Arizona Chickens

[LarryPQ]

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I just got off the phone with Tim down at the Stock Shop. He made me feel tons better. I know it is his job to, but he said all the right things---the chicks were too big for the baby pen, pin feathers push out & make a drop of blood, the chicks see the blood & then pick, they treat with hot pick & electrolytes, extra protien, moving the bunnies out so the chicks have more room....

Basically, he told me what I already knew, but he quelled my fears. If he had said anything any other way, I would be on my way---off to save the world.

 

[AZKat]

I got my Wheaten Amerucana cockrel from Mahroni this morning. He's a very sweet, very friendly boy. I was sitting on the patio earlier, and he came over and perched on my leg and took a nap. I think he's going to be quite a looker, too.
He's been hanging around the little girls (who are about two weeks older than him) a bit, but he doesn't know quite what to think of them and they don't know quite want to think of him. There hasn't been any really aggression, though, so I think they should be getting along quite well in a few days.

 

[LarryPQ]

Ok- I know I have been overly chatty today, but I gotta share! My CM hen FINALLY laid a proper egg. She's the one with the busted leg, and since she's all growed up, we'll have to name her. For your review, here is a picture of 2 of her 3 eggs. Viva La Differance!

Gimpy's Eggs:


Her bro Shanks is still up for grabs...

 

[Mahonri]

So nice to meet AZKat & her husband and gckiddhouse & her daughter. Great people.

There were only a few production reds left at the Stock Shop this afternoon. The Feed Barn has some small chicks and a few larger ones. They have some 6 week old White EEs for $5.

I already have too many chickens.

Tomorrow it's clean the coops AND the chickens.

Got 18 eggs today. Some will be hatched in 3 weeks I hope!

 

[tofuranch]

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Are you hatching again??? Looking for some more hens I bet

 

[gckiddhouse]

ArizonaDesertChicks - thanks for the kudos. I will upload a pic of our bator loaded with Mahonri's eggs in a bit. I have to do dd's nails tonight so she can feel pretty for tea tomorrow for her birthday!! So exciting!
So it took about 7 hours to get your eggs up to the right temp? Is that what I should expect? My humidity looks good, but the temp is coming up real slow, like one degree an hour. I guess that sounds logical. Update when you can on your hatch.

Mahonri - soooo nice to meet you today! Your generosity and kindness were overwhelming. Eggs in bator! Little roo and pullets resting in the laundry room wondering what is going on... We will get them settled with more space tomorrow.

AZKat - congrats on your new roo! I guess we have his brother. Trying to come up with a name for him and his girly friends. We may wait a while and see what their personalities require in the way of names.

E.T.A. Cheerfulheart2 - Thanks!

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

Carol - looking forward to seeing the new pics.

I candled again today - I needed to understand what I was seeing and find the one with the blood ring. Did the first 14 this afternoon when I turned them. The two polish eggs were clear - I broke them open - definitely clear. The rest of the eggs all had dark bottoms and veins at the top of the egg.

I just now candled the other 8 - so exciting! Besides the dark bottoms and veins, I saw movement in almost all of them. Earlier, I had thought the dark bottoms were the chicks and the dark areas weren't moving - I never turned the egg to find the embryo. Now that I know what to look for - very exciting!

I found the egg with the bloodring and broke it open - definitely no longer a chick - looked like a regular egg, but with a red ring around the inside of the shell. It was one of my new dark blue ameraucana's eggs. I also think the GCM chick didn't make it - looks like it has a light blood ring and there are no veins like all the other eggs have. I'm going to leave it in there a few more days and candle it again at day 10 to make sure.

Mahonri - you said something about having trouble hatching the GCMs eggs - did they stop early for you or did they make it to the end and then fail?

Well.. I'm very happy with the progress so far - even if the huge Marans egg didn't make it, I still have 18 out of 22 that are looking good and 2 of those probably weren't fertile, so that actually makes 18 out of 20 feritle eggs surviving my inexperienced attempt

. I had originally planned on only incubating 12-14 eggs due to incubator space issues, but am happy I was able to make more room.

 

[Mahonri]

Quote:
Are you hatching again??? Looking for some more hens I bet

gckiddouse got some eggs from me today to hatch.

 

[AZKat]

Mahroni: It was great meeting you as well. I enjoyed looking at your set up, and getting to talk chickens in person. Thank you again for the roo, he's a real sweetie. Right now he's bunked in with the little girls, content as can be.

gckiddhouse: We've decided to name our little guy Jayne, after the character on Firefly. He is a sweetie, and a very handsome boy, but he was also hanging out by the run, giving the big girls attitude, so the name seemed to fit. We'll both have to post pics when they get bigger, I'd be interested to see how your roo turns out.

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

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I hope I'm wrong and the GCM is okay - it is a dark egg. I'll candle again in 3 more days (day 10) and see how it looks.