Illinois...

[BReeder!]

Here is a pic of today's bounty. Every now and then I stop and realize how incredible it is that we get to walk 50 feet out the back door and get these incredible gifts every day.

 

[Molpet]

Had a poult attempt suicide
Heard a ruckus and found a poult hanging by his feet, where 2 panels of a chain link dog run join He must have slipped off and went down about a ft. the clamp that connects them stopped him
I had seen several sitting on top of it earlier after it quit raining.
He seems fine

 

[homeschoolin momma]

And just like that, Mr. Duckie became a surrogate "mom". He's never been so happy!

 

[homeschoolin momma]

So I put experiment eggs on lockdown tonight. A day late, but considering how im feeling, its the best i can do. Filled all the trays with water and took out the bad eggs. Out of 8 set serama eggs only 2 seem to have made it. Upon eggtopsy, it looks like they werent fertile. Don't think jasper and phoenix are quite there yet.

Next were the spitzies. Out of 14 set only 9 made it. 4 of the ones showed development and 1 had a blood ring. Looks like they stopped development at maybe 10 days.

Now the experiment eggs. 4/5 at 1 day
4/5 at 1 week, 4/5 at two weeks, and 1/5 at 3 weeks. All the 3 week ones at eggtopsy showed no development. The other showed varying days of development. So we actually have a result in spite of them not hatching yet. 2 weeks seems to be the firm cutoff for storing eggs for incubating. After that 14th day, you have a sharp decline. I would say a great experiment this year!

Now what am i going to do with all these fluffies?!?

 

[Faraday40]

So I put experiment eggs on lockdown tonight. A day late, but considering how im feeling, its the best i can do. Filled all the trays with water and took out the bad eggs. Out of 8 set serama eggs only 2 seem to have made it. Upon eggtopsy, it looks like they werent fertile. Don't think jasper and phoenix are quite there yet.

Next were the spitzies. Out of 14 set only 9 made it. 4 of the ones showed development and 1 had a blood ring. Looks like they stopped development at maybe 10 days.

Now the experiment eggs. 4/5 at 1 day
4/5 at 1 week, 4/5 at two weeks, and 1/5 at 3 weeks. All the 3 week ones at eggtopsy showed no development. The other showed varying days of development. So we actually have a result in spite of them not hatching yet. 2 weeks seems to be the firm cutoff for storing eggs for incubating. After that 14th day, you have a sharp decline. I would say a great experiment this year!

Now what am i going to do with all these fluffies?!?

Very cool! (I love the idea and hope my kids will try it sometime.) It's also great that you got pretty clear results.

DS's incubator test went well. He must finish his poster and sell the remaining chicks..... but his hard work is done.

DD decided to play music to our hens. The SLOs are already in a tractor, so she recorded their egg production for the past month. This week she added a radio and they're listing to some Christian music. (During the day only. They still sleep in the big coop like normal.) They'll also get some classical and maybe heavy metal in future weeks. I can't say I like the idea but as long as the volume is low and they don't get too stressed out, I'm OK with it. Of course my poor neighbor thought he was hearing tiny voices. LOL I feel it's important that kids come up with their own ideas, so they're more invested. I tried talking her into doing something with the chicks we already hatched or testing some quick incubation idea (only takes 3 weeks), but she really wanted to do music.

This year DS is also getting into 4H computer programming, aerospace, and electricity. He's also doing a few visual arts & photography. DD is all about the arts - and animals. She cut back on the number of projects - but it's still close to 20 entries! If our fair actually paid premiums for blue ribbons, she'd be rich!

Technically they would give kids premiums if the state had a budget but that's been an issue for the past few years..... (Actually, I think they awarded $3 for each project earning a blue ribbon in 2017- BUT it wasn't handed out until the end of July 2018 when the kids were dropping off their 2018 projects. None of the kids really understood why they were given envelopes and DD couldn't even remember most of her 2017 projects by then.) Last year we spent a lot on art supplies, hatching eggs, misc. chicken supplies, and DD won 28 blue ribbons in addition to class champions and best in shows. Nothing as usual for all of last year's work. This year will probably be our last county fair because the fairgrounds will likely be sold to some developers in 2020. The land/location is just too valuable, and the official line is that the county board but do what's best for ALL of its constituents. I've also seen articles about how agriculture is part of our PAST and we must now look toward the future. No deals have been made public, but the property lease is up at the end of the year and has not been renewed.

 

[cavemanrich]

Now what am i going to do with all these fluffies?!?

You ask,,,, I suggest

 

[BReeder!]

And just like that, Mr. Duckie became a surrogate "mom". He's never been so happy!View attachment 1820187 View attachment 1820188

what type of duck?

 

[homeschoolin momma]

You ask,,,, I suggest
View attachment 1820515

 

[homeschoolin momma]

what type of duck?

Welsh Harlequin

 

[homeschoolin momma]

Look what surprise i had this morning!

Technically they are due to hatch this evening, but i wasnt expecting it until tomorrow morning.

So in preparation i put my brooder chicks in the clean duck brooder in the garage since the ducks slept outside in the coop with Mr. Duckie. I gave them a cat carrier to sleep in if they felt more comfortable. They did thats where i found most of them this morning. So i woke ip early hurting (at like 5:40) so i just clambered out in my pj's and let all the chickens out. When i went to clean the brooder with the hose just now, I saw Mr. Duckie pacing around one of my window wells. Yup, 3 ducklings had fallen in. The other 1 was missing. She was either too stupid or really smart to figure out how to go under the gate. So DS helped me into the hole and we checked them over for hurt body parts. They seem just fine and Mr. Duckie led them all (after number 4 was shown the way out of the pasture) to the water to eat and drink. Never a dull moment around here!