Illinois...

[Justso]

Was also up @5 this morning with very loud cheeping!

I'm currently up to three Olive Eggers and two green Eggers.

 

[Molpet]

Wow you really outdid me, I'm feeling like a wimp. I only got 10 in, I also did it this morning. I continue to wonder why I procrastinate until the hottest possible time. I have a whole bunch more to do tomorrow. And have decided not to mow, I hope my neighbors don't hate me.

These are the little ones in a dollar 4 pack , so not much of a hole to dig. Took an hour, maybe.
I put them in the same place every year. Except for 2. I put those against the house because I used their t post for kill cones on a bracket closer to the house.

One on either side of a t post , çircle of 4 ft fencing hung on each side of the post. Ground is covered in landscape fabric and soaker hose over the top.... soaker hose underneath but it's been plugged up for a couple years and I haven't had the energy to change it.


ETA the chickens run in this garden. The fencing is smaller at the bottom so they can't get in to the roots. They do get the low hanging fruit.

 

[Molpet]

Was also up @5 this morning with very loud cheeping!
View attachment 3128511
I'm currently up to three Olive Eggers and two green Eggers.

How cute, I have a hen due tomorrow. Not sure how they are doing. I know she broke at least one of 12... sometimes that ruins them all..

 

[Justso]

How cute, I have a hen due tomorrow. Not sure how they are doing. I know she broke at least one of 12... sometimes that ruins them all..

Best wishes on your hatch, it's always a crap shoot.

 

[Molpet]

Some of the turkeys hatches. About a dz poults and half a dz chicks.

Tomatoes and a chicken

 

[Faraday40]

How cute, I have a hen due tomorrow. Not sure how they are doing. I know she broke at least one of 12... sometimes that ruins them all..

My big, clumsy orps are not the best at incubating, but can be very good mamas. I've got a lav (Darling) broody so I put a few eggs in the incubator. She's the 1st broody in the big coop. (I'm little nervous about broody fever after what happened with my bantams.)

Speaking of bantams.... I've got my 8 totes of serama mamas down to 2 groups. Each hen has 1-2 chicks. Some hens were willing to share chicks early on but others just beat up hens and tried to steal their babies. The serama mama drama is finally settling down. It would be so much easier if I could just let the chickens free in the yard. (The state recommends to continue keeping poultry inside and away from wild birds if possible. For me it's "possible" just not as convenient. Without free ranging, the eggs taste more bland and the cost of food is higher.)

 

[Faraday40]

Faraday time to come clean..

I'm actually surprised they didn't call me. Normally when a chicken is found I get a call. If I'm told the vicinity of where it was found, I can make a couple calls and sometimes track down the owner. I don't know anyone in this area with peacocks.

 

[Molpet]

My big, clumsy orps are not the best at incubating, but can be very good mamas. I've got a lav (Darling) broody so I put a few eggs in the incubator. She's the 1st broody in the big coop. (I'm little nervous about broody fever after what happened with my bantams.)

Speaking of bantams.... I've got my 8 totes of serama mamas down to 2 groups. Each hen has 1-2 chicks. Some hens were willing to share chicks early on but others just beat up hens and tried to steal their babies. The serama mama drama is finally settling down. It would be so much easier if I could just let the chickens free in the yard. (The state recommends to continue keeping poultry inside and away from wild birds if possible. For me it's "possible" just not as convenient. Without free ranging, the eggs taste more bland and the cost of food is higher.)

I have 2 of 15 turkeys that have rotten eggs they are still sitting on. One hatched a chick and left it to dust bath. I gave chick to another who has been in a large crate with it until yesterday. Today another stole the chick for awhile. They were back together last time I looked.
3 other turkeys are on eggs that should still be good. They aren't in a coop and one isn't in the poultry yard.
I have 3 additional chickens on eggs that I don't have much hope for because others keep adding eggs. These 3 hens are ninnys and if I try to look, much less touch, they scream, fly out, knocking eggs around.
Usually I would have eggs in the incubator and swap them a few days before hatch, but not this time.
With avian influenza and free ranging I don't want to sell anything and run the risk of infecting someone else

 

[Justso]

My hatch finished up with 5 of 8, of the three remaining eggs one was a quitter after 10 days and the other two fully formed but looks like they didn't make the turn. One had an exceptionally large air cell so maybe it got shrink-wrapped. Boo, that was the one I most wanted to hatch.
Oh well, onward and upward I have more fertile eggs.

 

[Justso]

An interesting picture from my friend in Ireland. I think this is how the free range people are temporarily getting around the fact that they're chickens are not free ranging right now due to a i.