5th Annual BYC New Year's Day 2014 Hatch-A-Long

[ChickenCanoe]

I created my watering system late summer to avoid frozen water. I started with a cooler, run 3/4" pvc pipe to 1" pvc with nipples back to 3/4" back to the cooler. Added a pond pump to circulate the water and a pond heater to prevent freezing! Works great, so far no problems with freezing.

Like that.

 

[AK FLOCK SWAP]

http://weather.yahoo.com/united-states/Alaska/Fairbanks-12799759/,,,,,,HAHHAHAAH

 

[SilkieSensation]

 
QUESTION ABOUT FERTLE EGGS:

so once the rooster mounts on the hen and exchanges his stuff, does his stuff stay in the hen and all eggs she lays are fertile, or does a rooster have to mount everyday, exchanging his stuff, so she has a fertile everyday?

how does this work? is it possible if I separate my roos from my hens, that afterwards my hens still may lay fertile eggs?

 
From what I remember up to 3-4 weeks she can be fertile. So if you buy a hen from a show line and they had with rooster you could get some nice birds.

The Hen has an organ that stores the sperm. She holds it there until the embryo is ready to fertilize. The Rooster only has to visit the hen every couple of days or so.

Last winter I used 1 silkie roo to service 3 pens of hens. He had a total of 13 hens & every egg those girls laid was fertile with over 90% hatch rate. What I did was split the girls 4-5 per pen & rotate the roo through the pens each week. He would stay in each pen 2-3 days before moving to the next one. The roo was extremely happy to have neew hens every couple days & the hens were even happier to have several days break from the roo each week. He made sure to service every one of his girls this way & none of the hens was over worked. They also all laid much better. 3-5 eggs per week per hen is a fabulous rate for silkies.

 

[ronott1]

Chicken math? What is that again? Maybe these two can explain it to us.

I love it!

Might have a ring O' death in one egg. All of the eggs showing embryos are from pen one but pen two I'm not seeing anything. I'll give them a few more days and then I also need to go have a chat with my cockerel I have in pen two.

Give it time. It is hard to tell this early.

I've gotten in the habit of collecting all the waterers and fermented feed troughs as I lock everyone up. I bring them all into the basement and fill them down there in the morning. No more fighting frozen containers. Depending on the temp, I may have to do that once or twice more each day. It's less than 20 minutes each time with 7 groups.
Everyone has a bulk dry feeder in the coop. The fermented feed is a supplement and it makes the feed go much farther.
Over the last three years or so, I've put automatic waterers in all the buildings. I disabled all of them when the temp stayed much below freezing.
For next year, I plan on changing the piping so there will be a loop that returns the water to the barrels, put a thermostatically controlled heater in the barrels and an inline pump to keep the thawed water cycling. I'm hoping it works. The current method adds at least 90 minutes a day to my chores in freezing weather.

When I used heated waterers and bird bath heaters while also having chicks in the brooder house it tripped the 20 amp breaker. I was glad I checked the chicks often since their power went off. I caught it before they got too chilled. I might try to add another 30 amp circuit when I run more electric if there's room in the conduit.

I had to do that for 5 days last week. This morning it is just above freezing.

 

[Blarneyeggs]

http://weather.yahoo.com/united-states/Alaska/Fairbanks-12799759/,,,,,,HAHHAHAAH

Good GAWD!! Done complainin about my balmy 20 degree days...

ChickenCanoe, yer right, it is psychological for sure, new mantra 'It's all in me head, it's all in me head' - movie: Chicken Run

I got a goat out there that needs bred, NOW!! Talk about vocal!

 

[chickengirl1193]

Good GAWD!! Done complainin about my balmy 20 degree days...

ChickenCanoe, yer right, it is psychological for sure, new mantra 'It's all in me head, it's all in me head' - movie: Chicken Run

I got a goat out there that needs bred, NOW!! Talk about vocal!

my goats are my alarm clock....they are.so loud! I dont have roosters but my neighbor does and they.are quiet compared to my goats...
I have heated buckets outside for my animals but I still have to fill and scrub them everyday and bucket.fresh water out there... I didnt realize winters.with outside animals would be such a work out...

 

[SilkieSensation]

http://weather.yahoo.com/united-states/Alaska/Fairbanks-12799759/,,,,,,HAHHAHAAH

And here I was considering moving up there. FORGET THAT!!!!!

 

[Cynthia12]

Good morning to every one..don't forget to take your favorite chicken to see Santa...only 9 days left to shop! He'll be gone from the stores by then.

 

[AK FLOCK SWAP]

And here I was considering moving up there. FORGET THAT!!!!!

Aww come on<<< Not bad if you have an indoor job,

,,HAHHAH Just the opposite of ,,,,say Phoenix in the summer

< HOT>,,You don't stay out in it all day.. Its not the temps..Its the lack of light

,,For the next 4 weeks we will get about 3 To 4 hours of sun a day,,

,,Kinda dark,,Drive to work in the dark ,,come home in the dark,,LOL

 

[Gardeningmama]

Quote: Funny you say that because that has been my intention every single night since the cold set in. Not once have I done it. Laziness sets in every evening and I don't want to deal with it. So, instead of taking that extra 5 minutes in the evening, I spend 45 every morning complaining about it. Lol, I have issues, I think!

Might have a ring O' death in one egg. All of the eggs showing embryos are from pen one but pen two I'm not seeing anything. I'll give them a few more days and then I also need to go have a chat with my cockerel I have in pen two.

Give it time. It is hard to tell this early.


Yes, give it time. I have seen the death ring several times, and last hatch, early on I was convinced I had one. Something told me keep it in there for a couple more days. Glad I did, a few days later there was obviously a lively chick in there. I think sometimes they just vein weird. Be positive before you toss it. A few days will tell, and by then you'll see a marked difference between the good eggs and a bad one, if it is.