Illinois...

[Molpet]

I finally pulled the plug on my Mon-Tues hatch. The final count = 12
5 orps; 2 spitzhaubens; 5 Dominiques (only the orps were from our flock) It was a pretty pathetic hatch rate but I kind of knew it before I started. At the time I was collecting, the males were not really "active" and many chickens were in need of some butt fluff trimming. The temps were also cold & some eggs may have frozen a bit. Lastly I used my back up incubator b/c of the auto turner. The temps were not as steady as I like, so perhaps I need a new wafer. On the bright side, I have one very happy mama silkie. What's strange is on Sunday, I couldn't get the early chicks under mama. They had to go under the "mama heating pad" instead. Today, I can't get a single chick under the heating pad. They're all crammed under the silkie. As soon as I put them under the warmth, they run back out. In the past, a lot would go under the hen & the overflow would settle for the heating pad. The hen would sit right next to it. The silkie will not go near it.

So with my next hatch (set over the weekend) I discovered that I can fit 5 doz egs inside my coolerbator. I really didn't mean to set so many but I got extras from the sellers. What else could I do? Besides shipped eggs don't have a great hatch rate anyways! I also set a lot of laced orp eggs because they have been separated for breeding. I want to know if the fertility has improved. I had a lot a clears in the last batch, so I doubt I'll have anywhere close to 5 doz chicks. If I do, I may end up sleeping in the coop. LOL

And here's my moment of the day...... As I was turning the eggs I decided to move the locations of the egg cartons. My wrist wavered & one egg fell out of the egg carton turner. It was a silver laced orp egg too! It was cracked, so I opened it before tossing. It was developing & I fell terrible for being a chick murderer. It's common to lose a few embryos during incubation - but NOT that way.

Ha you will be sleeping in the coop
Weird the silky woun't go near the mhp. I guess she doesn't want any extra warmth.

so sorry for the orp egg Better that you seen the crack .. I did that once and it looked ok to my old eyes, I marked it just incase and sure enough it started oozing later

 

[chickendreams24]

I finally pulled the plug on my Mon-Tues hatch. The final count = 12
5 orps; 2 spitzhaubens; 5 Dominiques (only the orps were from our flock) It was a pretty pathetic hatch rate but I kind of knew it before I started. At the time I was collecting, the males were not really "active" and many chickens were in need of some butt fluff trimming. The temps were also cold & some eggs may have frozen a bit. Lastly I used my back up incubator b/c of the auto turner. The temps were not as steady as I like, so perhaps I need a new wafer. On the bright side, I have one very happy mama silkie. What's strange is on Sunday, I couldn't get the early chicks under mama. They had to go under the "mama heating pad" instead. Today, I can't get a single chick under the heating pad. They're all crammed under the silkie. As soon as I put them under the warmth, they run back out. In the past, a lot would go under the hen & the overflow would settle for the heating pad. The hen would sit right next to it. The silkie will not go near it.

So with my next hatch (set over the weekend) I discovered that I can fit 5 doz egs inside my coolerbator. I really didn't mean to set so many but I got extras from the sellers. What else could I do? Besides shipped eggs don't have a great hatch rate anyways! I also set a lot of laced orp eggs because they have been separated for breeding. I want to know if the fertility has improved. I had a lot a clears in the last batch, so I doubt I'll have anywhere close to 5 doz chicks. If I do, I may end up sleeping in the coop. LOL

And here's my moment of the day...... As I was turning the eggs I decided to move the locations of the egg cartons. My wrist wavered & one egg fell out of the egg carton turner. It was a silver laced orp egg too! It was cracked, so I opened it before tossing. It was developing & I fell terrible for being a chick murderer. It's common to lose a few embryos during incubation - but NOT that way.

Oh cool where did you get your Dominique eggs? I am glad we got some last year.

You don't have to sleep in the coop lol you can sneak the chicks over here

So sorry about the blue laced orp egg. It was a boy anyway. Thats what DH2B always tells me when we have a similar accident.

More pictures are needed of your hatch or it didn't happen lol. It's killing me waiting to hatch this year. At least I'll be hatching some quail for the Easter hatch a long.

 

[cavemanrich]

Here is an option to sleeping in coop, since the weather is nice.

The weather is nice, but not warm enough to give my Polish girls a bath. Their hairdoos act like a mop when they drink. Then they go for a dust bath. I'm just too ashamed of posting a pix of those 2 ragdolls now.

 

[Faraday40]

Oh cool where did you get your Dominique eggs? I am glad we got some last year.

You don't have to sleep in the coop lol you can sneak the chicks over here

So sorry about the blue laced orp egg. It was a boy anyway. Thats what DH2B always tells me when we have a similar accident.

More pictures are needed of your hatch or it didn't happen lol. It's killing me waiting to hatch this year. At least I'll be hatching some quail for the Easter hatch a long.

Who knows I may just send all the Doms to you. My miserable hatch is getting worse.

1st: I keep looking over the Doms & I have a bad feeling they're ALL MALE.
Head spots are irreg & the fluff looks faded (not "black") = male
However, the legs & beaks look dark, so perhaps there's a little hope for a hidden female

2nd: Most of the Spitz eggs didn't hatch & the two that did hatch, both died. One this morning & the other this afternoon. I'm pretty sure it was failure to thrive. Although I saw them drink, they didn't have the same gusto for food like the others. All they wanted to do was snuggle. I gave them some electrolytes last night & throughout the day but it wasn't enough.

So basically I wasted money buying fertile eggs off ebay. DD had a rough day at school and the bad news didn't help.

Good news:
The 5 orps are doing well. Even the tiny runt is feisty.

 

[Faraday40]

random chick pics
Do these look male or female to you??

My "blue"? orps

a black orp

 

[Faraday40]

Yesterday we said Good Bye to "Dinner." I couldn't use him for breeding and just couldn't process such a sweet, calm rooster. He went to live with @Molpet. He's such a nice boy and good around kids, dogs, and other roosters - not to mention very pretty.

Rooster hugs

 

[Molpet]

Dinner is adjusting to being low man. He crowed today about 6 times in a row. He does have a distinctive low crow. He is exploring the yard and one small white hen keeps chasing him. He was not impressed with sunflower seeds. What treats did you feed him?


And I got my first turkey egg today, kinda small for a turkey, but I am sure they will get bigger.. not sure who the daddy is. She picked the highest nest box. There were 2 golf balls and the chicken egg in there too.

 

[Faraday40]

Dinner is adjusting to being low man. He crowed today about 6 times in a row. He does have a distinctive low crow. He is exploring the yard and one small white hen keeps chasing him. He was not impressed with sunflower seeds. What treats did you feed him?


And I got my first turkey egg today, kinda small for a turkey, but I am sure they will get bigger.. not sure who the daddy is. She picked the highest nest box. There were 2 golf balls and the chicken egg in there too.

Dinner was not much of a leader when it came to food. My flock gets feed & a little scattered scratch each day. I don't think I bought BOSS since last Oct (& he would have been to young to try it then). The top hens always get the lion share of seeds. Treats are usually fruit & veggie scraps, sometimes stale bread before it molds. Often I hand feed them treats. Again, the top hens are always the 1st to try something new. If they like it, then the rest join in.

.... unless it's a scary watermelon or jack-o-lantern - then none will go near it!

Don't know if anyone remembers my nightmare melon. My sister carved it for a party & I brought it home as a chicken treat. Poor silly birds ran up to eat it and then after seeing it, walked the other way. I was ready with my camera to take pics but assumed they didn't want it. Half a day later it was still there. That's when it occurred to me that it may look a little like a giant mouth. No wonder they didn't attack it! I smashed it & THEN they went crazy eating it.

Dinner's not too big into food. His main focus recently has been the hens. If the hens are busy getting treats, then he may have an opportunity. I find it funny that your HENS are chasing him off.

 

[Molpet]

.

Dinner was not much of a leader when it came to food. My flock gets feed & a little scattered scratch each day. I don't think I bought BOSS since last Oct (& he would have been to young to try it then). The top hens always get the lion share of seeds. Treats are usually fruit & veggie scraps, sometimes stale bread before it molds. Often I hand feed them treats. Again, the top hens are always the 1st to try something new. If they like it, then the rest join in.

.... unless it's a scary watermelon or jack-o-lantern - then none will go near it!
View attachment 1292599

Don't know if anyone remembers my nightmare melon. My sister carved it for a party & I brought it home as a chicken treat. Poor silly birds ran up to eat it and then after seeing it, walked the other way. I was ready with my camera to take pics but assumed they didn't want it. Half a day later it was still there. That's when it occurred to me that it may look a little like a giant mouth. No wonder they didn't attack it! I smashed it & THEN they went crazy eating it.
View attachment 1292598


Dinner's not too big into food. His main focus recently has been the hens. If the hens are busy getting treats, then he may have an opportunity. I find it funny that your HENS are chasing him off.

I remember the scary watermelon. Too funny
Yes I think it's funny too... especially it's the littlest LOL

 

[chickendreams24]

Who knows I may just send all the Doms to you. My miserable hatch is getting worse.

1st: I keep looking over the Doms & I have a bad feeling they're ALL MALE.
Head spots are irreg & the fluff looks faded (not "black") = male
However, the legs & beaks look dark, so perhaps there's a little hope for a hidden female
View attachment 1290215 View attachment 1290216

View attachment 1290217


View attachment 1290218


View attachment 1290219



View attachment 1290220



2nd: Most of the Spitz eggs didn't hatch & the two that did hatch, both died. One this morning & the other this afternoon. I'm pretty sure it was failure to thrive. Although I saw them drink, they didn't have the same gusto for food like the others. All they wanted to do was snuggle. I gave them some electrolytes last night & throughout the day but it wasn't enough.View attachment 1290222

So basically I wasted money buying fertile eggs off ebay. DD had a rough day at school and the bad news didn't help.

Good news:
The 5 orps are doing well. Even the tiny runt is feisty.View attachment 1290243 View attachment 1290244

Of course I would take your Dom's in a heartbeat I really absolutely love the ones we got last year but those danged rats killed our second pullet.

Now about them though. I can't speak for every line of them but they guy we got ours from last year told me that he found them not really sexable by the head spot in the same way as barred rocks. So I wouldn't give up on them too easily.

Last year of the 4 Dom's he sent us with our Buckeye order I was pretty sure we had two pullets and two cockerals when we got them. I ended up being right but the breeder told me seldom can he tell.

If I had to guess right now I would say based on their head spots A and E look male and the other three females....


Er I mean all male definitely all male quick drop them off here so you don't waste feed on them. LOL

I'm really sorry about the spitzhaubens. Keep in mind DH2B might put in an order to Cackle if your interested.

Loving the chick pics

Sorry about your dd's bad day at school.

random chick pics
Do these look male or female to you??

My "blue"? orps

a black orp

Yesterday we said Good Bye to "Dinner." I couldn't use him for breeding and just couldn't process such a sweet, calm rooster. He went to live with @Molpet. He's such a nice boy and good around kids, dogs, and other roosters - not to mention very pretty.

Rooster hugs

I'm so glad Dinner found a good home he was just too pretty to eat!

Dinner is adjusting to being low man. He crowed today about 6 times in a row. He does have a distinctive low crow. He is exploring the yard and one small white hen keeps chasing him. He was not impressed with sunflower seeds. What treats did you feed him?


And I got my first turkey egg today, kinda small for a turkey, but I am sure they will get bigger.. not sure who the daddy is. She picked the highest nest box. There were 2 golf balls and the chicken egg in there too.

Tell them to hurry up I'm still working on wearing down DH2B to the turkey idea. I really want to see poults hatched by Faraday40. What breeds do you have again?

One of my favorite hens, Pebbles, turns her nose up at BOSS. LoL

I remember the monster watermelon lol. We had that problem with a pumpkin this last fall.