Deerhen Project

[E flowers]

I take zinc pills so I figured I'd just crush some up and give her a small sprinkle of it maybe once a week cause that's about how often we refresh their water unless they somehow spill it or it evaporates.

I've got one egg in the incubator! Jul 31st! Also I went through some old videos of Cookie and marshmallow when they were chicks and I'm wondering if maybe they'll naturally be sexlink. What do yall think?

 

[NatJ]

I've got one egg in the incubator! Jul 31st! Also I went through some old videos of Cookie and marshmallow when they were chicks and I'm wondering if maybe they'll naturally be sexlink. What do yall think?

I've lost track, is the new egg from the same parents? And are Cookie and Marshmallow old enough that you know if they are male and female?

 

[E flowers]

I've lost track, is the new egg from the same parents? And are Cookie and Marshmallow old enough that you know if they are male and female?

It's these two
Rooster- Marshmallow
Hen- Cookie
Also I just added a second egg.

 

[E flowers]

It's these two
Rooster- Marshmallow
Hen- Cookie
Also I just added a second egg.

She reminds me of black star chickens with their pattern

 

[NatJ]

She reminds me of black star chickens with their pattern

She reminds me of that pattern too.

I think there is a chance of new chicks from the same parents being sexlinks, but I'm not entirely sure. I can't decide whether Cookie has gold and Marshmallow has silver (color-sexable at hatch), or whether the color difference as chicks was due to having different other genes (like the genes that affect where gold vs. black can go on the chicken-- although these birds obviously have the black replaced with white.)

 

[E flowers]

She reminds me of that pattern too.

I think there is a chance of new chicks from the same parents being sexlinks, but I'm not entirely sure. I can't decide whether Cookie has gold and Marshmallow has silver (color-sexable at hatch), or whether the color difference as chicks was due to having different other genes (like the genes that affect where gold vs. black can go on the chicken-- although these birds obviously have the black replaced with white.)

I'm gonna try to hatch out a decent amount of chicks. I don't have much room to hatch a crazy number so hopefully I'll get a decent number that look like them. My parents will get mad with me if I hatch too many

 

[E flowers]

I'm gonna try to hatch out a decent amount of chicks. I don't have much room to hatch a crazy number so hopefully I'll get a decent number that look like them. My parents will get mad with me if I hatch too many

I suppose if I do end up with some I'm not gonna keep I can put up some ads around town to sell them.

 

[E flowers]

I suppose if I do end up with some I'm not gonna keep I can put up some ads around town to sell them.

My oldest hen just went broody! Perfect timing so I put a fresh egg from cookie under her. I still have 3 in the incubator that are farther along just in case she changes her mind.

 

[E flowers]

My oldest hen just went broody! Perfect timing so I put a fresh egg from cookie under her. I still have 3 in the incubator that are farther along just in case she changes her mind.

Been giving her eggs and now I believe she has 6 under her and I have the 3 oldest in the incubator. I'm planning on keeping the ones in the incubator inside for a day or two to give the others a better chance to hatch before she leaves the nest. I'll give them to her at night. I'm expecting the first one to hatch around the 25th of this month.

Also Sampson decided to keep her company for a few days and nested with her. So far she's been great and she's almost constantly on the nest from what I've seen. She also stopped laying her own eggs which are that classic copper brown.

 

[NatJ]

Been giving her eggs and now I believe she has 6 under her and I have the 3 oldest in the incubator. I'm planning on keeping the ones in the incubator inside for a day or two to give the others a better chance to hatch before she leaves the nest. I'll give them to her at night.

It usually works better to collect the eggs for a few days, then give them to the hen all at once. That way they all hatch about the same time.

Adding eggs every day is not convenient (staggered hatch) and is not the "natural" way to do things either (a hen will naturally lay an egg every day or so when she is not broody, then if she goes broody she will start sitting on the whole clutch at once and stop laying.)

Staggered hatches are not a disaster, but they are a bit of a nuisance, and they are pretty easy to avoid.

I'm expecting the first one to hatch around the 25th of this month.

Hopefully it will go well!