Vermont

[One Acre Wonder Farm]

Quote:
Ooh, I have the Eco 20 and I love it

Were your BCMs shipped eggs? I had terrible luck with shipped eggs last year, so this year I am sticking to eggs that I can pick up locally.

I'll bet your chicks are adorable. I've heard Barred Rocks and Welsummers are pretty easy to sex at hatch. If I had a good winter brooder I would snatch them right up.. Maybe you'll have hatching eggs available later this year?

I work in Bradford

 

[Rock Wyandotte]

Quote:
Ooh, I have the Eco 20 and I love it

Were your BCMs shipped eggs? I had terrible luck with shipped eggs last year, so this year I am sticking to eggs that I can pick up locally.

I'll bet your chicks are adorable. I've heard Barred Rocks and Welsummers are pretty easy to sex at hatch. If I had a good winter brooder I would snatch them right up.. Maybe you'll have hatching eggs available later this year?

I work in Bradford

The Eco 20 is what I've got too. It was great. The Marans eggs were shipped but they were almost all good. I had developed chicks in the eggs that didn't hatch. Not sure what I did wrong but I've got an idea. Will do some things differently next time.
Help me out here, how do you sex the Barred Rocks? I think I can tell the Welsummers apart. What do I look for in the Barred Rock chicks? Also, I've got 3 Blue Orpington roosters that just matured and are driving my hens crazy. If you or anyone you know wants one, it's yours.

 

[One Acre Wonder Farm]

Rock - this method is not 100% foolproof, but I found a post from Speckled Hen citing Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station as the source: (paraphrasing) males will have larger headspots and the females tend to have darker legs (more dark pigmentation down the front os their legs). Another theory is that the male chicks will have irregularly shaped and/or scattered headspots and the females will have a distinct or more regularly defined spot. Apparently these methods have a 90% to 95% accuracy rate.

Hope this works for you

 

[Rock Wyandotte]

Thank you, Overrun. I went and took a look and I think I know who is who now, but since they're not pure BR, I guess there could be some complications. We'll see as they grow and I'll learn from this whole experience.

I forgot to say earlier that, yes, I will have hatching eggs this Spring. I will have pure Welsummers and then more of my pretty mixed chicks. I will also be selling Pilgrim goose eggs. I have a gander from Holderread stock and two geese from Poor Ridge Ranch in Arkansas. I am really looking forward to the eggs and the goslings. Please spread the word for me if you know anyone who might be interested. Thanks!

 

[One Acre Wonder Farm]

Quote:
Ooooohhh, geese! Time to start working on DH, convincing him we need geese

 

[One Acre Wonder Farm]

So we were lucky enough not to lose power during the last couple of days. Which was great, because I have the incubator running. But we are supposed to have really high winds tonight and I am worried...

How did others do? Power back? Still waiting? Never lost it?

 

[Rock Wyandotte]

I'm out of state for a few days and have a friend chick sitting. Don't really know what's going on up there but will be home on Saturday.

 

[Russo's Roost]

Hi One Acre Wonderfarm, I am in Morrisville, about 2 1/2 miles from Copley Hospital and we haven't lost power at all. As a matter of fact, when we lived in FLorida with all underground utilities we used to loose the power once or tice a month, here in Vermont we have only lost it 3 times in 4 years. I mention Copley Hospital because that may be the reason why we haven't lost power here much, we may be on the same grid with them.
In regards to your incubator, if you don't have a generator as a back up I have a couple of sugestions. Depending on how long you loose power for you may be able to use a car batery hooked up to a 12 VDC / 110VAC converter ($20 to $30 at most hardware or electronics stores) This should give you a couple of hours of juice or you can hook it up to your car and run the engine OUTSIDE and run an extension cord in to the house, it plugs in to your cigarette lighter or alternative power source in the car / truck. If you heat with wood you could gather some rocks the size of glofballs or anytihng small and solid, I use a couple of antique irons and bring them to the coop in the evening, it raises the temperature there a few degrees for a little while, I place them on the wood stove to heat them up and then you could place them in the incubator being careful not to melt any plastic, wrapped in a towel or on a pot holder may be a good idea, you may have to play with them a little to get the temperature right. I guess a hot water bottle would work also, your hot water tank in the house should hold hot water for a while depending on usage and again problem solved if you heat with wood. This summer my project is to build a VAWT (Vertical Axis Wind Turbine) that I am going to use solely on the chicken coop for lighting and heat in the winter, I have a nice spot in my woods next to an open corn field where I can place it that gets good wind in the winter and will be hidden by the trees all summer long. I may use it to power an electric fence in the spring/summer/fall.
By the way, I had a mink visit my property recently. Has anyone else seen any activity?

 

[One Acre Wonder Farm]

Well it happened... We lost power for 4+ hours and the bator temp got down to 75. I'm so bummed. I know if I am lucky enough to have some hatch I won't have nearly the hatch rate I would have

 

[Russo's Roost]

Sorry to hear thet One Acre Wonder Farm. I guess you didn't try any of my suggestions.
On the positive side, any chicks that do hatch will probably be more cold tollerant.