Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[stonykill]

Broody hatch update:
Had another chick hatch this week, BUT, it died before it got out of the shell. When I found it, there was half a shell, chick still inside, but dead. Why? What causes this?
2 eggs are pipped tonight, and one has some definite movement going on! I can hear it!! Of the 6 eggs she's still sitting on, I candled tonight and tossed 2. Honestly, she's only a banty, so her original 11 eggs were WAY too many for her tiny self to successfully hatch. I'm learning... I've candled a couple of times before tonight, but I feel completely incompetent, so have always just stuck em back under her to continue my little science experiment... It's just this week that I've now removed 3 eggs that just looked like water swishing around inside when I held them up. I cracked the first one open, just to be sure, and boy did it smell awful:/ the two I just removed looked the same, but I didn't crack those open to check this time!
OT Question: if you candle, when do you do it? And at those times, what are you looking for?
Or, if there's another good thread that will explain, please direct me there...
Thanks!
-Nikki

some chicks are not strong enough to hatch. It happens. It is nature, the strong survive, the weak die.I RARELY candle. But when I do I'm just looking for a large mass. I often don't even bother to candle, if I even bother until around day 13 or 14. But my #1 rule is don't bother the broody, let her do her job in peace

These lil ones and their mama, her 3rd brood of the year. Yesterday morning, their 1st time off the nest. Only about 20 yards from their nest here. Today they traveled all day and at one point were 100 yards from the nest.


her 1st brood early this spring was 4 chicks, 2nd brood she hatched 11 and also raised 4 orphans so she raised a total of 15 this summer and she now has 8 new lil ones. This time she was on 10 eggs. Hatched 8. All her own eggs. One was an early quitter, one a late quitter. The rest hatched.

 

[Beekissed]

What a darling pic! She did a great job and she sure is a pretty hen.

 

[stonykill]

What a darling pic! She did a great job and she sure is a pretty hen.

thanks! She is a pretty girl. I tell her that often. I named her Mama. I got her 3 years ago as an adult in September.By October 1st she had a nest of eggs and had an October brood. She goes broody 3 times a year. When she does lay it is usually 6 eggs a week. She is fantastic breeding stock for the free range flock. At at least 4 years old she is a great healthy hen.
She had her new chicks out in the yard with her former 15 earlier today. That would have made a great pic

 

[Kansas Prairie]

Broody hatch update:
Had another chick hatch this week, BUT, it died before it got out of the shell. When I found it, there was half a shell, chick still inside, but dead. Why? What causes this?
2 eggs are pipped tonight, and one has some definite movement going on! I can hear it!! Of the 6 eggs she's still sitting on, I candled tonight and tossed 2. Honestly, she's only a banty, so her original 11 eggs were WAY too many for her tiny self to successfully hatch. I'm learning... I've candled a couple of times before tonight, but I feel completely incompetent, so have always just stuck em back under her to continue my little science experiment... It's just this week that I've now removed 3 eggs that just looked like water swishing around inside when I held them up. I cracked the first one open, just to be sure, and boy did it smell awful:/ the two I just removed looked the same, but I didn't crack those open to check this time!
OT Question: if you candle, when do you do it? And at those times, what are you looking for?
Or, if there's another good thread that will explain, please direct me there...
Thanks!
-Nikki

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-and-raising-chicks

 

[thedragonlady]

:-O dear God........ I burst out laughing when I saw that picture!

I think my first reaction was to think I'd take the caterpillar anyway. Now...I'm not sure. I *reeeeeaaaaally* don't like caterpillars.

Hubby says that photo has to be photoshopped & I'm notoriously gullible, so...who's right?

Not Photo shopped!look at the leaves on the top of that tree. You'd climb if you were starving too!

 

[AZChickenQueen]

Meat tenderizer powder (Lawry's , Mccormick's, etc.) works best on bee stings. Honest - it's weird but it works, just pour some on the sting. So sorry that you are having to deal with this; sounds like maybe those bees are Africanized? Bees are generally NOT that aggressive. It might be worth googling your local beekeeping (apiary) association (most places have at least one or two, even rural areas you'd be surprised) and seeing if they will come help you assess the problem or recommend a qualified removal specialist. Good Luck!

 

[Fred's Hens]

My two favorite hens. The white girl on the left is in my avatar and an F3 result of back breeding ISA Browns. The pullet on the right is my favorite heritage, GS Barred Rock.

As always, I apologize for my crappy camera and photography skills.

 

[Kansas Prairie]

some chicks are not strong enough to hatch. It happens. It is nature, the strong survive, the weak die.I RARELY candle. But when I do I'm just looking for a large mass. I often don't even bother to candle, if I even bother until around day 13 or 14. But my #1 rule is don't bother the broody, let her do her job in peace

These lil ones and their mama, her 3rd brood of the year. Yesterday morning, their 1st time off the nest. Only about 20 yards from their nest here. Today they traveled all day and at one point were 100 yards from the nest.


her 1st brood early this spring was 4 chicks, 2nd brood she hatched 11 and also raised 4 orphans so she raised a total of 15 this summer and she now has 8 new lil ones. This time she was on 10 eggs. Hatched 8. All her own eggs. One was an early quitter, one a late quitter. The rest hatched

AWESOME!! Good Momma! Beautiful picture.

 

[stonykill]

AWESOME!! Good Momma! Beautiful picture.

thanks! I took this pic a few hours ago. A portion of the free range flock feeding in my front yard ( I had just tossed some cracked corn around). You should be able to see a few other broody's and their young. Center in the bottom pic is a broody RIR with her 6 around her. All the young in this pic were from broody's this year and many were out of frame of the pic

. While I do incubate some, broody's are my choice. I stopped counting at 20 broody's this year. I had 25 broody's maybe???? Not sure. Anywhere from 2 chicks to 11 chicks per broody.

 

[NikkiMiChickie]

Thanks for the advice & the great pics, Stony! And thanks also to Kansas Prairie for the link