Consolidated Kansas

[thndrdancr]

Deerfield, so sorry to hear about your family crisis. Some folks just love to stir up drama, whether it be a child, teen or adult. I personally like peace so never understood it, so I can sure sympathize.
Hope things get easier.

Chicken danz, thanks for the help on my pea, she appears to be doing better but I will give her a calcium shot before I go if I can find the stuff. Good luck on everyone's hatch!

Prairie, sure wished u were closer, I got about 10 huge orp eggs I would like incubated from my deceased rooster and I need to farm them out to some that would hatch and I could possibly get half or so back. I don't think any of you all are close enough for that! . Dang!

As far as broodys, I have had pretty good luck with my silkies. I do have one that poops in the nest which is not acceptable and ruins hatch rate. My best broody is a buff brahma cross.
My Cochins that I had, the large fowl never went broody in her whole 6 years of life. Wished she would, I could probably fit 20 eggs under her or more if they were small. Talk about an incubator! My bantam I guess went broody once or twice. Guess I would have to say my silkies and showgirls do best, except for pea eggs. I bring my little Brahma in and she turns those eggs like every 10 minutes! Fun to watch her.

I love silkies for mothers tho, man are they the most fearless little devils alive!

Kskingbee, u guys probably won't get a chance to miss me as my guy has to work so I will be left to my own devices quite a bit! I am sure to get into trouble!!

 

[Trish44]

Hey guys, I'm behind quite a bit. Couple days ago we had a family crisis. My 14 yo DD made it appear she had been abducted at 7:30 in the morning. She took off for a boys home, when finished she stopped in at Rose Hill police dept and told them she had been abducted. Our property then became a crime scene and she was taken downtown for questioning. We were told at 1:00 pm that she had been found and then they took us downtown to be questioned as well. Spent the rest of the day while she was being interrogated and they examined the only computer that was not password protected (Dad's of course, he didn't want the inconvenience). They found a whole lot of interesting stuff. Teenagers. So we're making a visit to the Doctor's office and trying to get our feet back on the ground. Life.

On a lighter note, my eggs go in lockdown today. Wish I could be as excited about it as I was.

I'm sorry for your family drama, I hope it settles back down for you. Good luck with your hatch! I have just put two trays of chicken eggs in a couple days ago & have goose eggs & duck eggs in there as well. I'm still collecting more eggs to go in & have gotten a few in the mail for myself as well. I hope my incubator can hold all of these.

 

[Ralph Moyer]

I have not heard of anyone using Cypress wood so I have no idea if that would be safe or not. I have always used pine shavings in my brooders & coops. Have you tried Googling that to see if you can find any info? I saw someone who I will not mention any names but he was saying on a FB page that he is using peat moss for his chicks now & I'm not sure if that's safe or not. We'll see if he starts losing chicks & that will be the test I guess. Let him be the guinea pig & take the losses if that happens, then we'll know if you can use it safely or not.

Well Ralph I just Googled about the Cypress & it says is retains moisture so it's good for reptiles, not so good for chickens in that case I would say since it would mold I would think.

Trish, I see where the Cypress has an oil similar to cedar, that deters termites, and slows down decomposition. It is the "oil" property that gives me concerns about using it for deep litter-mulch.

 

[chicken danz]

Could Cypress wood chips be used for liter bedding for poultry? I have been told not to us walnut or cedar chips but I saw good sized bags of Cypress chips that are 4 bags for $10.00.

Ralph I saw that add and immediately thought no... that won't work. You can't use the cypress. It's like using cedar. Plus since that is for landscaping use there could be other chemicals added here and there. I sure wouldn't trust it. If it were out in the open, like laying in an open pen and not in a coop it might be okay.
Posted by Deerfield Acres

Deerfield, so sorry to hear about your family crisis. Some folks just love to stir up drama, whether it be a child, teen or adult. I personally like peace so never understood it, so I can sure sympathize.
Hope things get easier.

Chicken danz, thanks for the help on my pea, she appears to be doing better but I will give her a calcium shot before I go if I can find the stuff. Good luck on everyone's hatch!

Prairie, sure wished u were closer, I got about 10 huge orp eggs I would like incubated from my deceased rooster and I need to farm them out to some that would hatch and I could possibly get half or so back. I don't think any of you all are close enough for that!

. Dang!

As far as broodys, I have had pretty good luck with my silkies. I do have one that poops in the nest which is not acceptable and ruins hatch rate. My best broody is a buff brahma cross.
My Cochins that I had, the large fowl never went broody in her whole 6 years of life. Wished she would, I could probably fit 20 eggs under her or more if they were small. Talk about an incubator!

My bantam I guess went broody once or twice. Guess I would have to say my silkies and showgirls do best, except for pea eggs. I bring my little Brahma in and she turns those eggs like every 10 minutes! Fun to watch her.

I love silkies for mothers tho, man are they the most fearless little devils alive!

Kskingbee, u guys probably won't get a chance to miss me as my guy has to work so I will be left to my own devices quite a bit! I am sure to get into trouble!!

If you were closer I'd be glad to hatch your eggs for you. Wow! As long as I had a means of transportation I think that would be a perfect trip. I would so get into viewing everything I could within a reasonable distance. I think just walking around and looking at peoples gardens and the nature would be about as perfect as it could get. I am not a tourist attraction kind of person though. I'm more of a nature buff.

 

[Prairie Fleur]

Prairie, Lots of breeds will go broody. The problem is that many of them sit too tight and don't turn their eggs. Silkies are notorious for doing that. Probably the most dependable broody I know of are bantam cochins. Lots of people use them for all their game birds and such because they tend to be broody most of the time. Just remember not to get one you really want to use for breeding because she will be more likely to be sitting than laying.
When you get ready to start hatching don't hesitate to ask for advice. There's many of us that are willing to help any way we can. Make a trip to Walmart and go to the thermometer area. Find a little digital thermometer and hygrometer. They are very reasonable. The smaller the unit the better. If they are activated, and you can see try to choose one that reads the closest to the rest.  In other words if there are 8 on the rack and 6 of those are reading 72 degrees and the others are reading higher or lower, choose one that reads 72 degrees. You can also find them with a remote probe if you don't want to put them in the incubator themselves. I think I do get more accurate readings from units without the probe though.

Thanks Danz!! I'll definitely get that the next time I go to town. And I know I'll have lots of questions! You might want to enjoy the peace and quiet before the storm when the 'bator arrives! lol

If anyone has bantam Cochin or any other 'broody breed' shoot me a pm. I'd like to get some chicks or eggs from someone local if I could altho I'll ship them in if I have to.

 

[Prairie Fleur]

Deerfield, sorry about all the drama! That doesn't sound fun at all!

Thndrdancr, if we could figure out a way to get together I'd be happy to try incubating those eggs for you as well! I'm pretty enthused about trying my hand at hatching.

 

[thndrdancr]

Prairie, I will let you use mine as test hatch since I no guarantees of anything pure yet. Only thing I can guarantee is a lot of mixed mutts mixed with a few purebreds! . Roo was not supposed to kick off this early, I had plans for him this spring, silly boy! . Rip my pretty boy, I surely miss you strutting about the yard.

Ok guys, been a long time since I sent eggs, I know how to pack them but what's cheapest way to do it? Flat rate box or something else?

Give me your expertise...

 

[chicken danz]

Unfortunately the postal service can wreck just about any egg package. I think they make it a daily goal. I would opt to send eggs regular priority mail. Reason being you can send up to a 12 X 12 x12 box. And although your packing won't weigh that much you can sure put a lot more in a bigger box than a one rate box. More packing= better chance of eggs surviving the trip. Also be sure to insure the eggs and then if the box is crushed or messed up get a picture of the box before and after it is opened and submit it for a claim. I think it's like $50 free now so I'd value the eggs at $50. You won't get your postage back though... just the value of the eggs.
We went to Topeka and picked up the gates I ordered. As always they had lost them. I've never special ordered anything from this business that they could ever find when I went to pick them up. So as usual we wasted a couple hours while they got their act together. We also went to Orchlen's while we were there. They have their kennel panels 25% off through today so I got another 13 regular panels. I have enough fencing to do all of my inside fencing for the breeder pens on the inside of my building!! Woot! I was going to build egg boxes etc that I could access from outside the gate but walking in to gather eggs is a small price to pay for not having to build all of those gates and pens from wood and wire. Time is money around here. I also bought a bunch of buckets to make feeders as well. Found some on the cheap at Menards.
Now if I can just find a way to get all the dirt work done and get my outside runs built I'll have it made. Looks like today will be spent cleaning and moving stuff in the building so I have a place to put the panels. Now that I've got this much in line I need to start working on my auto waterer system as well. I hadn't plumbed it in until I was sure I knew how I was going to be doing the pens.

 

[KsKingBee]

Our BCMs go broody on a regular basis, as a matter of fact I plan to use them to start my pea eggs this year then move them to the incubator after a week to ten days. IF I have room!

 

[KsKingBee]

Prairie, I will let you use mine as test hatch since I no guarantees of anything pure yet. Only thing I can guarantee is a lot of mixed mutts mixed with a few purebreds!

. Roo was not supposed to kick off this early, I had plans for him this spring, silly boy!

. Rip my pretty boy, I surely miss you strutting about the yard.

Ok guys, been a long time since I sent eggs, I know how to pack them but what's cheapest way to do it? Flat rate box or something else?

Give me your expertise...

Be sure to write in large letters on the outside, CAUTION! LIVE EMBRIOS! EXTREMELY FRAGILE! If they are not used to seeing it they may actually read it.