EDUCATIONAL INCUBATION & HATCHING CHAT THREAD, w/ Sally Sunshine Shipped Eggs

[BantyChooks]

So I shouldn't tell you I've been haunting Holderreads site and researching Mazuri waterfowl starter, maintenance, and breeder rations? 



OK, so maybe I didn't mean it...    

You're gonna make me feel like a bad ducky momma.... I'm just feeding her all flock

 

[BantyChooks]

That Mazuri stuff is EXPENSIVE!!

 

[microchick]

Toldja you wouldn't make it till spring!!

Define Spring?

It got up in the 50s here today. Was out working on fencing for the the coop and tearing down a pasture fence. We spent a lot of time just standing in the sun and inhaling as deeply as my still injured ribs would allow.

Close enough for me.

Ignoring the weatherman's prediction for snow over the weekend. Of course it snows in early spring and if my BO hen can hatch eggs in February, hey, so can I!

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Quote:
Nope. I'm just a crazy duckie dreamer.

(But seriously, I can't get All Flock, but can get Flock Raiser and tried that with the chickens, They didn't like it and didn't thrive on it. I think it's because it doesn't "move" frequently enough at my local TSC where I get it, so maybe gets old/stale. In the end, all adult birds here get Nutrena Feather Fixer all the time now. It's just what works. So I am leery of thinking of that for the duckies...)

 

[BantyChooks]

Define Spring?

It got up in the 50s here today. Was out working on fencing for the the coop and tearing down a pasture fence. We spent a lot of time just standing in the sun and inhaling as deeply as my still injured ribs would allow.

Close enough for me. Ignoring the weatherman's prediction for snow over the weekend. Of course it snows in early spring and if my BO hen can hatch eggs in February, hey, so can I!e

Spring is whenever I can see over the snowbank next to my driveway

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

That Mazuri stuff is EXPENSIVE!!

Well, I never said I was going to use it, just that I was looking.

(But I'll be sure not to tell you if I decide to use it.

)

 

[BantyChooks]

Well, I never said I was going to use it, just that I was looking. 

(But I'll be sure not to tell you if I decide to use it. )

I'd go broke if I fed my birds (no, autocorrect, NOT bride) that..

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Quote:
I wish I could get All Flock. I sent a few hours wandering around on the internet trying to figure it out...

 

[Phage]

The cemani look cool but they are smart too.

I did not handle the cemani as chicks (travel/work) so they are pretty wild. But I need to take in the rooster every night so that he does not crow at 3.30 am.

They first few times I almost killed myself and him catching him off the roost. And he screamed blue murder. After a few nights he calmed down and now I can pick him up and he barley wakes up. He also stands for me to pick him up to take him out in the morning. ALSO since I have been doing this (3 weeks) I have not heard him crow outside (ok maybe there was a single microcrow early one morning). He may crow in the evening before I get home but I think he gets his crowing out of his system in early morning in the garage (no-one cares) and then he is set to go.

I doubt it is true, but it is almost as if he knows he should not crow outside. It may actually save him as I planned to replace him with a better boy who is growing out, but he will be a hard act to follow and I may just keep him instead.

Also in his favor is I had a complaint from a neighbour from across the canyon about 3.30am crowing (same neighbour who complains about kids making noise playing in their back yards), However another neighbour who is about 50 yards away and is at home in her garden all day did not even know I had a rooster.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

The cemani look cool but they are smart too.

I did not handle the cemani as chicks (travel/work) so they are pretty wild. But I need to take in the rooster every night so that he does not crow at 3.30 am.

They first few times I almost killed myself and him catching him off the roost. And he screamed blue murder. After a few nights he calmed down and now I can pick him up and he barley wakes up. He also stands for me to pick him up to take him out in the morning. ALSO since I have been doing this (3 weeks) I have not heard him crow outside (ok maybe there was a single microcrow early one morning). He may crow in the evening before I get home but I think he gets his crowing out of his system in early morning in the garage (no-one cares) and then he is set to go.

I doubt it is true, but it is almost as if he knows he should not crow outside. It may actually save him as I planned to replace him with a better boy who is growing out, but he will be a hard act to follow and I may just keep him instead.

Also in his favor is I had a complaint from a neighbour from across the canyon about 3.30am crowing (same neighbour who complains about kids making noise playing in their back yards), However another neighbour who is about 50 yards away and is at home in her garden all day did not even know I had a rooster.

Smart birds are a plus. I have 7 cockerels/roosters, and I have found that they will crow about 1-2 hours before sunrise briefly, then stop, then sometimes crow when it gets light. (I have no night time crowers.) Except the three GNH bachelors (who will get pullets this fall), the other three roosters and one cockerel are "heads of households". I've noticed that the older the rooster gets, the less likely they are to crow a lot in the morning, or for that matter, in the day time (unless disturbed). It's almost like I can imagine them saying to the young ones "Shut up already, we get the point!" Also, the ones with families have their hands full with guarding and breeding their girls, and don't spend as much time yelling as the bachelors...