California - Northern

[UrbanviewFarm]

For guinea fowl the males have slightly larger helmets and wattles.  The easiest way to sex them is by voice though.  Both males and females will make the one syllable "Chi" call but only the females can make the two syllable "Buckwheat" call.  Young guineas are usually quite vocal and I hear my young females making the buckwheat call multiple times per day (starting at about a month old).  If you haven't heard a particular bird make that call then it is most likely a male.

Jen

Thank you, soo much! Come to think of it, these guys do make a lot of noise in the evenings, and one does have sort of a different call from the other one. I thought for sure that would be the male--whoops!!

In regard to the cabinet incubator q, I don't think the humidity will hurt the eggs at all. The ONLY time iLve had humidity-related trouble with hatches is when I set pheasant eggs and chicken eggs together. Pheasants require a higher% humidity than chickens, I think I drowned the poor chickens(but I got the other babies out!!).

 

[Hangtown Farms]

It has moved south towards Manton. My Mom's place is at the northern edge so is safe unless the fire heads back north. The report I read said they will know where it is headed in the next 24 hours(They do not know I guess). There is a big push right now to get more containment before midnight. The houses that have burnt down are by Manton.

Whew...

Ron

My thoughts are with you and your family

 

[Papa Brooder]

wow, just scanned the last two days. I've been busy getting more pens separated as I have layers that need a place!! Super smokey and tons of fire engines and police crusing past my house on the 44. i heard there was a fire in palo cedro and millville. Amy, you ok? is it close to you at all? one is actually on my street but many miles away as my street stretches from redding to palo cedro.

i'm excited that my silver spangled hamburgs are laying, my blue copper marans started laying again after being relocated. my salmon faverolle is thinking about laying again after being relocated. my cream legbars are on strike as I merged two pens because I needed the space. hope they kick it into gear again tomorrow. bad girls! i just added a few pullets. come on!

mike, good to have you and your bro, i may need to take you up on your offer as I keep trying to put everyone in a place and I am just short space. Gotta keep building! i'm with you deb... when in doubt, build another pen. Jason, I'm gonna make the next batch open coops with just three sides covered and see how it goes. I also figured i could fit one more double pen in my 10 pen row to make it a 12 pen row...so another trip to depot. i'm bleeding money...someday these chickens are gonna earn their keep.

glad to see such an active thread. i know there's always help on here and i like that a lot. gonna candle tonight. getting excited about the upcoming hatch!

prayers for the firefighters. haven't heard any sirens in a while so hope that's good.

 

[ronott1]

Hey, question for you all - has anyone on here done staggered hatches in a cabinet incubator? I have searched and gotten some information, but not enough to give me the confidence to do it. I have a Brinsea 190 with about 5 batches of eggs. I'd love to be able to move the "lockdown" eggs to the hatcher on the bottom and ramp up the RH for the 3-4 day lockdown/hatch. Will this negatively impact my other eggs in various stages of development? Is there a point in development that other eggs may be ok for the RH rampup? Can the "newest" eggs endure a couple of rampups of RH before their own lockdown (without jeopardizing their viability)? Please share any experience you have had with this - greatly appreciated!

You should be able to do staggered hatching that way. It is designed to move a tray down each week for hatching, so you can have a hatch each week that way and then move the tray back up.

Look for instructions on the Brinsea site. I think Sunnydawn has a Brinsea like yours.

Ron

 

[boogiedog]

Thanks Ron - Sunnydawn, want to weigh in here?! (I'll also check the Brinsea site)

 

[ronott1]

My Dorking that may be mixed and may be pure laid her first egg today.

This is a picture from last week or so:


This is a picture of the eggs I collected today. The Dorking egg is the perfect white one in the egg basket:

Ron

 

[ronott1]

Thanks Ron - Sunnydawn, want to weigh in here?! (I'll also check the Brinsea site)

I sent her a PM.

Ron

 

[Hangtown Farms]

wow, just scanned the last two days. I've been busy getting more pens separated as I have layers that need a place!! Super smokey and tons of fire engines and police crusing past my house on the 44. i heard there was a fire in palo cedro and millville. Amy, you ok? is it close to you at all? one is actually on my street but many miles away as my street stretches from redding to palo cedro.

i'm excited that my silver spangled hamburgs are laying, my blue copper marans started laying again after being relocated. my salmon faverolle is thinking about laying again after being relocated. my cream legbars are on strike as I merged two pens because I needed the space. hope they kick it into gear again tomorrow. bad girls! i just added a few pullets. come on!

mike, good to have you and your bro, i may need to take you up on your offer as I keep trying to put everyone in a place and I am just short space. Gotta keep building! i'm with you deb... when in doubt, build another pen. Jason, I'm gonna make the next batch open coops with just three sides covered and see how it goes. I also figured i could fit one more double pen in my 10 pen row to make it a 12 pen row...so another trip to depot. i'm bleeding money...someday these chickens are gonna earn their keep.

glad to see such an active thread. i know there's always help on here and i like that a lot. gonna candle tonight. getting excited about the upcoming hatch!

prayers for the firefighters. haven't heard any sirens in a while so hope that's good.

A guy up my way builds them open and mentioned they do ok.
Like Ron said just keep the wind off of them. I think I will try it. If they dont like them I can cover them..

I should hear this week if the bank accepts our offer then I better start building. I need 4 of them right away.

 

[chiqita]

I got a pullet egg from one of my young silkies today Pretty! its sooo small. She has been sitting in one of the baby broody coops for days and all the other hens decided she must have a great idea and have been kicking her out. and finally this convinced her to lay! If she starts to sit on all those eggs instead of laying I may have to do something drastic, lol.

Pretty got her name because everyone who came to buy chicks from me tried to buy her instead "OOOHH SHE IS SOO PRETTYYY!" She was supposed to be sachis girl, rip little sachi.

Lot one more tiny showgirl today but everyone else seems to be fine, think we beat it. Yay for drugs!

 

[Papa Brooder]

just found a dead jubillee orp chick in my brooder at two and a half weeks old. I'm really surprised. so sudden, hadn't noticed anything with any of them in the last week or so. gonna take preventative measures anyway...