Colorado

[samsr]

I may/may not have just purchased 18 hatching eggs... At least they were only 3.50 for 18! They are coming from a mixed flock of Americana and black copper Marans. They are coming from a local lady in fountain I found on Craigslist.

Adam 7, she is my neighbor. I live just north and accorss the street. They are nice people. Pretty much everyone here in this neck of the woods has a few chickens, ducks and guinnies. Theoretically my egges should be fertile too. My rooster has been having fun lately, but I dont know if my eggs are as of yet.
You will have to stop by sometime.
I am getting ready to expand the run area of my coop so I can get a few more hens. I have been working on it today. I believe I have the base down and at least somewhat level. My neighbor accross the street is going to mill up some 2x4's for me tomorrow.

 

[Pozees]

Shed update:

Have the two 16' walls and one of the 12' end walls up. Was lots more work and time than I anticipated. They are solid though. Glued and screwed. Tomorrow the other 12' end wall, then the trusses. Bob is panicking over the roof trusses, he has never put up a roof before, and neither have I, so he spent the last almost two hours since we came in to feed cats and eat dinner, watching YouTube videos on roof trusses. For reasons I cannot explain, he had somehow gotten the idea I wasn't expecting chicks until next weekend, and when I told him it was Tuesday he had some more moments of panic. At this point there are three possibilities. 1 - things will go far better than expected tomorrow, and Monday we will finish the drying in and at least one entry door, so it is usable for chicks (highly unlikely). 2 - I will concede the shed will never be done in time for Tuesday chick arrival and will set up the brooder under the house in the 4 foot crawl space (has power), which is adequate but presents back health challenges. 3 - same concession, but I will purchase a 7x7 Rubbermaid (or similar) shed kit that can be set up in the run-in section of the barn, where we have power also, but where I do not have to walk bent over to tend to chicks, and don't have to carry them up the steps out of the crawl space when the shed is done and ready for chicks, but I do have to spend several hundred dollars extra. This item would be useful but it is not a planned expense and I hate that. At my age you would think I would be used to this sort of situation, and I sort of am, but it doesn't make me like them any better

Oh yeah, and the brooder light/heater I bought was defective, waiting for replacement from Cutler, I know I will get it, but may not be by Monday night, in which case I will use the standard issue lights with red bulbs (the one I ordered from Cutler uses less power and has a thermostat so temp can be dialed to adjust instead of elevating the light each week or several days to decrease temps).

After all is said and done, there will be a shed and maybe two if I have to buy the temp Rubbermaid, and there will be chicks, and ... there will be chicks!!! I can't really be sorry as long as there will be chicks!

Here is where we left it tonight:

 

[coloradogal]

So I my little white frizzle was badly, badly beat up about 2 weeks ago. So bad in fact, that I thought I lost him. It took two days for his one eye to reopen and I fed him with a dropper for almost 2 days. It took a good week for him to do much so last weekend, as he was starting to get ambulatory, i took him out of his recoop tub and put a diaper on him. It wasn't a chicken diaper but the puppy diaper I made for my dogs instead during times of incontinence. It actually works fairly well. So he's been busy eaten crumbs from my floor. I've tried integrating him back to the flock twice and he's scared to death. He was so traumatized that I'm not sure how I'm going to integrate him. I'm really, really at a loss.

However, he seems to be settling in to life in the house. He does most of his pooping at night when he's in his area so when it comes to the daytime, I'm not cleaning up much at all from the diapers. So that isn't an issue. The shampoo I've been using to bathe him lasts forever on his feathers so he smells delightful. Hmmmm, perhaps that is why he's having a hard time reintegrating...he smells too good. He doesn't smell like a chicken right now at all... more like a powder fresh ball of feathers.

So any suggestions? I had a woman interested in a house rooster but I think she has reevaluated when I explained he is a natural alarm clock. But I have found it's usually only 7 times and then he stops. He's great for pecking the crumbs on my floor and under my conure cage has never been cleaner. I just would love to get him back with his own kind. He's starting to want to sit on my shoulder...which isn't cool.

Ohh, btw: 118 unread posts when I logged on. Wow.

 

[coloradogal]

Shed update:

Have the two 16' walls and one of the 12' end walls up. Was lots more work and time than I anticipated. They are solid though. Glued and screwed. Tomorrow the other 12' end wall, then the trusses. Bob is panicking over the roof trusses, he has never put up a roof before, and neither have I, so he spent the last almost two hours since we came in to feed cats and eat dinner, watching YouTube videos on roof trusses. For reasons I cannot explain, he had somehow gotten the idea I wasn't expecting chicks until next weekend, and when I told him it was Tuesday he had some more moments of panic. At this point there are three possibilities. 1 - things will go far better than expected tomorrow, and Monday we will finish the drying in and at least one entry door, so it is usable for chicks (highly unlikely). 2 - I will concede the shed will never be done in time for Tuesday chick arrival and will set up the brooder under the house in the 4 foot crawl space (has power), which is adequate but presents back health challenges. 3 - same concession, but I will purchase a 7x7 Rubbermaid (or similar) shed kit that can be set up in the run-in section of the barn, where we have power also, but where I do not have to walk bent over to tend to chicks, and don't have to carry them up the steps out of the crawl space when the shed is done and ready for chicks, but I do have to spend several hundred dollars extra. This item would be useful but it is not a planned expense and I hate that. At my age you would think I would be used to this sort of situation, and I sort of am, but it doesn't make me like them any better

Oh yeah, and the brooder light/heater I bought was defective, waiting for replacement from Cutler, I know I will get it, but may not be by Monday night, in which case I will use the standard issue lights with red bulbs (the one I ordered from Cutler uses less power and has a thermostat so temp can be dialed to adjust instead of elevating the light each week or several days to decrease temps).

After all is said and done, there will be a shed and maybe two if I have to buy the temp Rubbermaid, and there will be chicks, and ... there will be chicks!!! I can't really be sorry as long as there will be chicks!

Here is where we left it tonight:

It's looking great. It's bigger than I was envisioning. I wish I could have went down to help but there is still too much going on right now.

 

[coloradogal]

These are the two in the brooder so far. The metal wire divider was in the bator to keep the two chicks in the Marans eggs seperate but I couldn't fit the tupperware for the little one with the problem in with that there so it was removed. A hatch expert on the shipping eggs thread recommended I put the chick in a plastic dish with a damp paper towel to keep the sac from ripping on the grating. I took these two out while I was at it.

Ahhhhh...so cute! Congrats!

 

[Pozees]

It's looking great. It's bigger than I was envisioning. I wish I could have went down to help but there is still too much going on right now.

It is bigger than Bob and I envisioned as well, partly because the walls were built higher than the plans call for, meaning the 8' siding won't cover the walls completely. Instead of 7'8 5/8", the walls are 8'1". <sigh> Oh well, what's one more challenge?

 

[suncatcher]

Shed update:

Have the two 16' walls and one of the 12' end walls up. Was lots more work and time than I anticipated. They are solid though. Glued and screwed. Tomorrow the other 12' end wall, then the trusses. Bob is panicking over the roof trusses, he has never put up a roof before, and neither have I, so he spent the last almost two hours since we came in to feed cats and eat dinner, watching YouTube videos on roof trusses. For reasons I cannot explain, he had somehow gotten the idea I wasn't expecting chicks until next weekend, and when I told him it was Tuesday he had some more moments of panic. At this point there are three possibilities. 1 - things will go far better than expected tomorrow, and Monday we will finish the drying in and at least one entry door, so it is usable for chicks (highly unlikely). 2 - I will concede the shed will never be done in time for Tuesday chick arrival and will set up the brooder under the house in the 4 foot crawl space (has power), which is adequate but presents back health challenges. 3 - same concession, but I will purchase a 7x7 Rubbermaid (or similar) shed kit that can be set up in the run-in section of the barn, where we have power also, but where I do not have to walk bent over to tend to chicks, and don't have to carry them up the steps out of the crawl space when the shed is done and ready for chicks, but I do have to spend several hundred dollars extra. This item would be useful but it is not a planned expense and I hate that. At my age you would think I would be used to this sort of situation, and I sort of am, but it doesn't make me like them any better

Oh yeah, and the brooder light/heater I bought was defective, waiting for replacement from Cutler, I know I will get it, but may not be by Monday night, in which case I will use the standard issue lights with red bulbs (the one I ordered from Cutler uses less power and has a thermostat so temp can be dialed to adjust instead of elevating the light each week or several days to decrease temps).

After all is said and done, there will be a shed and maybe two if I have to buy the temp Rubbermaid, and there will be chicks, and ... there will be chicks!!! I can't really be sorry as long as there will be chicks!

Here is where we left it tonight:

Wow, you guys did good! Looks wonderful, even if it is not completed. Hmmmm, How many chicks do you have coming? When I had my daughters and my chicks at the same time, I used an old Rubbermaid water trough, hung a light over one end, and had wire over all of it. You might find one used that is cracked and can't hold water anymore........ just a thought. The one I used was a 60 gallon one, had 20 chicks in it, they outgrew it fast, but they were in it at least a week.

 

[WendyGeisler]

Suncatcher-- well I have very low expectations now. My BCM eggs arrived frozen (((( sooo disappointed. I let them sit for 24 hours and then put them in the incubator but I am not expecting much at this point, so sad

 

[Adam7]

Adam 7,   she is my neighbor.  I live just north and accorss the street.  They are nice people.  Pretty much everyone here in this neck of the woods has a few chickens, ducks and guinnies. Theoretically my egges should be fertile too.  My rooster has been having fun lately,  but I dont know if my eggs are as of yet.
You will have to stop by sometime. 
I am getting ready to expand the run area of my coop so I can get a few more hens.  I have been working on it today.  I believe I have the base down and at least somewhat level.  My neighbor accross the street is going to mill up some 2x4's for me tomorrow.

You live really close to my old house then. My old house is the yellow one with the red roof. It has a giant barn the same color next to it. You can see it from old pueblo rd though it is on Moonshadow. It's off of birdsall. Probably right behind you lol. I grew up there.

I'd like to stop by and see your setup some time. What breed of birds do you have? I'd like to try to hatch some of your eggs in the future!

 

[WendyGeisler]

Hi All,
I am on day 8 of a test batch of eggs. Out of 4 eggs, I have one growing chick. But now I am worried about what to do with it when it hatches. Do you think I can quickly go buy a day old chick to put in with it so it's not alone?