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

[chicken pickin]

thats how my family is too, my parents are going somewhere this weekend and they want me to come but i keep telling them i cant leave my animals and they say why not? cant you just fill the feeders and they will be fine? they dont get that i have to lock my girls up and i have to give them a hand full of scratch before bed to stay warm. Not to mention that my goats also need a meal twice a day.. they just dont get it lol plus we are also getting a huge storm and if the power goes out i have to be there to get the generator going for my animals water heater as well as my incubator. Priorities

My family is the same they don't get it. They think Im crazy for having so many animals and now im "tied" down to the farm. They get frustrated with me at times but I love the animals so I wouldn't have it any other way. I make it work and still manage to plan vacations(even though prepping for trips away from home is very stressful) and to top it off I don't actually trust anyone with my animals

with the exception of my DH.

 

[chickengirl1193]

Quote:
Sounds like a business opportuniy.. At home pet and animal care. Nobody needs to be there 24 hours a day, but somebody to come by on schedule to feed and water, and close up shop for the night. There are dog and cat sitters (and walkers), but nobody (that I'm aware of) that would take care of poultry or livestock.

I actually think we have a person around here that will watch your horses, maybe chickens fall into that category? they can have any eggs they collect

My family is the same they don't get it. They think Im crazy for having so many animals and now im "tied" down to the farm. They get frustrated with me at times but I love the animals so I wouldn't have it any other way. I make it work and still manage to plan vacations(even though prepping for trips away from home is very stressful) and to top it off I don't actually trust anyone with my animals with the exception of my DH.

yeah I hear ya I do trust my bf to watch them but once he fed everyone wrong even when I left it out so ive showed him a few times and now he gets it.

 

[fosterson]

Ugh. Already had a handful of 'culls'. Those white eggs I got must have been frozen -- three of the four cracked.

Is it cheating to replace them and set from my own hens?

 

[Gardeningmama]

Thank You! We live on a small lot and have close neighbors so I make do with what I have. I was lucky enough when I was house hunting to find this property. My house is tucked up to the very back left corner of the property Dogs get the tiny backyard, kids get the large front yard and the farm animals get the entire side yard(the side yard was just thick trees when we moved in, mostly pine). I cleared it so we could have the farm and gardens.

Each coop has its own separate run(minus the newest coop in the chicken yard, I haven't made a run for that one yet. Then a fence competely surrounds all the coops together and has 2 gates a back and a front. So all the chickens stay separate so I can monitor breeding and reduse rooster fights. I rotate letting each coop into the chicken yard and also rotate who gets to free range outside the chicken yard. It will be easier to do the rotations once the last coop has a run. Even when they free range together in groups they all know their houses, they will investigate each others pens and house and eat and drink the other chickens food/water. But not one chicken has laid an egg in a different house or went to bed in a different house. They know which is theirs.

I have a mini village, only 2 large coops, and 1 mini. They all free range together, and no one would dare roost in the others coop, BUT I have 13 nesting boxes throughout, and the girls all use 1, and the old rabbit hutch they found under my porch....go figure!

Holy chicken manure rooster man!!! Turned computer on and 140 posts behind.

Quote:

I gotta say that's the first time I've heard that one! Wowser!!!

 

[ESofVA]

OK...I placed 10 standard eggs in my incubator last night. The roo is a Salmon Faverolles and I have several different breeds of hens.

There are also bantam Cochin eggs in there that are due to hatch in 2 days. I just received an egg turner for my incubator and plan to add it today.
I plan to add hopefully 2-3 Salmon Faverolles eggs in the next few days but they won't count here. I really like my Faverolles but I only have the one pair so I would hope to get at least another pullet...and there is always the chance that there will be a couple in the eggs I just set. I don't know which hens these are from except the whites which came from my 1 white Leghorn hen.
I separated out my Faverolles hen from the others so I would know her eggs would be purebred.

 

[roostercluck]

okay thats good to know! i added some food coloring to my water. thanks

Your welcome! Hope your hatch goes great!

 

[chickengirl1193]

Your welcome! Hope your hatch goes great!

thanks you too!

 

[ESofVA]

Eat the raccoon yourself!!! THAT would be payback!! (They are actually quite good! LOL!!!

 

[Gardeningmama]

I was just looking over page 1 and did I really miss the guess how many eggs will be set contest?? That really stinks!! I wanted a shot at those Pendescas!

 

[fosterson]

Eat the raccoon yourself!!! THAT would be payback!!

I grew up very poor in rural Texas, and sometimes we DID eat raccoon. Not high on my 'recommended eats' list.

The chickens, though, can have it!