fast. The male weighs almost 4 lbs already. They are with chicks 10 days older and are twice as large

 

[countrygirl74]

JEALOUS!!!!! I've always wanted a creek.....

X2!

I plan to put fish in my rain containers for the ducks.

What kind/size of fish would be good for ducks? I would like to get some too but don't want to get something too big...

A funny story about the creek. When we run the pump and the screen becomes dislodged, a few smaller fish will get sucked through the pipe. When one does, the chickens go nuts. One will grab it and run with everyone following. Then, they all wait around the end of the pipe for another one to come through tilting their heads one way then another watching the water.
NO DUCKS!

I loved our weather today..it was 50 all day..the sun even peeked out for a short time.. I cleaned out one side of the coop and I will be putting my Orp chicks on that side in the next week.
The snow is all melted and my yard is a mess..its really weird about all the stuff i had buried in the snow. I must have found a dozen food dishes.

That's funny Delisha! I can just imagine you outside with your chickens going on a treasure hunt.



Had a busy, but good, day until tonight when my neighbor started giving me all sorts of crap about our roosters. We're allowed to have them where we are. We lock them up from 9p.m. to 8a.m. so that they don't crow and wake anyone up before 8a.m. in the neighborhood and he still is mad. Said he sat outside in his hot tub and they crowed 100 times this evening in the one hour he was out there.

I can understand his annoyance but I was hoping he would be more patient - they're young roos establishing themselves and I feel like I've tried so hard already so that at least no one gets woken up early. We're so attached to them and they are all great, sweet roos. He questioned me as to why I even need roosters if I wasn't trying to make a bunch of babies. I told him that we use them for protection when free-ranging to which he replied - you have a fence. Duh... coyotes can clear our fence, skunks can crawl through the fence, and hawks don't care if there's a fence. The other reason we have them is because we love them! Two of them belong to my 12-year-old daughter who has raised them all this time and she is so upset and worried that we will have to get rid of them to keep the peace with this guy. He said he wouldn't have moved here if he had known we had chickens and it's not fair to him to get them after he was here. Um... hello? We live in a rural community where poultry is allowed - including roosters! Sorry, I just had to vent. I am so torn about what to do...
Will they ever slow down on the crowing? They are almost 26 weeks. Is it because I have 3 - they do seem to feed off each other with the crowing, back and forth, back and forth throughout the day. I'm trying to decide if I should wait it out until they are older and see if they slow down at all or will I have to get rid of 2 and just having one will eliminate the incessant crowing?? Hmmm....

 

[amberr]

Oh no CG74, I am a little worried about our new neighbor too, no one on our driveway has chickens. We will b on 10 acres but closest neighbor is only 1.5 acres away. We will also have noisy guineas so he is really going to love us
Terrible stuff in Boston, a co worker and her husband were there. All their family are ok just shaken up.

 

[flagirl]

Fish in water tanks: when the hurricanes came thru south fla 6 or so yrs ago, they put some type of fish in house pools since there was no electricity and there was lots of green stagnant water. don't know what they were, but they were small and eat lots of mosquito larva. the gov't was giving them away to anyone who wanted them.

 

[jlynnet]

Sounds like te neighbor needs to build an enclosure for his hot tub!

 

[Pullet Surprise]

Quote
Will they ever slow down on the crowing? They are almost 26 weeks. Is it because I have 3 - they do seem to feed off each other with the crowing, back and forth, back and forth throughout the day. I'm trying to decide if I should wait it out until they are older and see if they slow down at all or will I have to get rid of 2 and just having one will eliminate the incessant crowing?? Hmmm....

The minute we got rid of our second roo, the crowing lessened BIG TIME. They do feed off each other and compete with each other and it was the mid-morning, noon "Crow-Fests" that used to drive me crazy. In a situation like you are in, one roo is probably a good idea. They do not seem to out-grow it.