December hatch along

[Matieus27]

I can see beaks sticking out of pip holes and it appears like one may have a slight scissor beak

 

[Compost King]

I like crap! I am the Compost King! its the heavy I do not like... I just carried a bag in the back though, no rush on the job I will carry one bag here and there and eventually it will be done.

 

[Matieus27]

I like crap! I am the Compost King! its the heavy I do not like... I just carried a bag in the back though, no rush on the job I will carry one bag here and there and eventually it will be done.

Do you use red wigglers?

 

[Compost King]

I let what ever worms in the ground come up and do their thing. I am sure we have red wigglers, we also have that invasive Asian worm that slithers like a snake... what ever wants to eat the protozoa in the compost is welcome to have at it. I have one specific worm bin for composting things I do not want the chickens to have access to... Coffee grounds, Moldy bread, spoiled veggies, moldy chicken feed etc. I never went out of my way to add worms to it but if I happen to pick up a worm and no chickens come to claim it I will throw it in the worm bin if I happen to be passing by it. Worms crawl up through the holes in the bins and find it on their own.... then when its all composted I dump it in one of my Chicken runs where hens just started laying, those are the ones that love to feast on the worms the most... and other insects end up in it. They scratch it around in the run with all sorts of other goodies I put in my runs to attract insects and worms. Each of my breeding coop chicken runs is pre-compost pile where chickens scratch up leaves, grass clippings and lately horse manure and once a year I shovel it out to the big compost pile... sometimes its a food deep in each run. Despite being contained in a 60 sq ft run the chickens in the breeding coops have bright orange yolks just like the free rangers.

 

[Compost King]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/my-evergreen-hedging-plant-nursery.1281929/ I can get carried away when I get to talking about composting so instead of highjacking this thread I thought I would post this other thread I started over in the hobbies section. Pretty much it explains that I got chickens just for the manure and found them to be so much more helpful in other ways in my Nursery. I can sit and talk about poop all day.

 

[Matieus27]

Here is my progress so far expecting chick come morning

 

[muddy75]

Following this hatchalong - still a newbie, reading how to hatch. Don't have an incubator yet, looking at reviews now and hoping to get one at Christmas.

Then I need to start getting eggs from my pullets, so can start setting CLB & RB eggs. Those are the oldest pullets. Once I learn with those, I hope to start hatching 55 Flowery Hens, Ameraucanas (BBS & Lavender), Australorps (BBS? - all the ones I have are blue, some very, very nicely colored/laced), Bielefelders and some Orpingtons (Lavender). I mostly want to concentrate on the auto sexing breeds - but we will see.

It's frustrating - I had no idea I'd be waiting this long for eggs. Have two March hatch Bielefelders just now looking like they are going to hit POL (vent/comb/pelvic width), but 4 others not even close! The 55 Flowery Hens were supposed to be 3 months old when I purchased them - if so that makes them 9 months old now - will be catching my wild girls (8) today and seeing how their combs/vents actually look... May just be waiting until the days get longer, but wow, is this frustrating. Is it possible that the two hurricanes threw egg laying off? We aren't directly on the coast, didn't get too much damage but did get a lot of rain and wind. Some of my tarped coops were ripped up, but the tarps were replaced pretty quickly - birds were fine.

I'm learning breed standards and may find this too difficult to do with this many breeds. We shall see. When I do start hatching, I'm looking to utilize my hatches in tractors to help fertilize my sandy pony pastures (following the ponies thru paddocks in permaculture manner). Chickens that don't meet my standards or SOP for their breeds will go to freezer camp - for us, for our dogs/cats to get off of store bought kibble. My idea is to lower our costs and utilize more of what we have.

Later, as I find that out what works for me/getting & keeping birds to standards - I will look at selling some chicks. But for now, I just want to learn and get eggs!!

Ahh, there were some ?s I was going to ask, but now that I've written my background, I can't remember them... . Sorry this is forever long!!

I got the janoelle 12 as my first incubator and am getting ready for my 3rd hatch. It is under $75 on amazon and has worked really well for me so far.

 

[muddy75]

my eggs arrived today!! they are resting....incubator is cleaned and ready to start up. I ordered 9 assorted eggs from meyer hatchery hoping to possibly receive some breeds I don’t have yet, but only received 1 breed different. eggs include 2 RIR, 2 BO, 2 BA, 2 EE, 1 BR hoping I can keep myself from setting until Sunday or Monday to hatch around Christmas Eve!

 

[Matieus27]

I had to give them a little help but two are out

 

[Matieus27]

The third died due to malposition never even pipped