Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[RoyalChick]

If give anything to have to more the yard right now. More snow coming tonight.

I am totally excited (not) for the snow on top of the ice that is on top of the snow, and Saturday it goes back down to 5 F which in my opinion is just too cold.
That said, I am a little more relaxed about it than I was last week because I saw the chickens did fine. I just need to keep a very close eye on Dotty and her molt over the next few days. She might have to come inside - though you know she will bite me if I try that!

 

[bgmathteach]

I lost this thread. AGAIN.

@The-White-Elephant: Before you log out of fluffy butt acres today, on the last post you read, click on the little ribbon thing on the top blue bar of the post. This allows you to bookmark the post. Then, whenever you have a chance to log back into backyard chickens, click on your name in the upper right, select the bookmark tab, and click on your bookmark! It will bring you right to the last post you read! I do this as I don't get alerts regularly, either.

And no worries at all about getting alerts - you can ALWAYS assume there will be plenty to read/catch up on ANYTIME you have a moment to log in! Chatty bunch we are.

 

[MaryJanet]

So silkie egg number 2 was just laid. I happened to be walking by and peeked in on the girls and saw Chiquita lay it. I'm going to assume the first egg was hers also. Now the agonizing part. Do I or do I not save up a few and incubate them. If I incubate them and they hatch I will have to take into consideration the miserable February and March weather we could get. I cannot predict how it will be that far out, but it has already been colder this year then last and we've had more snow as well. I do have my new Christmas present the brooder plate here and ready to go, so I will not have to worry about using a heat lamp. If I just hatch silkies, they will not grow as fast as my previous chicks so if I limit myself to 5 or 6 eggs, they wont outgrow their indoor brooder as quickly. The practical side of me is saying wait, but, these are Chiquita's eggs, and when I picked her up she was housed with her previous owners Buff and White silkie males. Assuming they are fertile, this could be my only shot with her to hatch out the greatest chance for Buff chicks. When she is put with Branch, odds are her chicks will be black. What to do, what to do. Help fluffy butt friends.

I read that embryos in fertile eggs start developing immediately! Honestly, people write utter nonsense on the internet.

How long can a fertile egg wait for?

 

[bgmathteach]

Stop whining ! I have to put up with another day of cloud cover blocking the sunshine (and so much yard work to do)
Tax:View attachment 2965726

At least you have help 'manicuring' the lawn.

 

[MaryJanet]

If give anything to have to more the yard right now. More snow coming tonight.

Non-chicken post! Tax please.

 

[MaryJanet]

In California, no one wears pj’s (just saying)

Non-chicken post! Tax please.

 

[bgmathteach]

I use a mixture of crushed oyster shells mixed grit and crushed egg shells

If you have both hens and Roosters (which she does), I would keep the grit separate from the oyster shells/egg shells.

 

[MaryJanet]

Just helping out on the tax collection.

 

[bgmathteach]

I hope you have got mine and Bob's PJ's for out pretend stop over

Don't you bring your own? Unless you are visiting @micstrachan , in which case she is buying @BY Bob some of hers, that he loves.

Tax:
Caught someone trying to steal the eggs I was collecting!

 

[bgmathteach]

So silkie egg number 2 was just laid. I happened to be walking by and peeked in on the girls and saw Chiquita lay it. I'm going to assume the first egg was hers also. Now the agonizing part. Do I or do I not save up a few and incubate them. If I incubate them and they hatch I will have to take into consideration the miserable February and March weather we could get. I cannot predict how it will be that far out, but it has already been colder this year then last and we've had more snow as well. I do have my new Christmas present the brooder plate here and ready to go, so I will not have to worry about using a heat lamp. If I just hatch silkies, they will not grow as fast as my previous chicks so if I limit myself to 5 or 6 eggs, they wont outgrow their indoor brooder as quickly. The practical side of me is saying wait, but, these are Chiquita's eggs, and when I picked her up she was housed with her previous owners Buff and White silkie males. Assuming they are fertile, this could be my only shot with her to hatch out the greatest chance for Buff chicks. When she is put with Branch, odds are her chicks will be black. What to do, what to do. Help fluffy butt friends.

If you really want buff silkies, I would hatch them. Don't wait too long to start incubating, though....as viability starts to decline after about 7 days, significant decrease after about 10 days.