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

Yeah, looks to be a hot week, but we all (me and the chickens) have been slowly adapting, should be ok. I need to set up the new misters, though. Woke up with a mildly pulled back - it'll pass, but it's distinctly un-fun to change water (twisting and lifting heavy things) when it's like this. I waited and the pain meds are kicking in, so heading out before it gets too hot. It's going to be 100F today per Dark Sky. Got a "Special weather alert" on my phone. It's gonna be hot, drink a lot of water, be careful outdoors, etc. Duh!
I am up now (back a bit better), and I need to go let out all the young ones - installing the automatic doors is top on the list this weekend, they hate waiting on me in the mornings, and I hate being nervous I'll forget to lock up in the evenings. Once that's done, some tidying up, coop cleaning, and then some waterer and mister design to do. :thumbsup


- Ant Farm
Sun shade up for tomatoes. Got the same heat warning. Back inside for breakfast heading back out now. Coffee beans are roasted. Comfrey harvested. We only had one day in the 100's last week. 7 day streak of over 100 on tap here.
Hope your back gets better.

Working on getting dirt moved for leveling an area out hopefully for garden/chicken coops. Closer to house.
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Broody and her bunch of 10 from May 27

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New chicks three ran back in coop.

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Sun shade up for tomatoes. Got the same heat warning. Back inside for breakfast heading back out now. Coffee beans are roasted. Comfrey harvested. We only had one day in the 100's last week. 7 day streak of over 100 on tap here.
Hope your back gets better.

Working on getting dirt moved for leveling an area out hopefully for garden/chicken coops. Closer to house.
View attachment 1045480


Broody and her bunch of 10 from May 27

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New chicks three ran back in coop.

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Cute chicks with broodies.
Strikingly gorgeous rooster! (cock bird)
 
I've been reading up on selective reduction, in case the pregnancy turns into a worst case scenario. I really shouldn't have done that until I knew for sure it was something we even had to talk about. I can't stop crying after seeing pictures and reading how they do it. I made myself sick to my stomach :(

I'm going to go hug my geese now.

:hugs x100
Oh no. How many eggs were released?
Hopefully that is not something you will have to be thinking about.
 
I had an eventful morning. Great big GIANT hawk (Gosh, was it an eagle?!) was looking for a chicken dinner. I was out changing out the water this morning before work (since it's going to be a super hot day) when it happened. Hated how impotent I felt, just stood around and watched, and yelled and waved my hands when it would swoop. It clearly didn't think I was worth even looking at. (And when it swooped, I honestly started thinking maybe *I* should take cover!) Not sure how well these pictures get across how large this was - wingspan was maybe 5 or 6 feet? Hard to estimate.

View attachment 1044757 View attachment 1044759

Fortunately, with the festooning of the top of the paddocks with all that flagging tape, and with the alerts being called out at high volume by ALL of the cockerels and roosters in the yard, everyone was under cover and no one got taken. Puppy (who was out in the open) also found cover quickly. It finally gave up and flew away after about 30 or 45 minutes. (I have the sense that this probably happens a lot while I'm at work, from the well orchestrated response.)

Geez....

- Ant Farm
Do you think it has ever managed to take any of your birds.
I suspect it will keep coming back
 
Do you think it has ever managed to take any of your birds.
I suspect it will keep coming back

Nope - no hawk losses. Hawks come through all the time, it's a fly way. If it's not this one, it'll be another one. I've done what I can to protect them within reason (overhead flapping streamers of flagging tape woven in a tight pattern over the paddocks, lots of cover or covered structures), and they all communicate well throughout the yard, so everyone knows when one is approaching from either direction. I may lose one one day, but so far so good. (The next step would be to keep them totally locked up, which I don't want to do.)
 
:hugs x100
Oh no. How many eggs were released?
Hopefully that is not something you will have to be thinking about.
7 to 10 eggs, Odds of higher order multiples is fairly slim. At least we hope.

Nope - no hawk losses. Hawks come through all the time, it's a fly way. If it's not this one, it'll be another one. I've done what I can to protect them within reason (overhead flapping streamers of flagging tape woven in a tight pattern over the paddocks, lots of cover or covered structures), and they all communicate well throughout the yard, so everyone knows when one is approaching from either direction. I may lose one one day, but so far so good. (The next step would be to keep them totally locked up, which I don't want to do.)

It was 108+ today with like 40% humidity down here. It was AWFUL. My poor birds, i'm surprised no one died.
 
Nope - no hawk losses. Hawks come through all the time, it's a fly way. If it's not this one, it'll be another one. I've done what I can to protect them within reason (overhead flapping streamers of flagging tape woven in a tight pattern over the paddocks, lots of cover or covered structures), and they all communicate well throughout the yard, so everyone knows when one is approaching from either direction. I may lose one one day, but so far so good. (The next step would be to keep them totally locked up, which I don't want to do.)

I'm definitely going to try the streamer/flagging tape. Do you have it about 4 foot spacing?
 

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