California - Northern

[zooweemama]

My husband says we should call one coop Breeder Town and the other Broody Call. Bwahaha


Excuse my typos. Sent from my iPhone.

 

[zooweemama]

My duck egg sizes are generally between 72-78 grams. Today we got a huge 100 grammar. Big mamma Jamma. Double yolker no doubt! Can't wait to get some Appleyards next year. Woohoo! I'll be selling off my Buff Orp duck (production quality nothing fancy) trio to make room. I'm excited to work with the Silver Appleyards and the Mille Fleur leghorns next year. And let's not forget some Welsummers. Haha! Come on Spring!


Excuse my typos. Sent from my iPhone.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Wish me luck!

I just placed two EE Chicks under the Broody EO Basque Pullet!

So far so good!

Only 2? Wow, you restrained yourself well!

My husband says we should call one coop Breeder Town and the other Broody Call. Bwahaha


Excuse my typos. Sent from my iPhone.

 

[capayvalleychick]

I just placed two EE Chicks under the Broody EO Basque Pullet!

Good luck! Broodies make it so much easier to raise chicks.

 

[ronott1]

Quote: I could have put more under her but it is good that I did not. At about 9 last night I heard loud chirping and both chicks were out from under her. I put them back and waited a bit, but one was back out within a short time.

They are back in the brooder now. It the pullet is still broody, I might try again this evening.

 

[ronott1]

Quote:

• Joined: 6/2011
• Posts: 44
• offline

I have had many broodies and a few I let raise babies. They have all been fabulous Moms. We just butchered 26 Euskal Oiloa Roos this weekend and they averaged 4-5 lbs at 20- 25 weeks. I roasted two and the meat was perfect! Tender and full of flavour. Not tough and not.... Squishy like grocery store Frankenchicken

That's a good size! I think that I need to try out this breed! Have any of you heard about bielefelders? They are a breed from Germany that was bred for meat and eggs. Greenfire is supposed to start selling them this next year.
I have heard of these. They are similar to the Basque, but are cold hardy. I do not know if they are heat hardy. They are a bit more auto sexing than the Basque, but the basque are actually easy to figure out by color too. The ones Laura has followed the rule, even though the comb and wattle was slow to come in on the little Roo. The males are darker, looking a bit orange on the head. the females are lighter. There is also a difference in the wing colors because of the Barring gene.

EO Basque are here now and a lot less expensive to get going with.

.

 

[zooweemama]

21 hatched. Some of all the breeds hatched except for the Jubilees. They were all clears. 2 of the CLs were clear and all 4 that developed hatched. The Swedish Flower hens were about 50%. The Silkies hatched the worst. All 4 of the EEs hatched. 2 out of 3 Favorelles hatched. Both of the Rhodebars hatched. The one silkie pipped but did not hatch. That one died right after hatching. Only one of the late quitters had pipped. The others did not make it past lockdown.

The 20 that hatched are very healthy.

Yay! Pretty good hatching odds there! A bunch of cute fluffballs!

 

[ronott1]

Quote:

I helped 4 out too. Only one of them did not make it, but it was not going to make it any way. One CL, two Swedish Flower Hens and the one silkie.

Contrary to what I have heard, I actually do ok helping them when they need it. With things like CLs going for 8 dollars per egg it would be silly not to try.....

 

[zooweemama]

I helped 4 out too. Only one of them did not make it, but it was not going to make it any way. One CL, two Swedish Flower Hens and the one silkie.

Contrary to what I have heard, I actually do ok helping them when they need it. With things like CLs going for 8 dollars per egg it would be silly not to try.....

Seriously! That's 3 success stories and it could have been 4 tragedies.

 

[tls_ranch]

Quote: I think it's ok to help them out too...especially if they are from shipped eggs. I don't help my chicks to hatch out now, but that's different because I have "unlimited" eggs that don't have to endure stress from shipping etc. For $8 per egg, go ahead and help all you can because each chick is worth it. Once you start getting eggs of your own to hatch...then you can let nature take it's course.

Eggs from rarebreeds can be so expensive. I can't tell you how many $100 breakfasts I've made with my own flock's eggs....but they sure do taste better than store bought . I also closed my BYC auction because I don't want to deal with shipping eggs over the holidays. I've got too much stuff planned to bother with arranging shipping dates. So...more eggs for us to eat LOL.

Trisha