Illinois...

[Junibutt]

Welcome newbies to Byc and to the Illinois thread. Quite the week here so far! Please read below.

The chocolate cuckoo Orp chick passed away between 3 and 7 Monday morning and was sent for a necropsy today. Thank you very much red tape.

We set chicken eggs for the Easter hatchalong on Monday at noon.

Yesterday we discovered something had damaged our kitchen cupboard under the sink. And later learned it's a groundhog. It would seem it hibernated in the crawl space under our kitchen floor and became stuck.

Everyone remember those holes last fall under our porch? I believe we know the cause. Well apparently the thing can't find its way out and of course has no access to water. Yesterday it chewed through the water line to our sprayer knozzle on the kitchen sink as well as chewing at the cupboard itself. There is a flap of wood that goes around the pipes that lifts out that is it's entrance point.

We were up until past 4 am last night trying to get the thing out. It's large for a groundhog and although I'm not frightened of it I do respect it and feel for it's plight. We are trying to shoo it out through the kitchen and out the back door. Unfortunately this has not proved easy.

Hopefully tonight we can manage to get it out. It is very fearful but not aggressive although if it felt cornered I'm sure it could be. In fact after it got out of the cupboard(pushed the cupboard door open) last night the wood fell and it wasn't able to get back down the hole for some time.

We weren't able to get the door open and get it out before it got the flap up again.

It was quite the fiasco with me trying to soothe the frightened panicked creature. And eventually it turned and walked right up to me in between the kitchen and the dining room. No fear what so ever and sniffed the tote lid that I held as a barricade before looking up at me. I told it gently it didn't want to go that way and turn around and it did. Lol

Quite the night. Hopefully tonight we will be more successful.



Now my friends please I need your thoughts and prayers for my Grandpa. I was informed today that he was rushed from his Alzheimer's care assisted living via ambulance a couple of days ago. His doctor had changed his meds and taken him off his pills for his mood. From what I understand. It was a short conversation. I will know more later. My Grandpa, who is the kindest most respectful man you'd ever meet, except for his Alzheimer's acted up without his pills. Any change at all is hard for Alzheimer's or dementia patients and he began to act out to the staff. From there they sent him to a hospital with a psych ward.

However upon admission tests were run and he has bacteria in his urine which we knew about but his elderly doctor chose to ignore when he saw him Friday. They also did a CAT scan and discovered he has pneumonia and a sinus infection as well as a urinary tract infection. He was not running a fever.

For those that don't know illness in patients who are elderly or have dementia or Alzheimer's often confuses and worsens their mental state. In the last three weeks he has not been recognizing family at all which has been spotty. He has good days and bad days but lately there all been bad.

We are hoping that treating these illnesses will improve his mental state and lesson his mood swings. If he remains violent or threatening of violence the place will not take him back.

Everyone please keep my Grandpa in your thoughts and prayers and keep my family in them as well.

My Grandpa is being monitored and treated with IV antibiotics. He did recognize my Grandma for the first time in three weeks yesterday when he looked at her and said her name.

I will keep you all up to date on Grandpa and on the groundhog when I know more. Thank you guys

Sorry to hear your grandpa is not doing well. He will be in our prayers. May his life become easier.

 

[Junibutt]

Busy day! At one point I had 15 people in my living room. So far 27 visitors have stopped by & I haven't had time to count all the chicks. Cookie's other choc cuckoo chick hatched this afternoon, so I moved her & the chick into the bog brooder. I’ve been slipping the incubator chicks under her. Poor gal can’t count, but I wonder if she realizes that she’s adopting about 20 more chicks. That’s a lot of babies from one egg! LOL


It looks like some quail eggs may have pipped, but none have hatched yet.


Here are a few of my fav pics....

Last night around 10:30pm when I 1st tried going to bed. See those lonely 2 chicks.

This morning at 10:30am. A very crowded incubator!



Here are 3 of the choc cuckoos. The one on left is darker. The other 3 are pretty light (almost like my mauves were). Brick & Godiva are the only combo to make these colored chicks. @Junibutt
Do they have the possibility of being cuckoo mauves or just a lighter brown?



Here's the darker choc cuckoo next to a black orp.


Here are a couple lavs. I think I have 4 (but more may hatch)



Black orps


This chick had something important to say.



Cookie in the brooder. (in the garage)

No Chick dust in the house!


Chicks can go under hen & the overflow can snuggle under the Mama Heating Pad.

Congrats on a great hatch. Beautiful chicks as well. Those choc cuckoos are just choc cuckoos if they are Godiva's eggs. however if they are Oopsie's then we never know. lol. Although mauve cuckoo should have been much lighter.

On my end, I ordered some choc mottled and lav mottled eggs for my broodies. The eggs arrived today. however one of the broodies quit 3-4 days ago and the 2nd did not sleep in the nest yesterday. So I am worried about giving her the eggs. Maybe I should put these eggs in the bator and give her store eggs to make sure she is going to stay. I should also probably separate her so that she is not bothered by others to get off the nest. I will be in trouble if I don't have a broody by the time these hatch. Any suggestions? Haha!

 

[Faraday40]

I would put the shipped eggs into the incubator after resting for 12-24 hrs. I get a better hatch if I keep them upright (no turning) for the 1st 2 days of incubation . That helps the wobbly air cells firm up. In the meantime, give your broodies some fake eggs to keep them going. You can swap the eggs out as late as day 18.

Oopsie went slightly broody but wasn't up for the task. (Thankfully I didn't give her eggs from the incubator.) She was the 1st LF orp to even try. Once she was sitting tight on the eggs I moved her to a broody apartment. She stayed on them for another 2 days & then kept walking away. I kind of wonder if she was faking just to keep the clumsy roos away. Now she's not laying nor broody. Silly bird! Thank goodness she's cute.

Cookie to the rescue. She started going full broody & since she's an experienced hen, I blocked off her nest & had her sit on some golf balls. I waited until day 18 & then decided to risk 2 eggs. (Sadly, one got smashed but it wasn't her fault.) Now she's happily clucking away to over 20 chicks in the brooder & I'm still adding more.


PS- All 3 of the Penciled Rocks hatched overnight! (Plus 2 more lav orps & a ton of brown Coturnix quail) I more pipped orp egg & 1 EE egg left.

 

[ChicagoClucker]

Looks like a great hatch @Faraday40 !

 

[Faraday40]

Thanks & congrats on your new chicks too! Can't wait to see pics of those Jubilee as they feather out!

 

[NotAFarm]

PS- All 3 of the Penciled Rocks hatched overnight! (Plus 2 more lav orps & a ton of brown Coturnix quail) I more pipped orp egg & 1 EE egg left.

Yay, for broodies!

..and congrats on the great hatch!

I'm hoping for a few broodies so I can move my Easter Hatchalong eggs from the incubator before they hatch!

 

[Faraday40]

Cookie is happily clucking away at her little chicks. A few more still need to be slipped under her, but I have my final count:
6 lav orps
4 choc cuckoo orps
5 black orps (2 are from Oopsie, so who knows what genes are in there. One may actually be a blue, but I can't tell while it's under Cookie.)
1 sexlink hybrid female or a pure black orp (Egg looked like it came from my Dominique, but chick looks like a purebred, so I marked it with red leg band to examine later)
2 sexlink EE females (green leg bands)
3 penciled rocks

I just did an egg-topsy & discovered that one of the EEs was malpositioned. It was fully formed & the yolk was completely absorbed. It internally pipped upside down & either drowned or bled. All the other eggs hatched, so overall it was a good hatch.

I will probably grow out the penciled rocks in order to keep one female & maybe a lav orp. The rest will all be sold. If you know of anyone wanting some English orps, send me a pm. I have a couple people coming this weekend to whom I promised some chicks.

 

[jnckids]

Chicken pile!

 

[Faraday40]

Chicken pile!

cute!

 

[Faraday40]

I unplugged the incubator.

21/23 chicken eggs hatched. (One died because it was malpositioned. The other died because my clumsy roo smashed it.)

15/18 quail eggs hatched (One had deformed scissor beak, one was fully formed but never hatched, one egg was clear but couldn't tell from candling)
Last time we had a small hatch of mostly white quail & only one brown. This time it was a larger hatch with only brown quail and zero white. Very strange since the parents are the same.