Hatching with 2 broodies

[tommysgirl]

Good girl,

No offence here, i now firmly believe that if you cant do some of it you shouldn't be a meat eater.

Thanks PM

As a long-time vegetarian, I can say I'm not offended, but I also don't love hearing about it. It's a little like hearing about someone's aunt in the freezer. I agree with PM that if you're going to eat meat, you should be able to do the dirty work yourself, and I definitely support people raising their own animals for that purpose as opposed to having others factory farm them behind closed doors. When Stella was killed, I felt better giving her body to the family who had sold her to me, rather than burying her. Still, I'd rather not hear too much about the process of it, since I am a bit sensitive in that way.

OK I won't share any of it any more. My boys...aka the 3 amigos, are still small enough to bust out of the run under the gate and spend their entire day raising Cane. If chickens could publish magazines these three would be on the cover of Best Life magazine.

Changing the subject and lifting the mood a little ... guess who is Broody again?

Secondly ... guess what I did?!! Hint: they arrive via Express Post next week!!

Tee hee; yep ... here we go again and while I ummmmed and aaaaahd over the decision; now I have made it; very excited!!

So happy for you! Where did you find your eggs? I have a few that I hatched from BYC eggs.

Unfortunately, I could only order 1 dozen; she will not be able to cope with 12 eggs, she is too small so I am going to have to do some picking and choosing. A bit sad about that but I don't think I have another option.

Currently she is happily sitting on a non-fertile egg Dusty laid with a smiley face drawn on it!

I ordered 8 eggs and it was going to be perfect. Then the breeder sent 12...I didn't know what to do with the other 4 so I took the 4 with the weirdest air cells and made them into breakfast for Tom.

 

[Teila]

So happy for you! Where did you find your eggs? I have a few that I hatched from BYC eggs.
I ordered 8 eggs and it was going to be perfect. Then the breeder sent 12...I didn't know what to do with the other 4 so I took the 4 with the weirdest air cells and made them into breakfast for Tom.

G'Day TG

I just did a Gumtree search. Found a lady in New South Wales with some pet quality Pekin Bantams. She has two separate flocks and just packs up a mix of eggs from both flocks. It is a bit like a lucky dip! I know the risks but the price was good and I only plan to keep one chick so a small hatch rate is not a worry.

As mentioned, Cilla is guarding/sitting on the non-fertile egg with great gusto and the eggs do not arrive until next week; I hope she can go the extra week once she has the eggs. She was a determined broody last time so I am hopeful one more week is not going to be a problem for her. She has built her condition right back up from nearly 4 months ago so she should be OK.

She hatched 5 from 5 last time and I am thinking I will give her 6 this time; knowing that with the shipping etc, 6 from 6 would be a stretch at best. Anyway, we can only try and see what happens.

You know it's silly, I don't have a problem eating the non-fertile eggs or cooking them up and feeding them back to the girls but I just can't bring myself to eat the eggs that won't go under Cilla.
It is going to be a bit sad making the decision which ones get to have a go at life.

As I said in an earlier post, I remember the upheaval and stress from our first hatch and I went through all the pros and cons before I made a decision this time. Now the decision is made I am one excited cookie. Fingers crossed I will get a little brown feathered beach ball just like her mumma

 

[Pooman]

The Poussin love the tree, up there again last night. So we have given them names too. Bluey, has blue legs like mum and Charlotte. Sure they are both Hens given the development of the other young ones with 2 looking quite roosterish.

 

[MistyMountain]

Teila, I am so excited for you! I read that in the middle of the night last night (little boy has the stomach bug) and ended up dreaming that I had an incubator and tried to incubate some eggs. I had no clue what I was doing, and remember stressing out about marking them and turning them! I can not wait to see pictures!!

I had the closest thing I think I will ever have to two broodies this morning. Clarabelle and Curly were sharing a nesting box. Co-Laying I guess. In their defense, it was super cold. 3 eggs today from Curly, Clarabelle, and #2. This afternoon Sandy was in the box singing so sweetly and quietly. I left for an hour before checking back and got another blue egg. I never pegged Sandy to be the blue egg layer. So awesome.

Well, time for more tea and to huddle up next to the wood stove. Have a great weekend all!

 

[Teila]

Thank you MM
I hope your little one is feeling better now.
We have a long weekend; Monday is the Australia Day Holiday; bonus!!

Cilla is going strong; she now has 2 x non-fertile eggs. Dusty laid an egg yesterday and pretty much before it hit the straw Cilla claimed it! lol

So we are not getting any eggs at the moment, Silkies too young, Cilla not laying and Dusty's being donated to the Cilla-Broody-Fund

Waiting for the fertile eggs to arrive has actually been a good learning curve. When she is sitting on those I am going to have to lock her down to her own little coop and run because whenever she leaves the nest the Silkies are in there, running all over the eggs! Then, when she wants back in she stands in the doorway, blocking their exit .. if she is not locked down I can see damage happening!

Sadly, lock down means that Dusty is going to have to make alternative sleeping arrangements and bunk in with the Silkies and they are all going to have to learn to use the back door for their free range but I am sure we/they will be able to work it out after some initial minor fussing.

 

[MistyMountain]

Glad you figured out the living arrangements before the eggs arrived, Teila! I can just picture the mess when the silkies are running around trying to avoid her! I have a couple here that drive me crazy like that. They seem to find a way to dump over the treat bowl right after I put something in there for them. I guess it's not that big of a deal if they eat off the ground, but grrr! My 3 year old is much better. Still not eating well, but not getting sick either. My husband also caught the bug and had to call in sick to work twice… which he has NEVER done before. Pretty icky thing. That leaves my 5 year old and me, knock on wood, still healthy. I loaded up on clorox wipes!

I have the opposite of you in the egg department today. 5 eggs! My biggest day yet!! And what's better? MJ (formerly Spiderman), the white EE and my favorite, laid a beautiful blue egg today!!!! It is more blue than Sandy's egg she laid yesterday. So awesome.

My "temporary coop" is one of those metal building kits you can find at Lowes or Home Depot. We got it new in the box on craigslist for 100 bucks. The floor is actually what is going to be used for my permanent coop, but will be moved to a different location. Hopefully that can be done early summer before we go on vacation. We were waiting for lumber from the family lumber yard to replace boards on our barn. The old bard wood will have the rotten bottom foot cut off and then be used for my coop. It will basically be like a storage building with roosting boards down the right and left sides of it and nesting boxes in the center back of it. My husband is quite handy when it comes to building stuff. Anyhow, in the temporary coop I have two roosts. One diagonally in the corner that has been there since we put the building up. No one roosted at first. Then the 3 hamburgs roosted. They were joined by #1. It went on like this for months it seems. Then while I was house bound after surgery and my husband was doing chicken duty they all decided to roost. All 17 (before we lost spotty) on one 5' branch. Well that didn't last long before the branch was borderline ready to break. I needed to add something to pass as a nesting box because they were getting close. I found an old wooden crate and put my dish tub with shavings inside. That worked to support one end of the roost. I also put two cinder blocks with a landscape timber on top as a lower second roost. Then I put in two more dish tubs with shavings next to the crate as "other options." I didn't want to spend any money since this entire setup is temporary. Turns out they prefer the dish tubs that are not inside the crate better. Who needs nest boxes? Hah! Anyhow, where I am going with this is that it is still a big battle to fit as many chickens as possible on this original roost/crate every night. When I lock things up and count heads I usually have to settle some conflicts so no one gets left without a warm buddy on these cold nights. Willie is the last to jump up, and he is also the widest and heaviest. Funny thing is, Chica, the NH is second in size to Willie. She stays on the low roost and the past two nights has had a buddy… Lucky! Maybe they are putting their differences behind them!! Or Chica won't turn down a little snuggle buddy on these abnormally cold nights. Whew, sorry for being so long winded. I mainly wanted to share the truce between Chica and Lucky.

So, I have been watching out for hawks lately. We have a redtail and a cooper's hawk that are hanging around. Wille has been super good at warning the girls when something flies over or the crows start making noise. I told my husband how good he has been and mentioned the other two roosters I am going to get this April. That bothered him quite a bit because he doesn't want constant fighting and has grown fond of Willie since he saved Lucky. My husband had chickens when he was younger and got flogged many times by a mean old RIR roo. The thing is, I will have 20 or so hens by then and hope to choose one of the new roosters with the best temperament. Pooman, you have a couple of roosters living together, don't you? I am trying to convince him that with the higher number of hens, additional roosters can coexist with little problems. I know you need to have the right roosters, but I would really like to get an alpha/beta thing down so that the girls can have more eyes on the sky during free range time. I think we can pull it off. Both the coop and pasture/run area will support many more chickens. I also need to figure out how long I am going to keep the "packing peanut" roo's that they stuff in with my order. I hate to sell off day old chicks. Maybe a couple weeks won't kill me in the feed department. That will give them a head start at least and maybe a better chance at getting a home.

 

[lizgarf]

Hi team,
Well, the inevitable happened today: Desi started crowing. Luckily it was late in the day, but it was loud and obnoxious enough that I think people will definitely complain if it happens in the morning, or frequently throughout the day. Of course it started on the weekend, when people are around! I may be hyper sensitive because I know we can't have roosters in Oakland, but each time he did it, I was sure some one was going to march over and demand I get rid of him. I think my own stress about that is worse than the actual noise.
So, time to make a rooster collar! Wish me luck (and I'm going to need it getting it on him!)

 

[lizgarf]

Alrighty, I have made a collar and will give it a try tomorrow. I cut a section off an old neoprene knee brace that was on its last legs (no pun intended) and sewed some velcro to it (because the old velcro was losing its staying power), and tomorrow, I'll try to put it on Desi. Any advice on that last bit? The downfall of the broody hatch is that my almost 15-week-old babies are still terrified of me. I've picked Desi up twice in his short life and both times he sounded like he thought I was going to kill him. This time I actually do mean to do him wrong (even if it's ultimately in order to save his life, I doubt he'll figure that out). Advice is welcome!

Here are a couple pictures of my contraption. If you're just tuning in, I do not technically know what I'm doing. I gleaned some info from some other threads and the interweb and this seemed as good a model as any - soft, secure, a little stretchy, etc. If the material will keep my messed-up knee in line, it should help contain a rooster's neck without choking him. I hope.



I also made these:

 

[lizgarf]

I got the collar on Desi! I basically cornered him in the coop, after calming everyone with cheese, and after his first freak out at being grabbed, he calmed down and let me put the collar on. I erred on the loose side. He can still make little mini honks (it's the way he talks these days) and still looks handsome. (I'll take pictures later). We'll see if he crows again and adjust the plan from there!

 

[Teila]

I got the collar on Desi! I basically cornered him in the coop, after calming everyone with cheese, and after his first freak out at being grabbed, he calmed down and let me put the collar on. I erred on the loose side. He can still make little mini honks (it's the way he talks these days) and still looks handsome. (I'll take pictures later). We'll see if he crows again and adjust the plan from there!

I thought the pastries you baked were to bribe Desi

Waiting to hear how you went with the collar; I have everything crossed that it works out for you and him!
Is the idea of the collar that he can not breath in the additional air required to crow?
Or is the idea that he can not stretch his neck up? I read somewhere that if the rooster is in a low area and can't stretch his neck up he can't crow.

Cilla has taken over the Chateau. Her and the babies (assuming we get some) have their own nest box, balcony and run to scratch in. Dusty, Suzi and Tina were reluctant to use the back door on the Ranch for free range (probably because they have to go through a small door to get to it and it doesn't open out onto their favourite part of the garden). So my wonderful hubby built a bigger wire door in the side of their run. It took a few hours yesterday and cost nothing, used bits and pieces we had in the shed. While they are still not 100% sure about this new way in and out, they are definitely going to catch on quicker than if I left them with the back door.

Having solved that problem, the next hurdle was getting Dusty to bed down in the Ranch. I had visions of a temper tantrum when she couldn't get to her bed and having to wait for her to settle somewhere in the run and then put her in the Ranch. Anyway, I knew I was in for some stress or angst.
I am so proud of my little girl. The Silkies had gone to bed and I sat at the Ranch door talking to Dusty, coaxing her up the ramp. Within 5 mins she was snuggled on one of the three beds in there, right next to the Silkies; who were a little surprised! This can also only be good for their bonding experience. Having the matriarch out of the picture for a while might make for some new friendships.

I have 3 eggs from the fridge sitting for today to get to room temperature to replace the duds she is sitting on .. I have this fear that they are going to go bad and explode. Any ideas on how long that would take? If I give her these duds this evening do you think they would be OK for the 2-3 days it will be before the fertile ones arrive?

Using the lessons learned from our last hatch, I think I am ready for this one. My only concern will be that she will have already been sitting for a week when she gets the fertile eggs. Fingers crossed she can go the distance and does not give up!

The new door in the side of the run. Ranch at the end. The nasty black thing in need of a coat of paint is the fish tank stand I turned into a shelter complete with tree branch perch which they use often. The brick on the door is only there because I use it to prop it open


The Chateau (Bubby Central) .. not much happening here, Cilla is tucked away on her nest
Under the nest box you can just see a small wire door which leads in the run .. this is what I have locked down. Just out of picture, on the right, is the dust bath which leads into the run.