California - Northern

[QueenBubbles]

Hi my NorCal peeps,
I started building my coop today.

The nest box will be in the right corner - 1"cubed, is that really big enough for a Brahma?

 

[QueenBubbles]

Oops, 1' cubed I mean

 

[ronott1]

Oops, 1' cubed I mean

What you go by is Square feet of floor space. It looks plenty high. Is it 2' x 3'? that would be 6 square feet so you can fit 1 and a half large fowl comfortably. If you give them a big run and let them have access to protected from rain space under the coop area, they you would have room for four large fowl. Make sure they have one foot of roost space per chicken in the coop part. You will need to make a nice ramp for them to get into the coop since Brahmas are too big to get that high easily.

Looks good so far!

 

[debs_flock]

Quote: Why does it degrade? Here are two that I did egg topsies after 10 days under hens. One looked edible, one was nasty, lol.

-Kathy

I find they will degrade if they have started to develop and then stop. After sitting in the incubator heat for a week or more, the egg will just start to disintegrate inside. It probably relates to bacterial growth. I'm not offering this as scientific opinion, just my own observations from running multiple incubators non-stop for the last couple of years

I generally don't refrigerate my eating eggs and you get the same kind of thing if one gets left sitting for a month plus. You know how an older egg will spread more in the frying pan and the yolk breaks a lot easier? I usually get that with the eggs that end up being fed back to the chickens, they are usually older ones. The only really fresh eggs they get is if the shell is too dirty. They don't seem to mind if bits of muck fall into what I'm cooking for them

Thanks, Ron.

Good news, I have an adoption appointment for the foster dog that I've had for 6 weeks now! Nice guy with a thick southern accent, he calls me "ma'am". I hope this goes well for Dallas, he deserves a forever home. And after he's gone I can start letting the chickens free range more often - he occasionally likes to chase them so I don't let them out into the dog yard all that often right now.

Good luck on a home for him. And now you have room.................there is a lovely border collie currently languishing in my local animal shelter

http://www.petharbor.com/detail.asp...s=20&shelterlist='ELDR'&atype=&where=type_DOG

I'd spring her out myself if I didn't already have four dogs of my own.

 

[BCollie]

Quote: Why does it degrade? Here are two that I did egg topsies after 10 days under hens. One looked edible, one was nasty, lol.

-Kathy

I find they will degrade if they have started to develop and then stop. After sitting in the incubator heat for a week or more, the egg will just start to disintegrate inside. It probably relates to bacterial growth. I'm not offering this as scientific opinion, just my own observations from running multiple incubators non-stop for the last couple of years

I generally don't refrigerate my eating eggs and you get the same kind of thing if one gets left sitting for a month plus. You know how an older egg will spread more in the frying pan and the yolk breaks a lot easier? I usually get that with the eggs that end up being fed back to the chickens, they are usually older ones. The only really fresh eggs they get is if the shell is too dirty. They don't seem to mind if bits of muck fall into what I'm cooking for them

Thanks, Ron.

Good news, I have an adoption appointment for the foster dog that I've had for 6 weeks now! Nice guy with a thick southern accent, he calls me "ma'am". I hope this goes well for Dallas, he deserves a forever home. And after he's gone I can start letting the chickens free range more often - he occasionally likes to chase them so I don't let them out into the dog yard all that often right now.

Good luck on a home for him. And now you have room.................there is a lovely border collie currently languishing in my local animal shelter

http://www.petharbor.com/detail.asp...s=20&shelterlist='ELDR'&atype=&where=type_DOG

I'd spring her out myself if I didn't already have four dogs of my own.

Hmm...I think I have to go back down to one foster dog at a time now(I currently have two) but if not I'll look into pulling her.

 

[caychris]

Keep trying to put them together. It can take time--sometimes two weeks for them to become a flock. I have Penes, rocks, reds, lorps, EEs, Dorkings, Barneveldners and have had the Amelias in with the layer flock. Oh yes, Bresse too. They all get along eventually.

The dels are just so much bigger at this stage though that they scare the little ones quite a bit. I was thinking about getting some 6" x2' PVC pipes to put into the run area for the little ones to hide in. The biggies could follow them in but not have much room to hurt them.

They can see each other between the wires. I think they will do better integrating in the evening rather than the morning. The dels seem a bit more "blustery" in the mornings.

I need to get some more shade into the run too.

 

[OR4-hmom]

12 little quail babies into the brooder this evening, DD has misplaced the cable to her camera so unable to post. We thought we were done moving them when I heard scratching. When I took out the egg flat, Scooter" was underneath! The feet on scooter were bent backwards, after only 2 hours they are pointed forward but toes haven't separated yet. I'll check when I get home in the morning. Having enough room to stand up is a good thing. Still a few more in the incubator, hoping for a few more tiny faces in the morning.

I candled the silkies, still 4/4 swimming there and the lone maran egg is still going but with a smaller air cell.

 

[OR4-hmom]

Welcome Moon Chicken!

Glad to hear from you again Alpine. I can't imagine being away from home that long. It was 13 years between our vacations, mostly gardens that kept us homebound.

 

[chiqita]

I suppose I deserve this one occasionally...

No we give your kids fappy birds to take home...

Very good point! That is one reason for not selling them too.

Hey!! Didn't I just post that the other day??? Im gonna go pout now...

 

[chrissyr]

So I gave my broody Bresse a chick tonight. Just worried if she'll be a good mom cause they aren't a broody breed.
What do I find: her sister is now broody too!
2 broody Bresse's !