California - Northern

[juststruttin]

Wow what breeds? exciting woohoo

I hatched a little of everything, but the majority are Mille Fleur Leghorns (25) and Polish (20). The rest are Orpingtons, Welsummers, Cream Legbars, Swedes, Basque and Olive Eggers. I also have a couple Sulmtaler X Crele Laced Polish babies. I finally got a Sulmtaler rooster to go with my girls so this is my last batch of Sulmtaler mutts. LOL

 

[ronott1]

I am such a chicken geek. I watch period and other movies and am fascinated about the chicken breeds they use in the movies. Most of the American Medieval shows use red hybrids that did not exist until now.

I am watching the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and just saw a scene with a Rooster and a Pullet.

I had to freeze frame the show to check out the chickens! And guess what! They use real chickens. The Rooster is a Silver Gray type--either a Dorking, Game or Phoenix. The tail is not long enough but the pullet looks like a White Phoenix with a beautiful tail. Definitely not Hybrids.

Ok back to the movie

 

[juststruttin]

Your are using Geneses 1588 incubators? For mine, I leave the plug out and put a book on each side of the top. For hatching, try lowering the temp to 98.5. Some claim that they will hatch better if it is a bit cooler during lockdown. If you think about it, a hatched chick is supposed to be warmed to 95 degrees. At lockdown they are almost complete, so they do not need to be at 99.5.

Congratulations on the great hatches!

Yep, all three are the Genesis and they are all set the same way, but one definitely hatches better than the other two. I think I will time my hatches so everyone goes into lock down in good one. The others seem to incubate fine as the development rate has been good, which is doubly frustrating when the hatch rate after lock down has been less than ideal in the past.

I opened the eggs that did not hatch and most were fully developed and some had absorbed their yolk. I did not see anything wrong with them so it always makes me wonder why they did not pip. 2/7 that did not hatch were shipped eggs so the shipping may have been too hard on them but the air sac looked fine when I set them. Poor buggers.

 

[juststruttin]

I am such a chicken geek. I watch period and other movies and am fascinated about the chicken breeds they use in the movies. Most of the American Medieval shows use red hybrids that did not exist until now.

I am watching the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and just saw a scene with a Rooster and a Pullet.

I had to freeze frame the show to check out the chickens! And guess what! They use real chickens. The Rooster is a Silver Gray type--either a Dorking, Game or Phoenix. The tail is not long enough but the pullet looks like a White Phoenix with a beautiful tail. Definitely not Hybrids.

Ok back to the movie

I get what you are saying. When I watch movies with horses I get so mad because so often the horses are lame. It so erks me. Funny about the red sexlinks... you're right...

 

[capayvalleychick]

Cooper, I found some info from the Fish & Wildlife Service on controlling hawks. There's a pdf file, not sure how to post that.. I'll try cut n pasting part of it. My husband does not like to kill predators, so he used a paint ball gun to scare off raccoons. Maybe that would work for you?

"All native hawks and owls are federally protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Capturing, injuring, and killing of these
birds are prohibited by regulations administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service). Scaring or hazing of depredating
birds is not prohibited unless the birds are also listed as endangered or threatened species.
...
Hawks may be "taught" to avoid a problem area by the use of crackershells which are two-stage exploding shells fired from a 12-
gauge shotgun and designed to explode at a distance of75-150 yards.
...
If exclusionary devices such as netting are not feasible and other preventive measures, such as harassment or habitat modification,
have been tried and failed to resolve the predation problem, the Wildlife Services specialist may recommend to the Service that a
capture permit be issued to allow relocation of the hawk or owl. Pole trapping can be an effective method of capturing problem
hawks and owls because they prefer to perch on tall, isolated poles."

 

[Papa Brooder]

I'm having one of those weeks. Bad chicken week. I moved out a group of chicks to the barn and i think the temp fluctuation was just too great even with the heat lamp, lost about 7 chicks one night. Yesterday, one of my blue copper marans pullets drowned in one of the buckets I leave out for them when they are free ranging. And then this morning i wake up to 15 dead juveniles who were simply too stupid to get out of the rain into the 64 sq feet of covered run! it wasn't raining last night and guess they really are too dumb to move once they have settled in for the night. Those were all about 8 week old grow outs: all my polish, all of my most promising sizzles, my super cool legbar x wyandottes that were just starting to show that they were gonna be fun lookers. then I found out my last shipment of eggs to someone hasn't arrived yet, it's now 2 days late. only getting a handful of eggs and my wife is going to the store to buy eggs since we are eating more than they are laying. can't sell enough chicks to pay for my feed. blah, blah, blah. it must be a rainy winter day and I have a serious case of the blahs. This is the second time I have tried to start a flock of polish and the second time I have lost all of my starter flock. first time to an owl, this time due to small chicken brains and bad weather. I guess the polish and me just weren't meant to be. On the bright side, that's one less pen to deal with! someday, I want some of those buggers running around my property, I just like looking at them, so down the road if anyone needs to polish downsize, I think I will get some fully grown birds to just hang out on my land! This saturday is gonna get better!!! I'm claiming it as true!

 

[capayvalleychick]

Cheryl, do you have pics of the newbies?

Congrats on all the hatching!

I always know the sire of the chicks that get hatched for me. I'm wondering if it's possible to also identify which hen the chicks come from-if you are using an incubator with multiple combinations in the same hatch? Is that too complicated?

Ron, how do you feel about toe punching?

I'm thinking about this, months ahead, for Spring hatching. I have 4 cockerels, lots more hens. I want to hatch large numbers this coming year. It would be nice to know what the different combinations produce, to know what influence each hen has- in addition to what the males produce.

Of course, all of this depends on Ron, since I don't have an incubator.

 

[waititout]

I hatched a little of everything,  but the majority are Mille Fleur Leghorns (25) and Polish (20).  The rest are Orpingtons, Welsummers, Cream Legbars, Swedes, Basque and Olive Eggers.  I also have a couple Sulmtaler X Crele Laced Polish babies.  I finally got a Sulmtaler rooster to go with my girls so this is my last batch of Sulmtaler mutts.  LOL    

Oooh, are you going to have any extra chicks, or are they all spoken for?

 

[capayvalleychick]

I'm having one of those weeks. Bad chicken week.

Sorry to hear that. It's frustrating to lose them, especially with drowning. I try to prevent that, but have so many water sources around for all the critters, that the chicks sometimes find a way to commit suicide.

 

[ronott1]

Cheryl, do you have pics of the newbies?

Congrats on all the hatching!

I always know the sire of the chicks that get hatched for me. I'm wondering if it's possible to also identify which hen the chicks come from-if you are using an incubator with multiple combinations in the same hatch? Is that too complicated?

Ron, how do you feel about toe punching?

I'm thinking about this, months ahead, for Spring hatching. I have 4 cockerels, lots more hens. I want to hatch large numbers this coming year. It would be nice to know what the different combinations produce, to know what influence each hen has- in addition to what the males produce.

Of course, all of this depends on Ron, since I don't have an incubator.

Hole punching sounds like piercing for an ear ring? I think I like it better than the wing ones.

We should be able to figure out a hatching schedule for you next Spring. I think me hatching for you and me keeping Roosters at your place is a great plan!