April Hatch Thread--Come Join Us!


Just some fun facts I came across for my fellow newbies.

There are over 150 varieties of domestic chickens. They were domesticated about 8000 years ago.
A chickens' heart beats 280-315 times a minute. A chickens' body temperature runs at 102-103 degrees F. A rooster takes 18-20 breaths a minute, a hen 30-35.
Chickens are not capable of sustained flight. The longest recorded flight of a chicken is thirteen seconds. A chicken can travel up to 9 miles per hour.

All domestic chickens can be genetically traced to Gallus Gallus, The Red Jungle Fowl. The chicken is the closest living relative of the t-rex.
Chickens come in an infinite variety of colors and patterns. There are seven distinctive types of combs on them: rose, strawberry, single, cushion, buttercup, pea and V-shaped.
Chickens make sounds with actual meaning. They give different alarm calls when threatened by different predators. A rooster will attack anything that he thinks will harm the hens. Their spurs (located at the back of their leg) can cause a very painful puncture wound.
Chicken1.jpg

Picture taken by Wanda Embar at Farm Sanctuary

Chicken2.jpg

Picture taken by Wanda Embar at Farm Sanctuary

A hen can live up to 20 years. She will lay eggs her entire life, with the number decreasing every year from year one.
Chickens lay different colored eggs, from white, to brown, to green, to pink, to blue. The color of a hen's first egg is the color she will lay for life. It takes a hen 24-26 hours to lay an egg.
A chicken finds it very important to have a private nest. She builds her nest by first scratching a hole in the ground. She will then pick up twigs and leaves, which she will drop on her back. Back in the hole she will let the material slide off her back around the rim.
It takes a chick 21 days to develop in the egg. It starts developing when it reaches a temperature of 88 degrees F. A mother hen begins bonding with her chicks before they are even born. She will turn her egg as often as five times an hour and cluck to her unborn chicks, who will chirp back to her and to one another.

If a rooster is not present in a flock of hens, a hen will often take the role, stop laying, and begin to crow.
A chicken can have 4 or 5 toes on each foot.
Chickens have more bones in their necks than giraffes. They have no teeth and swallow their food whole. Part of their stomach is used to grind their food up.
Chickens are very social animals. They will fight to protect their family and will mourn when a loved one is lost.
There are more chickens than people in the world.
 
Day 16. I candled one egg this morning. The biggest one.
There was a lot of red ... It was just odd. The air sac was on the bottom...I slowly tipped the egg and it went THUNK! Everything slid to the opposite end...It just felt wrong.
I gave in...cracked it... Poor chickie had made it until almost completely formed but was dead...
After that I didn't candle anymore eggs.
I just keep hoping I am wrong and one of two do hatch.
 
Never a dumb question here... Butt no, chickens don't really "move" their eggs. One might roll out of the nest or something occasionally but she can't actually pick them up and move them. Now, if the outside part where you found her today is just inches away from where she was earlier, I guess it's possible that she could have rolled them out there...but still unlikely. Hens can go broody even if they don't have eggs. Had you taken any eggs from her nest before she started setting?
We did take one from her nest the week she went broody. Once we saw that she was broody we didn't mess with her nest. I didn't think they did move their eggs, but I figured I would ask just in case they do it sometimes. I thought about buying chicks from our local TSC, but you have to buy 6 at a time and I don't think she could cover 6 chicks. She is very small.If I get eggs for her to hatch, about how many do you recomend me getting? What is the normal amount for a bantam?
 
Whew!!! Just came in from being outside all day. Made a temp bigger house for my chicks..did a little rearranging. My chicks got to play in the sun, dirt and grass all day-they loved it!!! My silkies are the sweetest things ever!!

Setting another 12 eggs tomorrow. Got my two extra bators to use for hatchets today. I saw this kit the other day to make soda bottles into drinking bottles, got 3 kits made water bottles for the big flock, I will make more when we have more soda bottles. I taught my chicks and silkies how to drink from water bottles, much more sanitary. My big flock caught on very quickly!! I feel so much better that they will have water at all times now.

I'm loving this wonderful weather ...had such a good day. Ready for tomorrow, hmmm wonder what I can get into....;)
 
We did take one from her nest the week she went broody. Once we saw that she was broody we didn't mess with her nest. I didn't think they did move their eggs, but I figured I would ask just in case they do it sometimes. I thought about buying chicks from our local TSC, but you have to buy 6 at a time and I don't think she could cover 6 chicks. She is very small.If I get eggs for her to hatch, about how many do you recomend me getting? What is the normal amount for a bantam?

well, it depends on what breed of chicken or duck or goose you want...lol! If you go with another bantam breed, you could probably do 8-10? If you go with a large fowl breed I'd keep it to around 5 or 6, if you want a goose or turkey...one would probably be just right if she's really small.. surprisingly though, chickens can set on a lot more eggs than a person would think. They sort of puff themselves out and situate the eggs for optimum incubation..plus they do a lot of "hand turning" throughout the day so that the eggs on the outside get rotated to the inside and vise versa. Some chickens are just ding-bats though so it's not a sure fire thing every time. haha
 
well, it depends on what breed of chicken or duck or goose you want...lol! If you go with another bantam breed, you could probably do 8-10? If you go with a large fowl breed I'd keep it to around 5 or 6, if you want a goose or turkey...one would probably be just right if she's really small.. surprisingly though, chickens can set on a lot more eggs than a person would think. They sort of puff themselves out and situate the eggs for optimum incubation..plus they do a lot of "hand turning" throughout the day so that the eggs on the outside get rotated to the inside and vise versa. Some chickens are just ding-bats though so it's not a sure fire thing every time. haha
Okay I did not think they could cover that many! Wow! Well, I'm going to see if anyone local has some bantam eggs I can buy. Or I may just break down and buy the 6 from TSC. I may have to add on to my coop for that! Thank you for your help!!!
 

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