Smoky Mountain Pilgrims
In the Brooder
- Jun 23, 2023
- 5
- 38
- 34
Greetings from East Tennessee. My wife and I moved here from Northern Illinois one year ago this month with five of our nine children (the four youngest ages 9-19 and our oldest, age 30) and have been blessed to have a backyard flock since a few weeks after moving in. Purchased ten "golden comet" hens that were supposedly 18 months old (though we now suspect some may be a little older than that), and after a few weeks adjustment, they started laying 6-8 HUGE eggs every day, even throughout the winter. They happily free-range in our large backyard and go into a dog-run style coop at night. A few weeks after getting the golden comets, we got a young barred rock rooster for protection from the hawks, and he has done a wonderful job.
In February, we decided to put some of those fertilized eggs in an incubator. We started with 16 eggs and ended up with 8 very healthy, thriving chicks who are now 16 weeks old. The variety among them is amazing - hard to believe they came from one rooster and 10 golden comets, but they certainly did. At least one of them is a rooster (looks just like his daddy!), possibly one other. The other 6 are most likely pullets.
Three weeks ago, one of the golden comets went broody, so we decided to let her try hatching a few just for the experience. Selected five eggs, had to toss one after 10 days when candling showed no development. Her first chick hatched yesterday morning and a second one this morning. Hoping the other two will hatch as well. She's doing great, and the other chickens seems to be just fine with everything so far. Gotta say, we are REALLY loving the experience of letting the hen do her job hatching and raising the chicks as nature intended. We are learning a lot and eager to learning more, both from our direct experience and from discussion topics here on BYC. This site has been so helpful as a resource, and I can't believe it took me a year to join it.
Grateful for all the help,
Scott in East Tennessee
In February, we decided to put some of those fertilized eggs in an incubator. We started with 16 eggs and ended up with 8 very healthy, thriving chicks who are now 16 weeks old. The variety among them is amazing - hard to believe they came from one rooster and 10 golden comets, but they certainly did. At least one of them is a rooster (looks just like his daddy!), possibly one other. The other 6 are most likely pullets.
Three weeks ago, one of the golden comets went broody, so we decided to let her try hatching a few just for the experience. Selected five eggs, had to toss one after 10 days when candling showed no development. Her first chick hatched yesterday morning and a second one this morning. Hoping the other two will hatch as well. She's doing great, and the other chickens seems to be just fine with everything so far. Gotta say, we are REALLY loving the experience of letting the hen do her job hatching and raising the chicks as nature intended. We are learning a lot and eager to learning more, both from our direct experience and from discussion topics here on BYC. This site has been so helpful as a resource, and I can't believe it took me a year to join it.
Grateful for all the help,
Scott in East Tennessee
