2018 Newbie Chat!

[No More Empty Nest]

Sad sad news. I went out to open the nest boxes today and found Amber dead in the run under the coop. There isn't a mark on her, she didn't have any signs of illness and was roosting like normal when I looked on the camera last night. Was eating and drinking and pooping fine. I can only think the sudden death syndrome or her crooked beak and uneven face may have also meant she had some internal abnormalities too. I picked her up and just sat in the run crying. Never would have thought losing a chicken would affect me so much. My friendly little mind-of-her-own Amber. That's her as my avatar when she was 1 day old. My flock won't be the same without her.

 

[llombardo]

Sad sad news. I went out to open the nest boxes today and found Amber dead in the run under the coop. There isn't a mark on her, she didn't have any signs of illness and was roosting like normal when I looked on the camera last night. Was eating and drinking and pooping fine. I can only think the sudden death syndrome or her crooked beak and uneven face may have also meant she had some internal abnormalities too. I picked her up and just sat in the run crying. Never would have thought losing a chicken would affect me so much. My friendly little mind-of-her-own Amber. That's her as my avatar when she was 1 day old. My flock won't be the same without her.
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I am so sorry. It's hard to lose them.

 

[Cbarr00]

Sad sad news. I went out to open the nest boxes today and found Amber dead in the run under the coop. There isn't a mark on her, she didn't have any signs of illness and was roosting like normal when I looked on the camera last night. Was eating and drinking and pooping fine. I can only think the sudden death syndrome or her crooked beak and uneven face may have also meant she had some internal abnormalities too. I picked her up and just sat in the run crying. Never would have thought losing a chicken would affect me so much. My friendly little mind-of-her-own Amber. That's her as my avatar when she was 1 day old. My flock won't be the same without her.
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I'm so sorry for your loss.

 

[PNW_Peepers]

Sad sad news. I went out to open the nest boxes today and found Amber dead in the run under the coop. There isn't a mark on her, she didn't have any signs of illness and was roosting like normal when I looked on the camera last night. Was eating and drinking and pooping fine. I can only think the sudden death syndrome or her crooked beak and uneven face may have also meant she had some internal abnormalities too. I picked her up and just sat in the run crying. Never would have thought losing a chicken would affect me so much. My friendly little mind-of-her-own Amber. That's her as my avatar when she was 1 day old. My flock won't be the same without her.
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I’m so sorry for your loss. It’s so hard to watch them grow, then lose them. Fly high Amber.

 

[Anna Ranieri]

Sad sad news. I went out to open the nest boxes today and found Amber dead in the run under the coop. There isn't a mark on her, she didn't have any signs of illness and was roosting like normal when I looked on the camera last night. Was eating and drinking and pooping fine. I can only think the sudden death syndrome or her crooked beak and uneven face may have also meant she had some internal abnormalities too. I picked her up and just sat in the run crying. Never would have thought losing a chicken would affect me so much. My friendly little mind-of-her-own Amber. That's her as my avatar when she was 1 day old. My flock won't be the same without her.
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Ohhhhhh hun, I am so sorry for your loss

 

[PNW_Peepers]

With Pig gone, Manchineel crowed this morning. Him and Lazarus seem to be doing just fine with the absence of their hatch mate.

The rest of the flock still hasn’t adjusted to them. No introductions anytime soon if at all. I was hoping to integrate another two Ameraucana hens with Lazarus and Manny just to even things out. Oh well.

 

[CannedMonster]

Wow, big difference! Your duck egg is way bigger than the two which have been lain, however they are slightly bigger than the chicken egg you have in the picture. As I said before Pedro's eggs are bigger and bigger than the chicken egg you have pictured but no where as big as your duck egg but bigger than ours. When whoever is laying, lays again I'll get a snap of it and post for you to see and perhaps you could give me your opinion on it, if you don't mind.
I've searched online, not really much info on this subject but I did see some pictures of a Runner egg which look similar size to ours but can't really tell for sure. I've searched possible reasons for small duck eggs, not really anything found, however, when Jellybean first laid, for about a week her eggs where smaller than they are now, although she still lays the smallest, so maybe its the same with the duck - I just hope nothing is wrong, I'm not in it for the eggs, just worried there might be a problem.

She just started laying.
The first eggs are always smaller.
Plus different breeds lay different size eggs.
Pedro probably has production breed genes so she’s going to lay XL to jumbo eggs like my Red does.

 

[aurajean515]

I’m a newbie. I got my Silkie flock (8)last summer but they were all older chicks between 8-15 weeks. I just incubated And brooding my first batch of chicks now. I hatched 9/12 of my flocks eggs on 1/18. All nine are doing well. I have them in a dog crate made brooder with a MHP for heat. Chicken math is a real thing and hatching is addictive! My husband talked me into setting another batch, so this morning I put another 12 in the bator. So as I’m integrating this batch into coop I’ll have newbies in the brooder. It will be chicks chicks everywhere chicks, I guess I’m a glutton for punishment.

Question: Do you guys breed specific pairs for your eggs or do you just use whichever eggs you get from the nesting boxes? I have 3 Roosters and 30 hens, most of which are all different kinds. I’m wondering if when I start hatching again, if I should just take eggs randomly, or breed specifc pairs...thoughts?

 

[Anna Ranieri]

With Pig gone, Manchineel crowed this morning. Him and Lazarus seem to be doing just fine with the absence of their hatch mate.
View attachment 1620242
The rest of the flock still hasn’t adjusted to them. No introductions anytime soon if at all. I was hoping to integrate another two Ameraucana hens with Lazarus and Manny just to even things out. Oh well. View attachment 1620241

Beautiful

 

[Anna Ranieri]

She just started laying.
The first eggs are always smaller.
Plus different breeds lay different size eggs.
Pedro probably has production breed genes so she’s going to lay XL to jumbo eggs like my Red does.

That makes a lot of sense
coincidentally - duck egg laid today is bigger and is slightly bigger than Pedro's - shell colour is a soft bluish green, very pretty