Any one want to join me in waiting for eggs, posting and comparing notes?

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Chicken face said:
I'm joining in! I have been keeping up with this thread for about a month now. Had an urgent question, so I became a member. Now that I am a member, here I am! We have 6 Barred Rock hens. We ordered them as pullets(15 - 20 wks. old) from a hatchery 9 weeks ago. So they should be at least 24 weeks old. 2 girls have waddles and tall combs. No squatting at all. This is our first time raising chickens and we are in love with them. They were a Christmas present for our son. Best gift he has ever asked for!

I miss Crafty Duck. I think their chickens are the same age as mine. Wonder if they have gotten eggs??

Also, thanks for the Wild Blackberry cake recipe. Looks delicious and my husband loves Black Berry Cobbler and can not wait for me to make this cake!
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Welcome to this awesome lil group and welcome to the blackberry cake recipe :) I have 8 girls, 4 are laying but only 1 will squat for me. My layers are all over the calendar for ages and the ones not laying are at 27 weeks and 21 weeks LOL No rhyme or reason here at all lol. Hopefully soon for you :) Its so fun to be easter egg hunting everyday!
 
Is it usual for the cockeral to start tacking the young hens to the nest boxses and siting in them while the 17 month old hens are with him ?
 
Melabella said:
Heck no woman, you still qualify for free limosine service! No worries there!

So may I ask then, if an egg does have a dirt smear, or a poo smudge, I don't mean covered in poo (of which I had one time), I just mean smudges and smears, you just brush it off? Would you use that very same egg to go into the incubator, or do you have to clean those? Forgive my ingnorance, I just love to learn and hoping one day to give that a try.

Great going with the 5 eggs! I thought I only had 6 today, but DH found one on the floor outside the nest boxes. That hasn't happened in a while.

Chickens were slipping and sliding on the ice today when a wind gust came and knocked them all over like bowling pins.

MB
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If they are very dirty, I don't incubate them, but if I can brush off the poo or dirt easily, then I do. I just have to judge it egg by egg. This is the first time I've had problems with poopy nesting boxes. Last year when I was incubating in the spring, my girls kept their boxes really clean. I change the bedding in the boxes every couple of days right now, so the eggs are clean, as long as I keep up with it. I really think that once my last EE girl starts laying, the problem will subside. She's the only one sleeping in the boxes.

There are lots of different philosophies and practices when it comes to cleaning eggs for incubating. There are folks who purposely wash every egg before setting in dish detergent. Some people use disinfectants. Brinsea even makes a hatching egg disinfectant. Some people like to sand some of the color off of Marans eggs before setting to make them easier to candle, and then paint them with hydrogen peroxide to replace the bloom. The thing about poopy eggs is that they may very well be contaminated before you collect them. But...I have had shipped eggs come from BYC members that were really dirty, and then I set them anyway because I had already spent the money. That's pretty risky, but they hatched no problem. So anyway, with my own eggs I just set the cleanest ones and keep my fingers crossed. I've always had really good hatch rates with my own eggs. I only run into problems with the shipped ones.

My biggest challenge collecting eggs for this hatch has been the weather. Temps in the teens (and wind chill at -5...brrr) has meant I have to listen for egg songs, and run out and collect eggs as soon as they lay them when I can. I'll also have to candle before setting to make sure none of them have cracks from freezing. Every once and a while, and egg will sit long enough to freeze, but then the next hen comes along and sits to lay her own egg, thawing out the older one, and tricking me into thinking it's fine when I collect 2 warm eggs.
 
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