Recent content by familyguy

I know that you need to turn the eggs in the incubator ... but can you turn them too often?? Most things I have read say to turn every 3-4 hours ... but if my homemade turner turns them every hour, say, would that harm them someway? Jus wondering. Thanks

I recently added three new hens to my small flock (14 girls now). They are all about the same age (10 months) and other than the first night in the with other girls, the new three (copper marans) do not go into the coop at night, instead they roost in the pine tree that is in the run. I know at...

Thanks guys ... I am not storing them to incubate them ... I am storing them until they get used in the kitchen ... I know that it is very much ok to store eggs at room temp but am unsure about storing fertilized eggs at room temp. Of course, I am just assuming they are fertilized because we...

Hi ... I am wondering about keeping my eggs on the counter - rather than in the refridgerator - until I want to use them. Since we have a rooster (and 10 chickens) I am assuming these eggs are fertile. So far I have been collecting them each day (4-6) and putting them in egg cartons and then...

When I went to let the girls out of the coop this morning I noticed one of them was acting funny. It didn't seem like she was using her right side. She would kinda flop over and kinda flutter around in a circle. Later in the day I went out to check on them and she was sitting kinda lopsided...

I noticed a couple of weeks ago that one of my Buff Orffingtons had a dirty butt area ... instead of the fluffy downy type you normally see. Last night she would not go back in the coop and when I picked her up I noticed something kinda strange around the vent area. There was alot of poop stuff...

I agree ... chickens are creatures of habit and it takes them a while to settle in and feel comfortable .... soon you will be getting more eggs than you can count!

my girls are better behaved than my kids! I let them free range around our house - we live on a corner lot with about a 3/4 acre lawn and they spend the day wandering around the house, never cross the road (although they will go up to the edge of the lawn) and then by 7:30 or so, this time of...

Went out to the coop today and found, among the other eggs, one that looked like a water balloon (even had a cord off one end!). I have seen these two or three times before, but they were always broken (or ripped) when I found them. This one is whole (if somewhat rubbery) and my question is ...

I live in a medium size town in vermont on a fairly well traveled road and my girls free-range with no problem. We have a never had a problem with them getting in to road. They will roam around the yard and even right up to the big old maple tree on the side of the road (looking for tasty bugs)...

I recently got about four or five pounds of 'bacon scraps' (basically pieces that were left over after slicing bacon off the slab) and have seperated out the pieces I can use for cooking and have left a pile of pieces of bacon fat (all uncooked) and I wondered if I can throw these in the coop...

So I currently have a small (7) flock of chickens and I am thinking it would be fun to add a few turkeys into the mix. Not sure if for the freezer or for eggs (do turkeys lay eggs continually like chickens do?). I am wondering about letting three or four turkeys free range with the chickens ...

I have 7 backyard chickens all about 1.5 yrs old and they are doing wonderful! Even now in January I am getting a consistant egg production of 5 - 7 eggs a day. Today, however, there was something strange. I got 7 eggs but one was a soft egg ... not transparent but certainly a cream color and...

we are legal here in Vermont ... our town has no rules regarding chickens ... technically I guess we could have as many as we want, but we are sticking with our five for now!

I found this link a couple of weeks ago when the temps started getting cold here in Vermont - and I had gone through three mornings in a row with frozen water. Was going to head into Agway to see what I could get for a heated waterer when I checked here first. Boy, am I glad I did! For less then...