Recent content by ponygal

  1. ponygal

    Chicks keep dying under broody

    I hadn't even thought of suffocation... Thanks - I'll do that!
  2. ponygal

    Chicks keep dying under broody

    This is my first time trying to hatch chicks and we're not having much luck. Our broody hen (Maisy) had five eggs under her, all with different hatch dates because other hens were laying in her nest before we moved her. The first one was due to hatch on Monday, but it must have been a dud...
  3. ponygal

    Smelly egg?

    Thanks! Good luck with your hatches too!
  4. ponygal

    Smelly egg?

    I definitely wasn't going to throw it out after the smell disappeared, just wondering about what I should do if it happened in another egg and the smell didn't go away in that one :) I really shouldn't post in here when I have my kids distracting me - it doesn't help me get my thoughts down...
  5. ponygal

    Smelly egg?

    Thanks Bobbi-J - will do :) I'm all set up for chicks - brooder and heat-plate ready-to go from the chicks we had earlier this summer, so that won't be a problem.
  6. ponygal

    Smelly egg?

    AmericanMom - thanks! The egg could be as far along as 14 days - would you still toss it? Anyways, I went out this morning when the broody was out having a quick dust bath and added some new hay to her nest. While I was out there I did a quick sniff test again and didn't notice the boiled...
  7. ponygal

    Smelly egg?

    I'm a complete newbie when it comes to candling and I'm not sure how old the egg is because other hens kept laying in the broody's nest for the first week (until I realized that I needed to move her and her eggs out from the main coop), so it could be anywhere from about 7 days to 14 days old...
  8. ponygal

    Smelly egg?

    I just candled the eggs under our broody and one of them had a 'boiled egg' kind of smell. I assume that means it's rotten? It wasn't an awful smell or anything, but none of the other four eggs had any odor at all. Should I assume it has gone bad and discard it? Thanks!
  9. ponygal

    Staggered hatch under broody?

    Thanks for the tip! I'll see how it goes
  10. ponygal

    Staggered hatch under broody?

    OK, I can do that - our last batch of chicks have just joined the rest of the flock so the brooder and heat plate are available for any new ones. If only one of the first two eggs results in a chick, will it be ok alone for a few days? And once all the eggs that are going to hatch have...
  11. ponygal

    Staggered hatch under broody?

    One of our hens went broody a little over a week ago and I thought I'd give her a few eggs to hatch and see what happened. She's been happily sitting on them, only getting up a few short times each day to eat/drink. On about day three, I noticed that one of the three eggs had gone missing -...
  12. ponygal

    Is 'Lolo' really a 'Louis'?

    Thanks guys...I figured as much, was just hoping there was a slight chance I was wrong. We already have two roosters and really don't need/want a third. Hopefully he ends up as friendly as our other roos so that we can keep him. We managed to rehome a rooster last year, but I'm not sure I'd...
  13. ponygal

    Is 'Lolo' really a 'Louis'?

    We bought what were supposed to be six day-old pullets back in May, but I'm pretty certain that Lolo (the one on the right) is actually a cockerel. The others (Columbian Rocks and Rhode Island Reds) have very minimal, light-coloured combs. Lolo's comb is even bigger now than it was from this...
  14. ponygal

    Chicks Trying out the Hamster Wheel

    A roost swing?! Ooooh, maybe I'll rig something up in the chicken tractor that the older chicks are in! They love running up and down the ramp to the loft and jumping off the roost in there. I think they'd love a swing! That was my favourite part too (when one would be inside and one would...
  15. ponygal

    Chicks Trying out the Hamster Wheel

    After getting the idea from a post in here, I thought I would see how our 10 day old Ameraucana chicks would like having a hamster wheel to play on. They loved it! Here's a cute video (I think this should work). We brought it outside on the lawn today and even though they were free to run...
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