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I had one roo to 5 pullets. Wish I still had him. His flightiness did him in-he raced out through a mostly closed coop door, ostensibly to get away from me, behind me while I was feeding, into the dog's mouth. This dog (Lefty) nabbed a few chickens as a puppy, but had (I thought) outgrown it.
The dog felt awful; "sorry mom, but I couldn't help it, he fluttered right into my mouth". He had snapped once and let go, but the roo (8 weeks old) bled through his open beak, gaped, & died immediately. It was looking for a new roo that I found Cornelius, in my avatar at present. I'm glad I found him but am still sad at losing Bruce. Lefty MacDoggal hasn't touched a chicken since, though he gazes longingly at the broody who attacks him every time she has chicks...she once crossed a pen full of goats to get at him, lol. And of course, he is never left alone with them.
I think I would have had a better hatch rate if I had used a bator, or isolated both broodies; one was in the quonset hut/workshop, the other was in a 4x4x4' wooden apple bin on its side next to the goats. She had competition from 2 other hens for the eggs, and hatched 2 of her 8. The one inside hatched 4 of her 7, so total 40%, but the two ladies had 25% & 57% hatch rates.
These are standard, but their eggs are smallish.
They also were bought & shipped in August, so no cold damage.
I had one roo to 5 pullets. Wish I still had him. His flightiness did him in-he raced out through a mostly closed coop door, ostensibly to get away from me, behind me while I was feeding, into the dog's mouth. This dog (Lefty) nabbed a few chickens as a puppy, but had (I thought) outgrown it.
The dog felt awful; "sorry mom, but I couldn't help it, he fluttered right into my mouth". He had snapped once and let go, but the roo (8 weeks old) bled through his open beak, gaped, & died immediately. It was looking for a new roo that I found Cornelius, in my avatar at present. I'm glad I found him but am still sad at losing Bruce. Lefty MacDoggal hasn't touched a chicken since, though he gazes longingly at the broody who attacks him every time she has chicks...she once crossed a pen full of goats to get at him, lol. And of course, he is never left alone with them.
I think I would have had a better hatch rate if I had used a bator, or isolated both broodies; one was in the quonset hut/workshop, the other was in a 4x4x4' wooden apple bin on its side next to the goats. She had competition from 2 other hens for the eggs, and hatched 2 of her 8. The one inside hatched 4 of her 7, so total 40%, but the two ladies had 25% & 57% hatch rates.
These are standard, but their eggs are smallish.
They also were bought & shipped in August, so no cold damage.
