Ive already tried eggs/chicks from a couple of breeders that i found online/nearby, and they were either all black but didn't look like an EE, or were not at all black and even got a frizzle (which was cute but not what i ordered).
If anyone is raising all black (fibro) EEs that will give all...
Second one made zero progress all day, I knew not to intervene if I could help it, but I had a feeling that this chick really wasn't going to come out on their own. So I made a decision to help them out this evening, a little at a time to see if it made a difference, and finally opened them up...
Brought the incubator back home this morning now that the power is back on, the second egg pipped during the night and I can see/hear the chick moving around. Still nothing from the other eggs, but I moved the hatched one to the brooder so the remaining eggs stop being kicked around if they're...
So had some drama tonight waiting on the next peeper to hatch, when the power went out from the storm at about 930p. 😳 I was in full panic mode. Covered the incubator with a towel and sloooowly drove to a friend's house with power.
Egg was still moving and peeping despite the trip. I should...
Day 0. An update - there is definitely a second egg moving and peeping now! And it's the one I thought had the least chance of being viable so that's a surprise! If I get at least two hatched I will call it a success! I think the first was just an early bird.
This is my first hatch, mail-ordered eggs, I wasn't expecting too much. Started with 7 eggs, 5 of them were maybes? at lockdown. The eggs were so dark that candling didn't really tell me too much, but I did see more veining at lockdown than I'd seen before so I was hopeful.
The first chick...
It's possible that my current flock has been exposed to Mareks. They are vaccinated but I had a young pullet die looking very Marek's-like. I'm hatching some new chicks and would like to vaccinate them myself to be sure they are protected. What is the best option to get just a handful of chicks...
They'd probably appreciate the wider roost in the coop with their big feet.
I put some wide branches for roosts in the run, one is about 2 ft off the ground and they use it quite a lot. I have a higher one too but I've never seen them use that one.
I was thinking I'd probably have to keep them cooped up for a while, so I'll try that. They do know to lay in their nest box, they've done it already, but it's just that the yard is so much more appealing for comfy hidden spots.
I'm still wondering about the super anxious nesting behavior that...
2 out of four chickens have started laying, and I guess we all need to figure out what is going on!
First of all, there are way too many hiding spaces in my yard, so when I don't get eggs, I don't know if it's because they're new to this, or if they are hiding them! I've only found one secret...
Is the nest box getting direct sun and/or has a metal roof on it? I'd put a thermometer in there just to make sure it wasn't becoming an oven. When I built my coop I noticed the metal roof got scaldingly hot, so when I built the nest box I made sure to put plywood underneath the metal, and the...
As for the nest box, just work from the hole that you have. I really just winged mine - make the small sides first, spanning the height of the hole, then just start building frames for each side, with 2x3's or 2x2's.
I'm a bit worried about the neighbor's cat, which is typically indoors but seems to either get out or they let it out from time to time. I was in the yard with my flock of four, when one sounded an alarm call. I saw that the neighbors cat was at the fenceline (fence is broken we are getting it...