This is my first hatching experience as an adult. My family raised chickens when I was growing up. I have wanted my own flock for a long time. We finally are able to get started! I have my egg babies in a Little Giant stryofoam still air incubator I borrowed from my friend. I have Silver Laced Wyandottes, Black Copper Marans, Lavendar Orpingtons, Basque, and Olive Eggers (BCM and Ameraucana cross) in there. I am hoping for some happy, healthy hens!
LG still airs are notoriously difficult to hatch in. Here is a cheat sheet written specifically for this type of incubator, by one of our own:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chookschicks-incubation-cheat-sheet Hopefully it will help you to have a successful hatch.
Oh, I agree! Make sure to add chicken poop to your garden, you'll be surprised at what a difference chicken poop fertilizer makes! Your plants will be jumbo in size, no steroids used. Also I found that my plants are hardier and grow better and faster with chicken poop.
Just be careful about putting chicken poop where you are growing tomatoes. It is too high in nitrogen so what will happen is the plants will grow like crazy but they won't set much fruit. Ask me how I know
. This year I am using hay that hasn't been around chickens to mulch my tomatoes, and using the straw with chicken poop from my DLM coop over the winter, to mulch my greens, so hopefully that will work out well.
Well yesterday was an interesting day. When I was out feeding and watering I noticed my Mandarin duck pond is loosing water. I must have a leak somewhere. I have no idea how to even find it until the water stops dropping. I might have done it using the pressure washer on it if I drove a sharp rock shard or something into the liner. To top that off I discovered I had some baby Mandarins running around. Last year when they were hatched they were all kept close by the Mom and since I put fiberglass panels along the bottom of the aviary they stayed in. Well there were a couple in there that were climbing up the wire one claw at a time. The mom was no where to be found and the other Mandarins were not wanting the babies to get near them. I assume the Mother must still be in the nest sitting on more eggs. Those little things are fast as lightening and can get out of anything over 1/2 inch wide. I caught the two that were in the pen. There was another one out running around the yard but as soon as I'd spot it it would disappear faster than I could get around to it. Finally later in the evening he heard one of the other females hollering and had gone back to hang around the the Mandarin aviary. I managed to catch him. So now I have 3 baby Mandarins in the house. I have them in a regular bird cage for lack of anything else that will keep them contained. They are not your normal little baby domestic ducks for sure. I'll have to be watching for more babies. I can't afford to loose these little guys. I need to sell some of the other birds. I had too many boys last year. It sure was a lot easier to just let the Mom raise them. I guess before next spring I am going to have to come up with another plan to keep them in.
I have several more chicks in the hatcher I need to get moved again. I had quite a few that should have been moved into the hatcher yesterday but there is no room. I have to get it done today.
Whew - I'm glad you caught them! I am finding raising babies to be very stressful this year. I've never had issues with Mamas raising babies before but with the weather this year, things haven't gone the way I would have liked. I lost a turkey poult because it got too cold at a time of year when normally it is warm enough I don't have to worry about them getting too far from the mother hen. And I think the cold weather is the reason my lone muscovy duckling hatched so late - almost a week late.
Michelle, that sign is just terrific - he does good work!
Sharol, thanks for the tip on free shipping on the pinless peepers. I've never needed any yet but I'm considering ordering while they have free shipping just to have them on hand, in case.
Cherwill, I've had seedlings sitting here waiting to be planted for a week and a half now, and I have to keep watering them because those little pots don't hold much water. Do you suppose we are finally safe to plant?
I know I always said I wanted broodies. Well, I take it back!!! These broody hens are driving me bananas. Seriously. Let's see....I have the silkie and Aloha raising babies. They're doing a good job and I'm happy with them. I have broody duck #1 who hatched a surprise duckling Friday night and still hasn't left the nest. She was also sitting on turkey eggs and I've removed all of them, so I think today will be the day she'll take her little one to show it food and water. I hope. Broody duck #2 is sitting on 23 eggs and is about halfway through her 5 weeks. Broody duck #2 is sitting on 14 eggs and is only a few days in. Then there are the 3 silchin/cochins I got from JosieChick. All three went broody, bing, bam, boom, but each chose a different nest box and it was throwing my whole coop out of whack as the other hens either squeezed in with them to lay eggs, or tried to find other hiding spots for them. Attempts to move them to the hoop coop to brood failed. So on Friday, I fashioned barricades out of chicken wire, to keep them in their individual nests in the hoop coop. Blue Silchin immediately settled onto her nest in her little compartment and after two days of being a good girl, I rewarded her this morning with some real eggs to hatch instead of the dud she was sitting on. Mille Fleur Silchin is sitting while barricaded in, but when I let her out for a broody break, after eating, drinking and pooping, she resumes her pacing of the front fence, looking for a way back to the main coop, so I am still having to barricade her in. Splash cochin is the same as Mille Fleur except she is m-a-d at me for barricading her in and screams "You B****" when I put her back in her nest.
Meanwhile back at the main coop.....I have another broody hen who is something of a surprise. She is the daughter of my sultan and Cyrus, and was an attempt to create a blue egg layer. Instead she lays a cute little green egg. The funny thing about her is she looks exactly like a sultan, except she's jet black. She has the 5 toes, crest, type, shape - just in black instead of white. Funny. Anyway, she only hatched in mid-October so is really young to be broody but she certainly thinks its time to be a mama. She and broody duck #3 argued over that nest for awhile but the duck won, so now the "black sultan" is sitting right outside the duck nest, out in the open - just sitting. I'm probably going to end up giving her the same treatment the silchins are currently getting.
The eggs I am putting under them all are started turkey eggs. I had a bunch going in my incubator and the timing is right that they will be able to sit for about 3 weeks and then have babies. But I'm not willing to risk the eggs until I'm certain the hens are sitting tight in their new nest, so they are sitting on duds until they accept the new digs.
I am noticing a reduction in egg production with so many no longer laying but that's actually okay as I have quite a surplus of eating eggs right now. I just hope I don't have any more go broody on me.....
Except the turkey. I about have a clutch saved up to give her so I'm hoping to get her moved to the hoop coop and interested in raising them. It will be a novelty to have a turkey hen raising turkey poults. Meanwhile, I have 7 turkey eggs due to hatch today. None has pipped but they're rocking so I'm just trying to be patient. Since they were incubated under a broody, they may not be exactly on time.
