California - Northern

[Nikon]

Hey, you should have said something. I would have loved to meet you. Hopefully you got out of town before the lightning storm started. We are going through the second wave right now. Power went out for about a minute after one close strike, and it keep flickering after most of the others. Our poor electric distribution/transmission system is taking a beating!

What group were you up here with?

Would have loved to have met up with some Peep peeps, but we were staffing like 70+ teens and were towing a trailer of stuff. Believe me I wanted to stop in Redding to go to a church there, but alas... I could not.

Yeah, On saturday we played paintball most of the day and by late afternoon the down draft winds were INSANE! We left Sunday afternoon for Nevada County only to find out we had really bad dry lightning and three fires around town!

 

[ronott1]

Newbie question time.

My 7.5 week old chicks (9 of them, soon to be 6) are living in their permanent coop/run as of a week and a half ago. The only time they go in the coop is at night to sleep. They all huddle together on the floor in the corner closest to the automatic door. Based on the lack of disturbance/poop in the rest of the coop, they aren't exploring the rest of the coop at all. There is a poop board with a roost too. Since it has Sweet PDZ on the poop board I can tell that they haven't gone up there either.

So, my question is... Will they figure out what/where the roost is and learn to use it on their own, or should I start sticking them up there at dusk? The only reason I haven't yet, is that it is still pretty cool at night (40's), and I figured they were huddling down there for the warmth.

chickens are blind in the dark so they need to see to get up to a roost. They may not be comfortable flying up or jumping up there yet.

Put them on the roost at night for several days and see if they pick it up.

 

[redriver]

Hey, you should have said something. I would have loved to meet you. Hopefully you got out of town before the lightning storm started. We are going through the second wave right now. Power went out for about a minute after one close strike, and it keep flickering after most of the others. Our poor electric distribution/transmission system is taking a beating!


What group were you up here with?

Would have loved to have met up with some Peep peeps, but we were staffing like 70+ teens and were towing a trailer of stuff. Believe me I wanted to stop in Redding to go to a church there, but alas... I could not.   Yeah, On saturday we played paintball most of the day and by late afternoon the down draft winds were INSANE! We left Sunday afternoon for Nevada County only to find out we had really bad dry lightning and three fires around town! 

Yeah, Yreka has some crazy weather every now and then. This past week has been interesting for sure.

 

[redriver]

chickens are blind in the dark so they need to see to get up to a roost. They may not be comfortable flying up or jumping up there yet.

Put them on the roost at night for several days and see if they pick it up.

Thanks Ron. I had the heat lamp running on one cold night, and they still didn't budge from their corner. Not even to move under the heat lamp. Maybe they weren't as cold as I thought. I'll try sticking them up there.

 

[GallusGirl]

Pictures of the morning Sebright drama: the two Silver hens Ashe and Lux decide to bully the Golden roo Leon out of the best sun-bathing spot, lay down before he is gone, then cuddle in celebration.



Bonus ridiculous: When she first woke up, it was a little windy and Lux was too lazy to leave the hen house, so when I opened up the door to encourage her to come out and play she just flopped onto the floor (newspaper with some sand) in the tiny patch of sun.

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[BCollie]

Okay, I think this'll be the last Nelly/chick picture for a while.

 

[Chickengirl1304]

Okay, I think this'll be the last Nelly/chick picture for a while.

Haha that one should be in a magazine well at least wallpaper for your phone

 

[Hangtown Farms]

Hatching Question:

I set eggs on April 18th at 11A, so today (or tomorrow?) is day 21. Yesterday afternoon I heard lots of peeping from the eggs, this means they have internally pipped, right? I looked this morning, and I can't see any pips in the shell, and I don't hear any more peeping. Should I be worried? Are they just resting? Is internal pipping part of the 24 hour then help them, or just after pipping the shell?

they are probably ok

Anyone else hatching a lot of boys?

My last 2 hatches are insanely boy heavy. 1st I hatched 11 and 9 are cockerels. Then I hatched 19 and 13 are boys. I guess my odds are improving.

Maybe this next hatch of 10 under my broody will have more pullets.

yep yep yep

They are the Blue Egg Layers from the University of Arkansas. They are a project for the Poultry Program there. It turns out that they are from Whiting Farms in Colorado. They are a cross between Araucanas and Leghorns. They are Blue and Splash in color.

I took this picture on Sunday:




They lay a very blue egg and are reported to lay a bit more than Cream Legbars--Starting as early as 16 weeks old.

I need me some. oh wait I have some

Okay, I think this'll be the last Nelly/chick picture for a while.

great pic

 

[tommysgirl]

She is not local but Razadia has Games. I do not know if they are Bantams or not.

Thanks...off to search for Razadia and pester with questions

We sell eating eggs for $5 a dozen (although we could be getting $8-$10 since we sell them in SF). I would suggest tacking on a $0.50 fee for those people who don't provide their own egg cartons. As far as hatching eggs it's up to you when you want to start selling them.. Just be straight forward and let people know you aren't breeding for standards of the breeds (unless you are).
Good luck!!

Thanks I like the idea of .50 for a carton and appreciate ALL the feedback. people here pay 2.50-3.00 for home grown fresh eggs which is cheaper than cage free eggs in the store...makes no sense but that's what it is. I am excited about selling hatching eggs but want to be sure I don't mislead anyone. I loved the anticipation of ordering mixed orders of eggs and not knowing exactly what I would be getting. It added to the fun.

 

[lawatt]

Okay, I think this'll be the last Nelly/chick picture for a while.

insanely cute.

so: home at 8pm from a truly crazy day at school, just in time before dark to check on the goings-on in the coop -- here's my report:

-- Speedy has knocked over her kids' feeder but otherwise all seems fine there
-- Eleanor's 2-week-olds already expect treats when i turn up
-- Frances is STILL in her nest box, what a good girl -- and it looks like ONE of the five eggs she inherited from Speedy's neglected nest has hatched, i found part of a shell, but not entirely sure *which* shell -- my best guess, from the color, was the one bresse egg that seemed to have started pipping yesterday. didn't want to dig into her nest for babies just before dark, so left them all for the night, just with some extra food.
-- and in the layers' extra laying box, i found the following:


totally baffled by that teeny egg -- from the speckling, it MUST be one of the two marans -- but as far as i know, they've been laying since january? except that everyone's laying has been way off lately, only getting 2 or so eggs a day from 8 layers -- so now i'm wondering if one of the marans stopped for a while (all that windy weather that they don't like!) and has now started up again but with a teeny weeny egg? it's literally the size of a marble.

but beautiful! at first i thought a quail had snuck into the coop...