Doing It Again...Eggs Went in Hova Today (Candling Report Page 3)

[speckledhen]

If it gets too boring, just tell me to put a lid on it, LOL. Guess to some, it's boring, but to some, it's "put on the seatbelt!" time! I like the process myself. I find it quite fascinating how an egg from one hen can be fertile, the next one infertile, then the third one fertile. It does sort of remind me of a conveyor belt on an assembly line. Oops, missed one!

 

[Katy]

Never boring to me. It's exciting when I'm doing it and I like hearing about other's experiances with their hatches.

 

[tazcat70]

I enjoy hearing about it too! Not boring at all.

Tonya

 

[speckledhen]

Five days ago, I put another of one of my younger Barred Rock girl's eggs in the bator. The last one of hers I tried to incubate proved to be infertile. Most of you know that my flock rooster, Hawkeye, isn't much of a Love Machine, to say the least. He's a fabulous protector, but not very insistent in his mating attempts. He'll even dance, then step up and step off without actually mating! I adore him so he's not going anywhere and I'm keeping his little son Gabriel to help with those duties later on.
I just candled Amanda's egg and it's developing!!!

Yipppeee!!!! That means that I won't have to just rely on Lexie to provide hatching eggs from my BR girls now, as long as ol' Hawk keeps up the pace with Mandy as well. And Mandy's eggs are large enough to incubate, too. Becca, Mandy's sister, is still laying smaller eggs, plus hers are not fertile, either.
I do, however, have another problem. Hawkeye can't stay with the flock in close quarters because they are still picking at his wattle injuries he got from messing with Suede through the fence. They just can't heal because the very girls I need Hawkeye to be with are the ones who are picking at the scabby places and making them bleed all over again. Hawkeye stays in the broody pen at night and only gets with the girls when they are freeranging and he can get away from nagging wives, LOL. His original girls don't do that, but the younger ones pick at his wattles and one of them, Olivia, plucks feathers from his saddle area constantly. Just her. And she only does it to him, no one else! Another puzzle. I need to keep him with them just enough to keep Lexie and the other BR girls fertile, but not enough that he's bleeding all over the place, the poor guy!

 

[Heidi]

Wow - it's kind of like a soap opera. Wives a picking and a pecking and such. Poor guy.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

What if you try using a bittering agent on his wattles? If they are scabbed over when you apply it I wouldn't think it would make the wound sore and maybe the youngsters wouldn't bother it. Maybe even apply some vasiline first and then the bittering agent.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

Quote:
Those that are bored don't have to read the thread! Keep posting!

 

[speckledhen]

I've tried multiple bittering agents, including BitterApple type for dogs, vaseline with hot pepper juices mixed in, ichthammol (black salve), etc. Nothing stops these younger women! The older ones leave him alone. I'll have to try something else, though, and someone PMd me to suggest another thing to try. Hawkeye wants to be with his girls-he stands a foot taller when he's with them, he's so proud to take care of them. If they'd just be as good to him as he is to them, LOL!

 

[Katy]

Have you tried pine tar on the sores? I know our local farm stores usually carry it. My dad used to use it on every critter sore you can imagine.

 

[speckledhen]

Pine tar was the next thing to try. These girls will eat anything! Ick to Ichthammol! They are so bad to their man. Next trip to the feedstore, pine tar is on the list, along with a couple of other items.