California - Northern

[Flowers of Abba]

Well im having lots of fun with the chicks and birds this season

I have 4 groups right now (some of these are Neals chicks Debie hatched or birds I am raising for them.


9 1 to 3 week olds
   3 White Leghorn
   2 Pita Pinta
   1 Delaware
   1 Barred Holland

5  4+ week olds
    4 Buff Orp  (the sweetest things and really like being paid attention to)
    1 Delaware

4 almost 8 week old males  
    2 Pita Pinta
    2 Cream Legbar

9 7-8 week old girls
    3 Pita Pinta
    1 Cream Legbar
     5 Barred Rocks


With 30 eggs about to go on lockdown tomorrow. (Some of these are very iffy but eh) {Neal's Eggs}
20  RiRxWLH hyrbrids
5    Silkie
1   RIR
4  Delaware

Ill do some egg-topsies to determine the quitters and what I can do to improve the hatch rate.

Im planning on setting another hatch of eggs after the party.

Barred Hollands and Cream Legbars  + more of Neals Eggs.  

I'm a pen building machine these days  I have 3 weeks to get the Biggies outside moved to perm pens. 

And about another 4  to help Neal get ready for his birds.

Im thinking that Ill stick with the single 48 egg bator for now and maybe 1 hatch a month so the assembly line can take shape,

Also trying to organize the back yard into a cell grazing setup for my back yard flock and getting ready for the hot summer.

Chicken math/addiction reaches stage 2. 

Whoop whoop! Your on fire!. Lol.!my hands are full with the kids and wrapping g up the school year. (Homeschooling is exhausting ) or I would challenge the insanity your persuing.

Spring has sprung and it so fun so I have:

Rearranged my two breeding coops and only have only ONE adult rooster . Haha not for long .
He is a handsome cl from chiqita .

Here's my grow our department:
3- 3month muscovy. (LOvE)

2 juvies sizzle serama

6 baby pp x

But the funniest part is we had a fireplace in the master room and ripped it out and made a mini walk in closet. Well apperantly is is the most peaceful spot in the house and I've claimed it for myself and my three incubators . Lol

Brinsea-16 red bourbon

Mini- 6 pp

Bater- 32 polish,barnies, pp, marans and pp cross, trinkets babies, and a couple cl.

Thank goodness for the tiered cages from cl in the garage . Babies go outside in The day and safe in the garage overnight. As soon as they are off the eco glow out they go!

 

[PetRock]

Hey, Chris! I just found something that you need for your boys!

http://www.mypetchicken.com/catalog...Bow-Tie-for-No-Crow-Rooster-Collar-p1659.aspx

 

[Flowers of Abba]

Whoop whoop! Your on fire!. Lol.!my hands are full with the kids and wrapping g up the school year. (Homeschooling is exhausting ) or I would challenge the insanity your persuing.

Spring has sprung and it so fun so I have:

Rearranged my two breeding coops and only have only ONE adult rooster . Haha not for long .
He is a handsome cl from chiqita .

Here's my grow our department:
3- 3month muscovy. (LOvE)

2 juvies sizzle serama

6 baby pp x

But the funniest part is we had a fireplace in the master room and ripped it out and made a mini walk in closet. Well apperantly is is the most peaceful spot in the house and I've claimed it for myself and my three incubators . Lol

Brinsea-16 red bourbon

Mini- 6 pp

Bater- 32 polish,barnies, pp, marans and pp cross, trinkets babies, and a couple cl.

Thank goodness for the tiered cages from cl in the garage . Babies go outside in The day and safe in the garage overnight. As soon as they are off the eco glow out they go!

And (how could I forget) three juvinile pp. One is a boy with yellow legs so he will take place in the second breeding coop for the fall...

@petrock

Trinket's Baby's babies are 80% girls! And sturdy little things.

 

[caychris]

Whoop whoop! Your on fire!. Lol.!my hands are full with the kids and wrapping g up the school year. (Homeschooling is exhausting ) or I would challenge the insanity your persuing.

Well I built an outside brooder to handle and separate boys from girls I think it will hold up to a dozen per cage for the 4 weeks max that they may need to be there.

I just have to get the perm pens built now. I am building 2 at the Antioch location where my friend will house 2 breeding pens (and later 1 grow out pen)
One pen is needed for my brother in law who is starting a backyard layer flock
And at least 3 pens are being constructed at neals to help with the breeding and growing out of birds.


Once complete the assembly line will be in full swing and the next project will be planning how to process the extras from years hatching.

 

[sewandgrow]

He has received help and that might be the problem!

He's received too much help and gone over to the dark side!

That's not the dark side that's the fun side. I so miss having all the chickens & have to fight myself daily not to give in to more. If I miraculously turn younger again I will do it all over again.........LOL.
I so enjoyed the whole process except the decline.

 

[Kaylish]

He has received help and that might be the problem!

He's received too much help and gone over to the dark side!

It's sooo easy to do! I've had to cut myself off for a while.

Speaking of help - I'll be driving hatching eggs on a 3 hour trip - any tips on the best way to transport them? I'm assuming that I'll be picking them up in an egg carton but want to make sure they take as little bumping/stress as possible.

 

[EZFarms]

help. got the other half of my chicks yesterday and i already lost a sultan now i have a polish that acts like it cant stand and it keeps getting run over and a sultan who acts like its legs are stiff/unstable what do i do???

 

[TheKeeper]

Thank you all for sharing all you experiences - good as well as bad.

I did a dumb thing that I know so much better than to do.
I did not check my broody's nest box to make sure it was tight up against the side & back of the cage before eggs hatched. This morning I found 3 wee seramas cold & lifeless squashed between the box & cage.
ARG! Bad chicken mommy!
But - while sadly holding them, one gasped. Whaaa?!?
I stuck all 3 into the incubator and an hour later, all 3 are acting like nothing happened, cheeping away. I gave them a little extra time in there & them moved them back under momma (after fixing the box situation).
All was still good when I last checked this evening.
If I hadn't read/heard stories like that here, I probably would've just said goodbye & buried them.
Tough little cookies.

 

[chickee]

Thank you all for sharing all you experiences - good as well as bad.

I did a dumb thing that I know so much better than to do.
I did not check my broody's nest box to make sure it was tight up against the side & back of the cage before eggs hatched. This morning I found 3 wee seramas cold & lifeless squashed between the box & cage.
ARG! Bad chicken mommy!
But - while sadly holding them, one gasped. Whaaa?!?
I stuck all 3 into the incubator and an hour later, all 3 are acting like nothing happened, cheeping away. I gave them a little extra time in there & them moved them back under momma (after fixing the box situation).
All was still good when I last checked this evening.
If I hadn't read/heard stories like that here, I probably would've just said goodbye & buried them.
Tough little cookies.

That was lucky! Glad to hear they made it! What about all the eggs you got from me. How many hatched and where are the pictures?

 

[chiqita]

I think for the vast majority of us, the price of home grown eggs FAAAAAAAR exceeds the price of store bought eggs (even top notch ones like EatWell that are $10/doz) once you factor in the cost of the coop and feed and all the other STUFF you need to keep chickens happy and healthy. Maybe somewhere down the road (like in 5 years), that will balance out, but not in the short term. I think most people I know who have chickens have them because it's fun/relaxing, it's rewarding, and the eggs are an awesome bonus. Same reason people like to grow their own vegetables and fruit, even though for most of us "self sufficiency" is an impossible goal unless we have a LOT of room and a LOT of time (I know one family that is self sufficient, and they have 15 acres which the husband manages fulltime while his wife works a day job).

Ever read the 60 dollar tomatoe?

Hello friends!
We are off to a running start with our hatching this year.  I had planned to catalogue the number of chicks from each hatch.  Guess who hasn't wrote down a single number?  That isn't helpful!  Most of our breeds are going like gangbusters and it is just fun.  I so enjoy chicken farming when there are no problems!

However, I would love to have help troubleshooting a drop in production and fertility for the Cream Legbars.  They are usually so dependable.  But now production has dropped to dismal and with a rough 30% hatch rate (all cockerels).  I did start supplementing with calf manna as I found evidence of a soft-shelled egg.  I havn't seen signs of mites but I could treat them for that anyway.  (Have to go buy the stuff first).  Any other ideas?  They are on the same program as my other chickens, which are thriving!

Would welcome input ~

Try red cell and b vitamin shots if its actual infertility rather then mites etc. But mites are sneaky.i just had to pull apart my whole silkie coop over mites . Im still very sore!
quote name="KernH" url="/t/25/california-northern/61260#post_15151143"]

I thought I was addicted.  You need help!  See you at the party.   Kern
[/quote]
Help in this group is lending incubators lol.

Thank you all for sharing all you experiences - good as well as bad.

I did a dumb thing that I know so much better than to do.
I did not check my broody's nest box to make sure it was tight up against the side & back of the cage before eggs hatched. This morning I found 3 wee seramas cold & lifeless squashed between the box & cage.
ARG! Bad chicken mommy!
But - while sadly holding them, one gasped. Whaaa?!?
I stuck all 3 into the incubator and an hour later, all 3 are acting like nothing happened, cheeping away. I gave them a little extra time in there & them moved them back under momma (after fixing the box situation).
All was still good when I last checked this evening.
If I hadn't read/heard stories like that here, I probably would've just said goodbye & buried them.
Tough little cookies.

they aint dead till they are warm and dead. Rescued a duckling today momma stepped on the egg broke it early and a fly found it and layed mefmega eggs on it. Washed her in warm watet vetrynican the youlk not yet absorbed wrapped her in non sticking towl and bam! Shes peeping and absorbing the yolk hope shes wobbling on her feet once im back from class tonight!