Danz, so why did the owls pick on them if they're big? You'd think they'd go for the smaller birds.
It seems like birds of prey pick on birds that are "easy" to grab. Brahmas are such big easy going birds I bet they don't fight back as badly as some of the smaller, scrappier birds. The same thing was happening to my ducks.There were roosters that were smaller in that pen but the hawk kept taking the ducks because they don't fight back. A chicken condo, that's a great idea.
My 17yo dd works at the little store in town and she said that people were coming in only to buy the bakery goods. There were people asking for more when they ran out. Modine and Didde too???? OMGosh! I worked at Didde for a short time. I worked at IBP for a short time too. Yeah, what's left in Emporia? Not much. I didn't hear about Wolf Creek either. I heard the little Wonder Bread Outlet store in Humboldt already closed, but I didn't verify that information. The way my dh is stressing over the turkeys getting out I can't imagine how he would act if we had peacocks too. He just doesn't want them pooping in the barn.
The turkeys seemed unhappy penned up, maybe they weren't, I don't really know why I thought that. This afternoon when my dh left for work I let them out to play with them and they were really anxious so we backed off and let them have some time to stretch. They were hanging out around the other pens so we went inside to eat and while we were eating I saw them walking down the road in front of the house. Of course I got scared, and I didn't want to scare them farther so I watched and waited and pretty soon they started walking back but then walked right past the drive way and then across the street and into our neighbors pasture. We have permission to be over there, and on the corner is another neighbor who just owns the corner and he's always practicing shooting targets and I was scared he'd shoot them or something. I got really worried when they walked that way. My 15yo and I walked out there strategically thinking we would walk way around and herd them back home. We couldn't find them anywhere and we walked out over a half a mile from home and headed back. It was wide open, we should have been able to see them. Well, when we got home there they were. How did they do that? They spent the afternoon in the roosters' pen and they were behaving, all of them so that was fine with me. Evening came and they went on top of the barn roof. No my dh isn't so happy with me, not because they're on the barn roof but because they're out. We will see what morning brings. I'm totally enjoying the turkeys, they're so entertaining. We were trying to get them to display today but didn't get too much of that. I think it was just a hard day of adjustment for them.
HEChicken, it was just the opposite. The first 10 hatched fine and quite easily at 40%. I liked how the inside of their shells looked actually, they looked cleaner and the membrane was stuck to the shell and not them at all. When I increased the humidity that inner membrane was attached to them. I don't understand why, but I felt like I messed it up when I increased the humidity.
Didn't you say you opened the bator just a tiny bit to add water? Sometimes I swear it is the "change" in humidity that does them in. I used to panic and crack the bator to add water and then everyone would be stuck. Even if it only dropped a tiny bit and recovered quickly. So if I have trouble with humidity I just keep a close eye on hatching chicks, if they pip and don't zip within 24 hours I start to worry about them being stuck. It may also have to do with where your fan blows in your bator. When I was using a hova bator with a small fan in the center the eggs on the outside edges and directly under the fan had more trouble because the air blew directly on them. That might be part of your problem too. They were doing just fine and NO ONE opened the incubator, we actually taped it shut so no one would even do it accidentally. So I would have had 7 shrink wrapped chicks, including the 2 that died. There is no way of knowing at what point they became shrink wrapped. One was completely zipped when it died, one died and when I opened it to see the inner membrane was against it but it tore it a little, there was no way he could have even pipped because he couldn't move. The 5 that made it pipped and that's it. All 5 are fine, but 1 is still in a pen by his/herself but clearly gaining strength. I'm just going to do it again and see if I can get a better result. I'm sorry Madge is getting to you, I was just kidding about her feeling jealous but maybe she just knows she doesn't have his attention and that bothers her. Can turkeys smell? I suppose they can. Today we had a hen (chicken) wandering around and when she walked over to the rooster area where the turkeys were I noticed Casper getting that darker red color. I thought, no way! How did he even know she was there? Then we removed her, and watched the color go away, brought her back and both turkey were looking over there like they knew she was coming back. They're so smart.
It's funny that you suggested that Josie. We did bring him over to meet his girls today. I think he would be just fine to stay with them. He's very polite, you must have taught him well. My BOs are with a hatch we had of the same age, the BO's just a few days older. They were all doing fine, and out of no where one very tiny rooster cornered him and backed him down. He got really scared and flew out back to the other little pen and actually got back in. We will rearrange and try again tomorrow. This little rooster, he's way tiny.
Hahahaha! Big wimpy boy! The chicks we hatch grow so much slower than the ones we've bought. The BOs are way bigger than he is, probably twice his size. What I can't decide right now is if I'm going to keep the other pullets the same age in there too. I mean, the other ones are black so I would think that any offspring not from the BO's would be black.
I think your first generation chicks from a lavender orp roo over your BOs are going to be black with possibly a bit of gold leakage in their hackles. So you may not be able to distinguish between the BOs and the black hens. That would give him more girls. Maybe I should just look for more BOs. That may be a better idea. I have to giggle about your growing baby belly. I know you probably feel big but you look so tiny.
I actually don't feel that big and I kinda feel silly when I tell people I am pregnant because they think I must have just found out!!! It was just funny how it has been all in one spot and then I woke up and felt bigger, like it happened overnight! It kind of surprised me how stretched it felt, like everytime I took a deep breath. Really though, you probably did grow overnight. After while you'll feel bigger every day, it's so amazing how fast they grow. I'm glad you are feeling less cranky, it's no fun to feel cranky.
Tweety! Yay for catching the opossum. I can't believe that thing was still on the loose for so long. OMGosh! I can't believe you just picked it up. I'd have been so scared.
HEChicken, I agree totally with what you are saying about the birds learning what feed is and what is good and all of that. Kids are that way too. It's hardest to teach the first one, after that they all follow along. I guess that means that we should be sure to teach the first one well.
Sharol, it looks beautiful to me. You have everything set up nicely.
