4th Annual BYC NYD Hatch-a-long

[Jessiey]

Thanks Jessiey! I set 36 eggs - 12 were my own, but my rooster is almost 6 and had been injured so I didn't think we'd get much from him and I was right - only 2. I also got 12 from a lady in town, but she wasn't sure her rooster was mature enough and I had roughly 2 fertilized in that bunch. I also have 10 Maran eggs and 1 RIR of which 6 or 7 appear to have life in 'em so ... all in all, not a raving success for my first hatch attempt, but I'll be happy if some make it to the end. Having a few issues with humidity up here in cold northern BC Canada!

How about you? What did you set?

I set one egg on the set day... then we went back to the farm and got 12 more the very next day However, I have 7 left now... but chicken math struck.... I've got 8 more eggs shipping that should be here in the next 1-2 days or so.

 

[nothingbutbirds]

my d'uccle eggs that were MIA arrived yesterday, i sent a money order and the envelope was damaged so my address was not legible.i didnt get the message she sent me about it. done were cracked they were fantasticly packed.Even after droping out of the back of the delivery truck, i beleive that is what caused all the floating air cells. all but one hasnt reattached. got two buff silkies,3 millie fleur d'uccles, and 7 self blue d'uccles.

 

[gabrielle1976]

 

[Jessiey]

my d'uccle eggs that were MIA arrived yesterday, i sent a money order and the envelope was damaged so my address was not legible.i didnt get the message she sent me about it. done were cracked they were fantasticly packed.Even after droping out of the back of the delivery truck, i beleive that is what caused all the floating air cells. all but one hasnt reattached. got two buff silkies,3 millie fleur d'uccles, and 7 self blue d'uccles.

Well, at least they finally showed up.. Could you imagine if the box ended up at the dead end mail room... they would STINK lol...

 

[Jessiey]

Have you guys tried talking to your mail man about the eggs? I told mine what I'm doing, and he's all "Oh, well I'll put them in a safe place in the office and bring them right to you when I start my route, so that they don't get shook up or sit out in the cold." Maybe talking to the mail carrier would help out.

 

[chicken fever]

so who won the amt of eggs set? oh Ron, I got lots of fertile eggs from egglands best!

We have a Whole Foods now, so I am very interested in this!

What brand were they?

 

[Brechin]

Below are pics of the gorgeous Tolbunt Polish that were gifted to me by a dog training client of mine. One frizzled and one smooth, both lovely. And then a pic of one of my German Shepherd Dogs Tain who is my sport competition dog. He is learning that he has to share the backyard with chickens now.

 

[chicken fever]

gorgeous!

[COLOR=0000FF]Below are pics of the gorgeous Tolbunt Polish that were gifted to me by a dog training client of mine. One frizzled and one smooth, both lovely. And then a pic of one of my German Shepherd Dogs Tain who is my sport competition dog. He is learning that he has to share the backyard with chickens now. [/COLOR]

 

[cluck-cluck]

SALLY! 8:30 PM is not too late to wash a dog if you consider that I wake up at the butt crack of dawn to do chicken chores, take care of dogs, fix breakfast for 4 adults and two 1 year old twin boys, then take care of those boys all day while taking breaks in between to do dog training. Spare time is spent making more meals for people, WORKING (I am a professional dog trainer with private clients and such), then making dinner, chicken chores again, bath time and bedtime routine for boys, dog chores, then get ready for bed. Somewhere in there I have to make time for a dog bath before my head hits the pillow, otherwise those big GSDs will never get clean. SO, I do dog bath late after the boys are asleep and I have uninterrupted time to spend doing it. Now I can enjoy them in the house all day!

Where do you get the energy? Seriously, I NEED some o' that! Wow!

I miss my rooster!!

The girls were eerily quiet last night when I went out to lock them in the coop. They were talking this morning, but I missed hearing his crowing. It is nice that the kids don't need to worry about being attacked when they go out to the coop, though.

At what age does a cockerel become fertile? And would it be bad for a son to breed with his mother?? I have 7 chicks that are 3 weeks old now, and I am really hoping for a cockerel or two from the NYD hatch... But I have 2 friends that I promised chicks to in the spring to start their backyard flocks of layers. That wont be possible until I have a fertile rooster... I'm wondering if I should look into finding a replacement rooster...

I don't know when they become fertile, however, mother/son and father/daughter pairings are not so bad, and I believe I read that you won't have problems that way for 30 generations. Chickens are really not easily in-bred. Brother/sister matings should be avoided while all their DNA comes from the same two parents apparently, but it is still done, just not as often.

Lots of ups and downs for me today. Lost a pekin hen (second one, looks like she starved to death, despite having ample food), lost a pekin baby in the egg (the one that pipped into the vein), didn't sleep a wink last night and had to leave the bed so I wouldn't keep G awake all night. Now I'm sore, my body feels tired (but surprisingly my mind is fairly clear, for once!), I have all four children here, I had to run around like a complete banshee getting packages packed and ready to be picked up... BUT, I now have four baby seramas (three more pipped) and one pekin duckling. Who knew staying at home could be so exhausting?!

Oh wow, sorry about your hen. It's funny, when I was young and in school, I usually could focus a lot better after 24 hours of being awake, LOL. Now, I just crash

I was trying to take pics of my beautiful blue sept babies and all they did was want to peck me and the camera!! stinkers!!!
so I threw some crack down and this is what I got then.... I cant wait till ALL their feathers are in!!! YAY!!



and my big beautiful roo... hard to believe they hatched sept!!

Those birds are seriously gorgeous! Beautiful colors, and so FLUFFY! I'm afraid to get fluffy birds 'cause our summers are so darn hot here

I was too frustrated to try last night... but here's a vid of my candling.

Awesome! that's so cool.

We have a Whole Foods now, so I am very interested in this!

What brand were they?

ronott1, don't you have fertile eggs at Trader Joes? I got SUPER fertility from my two batches (over 90%) and they turned out to be beautiful (well, to me, LOL) white leghorns (not show quality) I adore them and with all the attention they got, they're quite tame and huggable, LOL

Have you guys tried talking to your mail man about the eggs? I told mine what I'm doing, and he's all "Oh, well I'll put them in a safe place in the office and bring them right to you when I start my route, so that they don't get shook up or sit out in the cold." Maybe talking to the mail carrier would help out.

My mail man would do the same thing, unfortunately, each time I had eggs delivered, he was out sick, LOL

 

[cluck-cluck]

Below are pics of the gorgeous Tolbunt Polish that were gifted to me by a dog training client of mine. One frizzled and one smooth, both lovely. And then a pic of one of my German Shepherd Dogs Tain who is my sport competition dog. He is learning that he has to share the backyard with chickens now.

Wow, they're beautiful, and your dog is total love! German Shepherds are one of my all time favorite dogs! Wow, I'm so glad I get to have chickens right now, but I still wish we could live in the country I'd have lots of dogs, cats horses and goats, ducks and geese,

Milk cows as well (Why stop?)