Consolidated Kansas

[TaraBellaBirds]

I could use some advice.

I just closed up the coop and decided to candle the eggs under my broody. They are due for hatch next week. Two of the 7 that are left have little cracks in them. It looks like maybe they got hit together. Rebel Dottie (the broody) lets the other hens lay with her then steals their eggs. I think she probably banged them together during the day sometime. Both of the cracked eggs have movement. Is there anything I can do, or should I just cross my fingers and hope form the best?

 

[sharol]

I could use some advice.

I just closed up the coop and decided to candle the eggs under my broody. They are due for hatch next week. Two of the 7 that are left have little cracks in them. It looks like maybe they got hit together. Rebel Dottie (the broody) lets the other hens lay with her then steals their eggs. I think she probably banged them together during the day sometime. Both of the cracked eggs have movement. Is there anything I can do, or should I just cross my fingers and hope form the best?

I read on another list that someone had put tape over the crack in a cracked egg, but I think they were closer to hatch. The critical part is the moisture in the egg. If it can evaporate too soon, the membrane will dry out. I think that person said she used duct tape over JUST THE CRACK, not any more of the egg. Not sure, someone else may know. My cracked eggs have not gone on to hatch, but that might be a solution to try.

 

[HEChicken]

I could use some advice.

I just closed up the coop and decided to candle the eggs under my broody. They are due for hatch next week. Two of the 7 that are left have little cracks in them. It looks like maybe they got hit together. Rebel Dottie (the broody) lets the other hens lay with her then steals their eggs. I think she probably banged them together during the day sometime. Both of the cracked eggs have movement. Is there anything I can do, or should I just cross my fingers and hope form the best?

Candle wax is a good way to seal the cracks. Good luck!

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

Thanks I will try both and see if either egg hatches. I'll let you know the results!

 

[tweetybaby2005]

There are several possibilities for what is wrong with your chicken. One if she is a laying age hen is that the boys could have been too rough on her and damaged her leg joints. In that case she needs to be separated and given a chance to heal or she will totally break down. If she is young...5-6 months old there is a chance she has Mereks. You can treat it but there is no cure and eventually she will die from being unable to get to food or water. About the only thing you can do is give St. John's wort which helps them stand the pain and seems to help them partially recover but with Mereks it will come back later.
I wanted to ask you your neighbor's name and their daughter's name. I am trying to tell my DIL who your neighbor is to see if she is in Medical classes with her.
I haven't done a thing yet today. I need to get busy and start working on my projects. I think I have turkey poults due to hatch today. I haven't checked the incubator yet.
We didn't get any frost damage here that I could find. I am thankful. That will give my sweet potatoes just a little longer to grow.

Thanks Danz. I sure hope it is not Mereks. She is doing well and I will go get some St. John's wort for her after work today. She gets up, walks around inside the kennel, eats and drinks. Just limping while she walks. Her back is not bare so I didn't think she was the rooster's fav but I've separated her from the flock so she is safe now.

Catching up....

@chicken danz - building looks great. I hope you tell us how you are setting it upside. Your operation is way bigger, but I still suspect we can learn from how you're doing it.

One thing I plan to do differently is placing LED Christmas lights around the inside of the coop to provide pre-dawn light instead of the heat lamp I had in their previously. I don't think it provided much heat, and I was always concerned about it getting knocked off and weather it was a fire hazard.

My heated bucket/poultry nipple setup from last year was fine, but I'm trying to think of ways to improve it. I like easy and trouble-free for winter water solutions. Not quite found it yet.

@tweetybaby2005 - Thanks for the explanation. That's what I was thinking, but I assume I've just lived under a rock for too long and hadn't heard the term.

I'm looking for a chance to candle again and see how things look. I've found another source for eggs if I want to give her some more. But, I hate to do that if any of these hatch. I suspect it's bad to have eggs hatching 10 days apart.

If any of these hatch, I need chick starter to set out for them. Do I keep the layer feed out for the mamma as well, or just feed the group all chick starter?

I have a short florescent light hanging in the coop. I attached it to a timer so it comes on and off by itself at whatever time I set it. Do you think the LED Christmas light will be bright enough? I have a lot of them and DH doesn't want to use them to decorate the outside trees so I sure could hang them inside the coop. Or I could decorate the outside coop for the holiday.

Bad news, had to go to Arkansas for work, this morning intense pain, just came out of emer surgery.

Good news ? On the way down here, dropped off my roo to a lovely little operation, they had 3 lav pullets and were ecstatic to get a " chickendanz" work of art.

I told them to stay in touch, as I need a lav and perhaps a couple of jubilee orps as well!

Now, need to get more meds! LOL

I am glad you are out of emergency surgery and recovering. How scary!

I could use some advice.

I just closed up the coop and decided to candle the eggs under my broody. They are due for hatch next week. Two of the 7 that are left have little cracks in them. It looks like maybe they got hit together. Rebel Dottie (the broody) lets the other hens lay with her then steals their eggs. I think she probably banged them together during the day sometime. Both of the cracked eggs have movement. Is there anything I can do, or should I just cross my fingers and hope form the best?

I heard people using candle wax but I've not tried it. I saw that Hechicken has recommended wax as well.

 

[Trish44]

Yup... we were posting at the same time.

I sure was glad I have the corporate credit card and traveled with it. It was so convenient. The only thing I needed to do after I got back here was scanned and submitted the receipts.

Do you plan to over-winter your rabbits? I have never had rabbits so I'm not familiar with them at all. Always wonder if they have to be kept in the cage and not able to just roam in the yard.

Yes I put my rabbits in cages in the garage over the winter, they have trays underneath each cage to catch the droppings & I use pine shavings to catch the moisture as well. Yeah the rabbits wouldn't live long if I just let them roam the yard. I had one get out of her cage a week or so ago accidentally & I fortunately saw her but also saw one of my outdoor cats stalking right after her. These are small rabbits & to cats they're no different than a wild one so she would have caught her if I hadn't.

Bad news, had to go to Arkansas for work, this morning intense pain, just came out of emer surgery.

Good news ? On the way down here, dropped off my roo to a lovely little operation, they had 3 lav pullets and were ecstatic to get a " chickendanz" work of art.

I told them to stay in touch, as I need a lav and perhaps a couple of jubilee orps as well!

Now, need to get more meds! LOL

I'm sorry you had problems & had to have surgery, I hope they fixed it & you're on the mend now.

Well just when we thought we were done putting up fence for now we're having to put up some more. I couldn't get my sheep to go down to the field even with grain so we're having to build a fence to give them no choice but to go there. It's just a narrow chute type of thing so I can drive them all out to the field after I let them out of their pens in the morning. Yesterday we got the fence propped at both ends enough to run them down there but the goats decided to double back right when the sheep were coming out so there was some confusion. Hopefully they will get used to the routine & just go on out there.

 

[tweetybaby2005]

Good morning everyone! It is a busy morning so far but all is good. I think we are back to summer weather today so everyone can enjoy the warm/hot weather again before we get hit by the cold winter wind.

I think I'm waiting for the eggs under the broody hen to hatch. Not knowing how long she has been sitting on the eggs (off and on), I need to check them daily to make sure nothing starts smelling or there is little chick(s) under her. The nest box is high above the ground (about 2 to 2.5 ft off the ground) so the chicks will not be able to get off of it or if they do and survive the fall, they won't be able to get back in.

Well, after DH found the 2 duck eggs, we never saw another one. I guess my ducks completely stop laying or they have a nest some where. It is frustrating because I need those duck eggs to cook the dog food with and for baking. I also have a couple of customers who asked for duck eggs and I have to turn them down.

There is a low area in the chicken pen and it seems be getting worse so I'll be ordering a yard of sand to fill it up and then some. Figure sand will provide better drainage than top soil and won't have a puddle of mud when it does rain.

The kitty cats are doing well and Maude is really active while Jackie is very skittish. DS's daily chore is to socialize the cats so eventually they will be out and about where the birds are. Will see how that goes.

Have a great day!

 

[chicken danz]

Bad news, had to go to Arkansas for work, this morning intense pain, just came out of emer surgery.

Good news ? On the way down here, dropped off my roo to a lovely little operation, they had 3 lav pullets and were ecstatic to get a " chickendanz" work of art.

I told them to stay in touch, as I need a lav and perhaps a couple of jubilee orps as well!

Now, need to get more meds! LOL

So sorry to hear you had to have surgery. I hope all is well and you are on the mend. My jubilees are laying now. The first 4 eggs I checked one of them is developing. They've only been laying a couple weeks so I'm just incubating till I get a good percentage. I have some English Lavenders that should be near point of lay as well. and still have one or two of the other lavenders but I haven't sexed them.

I could use some advice.

I just closed up the coop and decided to candle the eggs under my broody. They are due for hatch next week. Two of the 7 that are left have little cracks in them. It looks like maybe they got hit together. Rebel Dottie (the broody) lets the other hens lay with her then steals their eggs. I think she probably banged them together during the day sometime. Both of the cracked eggs have movement. Is there anything I can do, or should I just cross my fingers and hope form the best?

I use scotch magic tape on cracks. It's light enough I think it still lets some air flow and seems to stay on pretty good.
I was gone all day and I'm really tired. I got new plumbing to hook up my drain. After I got home I realized that the pipe I installed is a different size than I thought. I had asked for 2 inch pipe and when I brought the fitting home I realized that I got 1 1/2 inch pipe. I can't change it now since it is set in cement. Had I known that I could have saved the money I spent on a hard to find adapter....that won't even fit. Worst part is I now have to find the right part I need locally.

 

[Trish44]

I had my first egg explode in the incubator. I opened the door & knew immediately what had happened. Fortunately it didn't splatter too bad & I was able to take the tray with eggs out & exchange it for a clean one. I had a little bit of a mess in the bottom of the incubator to clean up. Yuk, that's not something you look forward to finding when you open your incubator.

We got the fence done this afternoon to keep the sheep & goats from going anywhere but the field so it will be a lot easier from now on to get them down there. Fortunately I had extra fence left over from the other project & some I had been given so we got it covered. It's about an 80-85 foot span from right past the sheep pen gate down to where the field fence is, so it's not a short distance. I'm glad I had already put up livestock panels on the other side of the gate to close that area in so we only had to put up one side. It will be different for them for awhile since they all have had free reign to wander at will for quite awhile, but the goats really seem to like it down there. There are gobs of trees for them to eat leaves off of & that is their favorite food. They're fat as pigs right now so they've been eating well. My GP Lily seems to like being the one to go out to the field all day with the sheep & goats so I've been letting her go out there & Jasmine stays up watching the birds & the rest of the place. They're good dogs & I don't know what I would do without them.

 

[cherwill]

I was 42 posts behind, but marking the multis and all that. Then I accidentally closed the tab when I intended to close something else.

So now I give up.

I did see that Danz has a fantastic building all finished. Congratulations!

Chikenrookie, sorry you had to have surgery. I hope you mend quickly.

The chickens are still molting and not laying, but it does appear our garden survived the frost. I'm still getting a few tomatoes, and they look better than the bug-eaten, spotted things I was getting a few weeks ago.