California - Northern

[chiqita]

My olive egger okayed for 2 moths then stopped period. She has been a useless mouth since December.

reading this description of the penedesencas (in general) reminded me of a question, because my two amelias (CL x pene) definitely have those wonderful flighty personalities & floppy king-combs -- but unless they are doing a REALLY amazing job of hiding their eggs, both have stopped laying, after laying their first green egg on April 13 & a few more (maybe 4 max) appeared in the next few days after that -- but I haven't seen one again for nearly two weeks now.  is it possible for them to have stopped laying, after their brief start?  most days they are in their coop/run all day, i only let them out when i get home from school in the late afternoons...  and I'm collecting eggs fine from the other girls (and checking the broodies' nests for any extras there), but no greens.

just wondering if anyone's seen a pullet start and then stop again?

 

[ronott1]

It is the GQF Genesis 1588. Not sure what "wafer style" means though.

So does that mean potentially it could have stayed like that and killed everyhing in there? When yours does that does it stay that way until you intervene?

May I have some of your Kona coffee this morning please? Soooo tired!

The Genesis should not do that. It is time to contact GQF and have them replace it under warranty.

Wafer is an oil filled mechanical thermostat. The Genesis has a digital thermostat and the one in yours must not be working correctly.

 

[Deerling]

Introducing my frankenchickens.
Blue sizzle roo X bantam blue laced red wyandotte hen. An oops. A cute oops lol. Several days old.

What pretty babies! And your pictures are lovely, as always.

Hi Nor Cal Peeps
I'm Cherina I am in Lodi. I'm a chicken mom grandma really, very accidental. It started with 4 chicks for my daughters and by the end of a few weeks we has 3 Wyandottes, 2 EE, 4 Cochins, 5 seramas and 6 silkies !!! I really hope w e can do this well I don't know how this happens, CHICKEN MATH IS REAL!!! So we have 2 broaders in a large dog kenel in my daughters room, we have a small coup but need to figure plans for another largers one and a run... Any suggestions about anything! or suggestions for easy plans would be amazing. Here are some of my grand peep babies

Welcome!! How old is your daughter? I have a six year old daughter (and 20 month old son) and she just loves the chickens. It makes me so happy to see how much joy they bring her. It sounds like you have a great mix so far! Chicken Math hit us hard, too. We were planning on 6-8 and have... 50? It's wonderful.

Holy cow I am a little annoyed right now. Been sort of a short night. Went to bed late, up early. Those ear plugs I bought at least allowed me to get some sleep.

I checked on the hatchers a couple of times overnight to make sure temp was good, humidity etc. This morning about 6 I got up and checked. Everything was good, thought I would try to go back to sleep but it just didn't happen.

About 6:15 I gave up and went to check the chicks again and the incubator was SET at 104.1 F!!!!!!

Thank goodness Ron recommended a spot check. The inside temp was already up to 104!

The incubator went bananas and I brought it back down to where it should be. Checked a couple minutes later and it was back up to 103. I tried to reset the temp again and it wouldn't move. I thought "are you kidding me"? Litterally..... Those were my exact thoughts! Lol

Well then it automatically switched to Celcius by itself and then I was able to bring them temp back down. However, like any red blooded american, I have no idea for celcius readings and had to look up the conversion on Google. What did we do before the internet????

Anyway, it has been holding steady now where I set it but of course I don't trust it. I have a juicy looking Polish zipper in there and a few more pips.

I haven't even counted the ones out yet but I can't monitor this thing all day and I go back to work tomorrow! I am sure there will be stragglers.

I am really annoyed because this is only the second time I have used it and I bought it in Feb dang it!!!!!

Oh no!! That is terrible! I am using mine for the second time and it seems like it is having a really hard time staying as warm as it should. I really want these eggs, so I'm really nervous. Nothing as bad as it getting that hot, though! Does it seem like everyone is okay?

 

[ronott1]

My olive egger okayed for 2 moths then stopped period. She has been a useless mouth since December.

The two pretty Marans X EEs from your flock are very regular layers. I get an egg from the two of them nearly every day and most days I get two. Yesterday I got two.

There are other factors that will stop them from laying. The wind last week is one of them. I will probably get less eggs today because the neighbors beach ball went into the chicken yard yesterday. One of the amelias flew over the fence into the back yard. They were making their danger noise, which is a lot like the egg song! They went crazy again when I retrieved the ball for the the neighbors! Beach Balls are scary to chickens....

 

[lizanne]

Mine is basically the cheap version of yours lol. The wafer is not electronic so I have to turn the dial up and down. I have to intervene with mine daily. It was running great the last few days and this morning it was running 100 to 102 so I turned it down some. I just have to look daily.

Last hatch my incubator hit 104 and all my olive eggers still hatched. I am not sure how long it was that hot though.

There is a place across from Sportsmans warehouse that sells Kona coffee for 3.50 a cup. probably cheaper than driving up here but you are more than welcome to have a cup if you ever wanna come see the chicken set up. Though my Kona supply will not last long lol

I have a HovaBator 1602N Still Air Egg Incubator. You have to change the temp by turning the little allen wrench thing. I have issues with it staying at the right temp too. Right now it goes around 100 at night and 102 during the day. 102 is ok for a still air incubator, right? I had temps at 104 during my last hatch, and they turned out ok (I was a little freaked out though...). I'm thinking about getting a little creative and building a second incubator, so I can use the other one for hatching.

​

 

[lawatt]

The two pretty Marans X EEs from your flock are very regular layers. I get an egg from the two of them nearly every day and most days I get two. Yesterday I got two.

There are other factors that will stop them from laying. The wind last week is one of them. I will probably get less eggs today because the neighbors beach ball went into the chicken yard yesterday. One of the amelias flew over the fence into the back yard. They were making their danger noise, which is a lot like the egg song! They went crazy again when I retrieved the ball for the the neighbors! Beach Balls are scary to chickens....

thanks all -- i'm hoping they've just been perturbed by the broodies having taken over all the nesting boxes, and/or the crazy wind, and/or the predator the other night... and also hoping things calm down so that they start laying again. i wonder what would soothe their nerves? perhaps i should hire a string quartet...

 

[chiqita]

A string quartet....
Of mealworms!!!
Strum strum strum strum..eat! Eat!.. Eat! Eat!

thanks all -- i'm hoping they've just been perturbed by the broodies having taken over all the nesting boxes, and/or the crazy wind, and/or the predator the other night... and also hoping things calm down so that they start laying again.  i wonder what would soothe their nerves?  perhaps i should hire a string quartet...

 

[PetRock]

The two pretty Marans X EEs from your flock are very regular layers. I get an egg from the two of them nearly every day and most days I get two. Yesterday I got two.

There are other factors that will stop them from laying. The wind last week is one of them. I will probably get less eggs today because the neighbors beach ball went into the chicken yard yesterday. One of the amelias flew over the fence into the back yard. They were making their danger noise, which is a lot like the egg song! They went crazy again when I retrieved the ball for the the neighbors! Beach Balls are scary to chickens....

My broody's eggs hatched on Friday and yesterday I got half the normal number of eggs from the rest of the girls. They must be freaked out about the peeping! It will be interesting to see how many they lay today.

 

[tommysgirl]

Okay so been a busy day. Trying to at least start my coop. I swear I am always a day late and a dollar short.

When I got back from all my errands I had a baby in the incubator. It was a Millie Fleur Leghorn! Looks like it didn't quite zip all the way and and just muscled their way out the side of the shell.





That is chick number one and the second picture is her shell. Just sort of blew a hole in the side. That is right next to the Polish one that was the first to pip and it died.

I have about 14 more pips, but some have been there a really long time!!! Okay since sometime this morning. Feels like a long time. This pipping thing is nerve wracking. They officially aren't due until tomorrow anyway, but still I see the pips and no more anything for hours.......

I did mark the low spot of the aircell on a lot of them before I locked down last night and that is pretty helpful. At least I can see if they pipped above or below the aircell.

The humidity was reading 65% until the hatchers and it has gone up to 70%. I didn't want it to go too high because of the thought that the humid air holds less oxygen.....Also, since it was hotter today, I am having trouble keeping the temps lower. They have been running about 99.7......Is that too high for hatching?

Gonna be a long night with those peepers in my bedroom. I did buy ear plugs though. I hope it helps.

Congrats Ali....sorry for the temp spike. hope you caught it in time. I was just telling Deanne that I if I ever hatch again it will be with a Brinsea Mini Advanced because I have to have soemthing that takes care of business for me

Introducing my frankenchickens.
Blue sizzle roo X bantam blue laced red wyandotte hen. An oops. A cute oops lol. Several days old.

Let me go look.........................it's crazy hot in that room, I hate going in there. LOL There are currently 7 tubs of chicks/quail brooding in there, each with a heat lamp.

had to share a sweet shot of my duckies. i hatched 8. i already re-homed 4, 2 more go to their new home on Wednesday. i am keeping 2.

Amy Beth these are so pretty! I have a lady who needs ducks can I put her in touch with you? I went to your website awhile back and you do such nice work!

 

[Deerling]

Hmm, I think I'm going to need an incubator for hatching. I just want to stagger hatches too much, haha. I've been trying to find bantam Favorolle eggs and someone just offered me some (well, the chance to buy them) but at that point they'd be a week and a half or more behind my others and I just don't know. Do any of the cheaper incubators work for lockdown/hatching?