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

[kajira]

Thanks. I have another rooster to put with the young hens. I know the rooster is over 3 because I've had him for 3 years myself.

Must be just your strain; I had 3 RSL in my current small flock, and never lost a one to predation. I did lose two for unknown causes at about 3 y.o., & still have one of their sisters.

These all came from TSC.
And, I've lost 2 to prolapsed vents from their egg makers.
The rest have gotten themselves killed. All our other birds stay in the fence line and try not to do anything too stupid, but the red sex links just go whereever they want, and one drowned itself in the canal by our house, one challenged our mini horse and got stomped to death, and the rest were killed by predators.
We have 1 or 2 left now, total and the one who lives in our goat area, took after our other chickens in there, and stays close and doesn't try to leave.

For some reason, the other ones, who had a bigger yard to free range in, decided the bigger yard wasn't good enough and that, was that.

The one who lives with my smaller flock in the goat area, came from cackle hatchery, and the other's all came from wherever TSC got theirs.

 

[venymae]

.... After having had about 12 total over the last year, all of them have gotten themselves killed in one fashion or another. They just don't have "Street smarts" to survive like the other breeds.
We have yet to lose an easter egg chicken or rooster....

Oh man, you must have bad luck or something! My production red was the longest living chicken I ever had! The bird was too smart for her own good, and queen of the coop at that!

 

[kajira]

Oh man, you must have bad luck or something! My production red was the longest living chicken I ever had! The bird was too smart for her own good, and queen of the coop at that!

MY rhode island red, is queen of my goat's coop/flock... and she's very smart and capable of staying alive.

I don't know why the red sex links from TSC are dumb as doornails. They are always doing stupid things and getting themselves stuck in places that none of the other birds do.
Compared to my EE flocks, which I've lost 1, in the 2 years of having them and she just dropped dead in the coop 1 night, not because of anything killing her specifically, they haven't been killed. We butchered a spare rooster, but I have 2 EE roosters besides my alpha roo, who are smart as whips, and what's funny, is one of them is a RSL/EE cross, and he does just fine, AND gets along with the other roosters and male turkeys/geese. It's the oddest thing. It's just the RSL hens from TSC that end up in this boat.

 

[venymae]

Must have just been a bad batch! Mine were both from TSC ($.99 each cause they were getting too big! I thought "sweet they've been growing them out for me!") But who knows if they come from the same supplier or bird. IF you like what you have just keep with those. My father LOVES RIR

 

[kajira]

Must have just been a bad batch! Mine were both from TSC ($.99 each cause they were getting too big! I thought "sweet they've been growing them out for me!") But who knows if they come from the same supplier or bird. IF you like what you have just keep with those. My father LOVES RIR

I am not a huge fan of the RIR - they are mean to the other breeds of chickens. Having 1 in a mixed flock, works out... but when we had more than one, they'd gang up on the other breeds. Alot of people I know, have had that issue with the RIR, and often the roosters are meaner, too.

I've been fairly lucky to have super nice roosters, I guess. That, and my silkie rooster who thinks he's all tough, turns into a pussy cat when you pick him up. LOL He just sort of looks at you like "okay, you didn't buy it."

 

[BantyChooks]

For what it's worth, we are going to be getting a dog kennel, making it portable and using it for a small flock of red sex links next spring. After having had about 12 total over the last year, all of them have gotten themselves killed in one fashion or another. They just don't have "Street smarts" to survive like the other breeds.
We have yet to lose an easter egg chicken or rooster. The silkies have been hit or miss if they free range with the bigger birds, so they have their own pen, and haven't had an issues. Our pig actually likes the silkies and protects them. She even keeps the goats away from them if they go into her pen.

Why keep getting them, then? Try leghorns. They're my favourite production breed.

 

[kajira]

Why keep getting them, then? Try leghorns. They're my favourite production breed.

Because they do okay in the heat. Our problem is a lot of production breeds suffer heart attacks and other issues when it gets to be 110 here, with 80%-100% humidit. It's actually how we lost some of our bigger birds the first year we had them. We always lose a few birds when it switches from spring, to summer and it heats up like that. The ones who have stronger constitutions and can adapt to the heat, do better, and the ones that can't, don't seem to survive the heat. Even with ice blocks and misting units out there. I've found that my turkeys and chickens will sit in the duck pools, and the goat buckets to cool off - but they learned how to do that from the silkies, who learned how to sit in the pools with my pet pig this summer. LOL

Our local TSC either gets unsexed mixed runs, or RSL as their only two real things they offer. So, I'd have to order other breeds from cackle hatchery in the spring, and I'm planning on doing another batch of EE chickens instead this spring. TSC may get RSL in and we may buy a few to see if they do better in a kennel/coop type situation. My daughter really likes the RSL because they are less skittish then the EE and like to cuddle more with her. But - they also tend to have less survival skills, so I guess it's a trade off.

 

[kajira]

Also - I did just mention on doing a predator-resistant batch of chickens from cackle this spring, too, to see how they do. It's a variety of breeds known to be more predator savvy. My husband also likes the idea of getting those 3foot tall chickens the jungle fowl birds? I think they are? My only concern is they can kill a full sized dog and can be aggressive, so I worry about birds that big with kids... which is funny, since other people worry about turkeys and geese, and I have no concerns about those larger birds with my kids and ours are super friendly/tame. LOL

I have my teenager out there clearing brush/grass around the front part of the yard, and we'll be cutting all the bushes and tree's back by the side fences tomorrow. I'm going so find my clippers and tomorrow, go out there and get the job done. Might do some work tonight if I can get the energy up to go do it.

 

[mlm Mike]

I have a list of things to be done.. hard to make him do anything but frankenstein flipping egg props.. thx mike and banty..

You betcha!

I think I just broke my foot

No, just a sprain.

 

[mlm Mike]

I had to share this photo, he wasn't even an hr. Old yet. Still wondering what in the world happened. Man, what a night it was! Long story short. She's had a few home births..
All went well. She moved. New midwife. I didn't mind the way things were going at first. Daughter did so well..clear up to when she started to push a bit on her own. Midwife has her get out of the tub to try pushing I'm a different way. Tried 3 different ways. Poor daughter is still being so gracious and calm, but after 2 hrs. Of hard hard pushing she just can't. She had asked after 1 hr. when going to the hospital would be a good idea. Man I wish that her mom and myself had done something sooner. This midwife and helpers just wouldn't let up with all of these weird ways of theirs. Finally, our daughter couldn't get up to go try yet another way...by then, her mom and I had decided to call 911. Enough! Well, the midwife says, they can stand by, I don't want them up here in this room. I haven't raised my voice to another like I did then, in a long time.. saying.. Yes! We want them in here! They came, I gave them the update. The main guy talks to daughter. She says, ok. He says, let's go! She has the baby in the ambulance on the way. Yep. She says she thinks she just needed a rest from all of what was going on before they came. She wasn't pushing hard while info was being gathered and she was being prepared for transport. She laid on her left side as she asked to do... something the midwife wouldn't let her do when she asked earlier before. Did I say.... long story short?? Trust me this isn't the half of it. Bless her heart. Baby and mom are doing well. Glad she went to the hospital, she was bleeding more than she should, and .. She had very large clots. The dr. had to make sure those were taken care of, and the nurses came in every 15 mins. to check her bleeding, that did get to normal after a bit. Whew. Now. Guess what I did before all of this happened?? I fell down their stairs. Messed up my right knee and my left wrist/ hand. I didn't go to a dr. Stayed. And, very glad I did. Went today. I have a small fracture in my left hand, very small. So, a brace. I had put ice on both that night..helped the knee, but had a lot of fluid taken out at visit. Couldn't get into my orthopedic.. so will take cd of xrays and copy of visit to him come next Thursday. Now. After allll of that, it was...very wort it. Ok, I did NOT pinch him. lol.. Poor little one had been through a lot too. I love that bottom lip .. he was telling Grandma all about it. View attachment 1158396

Congratulations, I'm glad it all ended ok. I hope you heal quickly!