Recent content by Deb B

I got 8 out of 13. Doing better than a few weeks ago when I was only getting about 2 a day.

Just say no to crack!

I put a golf ball in the nesting box. That got my girls laying in the right place.

Yes, Only one is a roo.

A few years back some French beekeepers got blue honey. Seems it came from waste from a biogas factory using M and M waste. Here's the link: http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/10/05/french-bees-produce-blue-honey/

So my final count- Out of 13 eggs set in the incubator, 11 were fertile. All developed, made it to lockdown and all 11 hatched! Chickies are contentedly exploring their brooder and napping. Pics tomorrow, I hope. The sad part is the incubator is now clean and put away for the year. My...

The breed standard calls for yellow legs. However some birds develop leg color over time. So I'd say if they aren't yellow by the time they are mature you have a problem. Right now they are pretty young.

Aw, Thanks Angie!

Yeah, I've been stung on right around the rim of my shoes a couple of times because a bee has landed there while I'm in the hive and then I lean forward or take a step and it starts to squish the bee. I usually don't swell at all when I'm stung, but if I'm stung on my ankle or feet then my feet...

I usually let mine out in the afternoon and I prop the door open so they can go back in. Mine have always run back and laid their eggs in the nest box, even after being let out. My Welsummer, in particular, is a twilight layer. I always find her egg in the nest box when I go to lock them up...

Once I was in my backyard wearing a pair of Capri pants. I wasn't working my hives but standing rather near them. One lovely lady decided to land on my pant leg and proceeded to crawl up the inside. Higher and higher she went. I began to panic, anticipating a sharp pain in a rather delicate...

Gonna be a long night. Chicks are due tomorrow. I came home from work today to 3 pips. Now there are 7 pips. Still waiting on 4 to do something, although one that hasn't pipped yet I saw rocking. Soooooooo. Come on chickies, I've got the brooder all ready for ya!

If she lays a blue egg, she's got at least one blue egg gene. So some of the offspring should lay olive eggs if she's bred to your Marans Roo. If you are lucky and she had two blue egg genes, they should all lay olive colored eggs. So all is not lost. There is a list of very specific colors...

My one Wellie hen lays about 4-5 eggs a week. She laid right through the winter (but only about 2-3 eggs a week then, I don't use supplemental light in the winter). Come to think of it, I bought her as a year old hen and she laid the day after I moved her to my house.....nothing rattles that...

Your hen is beautiful. She is an Easter Egger most likely, as she doesn't look like a pure bred Ameraucana. Many feed stores sell so called "Ameraucanas" but they are actually cross bred Easter Eggers. I used to have a Birchen Marans cockerel. He was the hugest thing. We sold him to some...