Amateur hour

[MamaLynn23]

Ok everybody, as much as it pains me to admit, I and my husband are almost complete amateurs. We both grew up around animals and considered ourselves "country folks". But when we got our 2.5 acre property and started with 6 sheep a couple of months after settling in and then 10 hens the next Summer I guess we should have known we'd have issues. My husband grew up around dairy cows and dogs, I grew up around horses and homing pigeons, and then we also had chickens in my preteen, early teen years. So neither of us knew anything about sheep. And neither of us knew anything about hatching and raising poultry, just adult birds. Last fall two of our chicken hens went broody before we got a rooster, so I gave them duck eggs. (We had by that time gotten ducks and I knew they were fertile) They hatched 7 ducklings between the two of them, 5 survived. We didn't know enough to let them raise them themselves, so we kept them inside till they were big enough to join the flock. Then I had quite a debacle with one of our turkey hens a few months ago (the one I swore never was mated by our tom) going broody. I took 10 of 15 eggs away from her and tried candling them, couldn't see any signs of progress, then almost all of them turned out to be fertile as I cracked them and threw them out! I was SOOO upset with myself. She ended up with only 2 chicks out of the eggs I left her. Now just recently another two of our chicken hens went broody. The first one started on the 6th of this month with 10, an even mix of chicken and duck eggs. One egg got smashed because at first my other hens were trying to lay in her nest. Then 3 days ago her chicken eggs started hatching. She ended up with 4 chicks, but one died. She sat on the nest for 2 more days but today decided she was done. I took the remaining chicken egg and the duck eggs and candled them. The chicken egg had no signs at all. Out of the duck eggs one had no signs, one had a mass with veins and movement, and two were completely dark with an air pocket, but I couldn't hear anything when pressed to my ear, or see any movement. I decided to toss the ones I knew were bad and the two that were blacked out. I cannot express the horror I felt when I saw the two blacked out eggs actually had perfect little ducklings in them!!!! I was so mad at myself I couldn't even cry. I knew it was a 50/50 chance that they either were completely rotten or had babies in them and I don't know for the life of me why I didn't just take the chance and stick them under the other broody with the one other egg. Please if anyone has tips for me on keeping up with the development of incubating eggs I would appreciate it. Also, I had thought that chicken and duck eggs usually take around the same time to incubate, but I guess I was mistaken. Do different duck breeds take different amount of time? Does it matter if they are barnyard mixes?

I am very embarrassed at having to pen this. I really should have known better considering I have this forum to fall back on when unsure. I know from now on I will never toss eggs I'm not sure of though.

 

[PoultryCQ]

Ok everybody, as much as it pains me to admit, I and my husband are almost complete amateurs. We both grew up around animals and considered ourselves "country folks". But when we got our 2.5 acre property and started with 6 sheep a couple of months after settling in and then 10 hens the next Summer I guess we should have known we'd have issues. My husband grew up around dairy cows and dogs, I grew up around horses and homing pigeons, and then we also had chickens in my preteen, early teen years. So neither of us knew anything about sheep. And neither of us knew anything about hatching and raising poultry, just adult birds. Last fall two of our chicken hens went broody before we got a rooster, so I gave them duck eggs. (We had by that time gotten ducks and I knew they were fertile) They hatched 7 ducklings between the two of them, 5 survived. We didn't know enough to let them raise them themselves, so we kept them inside till they were big enough to join the flock. Then I had quite a debacle with one of our turkey hens a few months ago (the one I swore never was mated by our tom) going broody. I took 10 of 15 eggs away from her and tried candling them, couldn't see any signs of progress, then almost all of them turned out to be fertile as I cracked them and threw them out! I was SOOO upset with myself. She ended up with only 2 chicks out of the eggs I left her. Now just recently another two of our chicken hens went broody. The first one started on the 6th of this month with 10, an even mix of chicken and duck eggs. One egg got smashed because at first my other hens were trying to lay in her nest. Then 3 days ago her chicken eggs started hatching. She ended up with 4 chicks, but one died. She sat on the nest for 2 more days but today decided she was done. I took the remaining chicken egg and the duck eggs and candled them. The chicken egg had no signs at all. Out of the duck eggs one had no signs, one had a mass with veins and movement, and two were completely dark with an air pocket, but I couldn't hear anything when pressed to my ear, or see any movement. I decided to toss the ones I knew were bad and the two that were blacked out. I cannot express the horror I felt when I saw the two blacked out eggs actually had perfect little ducklings in them!!!! I was so mad at myself I couldn't even cry. I knew it was a 50/50 chance that they either were completely rotten or had babies in them and I don't know for the life of me why I didn't just take the chance and stick them under the other broody with the one other egg. Please if anyone has tips for me on keeping up with the development of incubating eggs I would appreciate it. Also, I had thought that chicken and duck eggs usually take around the same time to incubate, but I guess I was mistaken. Do different duck breeds take different amount of time? Does it matter if they are barnyard mixes?

I am very embarrassed at having to pen this. I really should have known better considering I have this forum to fall back on when unsure. I know from now on I will never toss eggs I'm not sure of though.

Ducks take a few more days to hatch...chickens take 21 days.

Dark eggs are normal (with an air sack), that means they are developing. Clear, see through eggs are either too young, died early on, or not fertile. When hatching ducks and chickens, setting the duck eggs earlier are a good idea. And yes, chickens can raise ducks, just provide a nice safe space for them and feed feed made for ducks.

 

[Ruby Rogue]

Sorry for your losses, but it seems like you've gained valuable insight from your experience that will benefit you in future hatches. We've all made the same mistakes in the beginning.

 

[MamaLynn23]

Sorry for your losses, but it seems like you've gained valuable insight from your experience that will benefit you in future hatches. We've all made the same mistakes in the beginning.

Thank you so much for your kindness. I really do love having our little backyard "farm". And want to do right by our animals. That is why I am thankful I found backyardchickens. I am really upset about the whole thing. I even said a prayer asking the Lord to forgive me for killing two of His precious creations. I know there is a lot of room for improvement, in fact I plan on doing a coop overhaul soon. We have let it get a little unkempt and I need a better brooding area.

 

[MamaLynn23]

Ducks take a few more days to hatch...chickens take 21 days.

Dark eggs are normal (with an air sack), that means they are developing. Clear, see through eggs are either too young, died early on, or not fertile. When hatching ducks and chickens, setting the duck eggs earlier are a good idea. And yes, chickens can raise ducks, just provide a nice safe space for them and feed feed made for ducks.

Thank you, I appreciate it.

 

[PoultryCQ]

Thank you so much for your kindness. I really do love having our little backyard "farm". And want to do right by our animals. That is why I am thankful I found backyardchickens. I am really upset about the whole thing. I even said a prayer asking the Lord to forgive me for killing two of His precious creations. I know there is a lot of room for improvement, in fact I plan on doing a coop overhaul soon. We have let it get a little unkempt and I need a better brooding area.

Everyone makes mistakes.

 

[Ruby Rogue]

Thank you so much for your kindness. I really do love having our little backyard "farm". And want to do right by our animals. That is why I am thankful I found backyardchickens. I am really upset about the whole thing. I even said a prayer asking the Lord to forgive me for killing two of His precious creations. I know there is a lot of room for improvement, in fact I plan on doing a coop overhaul soon. We have let it get a little unkempt and I need a better brooding area.

You sound like a great animal mom, and God will forgive you for your mistakes and bless you for acknowledging them.

 

[Jenessa_096]

This story reminds me of the first time we hatched eggs. It was our first full year of having chickens. Our hen Becca went broody. We have never had a hen go broody so wet didn’t notice until about the fifth day. By then she had 16 eggs under her. She’s quite a large hen though so she had no problem keeping them all warm. We tried to put her in a box at night, but she would not sit. This was happening in our little Tsc coop, but we were building our new coop. So about a week in we moved all the chickens into the big new coop except her. For the next two weeks, we just candled and waited. Then one Saturday on day 20 we had a pip! We all gathered around and watched him hatch! The chick turned out to be a roo we named Coco. The next day 4 more hatched! Them on day 23 when we came out we had a surprise! Another chick had hatched! At this point she didn’t want to sit on her eggs anymore. We had two that we thought were still viable when we canceled so we kept those warm with a towel. But after two days sing no development we crack them open. It was sad to see the chicks inside that just didn’t make it. The next day you’re passing a feed store and we decided to take a look inside, I saw some Polish chicks, and I couldn’t resist! So we ended up with one more little white chick. When we came home however, we found a chick struggling to breath. We placed it alone under a heat lamp. Sadly, he didn’t make it! So now we had to introduce the new chick that we named Snow to Becca. And it did not go well, she was chasing him and pecking him. So we had put him with another chick in a seperate area. So every night we would put Snow under Becca, and wake up early to take him out. One night we decided to put Becca and the chicks in the big coop in a box. When we come the next day we see that the box had flipped over and one of the chicks we thought was dead. Now this happened when I was at home so my mom put her under a heat lamp and dried off her wounds. Thankfully she made a full recovery and is here today her name is Lulu! Flash forward five months we realize that we have four roosters and two hens!So we had to give away all of them because we had our big boy Cooper. Anyways out of 14 eggs we ended up with two hens in our flock today! It sure didn’t end up how we thought it would, but everyone makes some mistakes! Here are the pictures of all 6 of them!

 

[MamaLynn23]

This story reminds me of the first time we hatched eggs. It was our first full year of having chickens. Our hen Becca went broody. We have never had a hen go broody so wet didn’t notice until about the fifth day. By then she had 16 eggs under her. She’s quite a large hen though so she had no problem keeping them all warm. We tried to put her in a box at night, but she would not sit. This was happening in our little Tsc coop, but we were building our new coop. So about a week in we moved all the chickens into the big new coop except her. For the next two weeks, we just candled and waited. Then one Saturday on day 20 we had a pip! We all gathered around and watched him hatch! The chick turned out to be a roo we named Coco. The next day 4 more hatched! Them on day 23 when we came out we had a surprise! Another chick had hatched! At this point she didn’t want to sit on her eggs anymore. We had two that we thought were still viable when we canceled so we kept those warm with a towel. But after two days sing no development we crack them open. It was sad to see the chicks inside that just didn’t make it. The next day you’re passing a feed store and we decided to take a look inside, I saw some Polish chicks, and I couldn’t resist! So we ended up with one more little white chick. When we came home however, we found a chick struggling to breath. We placed it alone under a heat lamp. Sadly, he didn’t make it! So now we had to introduce the new chick that we named Snow to Becca. And it did not go well, she was chasing him and pecking him. So we had put him with another chick in a seperate area. So every night we would put Snow under Becca, and wake up early to take him out. One night we decided to put Becca and the chicks in the big coop in a box. When we come the next day we see that the box had flipped over and one of the chicks we thought was dead. Now this happened when I was at home so my mom put her under a heat lamp and dried off her wounds. Thankfully she made a full recovery and is here today her name is Lulu! Flash forward five months we realize that we have four roosters and two hens!So we had to give away all of them because we had our big boy Cooper. Anyways out of 14 eggs we ended up with two hens in our flock today! It sure didn’t end up how we thought it would, but everyone makes some mistakes! Here are the pictures of all 6 of them!

Oh they're so pretty! We have a big flock now, almost a year after starting with those 10 RIRs. And it is very varied! We have no idea what our Roos heritage is except maybe some game chicken in him. And we have a lot of young chickens that we've either bought or been given. Here is a pic of Frances and her three chicks. And Ruby one of our turkey hens and hers.

 

[Jenessa_096]

So pretty! We also went from a flock of 5 to 20! That’s not including the 6 roosters and drakes we gave away this year. It doesn’t help that my mom works at Tractor Suoply and kept bringing home chicks. Chicken math am I right??