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

[Cynthia12]

My duck eggs are twitching and shimmying!!

I am getting so excited I can hardly sit still! I'll probably jump awake at every little sound tonight and run to the incubator hoping to find

.

Not chick or duck related, but I am like this right now about my Golden R. Bred her to a Standard size Poodle..Goldendoodles on the way! She is due anytime. I have her marked for the 30th, but she is showing signs of having them. I know, she could still be a few days, can't wait!

 

[Cynthia12]

Blarney, it looks like we wull be having goose & ham for Christmas. Oh, and I have to make fudge & cookies too. We were all too stuffed for dessert today so I will make the cheesecake tomorrow...lol

Did you get my paypal? Looks like you have some nice colored eggs going on. Can't wait to see them. I would love to have a blue that laid either a blue or olive egg. Or the blue/green.

 

[SilkieSensation]

Blarney, it looks like we wull be having goose

Yep. Just need your shipping info now. I boiled over 6 dozen today for deviled eggs & still have over 4 dozen sitting here laid since Sunday.


Did you get my paypal?   Looks like you have some nice colored eggs going on.  Can't wait to see them.     I would love to have a blue that laid either a blue or olive egg.   Or the blue/green.     

 

[Nicky-the-witch]

Have a backup method...I ordered eggs for two broody hens this summer...long ordeal...but the end result was that both hens GAVE UP a day, just one day, before the eggs showed up! Shipped eggs, particularly SFH eggs, coming to my area are often damaged in transit, dropping my hatch rate below normal and especially so if I use an incubator versus a broody. I was so mad at the girls for quitting on me...got one to hatch, but if the hens had stuck it out, they would have probably gotten 2-4, based on past experience. But at least I had an incubator, kwim, and could try instead of wondering now what to do with the eggs as I watched my broody hen run off into the sunset.

Not that I wish to jinx anything - but my Nell should have been a mule! Once she has decided to sit on her nest - nothing will move her. 1st time she tried to go broody I evicted her every morning and shut the door to the coop (for a few hours) for 4 weeks before she decided enough was enough. I'm pretty sure she will sit it out.
She went broody yesterday and I have given her 3 of her in-fertile eggs to sit on until the beautiful blue eggs from Lillys Creek arrive.
But thank you for the advice - I will keep you all posted!

 

[SunnySkies]

Not that I wish to jinx anything - but my Nell should have been a mule! Once she has decided to sit on her nest - nothing will move her. 1st time she tried to go broody I evicted her every morning and shut the door to the coop (for a few hours) for 4 weeks before she decided enough was enough. I'm pretty sure she will sit it out.
She went broody yesterday and I have given her 3 of her in-fertile eggs to sit on until the beautiful blue eggs from Lillys Creek arrive.
But thank you for the advice - I will keep you all posted!

LOL, I had a hen sit on air for a month. Finally decided to let her do it, bought eggs...and she quit on me 2 weeks later! Eggs died before I realized what had happened. Oops.

Some hens are just stubborn. One of my little Silkie ladies insisted on hatching. She tried and tried. First set of eggs were infertile. Second set...infertile. I was starting to wonder if the rooster she was with was shooting blanks. She tried again, and she hatched 5 of the prettiest splash/paint/don't know what they are called Silkie babies. She is trying to be broody again (!) but I don't want her raising chicks in December outside....it's 20 degrees out there right now. We usually get at least one major storm in December. I keep snatching her eggs, she keeps sitting.

Hope it all works out

 

[SilkieSensation]

I have a hen with 11 chicks right now, 15 chicks in the brooder & a batch of eggs due Tues. Then I will have a break for a couple weeks while we get moved & back to setting eggs (hopefully) for Christmas & New Year's hatches.

 

[BoereMeisie]

Not chick or duck related, but I am like this right now about my Golden R. Bred her to a Standard size Poodle..Goldendoodles on the way! She is due anytime. I have her marked for the 30th, but she is showing signs of having them. I know, she could still be a few days, can't wait!

Ohhhh yay! I love the excitement of waiting for pups to arrive! I once called in sick the day my Jack Russell showed signs of going into labor, she was scratching and tearing her bedding that whole day and the first pup came only two hours after I would have been done with work anyway

Don't regret it though, as the time before that we lost a pup who never started breathing... Had we been there, we could've saved him... So I promised myself that I will never miss a whelping again! Good luck with the whelping of your puppies

 

[poodlechicks]

I have a question: I thought about raising some chicks in the winter. I can see from the hatch-along post that many of you have experience in doing that, otherwise you wouldn't be setting eggs at this time of the year. My question is: do you move your chickens outside after they are fully feathered? How do you introduce them to the bitter cold outside? I can't imagine having them cooped inside the house till spring comes. So, how do you do it?

 

[Gardeningmama]

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[ronott1]

I have a question: I thought about raising some chicks in the winter. I can see from the hatch-along post that many of you have experience in doing that, otherwise you wouldn't be setting eggs at this time of the year. My question is: do you move your chickens outside after they are fully feathered? How do you introduce them to the bitter cold outside? I can't imagine having them cooped inside the house till spring comes. So, how do you do it?

Once they are fully feathered, they can take cold temperatures. I do transition them into the garage but don't integrate them with the flock until they are 16 weeks old or big enough to not look like dinner to the older chickens.

It is not very cold here though. We have frost sometimes but do not go much below 30 in the winter.