California - Northern

[threadgeek]

Geese mate for life. I can't remember if I've shared this story but we had two geese, Hank & Heather. We had them a long time, before kids, with kids....goslings....geese morn so don't ever take all their babies or you'll hear the saddest cry you've ever heard (even our neighbors wanted to know what was wrong with the geese)....anyway, one day we found Hank dead in the nesting box. Heather missed Hank so much. She had ducks and chickens and us to hang with but you could tell she missed Hank so when I heard there was a goose that was also lonely we brought him home. Heather was happy to have someone to hang with but she was loyal to Hank and was never more then friends with her new friend and he respected that. I was out of town on business for a week and when I returned I went right out to my little self made pond, cleaned it out, refilled it with fresh water and while Heather took her bath I went and got a glass of wine and settled into my chair to watch her and relax. When she was done she came over and sat at my feet for a nap. My husband came down to the pond and looked at Heather, then at me, then at Heather and said "I think your girl is dead" I told him she was just napping, she just took a bath and laid down in front of me.....and ummm, omg.....died! I think she died of a broken heart and she wanted to thank me for the company but she just missed Hank so much, so she waited for me to return from my trip, took her bath in the fresh water to show me she was OK and then died at my feet. Those two geese taught us so much and were a constant entertainment. Yes, they can die from a broken heart.

Oh my gosh that is such a touching story! It's gotten me all misty-eyed. Thanks for sharing!

 

[HighNDryFarm]

Quote: We have a long driveway too and I can't believe the people that will just drive in, drive by the house, even with us outside, pass us and drive up by the barn then try to get out our back gate that is always closed to keep people from trying to come in the back gate! People just drive without a care that it's someones property and clearly not a road!

Woke up this morning to a bator full of chicks Yay!!! My first fluffy butts of the year.




Just a quick pic a took this morning and most had just hatched so they aren't fluffed up yet. There are way more hatched now and so far I've gotten 2 splash chicks. Just a few more eggs to go


Here are some pics of our pergola by the pool that DH has been working on. It's almost done...well at least until we start with the "rock work" and barbecue area. But that's going to be awhile maybe a year or two. For now we get to enjoy having shady spot hang out under near our pool

Wow, that looks like such a well planned hatching! All those chicks look like they hatched on que! What a great idea for keeping them separated. It's a concern of mine when I decided to buy an incubator....I can see how easy, for myself, that I could become overzealous in hatching and I need to think about how I'm going to do it responsibly before the incubator gets here!

Love the pergola! What a beautiful place you have! You'll certainly enjoy some fun times under it this summer.

Hello everyone!
Ty for the chick praise, they a re fun things, but I'm a bit overwhelmed!
I am going to try and pick out 2 CL from the Unknown batch and then put some under a broody so I can let them grow out, I have 2 marans fighting over golf balls atm . One is getting these guys and one is getting my next batch of silkies.
Deanna I will try and pick up pictures from the top before dinner, its a 2 person job, my try was not successful today! Your duck friend have any luck or are we going to have to do a train from zoo to santa cruze?

BDM, this is the first real time I have been mega confused. I know my normal breeds pretty well, and can tell an olive egger from a full FCBM at 50 paces. In the past I have told someone if I'm unsure WHY I think its is whatever I think it is, and what the other option is ( mostly this is for sexing, not breeds however). On the CL, i will tell them to let me know if its the wrong chic, but otherwise people usually just want chickens that lay a variety of eggs, or are pretty, and are not overly fussed if its a surprise ( unless they want FCBM's.... or silkies, but really what are you going to confuse them with?) Exciting about the bator, hope you have wonderful hatch rates, should be awesome with the brinsea!

I did have a customer who freaked out about getting a non silked silkie last year. I explained at the time if she was picking them up that early ( before wing feathers) there was a chance she would get non silked and advised she wait, but she wanted then right then, and later got upset. I figured it wasn't worth the argument and gave her the money back. Id since learned all the non silked ones were roos so I felt a bit guilty, heh.

I have a surprising amount of people come back this year from last year or refer people to me for more chicks, so its worth it to me.

Ron, those penn eggs are lovely. Autosexing ftw!

I missed a ton of stuff I was going to respond to, this is what I get for reading on my phone then trying to reply later.

People up your driveway IS creepy. When we lived downtown before we had a lady of the night in the front apartment for a few months, and our bedroom window was right next to the back porch. A few people thought we were her and would knock on my window hopefully. That's when an an irate sleepy husband comes in handy. Mario looks like a lot of things, buy a professional boy toy is not one of them, lol.

Awe, I wasn't judging you, just wondered what to do in such a situation. I was just talking to someone about the same scenario since I will have an Ameraucana roo and plan on adding a Marans roo. Having those two roos would produce EE's, OE's or Marans,so essentialy no mutts but we were saying how they'd all look pretty similar as chicks and would have to separate out Marans, clear them of the chance of the Ameraucana's sperm to ensure pure Marans. Since pricing would be different for pure Marans, I would need to ensure they're pure but on the off season I could let them all together and still offer a desired chick. I think these incubators can make it pretty easy to mix it up. I so appreciate this conversation because it's something I want to get clear in my head before my excitment gets me in trouble!

My incubator is full again

At least Jason has reserved some of the EE chicks

The bantam buff Brahmas are a test hatch for fertility so I can start selling hatching eggs from them, I have a couple pure W/BW Ameraucana eggs in there, a few LF BLRW eggs and lots of bantam Blue Laced Red Wyandotte eggs to start building up my flock of those. Soon I will be getting W/BW Ameraucana eggs from a breeder I have been trying for 2 years to get eggs from

and I have porcelain d'Anver eggs coming in the next few weeks. I absolutely love the pair I have and just had to have more!

Fun seeing everyones new chicks!

They are all so adorable!

No wonder it is so easy to become a hatch-a-holic!!

Picture of the eggs I started on Sunday~

Beautiful! Is that a Brinsea? Did you add the padding part or does that come with the incubator? So that works to keep them upright? I used the egg cartons in my sucky incubator but this looks like they're snug as a bug in a rug! Did I mention mine will be here tomorrow??? EEEEECKKK!!!

Quote: I used a big "grape" carton from costco. It takes up about 1/3 of the bator, but fits quite a few eggs. I had 12 in there and there was room for more. I used it this time to keep the F1 silver barnie crosses for my neighbor separate.

You can see two of the splash in this pic. The Splash barnie chicks are the off-white/gold/grey chicks. The one in the center with the red leg band is a F1 silver barnie chicks (the first cross in the project my neighbor is doing). I kept those separate so I can band them.


I'm waiting on 5 more eggs to hatch and 2 chicks to fluff up. One egg is zipping right now I moved the rest of the chicks out to the brooder. When I get down to the last few eggs, I usually pull out the chicks that have hatched and put them in the brooder. Why stress the majority for a few late hatchers? I want the chicks eating and drinking as soon as they can rather than being stuck in a bator.

Trisha
What kind of bands do you use and where's the best place to purchase them. I looked at our local feed store today on the off chance they'd have them but they didn't.

Check out these weird eggs one has no shell the other is rubbery

Wow, I've never seen one with a yoke but not any sign of a shell. Looks like a jelly fish. Someones having a lot of trouble with the shell portion of their egg maker!

 

[OR4-hmom]

I've got a pip! With the temp. drop I wasn't expecting it tonight, that's OK, sleep is over-rated.

 

[Miss Molly]

I've got a pip!  With the temp. drop I wasn't expecting it tonight, that's OK, sleep is over-rated.

Good luck

 

[liz9910]

I would wait a few more weeks, then let them out when you are around. My silkies aren't so smart, and their feathers make it harder for them to see. My girls tend to walk into things, and got picked on by the others for quiet a while.

I agree and by the way welcome to the thread!

 

[Happy Chooks]

I've got a pip! With the temp. drop I wasn't expecting it tonight, that's OK, sleep is over-rated.

Good luck with your hatch!

 

[waititout]

Geese mate for life. I can't remember if I've shared this story but we had two geese, Hank & Heather. We had them a long time, before kids, with kids....goslings....geese morn so don't ever take all their babies or you'll hear the saddest cry you've ever heard (even our neighbors wanted to know what was wrong with the geese)....anyway, one day we found Hank dead in the nesting box. Heather missed Hank so much. She had ducks and chickens and us to hang with but you could tell she missed Hank so when I heard there was a goose that was also lonely we brought him home. Heather was happy to have someone to hang with but she was loyal to Hank and was never more then friends with her new friend and he respected that. I was out of town on business for a week and when I returned I went right out to my little self made pond, cleaned it out, refilled it with fresh water and while Heather took her bath I went and got a glass of wine and settled into my chair to watch her and relax. When she was done she came over and sat at my feet for a nap. My husband came down to the pond and looked at Heather, then at me, then at Heather and said "I think your girl is dead" I told him she was just napping, she just took a bath and laid down in front of me.....and ummm, omg.....died! I think she died of a broken heart and she wanted to thank me for the company but she just missed Hank so much, so she waited for me to return from my trip, took her bath in the fresh water to show me she was OK and then died at my feet. Those two geese taught us so much and were a constant entertainment. Yes, they can die from a broken heart.

Omg, what a touching story...brought tears to my eyes! Thank you so much for sharing!

 

[OR4-hmom]

I've got a second pip, wrong way chick. Is there anything I need to watch for with this upsidedown egg? The pip is below the widest portion of the egg, looks like it will be trying to zip against the egg carton it is sitting in. Right now it has good air access, seeing movement of the broken membrane and it is peeping.

 

[HighNDryFarm]

I've got a second pip, wrong way chick. Is there anything I need to watch for with this upsidedown egg? The pip is below the widest portion of the egg, looks like it will be trying to zip against the egg carton it is sitting in. Right now it has good air access, seeing movement of the broken membrane and it is peeping.

If it doesn't do something within the next 24 hours I'd help it. My experience is that when they pip at the wrong end, it's hard for them to get out. I waited too long to help and the chick had a leg problem from being in the egg all messed up. When I started zipping for it I saw it's position and new why it didn't go any further. Good luck with it. If you've never helped before use this time to read up on it to help you know when to help and how you do it. Good luck!

 

[tommysgirl]

I love the goose story threadgeek. You tell it so well. Also love the baby pics and the thought of waking up to a bator full of chicks. I am setting eggs aroung 4/3 to time the hatch more or less with the arrival of my chicks from Ideal, Partridge Rocks and Privett, Speckled Sussex, CA Grey, Easter Egger, Black Star and Delawares. I hope I don't screw it up it will have a variety of barnyard mixes and some dorking eggs in it