Breeding silkied Cochin bantams to the Standard

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Power just went out for about 30 minutes. Not a cloud in the sky, barely a breeze, but apparently somehow a branch fell on a line anyway and knocked the power out for about 360 people in the area. Thankfully the area power company works quick and we're back now! The peepers did just fine, I was on the verge of warming them up a water bottle to snuggle with but they never even got noisy about being cold or anything. However, the incubator got pretty cold despite my effort of wrapping it with a few layers of towels. I keep telling myself that broodies take breaks from their eggs that can last just as long and they still hatch them just fine, so things should be okay, but I'm definitely feeling anxious about them anyway.

 

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Okay, so between the power outage yesterday and some things that came up, we pushed the new pen to today and it is not quite finished yet, but it's all framed at least. Just gotta secure the fence wire over it and cut a pop door to give the birds access. It's gotten pretty warm out so we decided to call it a day where we were and finish up tomorrow morning when it's cooler.


I've also just finished moving batch 4 into lock down, so we've got 6 more babies due closer to the weekend! Five Boba babies and one unknown. Thankfully, with the second pen nearly finished, I'll not have to worry about figuring out whose eggs are whose out of that coop anymore pretty soon!

 

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Well, the fencing took way longer than I expected. So the pen is done enough to contain birds, but I have I guess what you'd call the gables to cover with netting for hawk protection, and I've got to get a tarp hung up over the top for some protection from the elements. I'll finish that up tomorrow morning real quick.

I let the birds into that side so everyone can get some greens before I split them up and they're having a blast! Gus is finding all kinds of goodies, so he thinks, and the girls are mostly ignoring him and pecking away by themselves.

We've got draw down occurring in some of the batch 4 eggs, so more peepers are on the way! I've got to set up the other side of the brooder tomorrow to make space for the newbies. I should probably also get their towels run through the laundry and catch up on some other chores I've been neglecting this week in the interest of getting this pen built. Then maybe I'll take some time for myself to rest!

 

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And it's officially done!! Well, I do want to get another tarp to cover the top the rest of the way, but it's done enough for occupancy anyway. It's positioned so that it's difficult to get a full picture of because of the woods surrounding it (I can try again later, though, once I've had a good sit down ), but here is more Gus and the girls enjoying the new space content

This morning, I opened the new pop door first before opening the door they're used to using, and they all just stood in there and stared toward the opening like they didn't know what to do with that. Then I opened the door they're used to and they all came flying out like they'd finally, finally been freed! I guess they'll get used to it eventually!

I forgot that I need to throw together another perch and get some nest boxes ready before I can split the coop, so it might be another day or two, but I figure that way the girls can enjoy the greenery together before some of them get fenced off from it.


Oh, and we have two pips as of first thing this morning!! So next on my agenda today will be getting the brooder set up for the newbies!

 

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Up to 4 air breathers in the incubator! The brooder is... almost ready. Waiting on the second EcoGlow to warm up and it's pretty much there.

I've also checked Athena's eggs today for day 7 of incubation. Just 2 out of 5 are developing. One (that thankfully was not developing) had a crack in it, so I tossed it, but I left the other clears with the hopes that she doesn't mind me switching those out at the end for the chicks from the incubator. Three of the four Boba eggs set at the same time in the incubator are developing, and the fourth appears to be an early embryo death.


While checking the eggs, I realized that I may have made a little bit of mistake, for the record. Batch 4 is hatching now, and batch 5, due a week from Monday, was supposed to go under Athena... but apparently I forgot all about that last week and put fresh eggs (batch 6, I guess) under her instead. So I might be scrambling to find brooder space for chicks in two weeks if anything goes wrong with Athena raising them. ...Let's just go with the hopes that everything will turn out fine.

 

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Well, she's here, but she's none too happy about it

 

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Baby number 2 for this batch This one is the only non-Boba egg in this batch, though.

 

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Thankfully I moved the two chicks that had hatched already to the brooder last night and got the Boba baby banded so that I knew which one was the non-Boba baby--I went to sleep and woke up to three more Boba babies in the incubator! It looked like they had a wild party in there, too, shell everywhere and chicks passed out all over. I bumped the incubator top when I tried to take a picture, though, and they all stood up.

The last egg has pipped, too! It pipped pretty late last night, though, so I don't expect it to hatch for a while yet.

Slight edit just to clarify something​

 

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I banded and moved the babies over to the brooder a little over an hour ago. One of them has quite a bit of dried blood on its belly around its navel, but seems okay otherwise, so hopefully there won't be an issue there later.

Last baby is out, too, as of a few minutes ago! Another successful hatch done.

Oh, and I took a picture of the new pen this morning! Or, I tried to through the bushes anyway! Try not to judge us too harshly for things like the extra length of boards sticking out, we aren't carpenters by any stretch and decided to make it easy for ourselves rather than pretty.

 

[3KillerBs]

Try not to judge us too harshly for things like the extra length of boards sticking out,

This is a feature, not a bug. You can hang a potted plant, a set of chicken-themed windchimes, etc. from the protruding board.