California - Northern

[Flowers of Abba]

Beautiful Mother's Day working in the gardens with my girls!

 

[Hangtown Farms]

Do you think I might have waited a little longer than I should to lockdown the call duck eggs? Now I have to wipe out the dang cabinet!

When the calendar says "lockdown bottom shelf" on Friday, it dang well means it! At least they didn't have to fall through all three shelves to hit bottom. But Happy Mother's Day to me! There's a third one zipping, a few more call eggs and a few chicken eggs waiting to join them.

but they are so cute

It is amazing--sometimes I can go away from the hatcher and come back to nothing. Then I stop to make brownies and then check and 5 have hatched without even seeing a pip.

21 so far.....

cool besides the emp what else is hatching?

 

[ronott1]

but they are so cute
cool besides the emp what else is hatching?

Marraduna Basque and grey and black chicks from Blue eggs. None look like Crele yet so OEs I think.

 

[MossyoakLane]

Novato Horse and Pet carries it.

Do they carry the Freedom as well as the Natural ?

 

[18Peeps]

Congratulations!! Adorable!!

 

[18Peeps]

thanks again, i REALLY appreciate your suggestions -- i tried letting Speedy completely out of her enclosure, with her chick, and they free-ranged happily outdoors with the rest of the flock -- until Eleanor showed up with her two chicks, and then went after Speedy (ignoring the chick this time!) -- in a serious brawl, even when Speedy tried to submit and get away Eleanor kept attacking her -- finally had to separate them. (Max the rooster just stood by watching, didn't try to intervene, nor did any of the non-broody flock.)

this all happened outdoors, so the chicks had plenty of room to get away from the fighting, and other than being quite frightened, eventually found their proper moms again -- then Eleanor fortuitously took her chicks to investigate the opened enclosure pen, and they now are closed up in that for a while, to give Speedy and her chick a chance to breathe.

so the chicks seem quite adept at running away and following their own mama's calls -- it's the mamas that the problem, at this point. at least Eleanor's 3-week-olds are too big now to wiggle through the enclosure's wire, so they can't get out without her.

(and apologies to all on the thread for this play-by-play -- i'm just so at a loss as to how to manage everyone!)

Wow! I never knew how much drama broody hens could have. I kind of liked educational play by play story btw...

.

 

[18Peeps]

27 chicks went into lockdown and between yesterday and this morning, 24 healthy chicks have hatched!!!

It is looking like there are quite a few boys, but I haven't attempted to count the boys vs girls yet. I'm just basking in their cuteness for now

. I cannot tell the difference between the Blue Barnevelder and the regular Black, but the 3 splashes are noticeable and gorgeous. Love them all. So cute. Is anyone going to need a Barnevelder Rooster over the next few months? I'd love to keep them all, but I might need to rehome a couple roosters eventually...when they start crowing...

The other 3 basically had positioning issues...maybe related to how I incubated. I'm not sure. All I know is these eggs were really great. 100% fertility and very healthy chicks

.

 

[Hangtown Farms]

27 chicks went into lockdown and between yesterday and this morning, 24 healthy chicks have hatched!!!

It is looking like there are quite a few boys, but I haven't attempted to count the boys vs girls yet. I'm just basking in their cuteness for now

. I cannot tell the difference between the Blue Barnevelder and the regular Black, but the 3 splashes are noticeable and gorgeous. Love them all. So cute. Is anyone going to need a Barnevelder Rooster over the next few months? I'd love to keep them all, but I might need to rehome a couple roosters eventually...when they start crowing...

The other 3 basically had positioning issues...maybe related to how I incubated. I'm not sure. All I know is these eggs were really great. 100% fertility and very healthy chicks

.

congrats

 

[Chickengirl1304]

Are barnevelders auto sexing?

 

[tls_ranch]

Are barnevelders auto sexing?

You can sometimes tell sex by breast down color at hatch. Boys have white chests girls have grey/ tan chests. But, this is not 100% All the time. You can get chicks that have narrow strips of white that are hard to sex by color. My pures are easier to sex, but my blues are still not as accurate in chest color. Breast down color is kind of like sexing by V markings and eyeliner in welsummers or head spots in barred/ cuckoo breeds. Some of us think that by selecting chicks that are clearly marked for breeders will help improve accuracy.

Trisha