➡I accidentally bought Balut eggs: 2 live ducks! Now a Chat Thread!

[littleprairieheartsfarm]

Not really. The property is fenced with barbed wire around the perimeter. There are several hay fields separated by trees
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Barbed wire is better than nothing.

Right now they get from about 8:30-4:30.

Hmm that’s weird! I would think at least a couple others would be laying.

 

[RUNuts]

How is that momma dog? Did you end up keeping her?

Puppies moved to Iowa. All have new homes.

Momma dog not eligible. Heart worm positive. Still fostering. Hopeful.

 

[NanaKat]

It's been a long time since we've had a problem egg. Got a soft one that busted yesterday... or was it the day before yesterday? Was something like that. And we got another busted one today, altho I couldn't find the shell this time around. Just the egg goo all mixed in the pine shavings. The thing is, it's underneath one of the roosting bars. I think it is my problem girl, purple, again. I never really name my first group of chickens so I just call her purple because she wears a purple band on her leg. Anyway, I am trying to figure out WHY she is trying to lay an egg from the roosting bar instead of inside one of the nesting boxes. They are eating a Layena feed. I am still putting out oyster shell on the side. Maybe I just happen to have a pullet that was born with unfortunate plumbing? I don't know what to do to make her better.

I give my girls that lay soft shell or leather eggs chopped spinach and crushed red pepper mixed with scrambled egg.
I wash and sterilize egg shells and run them thru the coffee grinder and add the egg shell powder to the egg/spinach/pepper mix.
Most large fowl hens don't lay every 24 hours like clockwork. They often lay every 22 to 23 hours...thus a hen lays an hour or two before the time her last egg was laid.

I'm getting 1 egg every other day ... I've got 25 girls.

My hens are back to laying after their molt or as new layers over 10 months of age. I'm getting 18 to 24 eggs a day. Some of my older girls lay 3 to 5 eggs a week. I don't use artificial lighting in winter. We have 7 am to 5:30 pm natural light.

Day 7 of the double I set to test the bator. I’m still sticking to my “don’t want it to hatch” guns..watch them hatch and both be boys. The embryos are on opposite ends. The air cell is larger than I’d like but that’s partially my fault because I forgot to refill the water.
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At 7 days shouldn't there be more red veins and body structure showing for each embryo?
When I candle at 10 days, that egg would be one I remove from the incubator. I think you are already at "don't want it to hatch" and might be at "don't want it to explode" stage.

Barbed wire is better than nothing.

Hmm that’s weird! I would think at least a couple others would be laying.

We have 6 and 7 wire barbed wire fencing around our entire property and then 6 wire fencing dividing up 40 to 80 acre sections. This allows us to cut hay and then cell graze.

 

[NanaKat]

Oh...and We have SNOW now!
The puppers had to go potty and got distracted by the fluffy stuff. Wish I had taken my phone to record their play. Then they did their business and are bedded down for the night.
I too am headed to bed.

 

[ShrekDawg]

No need for apologies! I love seeing more points of view other on breeder tendencies. I guess I’m more experience oriented in English bulldogs but we haven’t had a litter yet anyways so all of my “experience” has been observing other breeders (who have waiting list upon waiting list upon waiting list ) . I think I really like your idea much better though. Temperaments (especially in bulldogs) are much more important to the dogs and their futures in the families.

I think you should definitely try to match puppies

And sorry about the part where I was all like you have to have tons of experience and litters and stuff, tbh I forgot you guys were gonna breed haha and I don’t think it is that hard to learn. I also think observing other breeders can be just as useful as your own. And everybody has to start somewhere otherwise how would you ever gain any experience lol I guess I was more just meaning that it’s more like natural for breeders with lots of experience and they can often tell what a dog will be like from a very young age but anybody can learn. And they actually have temperament tests you can perform on the puppies that can help determine that stuff too. Although I think they say to have a stranger administer the tests and/or do it in an unfamiliar environment so you get a true idea of their actual temperament. But I think you will be a very good breeder. you clearly care about the animals which is important. Too many people just throw two dogs together then go here take whatever puppy you want. Sometimes that works well but I think the matching thing is even better.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Okay, all the Texans in here are probably going to get mad at me for this but Moe’s queso is so good.

 

[littleprairieheartsfarm]

I think you should definitely try to match puppies

And sorry about the part where I was all like you have to have tons of experience and litters and stuff, tbh I forgot you guys were gonna breed haha and I don’t think it is that hard to learn. I also think observing other breeders can be just as useful as your own. And everybody has to start somewhere otherwise how would you ever gain any experience lol I guess I was more just meaning that it’s more like natural for breeders with lots of experience and they can often tell what a dog will be like from a very young age but anybody can learn. And they actually have temperament tests you can perform on the puppies that can help determine that stuff too. Although I think they say to have a stranger administer the tests and/or do it in an unfamiliar environment so you get a true idea of their actual temperament. But I think you will be a very good breeder. you clearly care about the animals which is important. Too many people just throw two dogs together then go here take whatever puppy you want. Sometimes that works well but I think the matching thing is even better.

We definitely are trying to be good breeders. Our female still hasn't had her second heat (she’s getting close though) and she turned a year last October. The longer she waits the better since we aren’t breeding them until she’s 2 anyways. Better maturity level, and less likely to have health issues. All puppies will be health guaranteed, vetted constantly, and one thing is we will not do puppy pads. Our female was raised on puppy pads and it took forever to break her of pottying in the house, they’ll be learning to be house trained.

I definitely think that the matching is a good idea, and I’m going to see how we can put our own spin on it to be different than the other breeders around here.

Okay, all the Texans in here are probably going to get mad at me for this but Moe’s queso is so good.

As a Texan..it’s not bad, definitely not my favorite though.

 

[littleprairieheartsfarm]

I give my girls that lay soft shell or leather eggs chopped spinach and crushed red pepper mixed with scrambled egg.
I wash and sterilize egg shells and run them thru the coffee grinder and add the egg shell powder to the egg/spinach/pepper mix.
Most large fowl hens don't lay every 24 hours like clockwork. They often lay every 22 to 23 hours...thus a hen lays an hour or two before the time her last egg was laid.

My hens are back to laying after their molt or as new layers over 10 months of age. I'm getting 18 to 24 eggs a day. Some of my older girls lay 3 to 5 eggs a week. I don't use artificial lighting in winter. We have 7 am to 5:30 pm natural light.


At 7 days shouldn't there be more red veins and body structure showing for each embryo?
When I candle at 10 days, that egg would be one I remove from the incubator. I think you are already at "don't want it to hatch" and might be at "don't want it to explode" stage.



We have 6 and 7 wire barbed wire fencing around our entire property and then 6 wire fencing dividing up 40 to 80 acre sections. This allows us to cut hay and then cell graze.

Both embryos were moving around and there are definite nice veins. My phone camera was just not cooperating to show it as a picture.

 

[ShrekDawg]

We definitely are trying to be good breeders. Our female still hasn't had her second heat (she’s getting close though) and she turned a year last October. The longer she waits the better since we aren’t breeding them until she’s 2 anyways. Better maturity level, and less likely to have health issues. All puppies will be health guaranteed, vetted constantly, and one thing is we will not do puppy pads. Our female was raised on puppy pads and it took forever to break her of pottying in the house, they’ll be learning to be house trained.

I definitely think that the matching is a good idea, and I’m going to see how we can put our own spin on it to be different than the other breeders around here.


As a Texan..it’s not bad, definitely not my favorite though.

It sounds like you are definitely trying to be responsible which is a good thing!! And yeah, waiting till 2 is best and a lot of breeders also wait because if doing health tests, like hips or whatever, you can’t test until 2 years old (24 months) anyways. You can do the prelims but you can’t get permanent results until 2 so most breeders wait because of that. And also because they’re more physically mature. And huh, never realized pads could cause so many issues but then again, we never used them with ours.

And that’s a good idea!!

 

[ShrekDawg]

Oh and yeah, figured there is REAL queso out there