Consolidated Kansas

[sharol]

I hear you. Thanks for the links and the warning. I read the instructions on the heater, and I can't get it 3' away from combustable materials or walls. I am assuming that the instructions are overkill on safety, but I just don't want to take chances.

My heat lamp is clamped to the roof joice so that I can adjust angles, but I used 1" staples (hammered in) around the cord at 4 points that really support it and will hold if the clamp comes loose, and I'll reinforce the clamp with screws at the curve after the girls get out after their mid-day nap. I hadn't thought about doing that, and it won't be on in the meantime.

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[Ivywoods]

Second chick has hatched and 3rd has pipped. The second chick hatched from one of the eggs I took out of the refrigerator. I know it had to have been in the fridge for over a week!

 

[mikeksfarmer]

I am impressed and happy your having success Ivy. Glad I am not visiting your basement this winter. I do hope they do well as I would like to add some black coppers to my flock in the comming season.
In the mean time since I was stood up today, I have been cooking. I have resurected thanksgiving dinner. chicken soup with old turkey meat. Made a custard out of half a baked sweet potato pumpkin and my left over cream cheese. 3 duck eggs and 2 duck egg yolks. last of the milk and whipping cream. Cant wait to feed the neighbors. Now if I can just get the gumption to go cut some fire wood.
Peace all!

 

[Ivywoods]

So far I have 3 chicks. All 3 look like they are doing well. I couldn't see that any more eggs have pipped, but then they really aren't due to hatch until today.

We had a bunch of trees to cut up after our major windstorm this summer. One HUGE hard maple and a very large walnut tree. We got it all cut up (Yes, I helped cut it up. I kind of enjoy running a chain saw... That's why I have my own, but it seems like hubby likes using mine better than he likes using his!) When my boys were here this Thanksgiving, they got all the wood split, including some big trunk pieces that hubby and I couldn't lift. Our outdoor woodstove keeps things nice and toasty inside.

Believe me, as soon as these chicks are old enough they will move outside to the shop and into stock tank with a heat light. I want to be sure they are old enough to be fairly cold hardy, though, because we loose power so frequently.

I do plan on hatching more bcm chicks this spring. I am going to try to be as selective as possible on what I hatch. I will only use 2-4 of my best pullets and my best rooster. Everyone says the BCM's don't breed true to standard, especially the roosters. Hopefully that will get better with time and selective breeding.

 

[mikeksfarmer]

I have a friend who is a chicken breeder he too is trying for the darker egg. He is convinced that ;to get a dark egg producer you have to hatch the darkest eggs. If it were simple Mendalian genetics that might be true. I am sure that there are many gene markers that contribute to color "lay down" in the last step of egg production. I hear that black coppers start dark and the egg gets lighter over time. I have one welsumer laying now and her eggs are so dark and pretty. I cant wait to hatch some of hers. Some times in the laying process the hay in the nest box wipes some of the dark off.
Wondering if you could segically remove some of that coloring tissue and implant it in another bird and get brown eggs? Imagin dinky birds that lay dark brown or even green eggs!

 

[Katy]

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I've had Marans for the last 8 years or so....first cuckoos and then later I added Wheatens. I only hatch the very darkest eggs and very rarely now do I get a pullet that lays any kind of lighter egg. All Marans start their laying cycle dark and get a bit lighter over time.

 

[revolutionmama]

Hey Lawrence and surrounding areas - when are we meeting again? I'm needing a chicken chat fix

 

[prairiepearls]

@ Ivywoods: did you look into selling the large maple and walnut pieces for lumber? Those species command quite a high price nowadays. I know a man in Illinois who planted walnut trees for eventual lumber harvest. Bet you could buy a lot of firewood for what the lumber would sell for. Just sayin'.

 

[Ivywoods]

The largest trees that blew down were from a neighbor's yard. He did sell the trunk of the walnut for a "saw log" as he called it. The maple was mostly very large branches and a split trunk. Not worth saving for lumber.

Well my 3 marans chicks are in their little brooder today. All seem to be doing well. I'm going to keep the incubator running for a couple more days to see if anything else hatches, but since all 3 of these hatched about the same time, and nothing has happened for over 24 hours, I'm not too hopeful that anything else will hatch.

So far I am very happy with the dark egg color my marans are giving me. Now if I can just cull correctly so that I keep the best birds to breed toward the proposed standard. There sure is a lot of variation in this variety.

 

[ccarter]

I live in and have toyed with the idea of having a couple of chickens or ducks. I would be interested in working to get the law changed in Olathe. It would be nice to have the option without fear of someone turning me in.