California - Northern

[HighNDryFarm]

Quote:
It didn't make it.......boy do I feel bad. I thought I had kept an eye on this nest. They were from another broody that I let set even though I already had two broodies but my Polish broody had too many eggs and had been letting the other Polish lay in her nest, so I took advantage of another broody, candled and gave the lesser developed to her. Meanwhile, the EE broody in the barn is not having luck. In all the heat, her eggs were exploding! So I gave that one the newer EE eggs from the girl I gave the Polish eggs. (Still with me?) Poor thing set over a month to finally get a chick! After three hatched and then three days later another and then four days later nothing, I thought for sure they were done. Had I thought there was a chance I would have never been so aggressive cracking the poor thing open! I mean, I just popped it on the edge of the trashcan.....

I candled the other two and one looks like a quiter (but I'm don't doing anything with it!) and the other is full so I put them both back and I'll give them a couple more days. I was surprised when the last chick hatched since mom had been on and off them so much. They were cold on several occasions but I was busy so I didn't do anything....too bad I didn't just go to work today.

I need to find an incubator again so that I can just collect the remaining eggs after the broody needs to care for the chicks.

 

[capayvalleychick]

I'm sorry Pam. I'm having equally bad luck working with broodies this summer.

Ron, I do want to go to the animal swap...taking a piggie. Are you going for sure?

 

[lawatt]

so sorry to hear about the cracked egg chick!

and here's another total-beginners question for you all -- do combs develop noticeably larger/faster in male chicks across all breeds, so that, say, by week 2.5 or 3 you can really see a noticeable difference? or is the difference more marked, or more speedy, in some breeds than others?

(clearly i'm studying my six chicks & trying to figure out who's what -- one of the three orps is unquestionably male, tall & with a more pronounced comb than anyone else -- but the other two i'm still guessing at -- and of my two basques, one is much larger than the other (who is smaller than ALL of the other chicks, and by far the LOUDEST), but their combs look identical at this point)

thanks for any guidance you can share! and apologies for all my beginner questions!
laura

 

[JerseyGiantfolk]

Ok...so how many eggs do YOU collect a week?

Eh.. 19 hens and 9 roosters... well... sadly 6 a week. Everyone is starting to molt!! And now I have to scratch my JG hen out of the last show of the year.

 

[JerseyGiantfolk]

Ah! I know, it was tame too. Now it's gone.... temporarily.

That is one beautiful scary looking Hawk Predator.

Ron

Had one in our run that is partially open and killed a few growouts...argh.... needless to say, the run is completely enclosed NOW!

Now that's something no one wants to see hanging around their coop! They sure are a beautiful bird though!

 

[zooweemama]

so sorry to hear about the cracked egg chick!

and here's another total-beginners question for you all -- do combs develop noticeably larger/faster in male chicks across all breeds, so that, say, by week 2.5 or 3 you can really see a noticeable difference? or is the difference more marked, or more speedy, in some breeds than others?

(clearly i'm studying my six chicks & trying to figure out who's what -- one of the three orps is unquestionably male, tall & with a more pronounced comb than anyone else -- but the other two i'm still guessing at -- and of my two basques, one is much larger than the other (who is smaller than ALL of the other chicks, and by far the LOUDEST), but their combs look identical at this point)

thanks for any guidance you can share! and apologies for all my beginner questions!
laura

I have found that having heritage breeds not from hatchery have been easier for me to tell. BUT I have only had 2 breeds. It could just be with them specifically. My Marans AND Buff Orps both- the pullets don't have any comb to speak of, they remain flesh colored and hardly any wattle at all, and they carry themselves differently. Roosters- even a few weeks old carry them self all proud and self-assured. But that has only been true for the 2 breeds I have had. I we called them as early as a couple weeks old. And we were all right. For your breed it might vary though? I hope someone can help!

 

[zooweemama]

It didn't make it.......boy do I feel bad. I thought I had kept an eye on this nest. They were from another broody that I let set even though I already had two broodies but my Polish broody had too many eggs and had been letting the other Polish lay in her nest, so I took advantage of another broody, candled and gave the lesser developed to her. Meanwhile, the EE broody in the barn is not having luck. In all the heat, her eggs were exploding! So I gave that one the newer EE eggs from the girl I gave the Polish eggs. (Still with me?) Poor thing set over a month to finally get a chick! After three hatched and then three days later another and then four days later nothing, I thought for sure they were done. Had I thought there was a chance I would have never been so aggressive cracking the poor thing open! I mean, I just popped it on the edge of the trashcan.....

I candled the other two and one looks like a quiter (but I'm don't doing anything with it!) and the other is full so I put them both back and I'll give them a couple more days. I was surprised when the last chick hatched since mom had been on and off them so much. They were cold on several occasions but I was busy so I didn't do anything....too bad I didn't just go to work today.

I need to find an incubator again so that I can just collect the remaining eggs after the broody needs to care for the chicks.

I'm so sorry. Sounds like quite the broody moody drama over there! Hope it gets better soon!

 

[Happy Chooks]

so sorry to hear about the cracked egg chick!

and here's another total-beginners question for you all -- do combs develop noticeably larger/faster in male chicks across all breeds, so that, say, by week 2.5 or 3 you can really see a noticeable difference? or is the difference more marked, or more speedy, in some breeds than others?

(clearly i'm studying my six chicks & trying to figure out who's what -- one of the three orps is unquestionably male, tall & with a more pronounced comb than anyone else -- but the other two i'm still guessing at -- and of my two basques, one is much larger than the other (who is smaller than ALL of the other chicks, and by far the LOUDEST), but their combs look identical at this point)

thanks for any guidance you can share! and apologies for all my beginner questions!
laura

Some breeds develop much faster than others. Welsummers, for example, are easy to sex as soon as the chest feathers come in. Going by comb alone, you can definitely tell who is male or female by 3 weeks. Other breeds aren't so easy - like Orps, pure Ameraucana's, EE's. These breeds can take 5-8 weeks to sex. Sexing chicks is definitely an art, and even now I occasionally get one that stumps me for a bit. Usually my first instinct is correct though.

 

[JerseyGiantfolk]

It didn't make it.......boy do I feel bad. I thought I had kept an eye on this nest. They were from another broody that I let set even though I already had two broodies but my Polish broody had too many eggs and had been letting the other Polish lay in her nest, so I took advantage of another broody, candled and gave the lesser developed to her. Meanwhile, the EE broody in the barn is not having luck. In all the heat, her eggs were exploding! So I gave that one the newer EE eggs from the girl I gave the Polish eggs. (Still with me?) Poor thing set over a month to finally get a chick! After three hatched and then three days later another and then four days later nothing, I thought for sure they were done. Had I thought there was a chance I would have never been so aggressive cracking the poor thing open! I mean, I just popped it on the edge of the trashcan.....

I candled the other two and one looks like a quiter (but I'm don't doing anything with it!) and the other is full so I put them both back and I'll give them a couple more days. I was surprised when the last chick hatched since mom had been on and off them so much. They were cold on several occasions but I was busy so I didn't do anything....too bad I didn't just go to work today.

I need to find an incubator again so that I can just collect the remaining eggs after the broody needs to care for the chicks.

Ugh! I'm sorry.

I remember my broody just hatched some chicks on June 8th (the night of a dub-step party next door) and one had some blood on the shell... so she kicked it out because it started to stink.

We actually saved it by going in the restroom, turning on the shower (high warmth for humidity) and helped it out without hitting any blood vessels. It lived for 3 days until we found it on its back in the quail waterer. (No marbles)

You're not the only one!

I cracked open a 5 day incubated chick a while back...

 

[Chooklet]

so sorry to hear about the cracked egg chick!

and here's another total-beginners question for you all -- do combs develop noticeably larger/faster in male chicks across all breeds, so that, say, by week 2.5 or 3 you can really see a noticeable difference? or is the difference more marked, or more speedy, in some breeds than others?

(clearly i'm studying my six chicks & trying to figure out who's what -- one of the three orps is unquestionably male, tall & with a more pronounced comb than anyone else -- but the other two i'm still guessing at -- and of my two basques, one is much larger than the other (who is smaller than ALL of the other chicks, and by far the LOUDEST), but their combs look identical at this point)

thanks for any guidance you can share! and apologies for all my beginner questions!
laura

Totally different depending on the breed. I can tell which of my bantam cochins will be reading Cosmo versus GQ by 2 weeks old for sure. Silkies? Often need to wait for the crowing or egg laying to start. The rest are somewhere in between. There is a great thread on BYC for people to post pics and get help with gender. Just need to identify the breed, age, and get some good pics of the head to show comb and wattle development. You can try posting here as well, and those with experience in the particular breed may be able to help. If you have 2 birds that are the same breed you can often tell by comparing leg size, comb/wattle development etc., but that doesn't work for all breeds.

This was a completely non-helpful response wasn't it?

Sorry!!!