Illinois...

[BReeder!]

Just curious, have you checked the temperature on the brooder floor below the lamp with a thermometer? Also, you should keep lowering the temp by 5 degrees each week.
Here is an option for winter water. It is for adult chickens, which yours will be by winter 2018. Baby chicks still need surface access water.
View attachment 1304708

I do check the temp on the Broder floor. I use as indoor/outdoor thermometer. It has an outdoor sensor that we placed in the coop and an indoor sensor that doubles as a digital display. The first two days we kept the handheld display with us as went went throughout the day and made tweaks to the night of the heat lamp until we were at 90-95. We hare raised it a bit more to maintain the temp now around 85 and will keep adjusting for -5 degrees every week.
Love the indoor/ outdoor thermometer. Grabbed it for $10 at farm and fleet.

Thanks for the suggestion on the winter water. We do have a jar waterer right now for the chicks, but that gets messy and I am going to strive for less puddles in the coop. I would hate for one of our birds to get hurt from slipping in a puddle - plywood floor of the coop could get slick I am sure when wet. I am considering cutting a hole in the coop floor and covering it with hardware cloth. I have seen pics of this in other cops recently. Then I could put the water over the hardware cloth and any dropping or splashing would fall through to the dirt below the coop. Seems like a safer solution.

 

[BReeder!]

Here's a quick pic from 2013 or 14 when we switched to horizontal nipples.
I simply hang the bucket using a piece of chain so I can adjust the height in seconds. (Comes in handy when chicks are present. Also we now have a brick step on one side for my bantam.)
View attachment 1304719 View attachment 1304720

What's on the back of the chicken in the first photo?

 

[Justso]

Once again seeking bantam cochin eggs ! PM me.

 

[Faraday40]

What's on the back of the chicken in the first photo?

It's called a hen saddle or apron. It protects the rooster's favorite gal from becoming bald-backed. We currently have a young cockerel, so it also works to protect the hens from the young male who has yet to learn the proper technique.


I guess it can also be used as a chicken fashion statement. (That's what most people think they are. LOL)

 

[BReeder!]

It's called a hen saddle or apron. It protects the rooster's favorite gal from becoming bald-backed. We currently have a young cockerel, so it also works to protect the hens from the young male who has yet to learn the proper technique.


I guess it can also be used as a chicken fashion statement. (That's what most people think they are. LOL)

That makes sense. I just started with my first chicks and we are not allowed to have a rooster here by the local ordinance, so i have done absolutely no research on rosters or chicken courtship.

 

[Faraday40]

Here's my 11-30 hatch (the female). She looks good so far, but I hope to sell her soon. (Too many orps......and more on the way )

I also found it funny seeing the lav in the background digging a hole to China.

 

[Faraday40]

Chicks are hatching today. Woke up to 4 peeping orps in the incubator!

They're not much to look at yet.
1 black orp (Mom is my silver laced, so the lav or blk/lav split roo must have fertilized that egg)
1 lav orp
1 yellow chick came from my buff Colombian; Laced orp is probably the daddy
The Mom looked like this as a chick & now:


1 yellow chick with stripe came from my blue laced orp. Her chick looks just like her.
The Mom looked like this as a chick (one on right) & now:

 

[Delaneygraces]

Chicks are hatching today. Woke up to 4 peeping orps in the incubator!

They're not much to look at yet.
1 black orp (Mom is my silver laced, so the lav or blk/lav split roo must have fertilized that egg)
1 lav orp
1 yellow chick came from my buff Colombian; Laced orp is probably the daddy
The Mom looked like this as a chick & now:


1 yellow chick with stripe came from my blue laced orp. Her chick looks just like her.
The Mom looked like this as a chick (one on right) & now:

Awesome! Mine were hatching the 22nd-24th! Out of 29 eggs, 21 were fertilized, and developed. Out of those, sadly only 10 hatched, but three of them passed.
On that note, has anyone ever had a chick hatch with a BUBBLE in its neck?!? Yes, it was a bubble of air IN my chicks neck. He was one that died, and I didn’t think to take a picture.
As for what hatched, they are Modern Game Bantams, and I have 1 silver blue, 1 Lemon Blue (Gah!! The majority of the eggs were LBs, I was hoping more than one would hatch), and 5 birchens!

Also, a quick question. I had a birchen hen decided to go broody, so I moved her to her own pen, covered with a towel for separation, and placed 6 LB eggs under her. They were supposed to hatch next Saturday. One night I came home early, and checked in on my birds, and broody was off the nest, asleep on her feed cup (my birds have a fascination with sleeping on feed and water cups instead of their perch). I checked the eggs, and they were cold. I took them inside to the incubator, hoping they would hatch still. Is there any reason why she would suddenly stop sitting?

 

[Faraday40]

Awesome! Mine were hatching the 22nd-24th! Out of 29 eggs, 21 were fertilized, and developed. Out of those, sadly only 10 hatched, but three of them passed.
On that note, has anyone ever had a chick hatch with a BUBBLE in its neck?!? Yes, it was a bubble of air IN my chicks neck. He was one that died, and I didn’t think to take a picture.
As for what hatched, they are Modern Game Bantams, and I have 1 silver blue, 1 Lemon Blue (Gah!! The majority of the eggs were LBs, I was hoping more than one would hatch), and 5 birchens!

Also, a quick question. I had a birchen hen decided to go broody, so I moved her to her own pen, covered with a towel for separation, and placed 6 LB eggs under her. They were supposed to hatch next Saturday. One night I came home early, and checked in on my birds, and broody was off the nest, asleep on her feed cup (my birds have a fascination with sleeping on feed and water cups instead of their perch). I checked the eggs, and they were cold. I took them inside to the incubator, hoping they would hatch still. Is there any reason why she would suddenly stop sitting?

Sorry about the chick with the "bubble." I've never seen or heard of anything like that & with such a birth defect, it was probably best it passed away. I had a hen that kept "getting lost" and settling down on a diff nest for 1-2hrs - in temps of 30-40'F. Surprisingly, 2 of her 3 eggs hatched. (The 3rd died because she wandered off the nest as it was zipping.) The mom turned out to be an OK mama AFTER the chicks hatched. There's a good chance those eggs will go dormant & then hatch a day or two late.

I'll admit I'm a little envious of the Mod Game Bantams. Where did you get your eggs? I really, really wanted to hatch some for my son but couldn't find any around here. Birchens are my fav type. If you're looking to rehome some let me know. As for my incubator, we bought some seramas (high chance of silkied), Old English Game bantams, and silkies. (I call all of these bantams my "useless chickens," but the kids really wanted to hatch some bantams this year. The eggs were my DD's 13th bday gift.) The rest of the incubator was filled with orp eggs from our own flock. I separated the laced orps, but there was still a chance to have remaining lav &/or blk/lav split orp genes.




A 5th chick hatched - laced orp- and one serama egg has a pip.

 

[Faraday40]

I moved the 1st group of chicks into the brooder.
Here they are in order of hatch:

#1 Laced orp - but looks like father was lav or blk/lav split

#2 From my blue laced orp hen

#3 From my Buff Colombian Orp hen (probably the silver laced orp dad)

#4 Pure lav orp

#5 Laced orp

#6 Laced orp (but darker) Probably from my blue laced orp