7th Annual BYC New Year's Day 2016 Hatch-A-Long

[Pensmaster]

I like the "Loaf"ers--I wonder how much soup I can get in them?

Or spinach dip. Yumm.

 

[Jessimom]

Oh gosh...I'm sorry it has taken SO long for me to reply.

I'm W-A-Y back at page 242 "trying" to get caught up.

I'm new to all these breeds but I find the Silkies do REALLY well with our larger breeds, and I'm still really shocked at how well everyone gets along. I have an abundance of roosters and they tend to keep things stirred up a bit. But the Silkies hold their own really well and they're a hardy bunch. I'd say that the Silkie roosters are probably more aggressive than the Easter Egger roosters in the flock. The Easter eggers would be more likely to step on another chicken by accident because they're such big goofs. But everyone is really sweet an spend more time being careful not to step on anyone because every breed is under foot. The Old English game birds are the only ones that show any aggression. If I had another coop the OEGBs would be separate. All the pullets/hens get along famously. The OEGB pullets throw their weight around only if someone comes into "their" area. My original pair of OEGB will seek out trouble.

If it was a beach scene: the Silkies would be the people sun tanning on their towels, the Easter Eggers would be out catching the waves surfing...and the Old English Game Birds would the beach volley ball jocks looking to intimidate someone, my barred Rock x rooster would be security and the Guinea's would be the trouble making teenagers...

I still love my OEGBs though.

(And the guinea's I guess)

What an awesome explanation! I love the beach scene scenario!! I currently have 2 coops. My silkies have a roo, but my larger breeds are all hens. Any time I've tried to introduce a new hen into the bigger flock, it's been traumatic for all. Currently the silkies and hens are side by side, so they can see and talk to each other, but can't touch. The hens are WAY more interested in the silkies than the they are in the hens.

 

[Cynthia12]

Well, tossed another 2 eggs tonight (infertile). That makes, 1 blood ring, 2 infertile. There's one egg in there that I'm pretty sure is toast, but I'm still waiting. At the moment though, I have 8 chicken eggs and 4 quail eggs... but I am expecting to toss another chicken egg by lockdown.

Sorry you are having such a tough time with those quail eggs. :/ And that baby!

 

[ronott1]

Candled my eggs yesterday. I'm using a Hovabator Genesis on the New Year's Hatch, though I also have a regular Hovabator with fan, PLUS a Sportsman's which is also full of about 150+ eggs due later in January! I have the capacity to be incubating almost 400 eggs at one time, if I am crazy enough to do so. LOL!

Anyway, of the 42 put in there, 27 are still going. Two blood rings, and the rest were blanks.

I took photos of the breeder pens. These are some of my best Aloha hens put in with Sussex roosters. One rooster is a Cinnamon Sussex cross, the other is a Buff Sussex / Speckled Sussex cross rooster. The boys have huge size and the girls have great spotting, and I'm hoping for spotty babies with improved body type.








Here is a chick from the first batch of babies, that were hatched out of the pen with the white (Cinnamon Sussex) rooster and spotted hens:


Pretty baby - hope it's a rooster!

Dad is the white boy with the gray neck:


Love the look of this boy. He's just totally the wrong color. LOL!

So hoping the New Year brings me a son of his with his size plus MOTTLED color!

The chicks that do hatch should be nice!

You are going for bigger?

 

[Cynthia12]

@ronott1 please do this, and share!

 

[Cynthia12]

I like the "Loaf"ers--I wonder how much soup I can get in them?

Oh ron! That would be so cute for a Christmas dinner party, or anytime really. Or, a spinach dip..or any dip. Just so it's up front where you can scoop.

 

[Cynthia12]

 

[Cynthia12]

Or spinach dip. Yumm.

Oh..just saw that you posted this too...two great minds.

 

[BullChick]

I got my sourdough starter out of the refrigerator a few hours ago. Maybe I'll get my tush in gear and make a pair.

 

[Cynthia12]

I got my sourdough starter out of the refrigerator a few hours ago. Maybe I'll get my tush in gear and make a pair.

Do it! We want photos!