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

[Melabella]

MB~ so happy about Duke!

me too Crafty,,thank you!

what color was the chick Brooster?

 

[BroosterSpringsteen]

It was white, but I'd take any color of silkie if it was less than a week old.

 

[debbie_nibbles]

MB
my friend whos watching the girls took the pic and sent it to me. I'm not sure if thats the true color or not we wont be home for another couple weeks. I don't even know which one layed it. Its driving me nuts! But we are having awesome weather and I got to s Roseanne Barr last night. She is hilarious!

 

[kdwag]

Crafty, doesn't the waiting just make you crazy?

I have 5 hatched so far, and 6 more pipped. In the brooder is a Silkie, a Cream Legbar (a little rooster...grrrr), and a Blue Ameraucana. In the incubator I have a Light Sussex and a Blue Laced Red Wyandotte drying. The Wyandotte seems to be having problems, possibly a genetic condition, and I'll probably have to cull.

I also have some questions about the Blue Ameraucana, which looks suspiciously like an EE. It has chipmunk coloring. I've seen pictures of this guy's flock, and I'm pretty sure if it is an EE, it must have been an accidental breed cross. His Blue Am's are really pretty.
Here are a couple of pics:

Oh my gosh, they are so freaking cute. I am so envious of you hatchers.!

 

[kdwag]

MB, that's great news about Duke! Don't worry about the new roo. It often takes a few weeks for the girls to accept a new roo's advances.

So we had a terrible tragedy here. One of the cats somehow got into the room with the brooder, and killed all 3 chicks, including Mr. O'Hurn. It was so, so horrible. This has never happened!! We're so careful about leaving the door closed! My daughter will be crushed. She's with her dad until Monday. How am I going to tell her what happened? I'm desperately searching all of NC for another silkie chick. Yep...I'm the parent who's trying to pull off the whole dead pet switch-a-roo apparently. But I'm that desperate. I really am.

In the meantime, there's one hatched Light Sussex running around in the incubator, and lots of pipped eggs, but there hasn't been any progress for hours.

Oh my gosh that's horrible. I was outside the other evening and it was really windy. While I was giving fresh water, the run door blew open but before I realized it, the girls were waddling away, my german shorthaired pointer quickly saw them and across the yard he came. I yelled at him to stop and he did. I was able to get him into the house without incident but it could have been a disaster. I feel so bad for you and your daughter, I would feel the same.

 

[kdwag]

Holy smokes, hatches, pips, incubators and now a broody mama! I am going to live vicariously through you all! Good Luck to everyone with their new babies and hatches!

I have some amazing news about Duke. You know how I had two failed attempts to place him at farms near by? Well, my handyman said he would take him and do the deed for me as I know I am not up to the processing thing yet, (will I ever be?). He said after he picked him up, he arrived home and his wife told him.. "you are not killing that rooster anywhere near me!", so back in the car went Duke in my dog crate, and he drove to a farm that a friend works at in the next town over. He pulled up and asked if they might possibly want a rooster to free range. Told him he is a wonderful protector over the girls. Woman says after taking a look at him... "sure, just take him around to the back barn where the chicken barn is, we take lots of roos that need homes". I guess they aren't too worried about any quarantine. My handyman was so surprised to see what he said was at least 100 hens there. He knew they sold farm fresh eggs but had no idea that they had that many hens. He counted 5 roosters that he could see. The last he saw of Duke was him approaching the barn, doing his little wing drop dance to a group of ladies. I asked him,, "are you just trying to make me feel better?" He said...No, I promise you, drive there and take a look at him for yourself. So, if the rain holds out, I am going to go stop by and see Duke in his glory. Lots of hens, and space, and other roos to keep him sparring with, not people! I am so darn excited he found a place to live, I feel a better knowing that he didn't end up in the soup pot!

In the meantime, my girls are giving the new roo a bit of the cold shoulder. They are more than unimpressed. I let them free range for about a half hour tonight.. The new hen is very nervous, she is definitely on the bottom, even with her roo by her side. She is also a bit flighty. She has been hanging around with my loner girl Daisy. They kept going back into the coop...rather than free range. I wonder if he free ranged much where he came from, the woman had about an acre and a half, but where the birds were was less. Maybe it is just a bit too much at first. I have 6 acres, and there is 100 acre property right behind us. Lots of open spaces, and woods. I hoping it just takes time. I haven't seen him cover any girls but his own, I am guessing they just all have to get to know each other.

MB

YAYYYY, so happy for you and for Duke. I'm sure your newbies will get comfortable in a couple of weeks.

 

[kdwag]

Was anyone else in that crazy line of storms that crossed the Eastern Seaboard last night? I love a good spring thunderstorm, but that was insane!

So I'm still a little upset this morning. I've never cried this much over a lost chicken. And I can't even look my cat in the eyes. I love my cat, and he was just doing what his cat instincts told him to do, but still. And he knows I'm mad at him. 3 more chicks hatched last night, and more are zipping, so I do feel a little better about that. I have another Cream Legbar, and this one's a girl!

I've gotten a lot of responses in my search for a silkie chick, but they're all at least 5 weeks old. I don't want my daughter to miss out on that first adorable week. So I'll probably have to tell her the truth, or some version of the truth, and order more eggs. She's cried over lost chicks before, but this is different. It's Mr. O'Hurn.

Katrina, sorry to hear about your broody hen problem! I'm glad I've yet to deal with that. I hear it's pretty difficult to break them out of the broodiness.

Yes, we got the wind and the RAIN, I have a run and coop surrounded by water with some big mud puddles that the girls love to play in. I threw a few handfuls of straw in the run to cover up some of the wettest areas but they love that even more and it ends up getting nasty after they scratch in it, etc. I let them out yesterday evening between rain storms since they hadn't been out in a couple of days due to the weather. It was misting slightly, when they finally went inside, they were soaked rags. I turned on their heat lamp so they could dry off a bit before bed time. I really thought their feathers would repel rain better but maybe not?

I understand how upset you are at your cat and you're right, it only did what seemed natural to it- doesn't make us feel any better though. Good luck with your search.

 

[CatSol]

Thanks Katrina and MB. I had one shell-less egg from one of the other girls a long time ago but that was it. This morning I see Amber drop 2, I think, shell-less.. And I mean no papery cover at all. But they looked very weird. The yoke did not look right at all. Off color, weird shape & small. Even if I could have gotten a pic I am not sure I would have shown you. It looked really ...

bad. And if I had not cleaned them up so quickly the other girls would have eaten them...

I had to shoo them away....I am guessing it was lining or did you call them meat eggs? But there was no blood. Then Amber jumped into a box a sat as if she will lay a real egg. She had seemed really quite this morning... not her normal self. But she looked better after she dropped the 2 shell-less things... I will check on her later. I am guessing that her getting used to a real cycle is causing her a little issues. I hate PMS... can you imagine having it every day?

Lucky I am home today. It is so funny that we know our girls personalities enough that we know the minute when the are off a little. I think that is great.

 

[jklyles1]

Thought I would introduce Sunny to everyone.....Meet Sunny Side Up.(named by my 7 yr old) 6 day old Delaware

 

[Crafty chick]

Cute Sunny! We have a cat named Captain Sunny