Colorado

[maggiemo]

Awwww, for some reason one of the little chicks hatched, and then died. Today is actual hatch day, I'm hoping more get going.

Sorry, I had two die when I tried to incubate.
One I think the others bumped around too much while it was hatching and I don't think it could absorb the yolk sack enough before it hatched. It never seemed right. The other one that died seemed ok but then seemed small and never really fluffed up like the others, then it died.
So, I don't know what happened.

 

[corancher]

Latestarter over the last 50 years I have had more birds that were otherwise healthy drop dead than I can count, it just happens sometimes, granddad always told me they died of heart attacks, don't know if that is true or not cause I never could afford to do no autopsy on them. But don't feel bad, I bet my bottom dollar you didn't do nothing wrong. I won't eat a bird that just drops dead either, the meats probably good, but I don't like the idea of it.

Latestarter sorry about your loss.

I agree with oshun55555. A couple years ago, I walked by one of my favorite roosters and he was fine. I walked about 15 feet away from where he was with my back toward him. When I turned around he was on the ground dead. I heard nothing and saw nothing. None the less it is always heart breaking to lose them.

 

[Hayduke27]

Tonight at 8:00 is 21 days that my eggs have been under my broody hen. She was just out taking a break, and I snuck a peek in the nest...

An egg has pipped! The hen switched nests earlier this week while I was away having dinner, and when I got back the eggs were all cooled off, and I was worried they had all died. So far, just one pip, but I'm hoping for more tonight!!

And here is my new foster mom. She was a little too shifty, and kept changing nests, so I transferred her eggs to another broody and gave her a little clutch of chicks. She took to them immediately, and is making a great mom so far. She was recently named Big Mamma.

 

[Mtn Margie]

So cute! I love the Momma Hens with their chicks.

 

[Ashdoes]

Thank you for the tip! Bought one on Amazon and it should be here by lockdown!

Good luck! How exciting! I can't remember - what are you incubating right now? I want to get ducks/geese *so much* but I think that's where my parents would draw the line.

When you check your humidity, just crank the humidifier of it's low, and lower the humidifier if your numbers get high. The cool mist one seems to really keep things right.
We now have six live chicks, and more pips. I left the house for the day, otherwise I just stare in there willing them to hatch. It makes me crazy.

 

[saellis]

Hey Peeps. Hope you're all doing well. I haven't posted here in quite a while. Something called life keeps getting in the way. I'm getting 4 Buff Orpingtons from Kiowa on April 4th and I'm wondering if any of you have an opinion of the breed. Everything I've read says they are good layers, cold hardy and docile. When I researched Barred Plymouth Rocks they said the same thing but they forgot to mention mischievous. My BR's are always getting into the garden.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Welcome back.

Mine have always been mellow. They do go broody on occasion. Mine lays a nice darkish egg.
I also am rather fond of the Black Australorp. Not as broody but very mellow and awesome layers.

 

[BlackFrogHollow]

Bought 4 three month old EE today!! So excited to see what color their eggs are!!

 

[uzisuzuki]

Welcome back.

Mine have always been mellow. They do go broody on occasion. Mine lays a nice darkish egg.
I also am rather fond of the Black Australorp. Not as broody but very mellow and awesome layers.

I heard this about the Orpingtons & the Australorps when I was looking for breeds to order. Good to hear it from an actual person!

Completely unrelated, but what kind of square footage does everyone with 20+ chickens have for their coops? It's been becoming more obvious I'm not going to be physically capable of building my own coop so I'm looking into prebuilt sheds from cumberlandbuildings.com but I'm having a hard time doing the math for the square footage I'll need for a total of anywhere between 20-30 chickens. They'll have separate areas in the coop & separate attached pens, with free range time. I won't be breeding certain flocks for awhile, but if I'm going with the prebuilt I want to make sure I'll have enough room for that in the future. If any of that makes sense to anyone. I'm super tired & feel like I'm talking/writing like the Charlie Brown adults sound.

 

[BlackFrogHollow]

We ordered orpingtons from Kiowa for April too!! We have one Australorp and she is sweet and lays almost everyday!