Arizona Chickens

[pastrymama]

happy bday baby azchicken! get her the genesis! i really honestly do love mine. my gf kate has an entry level hovabator that she has to tinker with to get the temp right, but she is an electrical engineer and is a smarty pants like that. with little kids you don't want to have to think about it too hard.

 

[Memphisjourney2seramas]

azchicken....sounds like she is going broody. get her some eggs

 

[itsredcandy]

Mikey D - Congrats on 4 eggs. I was so excited two days ago to get two eggs from both of my laying girls, then yesterday, not a single egg. Darn those two. Freeloading again. How are the babies doing?

Novaleigh - Congrats on 10 yrs. That's awesome. I agree on style. I just where what ever I like. I tend to lean toward 80s styles so right now I am in hog heaven with the current clothes.


Arizonachicken - I love your new additions. They are gorgeous.

AZKat - Oh no. How sad. Glad the other 10 were ok.

In2Ice - Mine all roost including the 1 month old but on occasion the will cuddle on the coop floor and sometimes they'll roost out in the run. During the day, they'll nap just about anywhere. Sometimes they'll even sleep in the nesting box all together.


Correction...I just went to fluff the nesting boxes and found a buried egg from my EE. She lays nearly everyday now but will miss a day or two a week.

~Selina

 

[Novaleigh]

Thank you AZKat!!!! Our new anniversary roo is BEAUTIFUL!!

 

[Arizonachicken]

pastrymama: Ha, ha! I'm sure a Genesis is what she's always wanted! I don't think I need one now. I'm pretty sure my new Wyandotte is broody. Be prepared for a TON of broody chicken questions next!

Memphis:

I just risked life and limb and put the egg she laid yesterday under her. I sure hope they are fertile!

itsredcandy: The rooster she was with was a beauty, so if these eggs are fertile, I think she'll have some pretty chicks!

Ok, now for the questions. The other Wyandotte is in the temporary pen with her. Should I remove her? Does the broody need to be isolated? And how about food, I held out a leaf of chard from the garden and broody attacked it like she hasn't eaten in days! She's not getting up at all to get water or food. Does she need anything special? Will she keep laying eggs now that she's sitting on two? Do I need to get some eggs from someone that are fertile for sure? I want her to raise chicks!

 

[nurseshelly]

Are you incubating Seramas? Do you have to use the quail racks for those?

I also use the regular racks for my Serama eggs. I have the quail racks, but they are so small, I worry that the eggs will tip out.
I have a Genesis 1588 and I like it. It keeps the temperature pretty stable. It does vary about 1 degree. I also have a home made incubator, which I what I use now, and then the Genesis for hatching. I really don't like the styrafoam incubator concept though. It has little holes that get full of food and/or poop if you use it as a brooder even for a day, it's really hard to get the crud out, and you have to soak in bleach and sit in the sun to get it all out. It just isn't very sanitary. I usually do use a separate brooder, but once in a while I will need to keep them in the Genesis for a few days.
The home made one is from a used wine cooler, and it works really well. The only problem I've had with it, was recently the thermostat failed and it cooked my eggs! Then a different time, one of the built in fans failed and the temp got a little high, but my eggs still hatched. Now we have a separate personal size fan in there too just to ensure circulation stays good. The previous thermostat was one made for reptile enclosures that you just plug your heat source into. It worked great for a year, then cooked the eggs a few weeks ago. I did more research and found that is just about how long they last. So, we upgraded to a better thermostat. The new thermostat is a Herpstat1, also made for reptiles, but it's awesome!!! It keeps the temp from 99.5 to 99.6 degrees at all times. It just dims the power to the heat source to keep it exactly steady instead of turning the heat on and off. It also has a high and low temperature alarm, so no more accidental cooking of eggs. It's super cool

 

[nurseshelly]

You can take her off of the nest a few times a day to eat and drink (and poo), she should get right back into the box when she is done. Mine won't get out either unless I make them, but then they make a beeline for food and water super fast and then run back to their nest. Next time you need to sneak an egg under, if you do it at night, she might be less nasty. If she's too protective for you to get her off of the nest, you can just put food and water near her, if it's possible the way your coop is set up.

pastrymama: Ha, ha! I'm sure a Genesis is what she's always wanted! I don't think I need one now. I'm pretty sure my new Wyandotte is broody. Be prepared for a TON of broody chicken questions next!

Memphis:

I just risked life and limb and put the egg she laid yesterday under her. I sure hope they are fertile!

itsredcandy: The rooster she was with was a beauty, so if these eggs are fertile, I think she'll have some pretty chicks!

Ok, now for the questions. The other Wyandotte is in the temporary pen with her. Should I remove her? Does the broody need to be isolated? And how about food, I held out a leaf of chard from the garden and broody attacked it like she hasn't eaten in days! She's not getting up at all to get water or food. Does she need anything special? Will she keep laying eggs now that she's sitting on two? Do I need to get some eggs from someone that are fertile for sure? I want her to raise chicks!

 

[Arizonachicken]

Thank you for the great information, nurseshelley. I just have her in a temp pen for now, the whole quarantine thing. The other wyandotte I have with her seems fine. She's not bothering the broody or anything. The broody is super protective, I had to hold up a towel so she couldn't see what I was doing when I put the other egg under her. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure she would have given me a few good pecks. I'm worried the other one doesn't have a place to lay her eggs now. I had set up only one nesting box in their tiny pen. I'll try to set up another for the other hen and put her eggs under the broody, too. I'm sure ONE of them is fertile for sure. They were in a pen with 3 other hens and two roosters. I'll be bummed if they don't hatch. 21 days, right? Sorry about all the posts, I'm just so excited!

 

[Mahonri]

Noel, I got there just after the feed shipment came in.

Good timing.

Bad that I came home with THREE birds... but they were calling for me to take them home....

 

[Puffycheeks]

Congrats Novaleigh on your anniversary and your new Roo. What kind of Roo is it?