California - Northern

[debs_flock]

My two call duck eggs have pipped (along with a zillion turkeys)

 

[chrisiscoolr]

I have 4 hatch charts and have marked the eggs according to hatch. I will have to pay close attention or I will have a bunch hatching on the turners again...

It is so funny to look into the incubator to check on humidity and see a yellow duckling peering up at you! Adorable but scary when they can get caught in the rails....

The Biggest problem is keeping the Del eggs away from the RIR eggs. They look a lot a like. The SG Dorking eggs are white and the Basque eggs are shiny. I still marked them though.

I want to hatch eggs so bad but I'm not good with an incubator. I've done 1 incubation of 42 eggs with no eggs hatched

Im to scared to try again.

 

[Ali707]

Does anybody on this thread live in or near Sacramento?

Howdy! Up a little north from you in Roseville.

Hello everyone!

I am in Gilroy. Im 30 minutes east of the coast and a half hour south of San Jose and an hour and a half south of San Francisco.

I'm new to chickens (less than a month) although I've had macaws for 20 years.

I like to talk to someone about our weather and what chickens can handle. I purchased the small coop at Costco and it doesn't have a door to close up the roost area at night. Our winters are so mild but we do have times where it drops into the 20's/30's.
I want to start planning now for modifications I might have to make. This is a photo of the coop after I just put it together. While it was a great idea at the time, I sure wish I just bought a shed and modified it. But I do live in town and this is just for them to sleep in as I let them roam the yard all day...

HI! Macaws are beautiful. I wanted to grab one of those coops but didn't see any out my way! You got any pics of your Macaws? People on this thread are picture addicts.

Welcome to all you new chicken fans out there!

I have a basque egg peeping back to me, hoping for a pip or two tonight.

I had 2 Basque eggs. One fertile, one not. One hatched! YAY! But I can' tell who it is in all my babies.

I just figured out my hatches--Dick Horstman shipped the replacement eggs from last year--They showed up without notice yesterday. I did talk to Dick two months ago.....then they just show up!

I have 130 egg incubating right now in three incubators and under a broody. I have space for 4 more eggs and then I would need to start stacking them.....The eggs will hatch at 4 different times so 4 staggered hatches going on at the same time.

How did this happen?

Better you than me!!! I had trouble just keeping track of my 45 eggs!

So how many did Dick ship?

 

[Ali707]

My two call duck eggs have pipped (along with a zillion turkeys)

I WANT DUCKS! You are killing me!

 

[zooweemama]

My two call duck eggs have pipped (along with a zillion turkeys)

Woohoo!

I WANT DUCKS! You are killing me!

Ducks are awesome.

 

[capayvalleychick]

I just figured out my hatches--Dick Horstman shipped the replacement eggs from last year--They showed up without notice yesterday. I did talk to Dick two months ago.....then they just show up!

I have 130 egg incubating right now in three incubators and under a broody. I have space for 4 more eggs and then I would need to start stacking them.....The eggs will hatch at 4 different times so 4 staggered hatches going on at the same time.

How did this happen?

You can toss my Del eggs - or stick them under your broody- if you need the space. My Dork eggs should already be marked with the hen's id. have you candled them yet?

 

[StelleKitten]

how do you add yourself?

click on the edit botton, you can only edit on a desktop or laptop. Phones are almost impossible.

 

[ronott1]

Howdy! Up a little north from you in Roseville.

HI! Macaws are beautiful. I wanted to grab one of those coops but didn't see any out my way! You got any pics of your Macaws? People on this thread are picture addicts.

I had 2 Basque eggs. One fertile, one not. One hatched! YAY! But I can' tell who it is in all my babies.

Better you than me!!! I had trouble just keeping track of my 45 eggs!

So how many did Dick ship?

Dick shipped 27 in foam inserts. The box was dropped on its side at some point and the 4 eggs in the corner were broken. The foam protected the rest with not cracks. I did have to get yolk off of four of them. It is going to be exciting!

I will post a picture of the packing tonight.

 

[chiqita]

I go away for a hour and you all go post crazy!

Hello everyone!

I am in Gilroy. Im 30 minutes east of the coast and a half hour south of San Jose and an hour and a half south of San Francisco.

I'm new to chickens (less than a month) although I've had macaws for 20 years.

I like to talk to someone about our weather and what chickens can handle. I purchased the small coop at Costco and it doesn't have a door to close up the roost area at night. Our winters are so mild but we do have times where it drops into the 20's/30's.
I want to start planning now for modifications I might have to make. This is a photo of the coop after I just put it together. While it was a great idea at the time, I sure wish I just bought a shed and modified it. But I do live in town and this is just for them to sleep in as I let them roam the yard all day...

Welcome! Im in San Jose, not as hot as you, but we are in the foothills so its a different micro climate then the city. Yes, heat will be your bane in Gilroy, as long as they don't get wet in the winter you are fine. Avoid black chickens, Cream legbars... what else did we decide last year? My hatchery orphingtons did not do well in the heat, I had to bring buffy in if it was over 100. MY ees complained but didn't mind. My marans ( who are black chickens ) were fine here, but people in woodlands and farther out had some issues with them over 100. I think the penns and olive eggers are heat hardy, My silkies, while fragile when they are young, have yet to notice the heat. I have them in the shade to avoid feather bleaching, but they lounge in whatever sun they can get no matter when the heat. Breese are also supposed to be heat hardy, but this is there first heat spell so I cant be sure how they do at prolonged over 100 temps.

If your coop is close to water, some people give their chickens misters for hot days, they love it!

That's what I know about hot chickens!

This year the main coop is under the house and stays cool. I expect to see a lot of lounging chickens in there in August.

This happened to me. I got my Naked Necks from a friend. They were in a crate together on my porch. No other hens. Just those 2. No lay box, hardly any bedding. I assumed they wouldn't lay any eggs for a while. I had them in quarantine. The next day I got 3 eggs. 2 in the morning and one in the late afternoon. I didn't miss any eggs because I only had them for a part of the day before and there were no eggs. We checked on them around 7am and there was an egg. A couple hours later a second. Then late afternoon a 3rd. I don't know if something happened the prior day (like her owner loading her up before she laid her egg) and no being cozy that night led to one egg sitting while the other was forming. But it happened. I Instagrammed it too. I was blown away. Didn't happen again with them but despite relocating those crazy hens laid every day they were in quarantine. lol

I am a believer that the nn gene is a good egg laying one. My showgirls lay SOOOOOO much better then the pure silkies. Ester is still laying 5-6 eggs a week at 2 years old. I have some silkies that pop out an egg a week as pullets. if they feel like it. Such prima donnas.

I use this fact when people freak out over showgirls. They lay much better YOU MUST HAVE THEM.

I just figured out my hatches--Dick Horstman shipped the replacement eggs from last year--They showed up without notice yesterday. I did talk to Dick two months ago.....then they just show up!

I have 130 egg incubating right now in three incubators and under a broody. I have space for 4 more eggs and then I would need to start stacking them.....The eggs will hatch at 4 different times so 4 staggered hatches going on at the same time.

How did this happen?

I TOLD you you should have gotten a cabinet. Speaking of cabinets, a local guy asked me about hatching his eggs for him. It would be nice to have a few local clients. 4 trays at 100-150 eggs per tray is dangerous.

I have 3 sets of blue chickens hatching at the same time. One set is going under a broodie, and 2 are going in separate hatches. I am going to have to buy some rubber bands for marking these suckers, I have a LOT of shipped eggs. Don't think I'M going to have Deannas luck with them. however!

I want to hatch eggs so bad but I'm not good with an incubator. I've done 1 incubation of 42 eggs with no eggs hatched

Im to scared to try again.

What type of incubator did you use? did you use shipped eggs? Local eggs hatch better, its best to learn how to hatch on them, MUCH less discouraging. We have some amazing hatching experts on this thread, we can help!

I WANT DUCKS! You are killing me!

NO DUCKS!!!
( OK, I might have gotten a set of duck eggs from someone, not on purpose! BUT STILL!!)

I got my Quail eggs in yesterday!!!

And OMG these things are huge, They were bigger then the pullet serama eggs. about 2/3 of a silkie egg size, and my silkie eggs are not small. he warned me they would not fit in quail trays, lucky I don't use them.

The picture he send of the snow manchurians was drool worthy! I hope I get a breeding set out of them. The color only breeds 50% true, and they are shipped eggs. So we will see. I think I am going to replace all my TAM and Jumbos with this stock, and keep the Italians ( they are so friendly) and the f2 tux's. I have been really happy with the look of my tuxedo babies this year, even if they are laying sloooowlly. I went to a estate sale today that advertised cages, but he wanted retail for them, so no quick fix to my soon to have too many breeds of quail problem there.

Petrock, It looks like I am going to be driving up the 880 Monday AM after traffic, want some quail younglings? No one is picking up their orders, so I am getting overrun!

I am happy with how everyone is doing in the heat, its over 90 now and was 95 yesterday ( not for long, however) and everyone is just chilling in the shade. No panting or gasping. The seramas are trying to sneak inside however, they seem to like to be cool. Plus, they really like my bar stools...

 

[ronott1]

You can toss my Del eggs - or stick them under your broody- if you need the space. My Dork eggs should already be marked with the hen's id. have you candled them yet?

of course I did.....It was at 5 days but I did see development in a bunch of them. I will do a thorough candling on Sunday. By they way, how did you get a Jumbo Dorking egg? That thing is huge! It looks like it has a single yolk and it is developing. I have read that Jumbo eggs do not hatch as well so I am intrigued by it.

The Del eggs are fine but knowing how the Broody Curse goes I may have another one go broody on me and if so she will get the Del eggs.

They show no indication of it but Partridge Rocks are known to go Broody and my two are over a year old now. The Basque hens are in Winters and I did have one of them go broody last Fall.