Hello everyone! Long time creeper, first time poster.
We started our flock this time last year with 10 ameracaunas by mail ordering day old chicks, 9 arrived with flies on them and one jumped right out. The next day our dog ate it. (i assume, I came home and it was just "gone" from the brooder)
We bought 12 more from a local that ordered a lot and was selling some. They did really well until one day our dog got outside its invisilble fence and did what dogs do.In our defense we attempted to "assimilate" the dogs to the chicken and show them that we are all friends. It just didnt work. We had four pullets left. I then moved the coop WAY outside the invisible fence and a mink got into the coop somehow and killed all but one. The dogs normally keep the mink away. She hid in the woods and came out when we called her. I bought a trio from a local. These were genuine ameracaunas. One black rooster and two blue hens. The hen we had left is blue wheaten as far as I can tell. They started laying after the first of the year. They have been doing great. The dogs and critters have been leaving them alone, save one day when the rooster got a little rangy and the dog noticed. The rooster survived with a few missing feathers. Ironically, the dog has no interest in the chickens any more.
We kept 12 eggs and put them in the incubator. We really didnt expect much due to the recovering rooster and young flock. We ordered some more ameracuanas from the same lady that sold us the trio last fall. We ordered twelve more, straight run. Plus whatever she had left of a hatching of Swedish Flower Hens. We ended up with 24 chicks.
11 out of 12 eggs hatched! The one that didnt hatch was fully formed but the yolk sack and what looked like part of the innards where outside of the body. The egg was a little mis-shapen, or at least not the same sort of oval as the rest of them were.
So Im in the process of building an 8 by 8 coop with a nice sized, dog "proof" run. Kinda planning on another one in the "back forty".
Ive learned a lot in the past 12 months. The female newfoundland, and the male schanuzer really have no interest in the chickens other than slight curiosity when wings flap. The "farm dog" which is part healer and part doberman, pays the most attention to them(shes the one that has done all the attacking). Ive learned the role that a rooster plays in a flock, and Im convinced that if he wasnt around the whole flock would be dead. He really takes care of them. Ive learned how addictive chickens are. Ive learned that a coop for 8 hens, is really a coop for 4 hens. Ive learned that people arent joking when they say fresh eggs are way better. I've learned that I've learned way more than I can put into words.
The queston was...I wonder what happened with that egg? Just a flook birth defect? Is it unusual to get that good of a hatch? Chicken gods making up for crappy luck and/or naivete on my part?
We started our flock this time last year with 10 ameracaunas by mail ordering day old chicks, 9 arrived with flies on them and one jumped right out. The next day our dog ate it. (i assume, I came home and it was just "gone" from the brooder)
We bought 12 more from a local that ordered a lot and was selling some. They did really well until one day our dog got outside its invisilble fence and did what dogs do.In our defense we attempted to "assimilate" the dogs to the chicken and show them that we are all friends. It just didnt work. We had four pullets left. I then moved the coop WAY outside the invisible fence and a mink got into the coop somehow and killed all but one. The dogs normally keep the mink away. She hid in the woods and came out when we called her. I bought a trio from a local. These were genuine ameracaunas. One black rooster and two blue hens. The hen we had left is blue wheaten as far as I can tell. They started laying after the first of the year. They have been doing great. The dogs and critters have been leaving them alone, save one day when the rooster got a little rangy and the dog noticed. The rooster survived with a few missing feathers. Ironically, the dog has no interest in the chickens any more.
We kept 12 eggs and put them in the incubator. We really didnt expect much due to the recovering rooster and young flock. We ordered some more ameracuanas from the same lady that sold us the trio last fall. We ordered twelve more, straight run. Plus whatever she had left of a hatching of Swedish Flower Hens. We ended up with 24 chicks.
11 out of 12 eggs hatched! The one that didnt hatch was fully formed but the yolk sack and what looked like part of the innards where outside of the body. The egg was a little mis-shapen, or at least not the same sort of oval as the rest of them were.
So Im in the process of building an 8 by 8 coop with a nice sized, dog "proof" run. Kinda planning on another one in the "back forty".
Ive learned a lot in the past 12 months. The female newfoundland, and the male schanuzer really have no interest in the chickens other than slight curiosity when wings flap. The "farm dog" which is part healer and part doberman, pays the most attention to them(shes the one that has done all the attacking). Ive learned the role that a rooster plays in a flock, and Im convinced that if he wasnt around the whole flock would be dead. He really takes care of them. Ive learned how addictive chickens are. Ive learned that a coop for 8 hens, is really a coop for 4 hens. Ive learned that people arent joking when they say fresh eggs are way better. I've learned that I've learned way more than I can put into words.
The queston was...I wonder what happened with that egg? Just a flook birth defect? Is it unusual to get that good of a hatch? Chicken gods making up for crappy luck and/or naivete on my part?