California - Northern

[lawatt]

I'm hoping for a broody to hatch and raise them. I'm not getting the best results from my incubation, so if one of the ladies goes I'll see about ordering. I sent them an email about availabity times so hopefully it will all fall together.

I'm similarly hoping one of my girls decides to go broody sometime soon -- and in the meantime, have a couple of questions:
-- for an average-sized LF girl, what's a good number of eggs to set under her?
-- if one is either saving fertilized eggs from my own flock, or getting eggs from someone local (not shipped), how many days can they be saved (in a cool place) before being set for incubation?

i have been thinking of getting some birchen marans and swedish flower hen eggs from Thistledown Farm in Vacaville (the idea is to get SFHs who are genetically distinct from my roo, who i got from Deann), but am not sure about how to work out the timing etc.

if/when one goes broody, it will be my first attempt at hatching anything, so any suggestions/advice is welcome!

(school has been insane lately, but next week is spring break, so i'll likely be reading this thread more regularly again!)

 

[OR4-hmom]

Thinking back, boy that's dangerous, it was in late April when they went broody. I had 4 when I ordered the eggs. They hatched June 1st.

I put 14 eggs under Momma Rock and she covered them comfortably. She started looking at me funny with the 10th egg but continued to roll them under. She had been practicing with only 4 eggs.

 

[debs_flock]

-- if one is either saving fertilized eggs from my own flock, or getting eggs from someone local (not shipped), how many days can they be saved (in a cool place) before being set for incubation?

A week at the most is considered best, turning them a few times a day. I set my own up to two weeks all the time with no problem.

I just had some eggs that had been sitting on the counter, no turning and they were close to 3 weeks old. I thought, what the heck, give them a chance. 18 out of 23 are developing.

Eggs are a lot more resilient than we give them credit for.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Eggs are a lot more resilient than we give them credit for.

That makes sense. When a broody would start a hidden nest, the eggs were mostly uncovered, because we'd see the hen with the flock during the day, and I doubt that they were turned when she went to add a new egg. It was always like magic when once she stared sitting, the 'missing' hen emerged from the blackberry thicket with a dozen or so fluffy babies!

Also, I have a feather question. Can a chicken (Serama) be partly frizzled? The cockerel's feathers are very messy and pulled-apart looking, but the shafts are straight, not curled up. It almost looks like we've been petting him backwards! Can a smooth bird carry a frizzled gene? Maybe it's a dietary problem?

 

[Happy Chooks]

I'm sorry in advance for the quantity of pics. I went on a shooting spree with my Appleyards.





You should submit this one for the Candid Picture Contest




You should submit this one for the Flapper Contest

Quote: No problem, I'll post it later today.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Congrats to all of you hatching! Love all the pictures!

 

[debs_flock]

Quote: I've never seen them anything but one or the other. Maybe you can get a good closeup? Could the chick being getting picked at?

 

[Happy Chooks]

I've always known that chickens hide their injuries/pain well, but I didn't realize how much pain they could hide until today. We had a cockerel limping - when I picked him up, I could move his hock joint sideways, and I could feel a popping feeling in the joint, so I assumed that's where the break was. I noticed his limping 2 days ago - and I'm out with my flock A LOT. (just ask my DH) We put him down this morning. I was going to process him for us to eat, until I plucked him.

His leg was broken up high on his thigh, the back leg bone and he was internally bleeding. This boy had to be in some serious pain, though he didn't show it. The only sign was he couldn't put weight on his leg.

I have cooked him and will feed him to my dog.

Warning: Graphic pictures, don't click if you don't want to see.

 

[debs_flock]

Wow, they really try to hide any weakness from potential predators. Poor guy, at least you ended his suffering.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Quote: I've never seen them anything but one or the other. Maybe you can get a good closeup? Could the chick being getting picked at?

It's just the two of them, so not a picking problem. Even the new feathers coming in are rough looking. Don't know my feather terminology enough to explain well. I'll take some pics when Cam gets back from fencing. I'm raising a pirate, you know!