I got a $100 Amazon gift card for Christmas and I'm considering using it on a brooder plate. Any recommendations on brands?
What size is recommended for how many chicks? I'm not certain what size hatch we'll start with. I have a 56 egg incubator, we filled it for last year's Easter hatchalong...
I think I have a feather picker in my flock, and I think I know who, but I never catch them in the act.
Five of my 6 hens have feather damage and/or missing feathers in the saddle and tail region. The sixth hen has no feather damage, so I suspect she's the picker. I have seen 2 other hens grab...
Starting to loosely plan next year's hatches. To help with keeping track of them I'm thinking about choosing hatcalong themes alphabetically.
For example, I've decided the first hatch is apple themed. Eggs will be given names of different apple varieties and I'll record dates and ages for this...
At least one of my 1.5 year old hens is having extremely watery droppings. I have been noticing them for at least a week when I scoop the poop board in the mornings. Probably longer, I neglected the poop board cleaning for a few weeks and removed and replaced all of the stall dry about a week...
Question for those with broody experience, how many eggs do you usually give a broody hen? Assuming med-large eggs for a large fowl/standard size hen.
Since my olive egger is a frequent flyer in broody jail I'm planning on letting her help me hatch next year. Last year we gave her 7 eggs, 5 of...
Ok, so 3/5 of my hens are currently broody. I've broken all 3 of them of being broody before (2nd time this year for 2 of them, 3rd time for the other one). Usually a few days in the broody buster will do it, though one of them is particularly determined and I had to move the broody buster...
Certainly not an emergency, and I don't think there's anything to be done about it, but I thought this forum might be the best place to get some opinions.
I have a chick, currently 4 weeks old, that has been smaller than his hatch mates from the beginning. Initially didn't think much of it, he...
I have a stubborn broody who is determined to sit after nearly two weeks in a broody breaker. I also have several 2.5 week old chicks brooding in my basement. Im wondering if it's not worth slipping a few chicks under her overnight to see if she'll accept them. But I'm also worried we've missed...
Starting a thread for my chicken coops out at my uncle's farm. We have 2 coops out there, a small woods style coop (8x16') we refer to as "the big coop," and a small (3x5'?) elevated coop in need of repair (gotta give her a break, she's 15 years old and never had any repair work).Right now we're...
We processed a cockerel yesterday and since it was only one bird and we were parting him out I decided to try skinning instead of scalding and plucking thinking it would be faster. Well, it being my first time skinning it was decidedly not faster or, imo, easier. In the time it took me to get...
So I did not get the pair I was hoping for from my malines hatch with my broody hen. But the two males we got are growing on track to be decent meat birds, so husband was convinced to drive back down and pick up some day old chicks! I'm getting strong cockerel vibes from the biggest chick (11...
I have 2 Malines cockerels and 6 more straight run on the way. My main reason for wanting Malines is to cross the hens to buckeyes for sex linked chicks with an eye to meat production. But I'm planning on keeping one malines rooster and breeding malines as well.
But I will be working with a...
I know they're a lot less sensitive to [lack of] heat at this age. But I need someone to hold my hand and tell me it will be alright.
They are about half feathered, still lots of baby fluff. Tonight's low is supposed to be about 47°F.
So, they should be fine, right? Or do I need to go out...
These are Malines, hatched 4/9. I know it will be more obvious if they are single barred or double barred once they feather in, but just for fun anyone wanna guess if I have a pair, two boys, or two girls?
Mamma Limu's eggs are due to hatch on Tuesday. Currently I have the area under the poop board penned off for her and the chicks, but my plan is to open that up once the chicks are a few days old. I'd love to see ideas/pictures for creeper feeders that others have used. I've got a few thoughts...
Ever since we got the Brinsea Ovation 56 I've been thinking about how much fun it would be to do a fifty nifty united states hatchalong. Well, we picked up an even 50 Buckeye hatching eggs yesterday, so let's go! I've given the eggs postal abbreviations instead of numbers, so pick an egg or two...
5 week 5 days old, from barnyard mix hatching eggs. I have my own ideas but I want to see what others think.
Chick 1
Chick 2chick 3
Chick 4
Chick 5
Chick 6
Chick 7
I have 7 3 week old chicks that are quickly outgrowing the small brooder in my basement and I'm trying to get them moved to the larger (8x4?) brooder in the garage. But I'm having a hard time stabilizing the temperature.
When I set it up on Friday it was 60° outside and the temp directly under...
I confirmed with the breeder I'm getting buckeyes from that we're still on for late March. So now I'm wondering what the best way to pack them for a 5 hour drive. Since we're picking them up in person I doubt they need to be as thoroughly cushioned as eggs shipped through the mail. But I feel...