Hudson Valley NY *chat thread*

[LSzajko]

My babies are due on the 12th too -and I'm sure you know more about this than I do LS

Nope~ I'm tragically clueless and completely intimidated lol
About 20 years ago with a crappy old styrofoam incubator that I'd borrowed from a friend and assorted eggs I bought for $3, 17/17 chickens hatched. I didn't fuss over the humidity and I used a regular oral fever thermometer to monitor the temperature. At the time it was so easy. Now I feel like it's almost too complicated.

 

[LSzajko]

This is coming fast, and I hope people can come!

What can you bring to swap or sell? Chickens, hatching eggs, other poultry, supplies, crafts
For those bringing poultry, please make sure to bring a tarp for caged birds, or bring a folding table (no contact with the ground). We want to keep the ground clean and keep the birds from picking up anything off the ground to carry home. All birds should be checked several weeks ahead of time for evidence of mites/lice, and treated appropriately. (Our intention is not to offend, we just want this to be as clean as possible for all involved.) If you plan to swap/buy, bring extra boxes or crates. (well try to bring a few extra boxes.). Also, we recommend that you bring a bottle of hand sanitizer for use between handling birds again, just a safety precaution.

We will have music and raffles and fun for all!

Thank you !

 

[LSzajko]

Three are dry and two are wet. Wet cottonball sound good thank you.

Hope it worked! How are they doing?

 

[LSzajko]

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Ours was busy, but good. We have 3 kids, and there were parties, sleepovers, Girl Scout meetings, & dance classes going on. Sometimes my chickens are the only things keeping me sane. Lisa, glad to hear your EE is back & safe. What are you hatching? I'm at the end of my first staggered hatch. Last Monday, 10 chicks hatched. Wednesday & Thursday, 13 hatched. Duck eggs are due to hatch the day after tomorrow. I'm a little addicted to hatching. Carousel86, sounds like you had a great hatch! 6 babies! Hope you'll post some pics. Erica

Whoa! Great hatches!!! what did you hatch? I have mostly buff orpington eggs in the incubator...Mr. Blue (a blue orpington) is the baby daddy. Not sure what the chicks will be if they hatch (Splash?) There's also a black orpington hen and EE's in that coop so I assume some of their eggs could be in there also. This is our 2nd attempt at hatching. The first time we tried the eggs were duds. If these eggs hatch I will surely be addicted to hatching. So many chickens not enough room in the coops!

How old are your kids? They do tend to keep us hopping. I have 4 kids (26, 24, 18 & 8). I think my 8 yr. old keeps me busier than the older 3 ever did. Or maybe I just had more energy when they were young. My chickens keep me sane (sort of).

Good luck with the duck hatch ! Keep us posted

 

[LSzajko]

Anyone else see its going to be 71 degrees on sunday?!?!?!?!?!!!

Bring it on!!!!!!!!!

 

[LSzajko]

SO...

DH (unsupervised) + TSC = 6 Cornish X chicks

 

[LSzajko]

We tilled ours straight into the garden (900 square ft garden, 75 cubic feet of deep litter). The soil just keeps looking better and better. I didn't bother to compost it since we needed the "fluff" created by the left over flake and it was pretty close to composted anyway (I haven't cleaned out the coop since October). It seems to really help with the heavy soil. I am not too worried about picking up and cooties from it since I would guess I would be sick from it by now given how much of it ends up in my nose/mouth/eyes, etc working with them on a daily basis and cleaning. I am not worried about it "burning" anything since it will rain a few times between now and when I get the plants going, so no ammonia salts concentrating around the roots.

I gave up on composting when the chickens spread out my huge pile last summer. No way I am raking that all back up. So I put dirt over it and put a wildflower area in...

DH shoveled out the poop board in the Nuggets' coop and tilled it directly into the garden last Thursday. We're not planting anything until May. Do you think it'll be composted by then?
The compost in the composter looks great...our 1st attempt. There's not much of it though so I'm going to mix it into the existing soil around each plant. Trying to amend the clay soil around here is a never-ending battle.

 

[carousel86]

Erica the last chick didn't made it out of the shell

so as of right now I have 5 and one pipping. I guess that not bad for my first hatch. The only thing is I started with 18 eggs. 4 wasn't good by day 10 and 2 die hatching and 7 not doing anything. I was hoping for 12 chicks but 6 would be good. What kind of duck are you hatching?

 

[carousel86]

Lexi, I hope your right 71 sound great to me. I have 2 of my kids throwing up all over the place. I was thinking teenager would get it in the toilet wrong again.

 

[Joanmcm]

I would think so. Depends how much you put in and I would mix straw, woodchps in with it. Also, Somewhere on this board there is a timetable how long before harvest to put poop in the garden. 124 days before harvest?

We grew MONSTER pumpkins last year. Howdens love the stuff!