California - Northern

Just a tip...... Never unplug your styrofoam incubator after a hatch and leave it sit for a few days..... Holy moly that was gross!

I was going clean it out the very next day, but one urgent thing after another kept popping up and as a single mom of a 6 year old sometimes things get put on the backburner. Wow! Never again. This is now considered the urgent item!

On another gross side note, meal worm colonies are down right creepy. They are bugs and I am voluntarily growing them, and I keep them IN my house because everywhere else was too cold. That is just not normal. Everytime I go check on them I ask myself WHY I am doing it? At first it was an experiment and because meal worms are expensive. But I keep looking at them and ewwwwwwwwww. How am I going to get the worms out of that mess to give to the chickens???? I don't really even see that many worms right now. I saw a literal ball of beetles in one drawer. One half pupated beetle walking around. Bleck! Makes my skin crawl! :D. (Sorry went off on a self analysis tangent there.....you know one of those what is wrong with me tangents?)

I would like some opinions please. Months ago I put in an order for some chicks from My Pet Chicken. Now I have taken up hatching some. We will see how it goes as I set my eggs Saturday.

There are a couple of breeds I want but don't really see them offered much as hatching eggs.

Here is the list. Red Star, Belgian D'Uccle (Millie Fleur), Sultan, White Leghorn or other white egg production breed, Black Jersey Giant and Langshan. .

I could get hatchery stock female chicks of these if I keep my order placed. BUT I kind of like hatching and would really prefer hatching my own if I could find the eggs.

Have you all seen these hatching eggs available?

My Red Star was the best chicken. So sweet, head hen and laid 29 days a month. I want another but don't want to have to order 9 minimum chickens from MPC to get one.

What do you think? Do you think I can find those breeds in hatching eggs?
 
Last edited:
The chicks finshed hatching last night. Out of the ten that made it to lockdown (out of 12 set) I have 10 chicks!! I think I need to find more eggs to hatch.
love.gif

It looks like I might have two Rhode Island reds, one Ameruacana, and the other 7 EE's (RIR, Ameruacana mixes). Has anyone tried to feather sex chicks? Any advice?






thumbsup.gif
Congratulations!!!
 
I'm going to guess the sultan will be the hardest to find and ordering Red Star eggs you will have the boys to deal with, although I have a SIL that thinks you can order sexed eggs. Not sure how you deal with the boys, if they go in the freezer it's only a matter of time and feed.
 
Just a tip...... Never unplug your styrofoam incubator after a hatch and leave it sit for a few days..... Holy moly that was gross!

I was going clean it out the very next day, but one urgent thing after another kept popping up and as a single mom of a 6 year old sometimes things get put on the backburner. Wow! Never again. This is now considered the urgent item!

On another gross side note, meal worm colonies are down right creepy. They are bugs and I am voluntarily growing them, and I keep them IN my house because everywhere else was too cold. That is just not normal. Everytime I go check on them I ask myself WHY I am doing it? At first it was an experiment and because meal worms are expensive. But I keep looking at them and ewwwwwwwwww. How am I going to get the worms out of that mess to give to the chickens???? I don't really even see that many worms right now. I saw a literal ball of beetles in one drawer. One half pupated beetle walking around. Bleck! Makes my skin crawl!
big_smile.png
. (Sorry went off on a self analysis tangent there.....you know one of those what is wrong with me tangents?)

I would like some opinions please. Months ago I put in an order for some chicks from My Pet Chicken. Now I have taken up hatching some. We will see how it goes as I set my eggs Saturday.

There are a couple of breeds I want but don't really see them offered much as hatching eggs.

Here is the list. Red Star, Belgian D'Uccle (Millie Fleur), Sultan, White Leghorn or other white egg production breed, Black Jersey Giant and Langshan. .

I could get hatchery stock female chicks of these if I keep my order placed. BUT I kind of like hatching and would really prefer hatching my own if I could find the eggs.

Have you all seen these hatching eggs available?

My Red Star was the best chicken. So sweet, head hen and laid 29 days a month. I want another but don't want to have to order 9 minimum chickens from MPC to get one.

What do you think? Do you think I can find those breeds in hatching eggs?
Yes! My pet chicken has some hatching eggs and there really is no non hatchery version of Red Stars. The others you can find quality types from people on the breed threads. The Chicken State University thread just reviewed Jersey Giants and someone was recommended as a good source. Check there for that breed. For the White layer, get Jaehorn hatching eggs from Miss Molly. They will be much nicer than white leghorns.

Great Plan!
 
I'm going to guess the sultan will be the hardest to find and ordering Red Star eggs you will have the boys to deal with, although I have a SIL that thinks you can order sexed eggs. Not sure how you deal with the boys, if they go in the freezer it's only a matter of time and feed.

The Hatcheries send Red Star Roosters as packing nuggets--they make decent meat birds.
 
Just a tip...... Never unplug your styrofoam incubator after a hatch and leave it sit for a few days..... Holy moly that was gross!

I was going clean it out the very next day, but one urgent thing after another kept popping up and as a single mom of a 6 year old sometimes things get put on the backburner. Wow! Never again. This is now considered the urgent item!

On another gross side note, meal worm colonies are down right creepy. They are bugs and I am voluntarily growing them, and I keep them IN my house because everywhere else was too cold. That is just not normal. Everytime I go check on them I ask myself WHY I am doing it? At first it was an experiment and because meal worms are expensive. But I keep looking at them and ewwwwwwwwww. How am I going to get the worms out of that mess to give to the chickens???? I don't really even see that many worms right now. I saw a literal ball of beetles in one drawer. One half pupated beetle walking around. Bleck! Makes my skin crawl!
big_smile.png
. (Sorry went off on a self analysis tangent there.....you know one of those what is wrong with me tangents?)

I would like some opinions please. Months ago I put in an order for some chicks from My Pet Chicken. Now I have taken up hatching some. We will see how it goes as I set my eggs Saturday.

There are a couple of breeds I want but don't really see them offered much as hatching eggs.

Here is the list. Red Star, Belgian D'Uccle (Millie Fleur), Sultan, White Leghorn or other white egg production breed, Black Jersey Giant and Langshan. .

I could get hatchery stock female chicks of these if I keep my order placed. BUT I kind of like hatching and would really prefer hatching my own if I could find the eggs.

Have you all seen these hatching eggs available?

My Red Star was the best chicken. So sweet, head hen and laid 29 days a month. I want another but don't want to have to order 9 minimum chickens from MPC to get one.

What do you think? Do you think I can find those breeds in hatching eggs?
I should have Langshan eggs in another month or two. We are building breeding pens on Saturday. They have been laying for a while and the roos are doing their business so the eggs should be fertile. All 4 colors are free ranging together right now so it's a toss up with the genetics. Hopefully, we will finish the pens in the next week so we can separate out the breeding hens and give them a 3 week vacation before putting a roo with them. I am going to give some of the fertile eggs to my head hen who has decided to go broody and is almost impossible to break of it. I might put a few in the incubator just to test them. Are you interested in a certain color?
 
The chicks finshed hatching last night. Out of the ten that made it to lockdown (out of 12 set) I have 10 chicks!! I think I need to find more eggs to hatch.
love.gif

It looks like I might have two Rhode Island reds, one Ameruacana, and the other 7 EE's (RIR, Ameruacana mixes). Has anyone tried to feather sex chicks? Any advice?
Congrats! I wish I had advice about the feather sexing though...

Just a tip...... Never unplug your styrofoam incubator after a hatch and leave it sit for a few days..... Holy moly that was gross!

I was going clean it out the very next day, but one urgent thing after another kept popping up and as a single mom of a 6 year old sometimes things get put on the backburner. Wow! Never again. This is now considered the urgent item!

On another gross side note, meal worm colonies are down right creepy. They are bugs and I am voluntarily growing them, and I keep them IN my house because everywhere else was too cold. That is just not normal. Everytime I go check on them I ask myself WHY I am doing it? At first it was an experiment and because meal worms are expensive. But I keep looking at them and ewwwwwwwwww. How am I going to get the worms out of that mess to give to the chickens???? I don't really even see that many worms right now. I saw a literal ball of beetles in one drawer. One half pupated beetle walking around. Bleck! Makes my skin crawl!
big_smile.png
. (Sorry went off on a self analysis tangent there.....you know one of those what is wrong with me tangents?)
Confession... my chicks hatched last week and I still haven't cleaned out the incubator. I'm just scared of it now.
hide.gif

I'm also glad you mentioned the gross-factor of the mealworms. I was considering growing them because dried mealworms are just so dang expensive!!!
rant.gif
 
Here's the update on my hen Cutie who was attacked by the bobcat on Sunday. She seems to be doing ok- she is eating when I provide treats although I don't think she is eating as much as she should and she did not lay an egg today. Its hard to tell if she is eating her crumbles but it seems that maybe more of the food should have been consumed from her dish. I never thought about how much a chicken eats a day - maybe the volume of a golf-ball worth of crumbles???
I've been cleaning her wound 2x daily and the Veterycin is magical - it looks like she already has a thin layer of skin over the whole wound. However I was concerned by some blue discoloration along her neck next to one edge of the wound, I posted a thread with graphic pics in the emergencies section:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...t-the-edge-of-a-large-neck-wound-graphic-pics

Does anyone have advice or input on what that could be? Should I be concerned about it??? Thanks in advance, things seemed to be going so well...
fl.gif
 
Looks like the total for Tuesdays chick hatch is 7! There are still more pipping and such but 7 have hatched today, what look like 3 Maran or maran crosses. Two OE's, 1 EE and 1 that came from a beige egg and is still wet so I have no clue what it is. Super excited to see what awaits us tomorrow morning. I just hope I can sleep through the peeping.
 
Here's the update on my hen Cutie who was attacked by the bobcat on Sunday. She seems to be doing ok- she is eating when I provide treats although I don't think she is eating as much as she should and she did not lay an egg today. Its hard to tell if she is eating her crumbles but it seems that maybe more of the food should have been consumed from her dish. I never thought about how much a chicken eats a day - maybe the volume of a golf-ball worth of crumbles???
I've been cleaning her wound 2x daily and the Veterycin is magical - it looks like she already has a thin layer of skin over the whole wound. However I was concerned by some blue discoloration along her neck next to one edge of the wound, I posted a thread with graphic pics in the emergencies section:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...t-the-edge-of-a-large-neck-wound-graphic-pics

Does anyone have advice or input on what that could be? Should I be concerned about it??? Thanks in advance, things seemed to be going so well...
fl.gif
Looks like you have done a good job with the wound. It looks bruised. Hopefully she will recover soon and get back to normal.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom