Illinois...

[homeschoolin momma]

Sesame looks like a little garden gnome

She really does!!

 

[Justso]

Enjoying my relaxation time!*

*I think she's going to murder me tonight.

 

[Faraday40]

The school hatch update:

4 unpipped eggs left in the incubator. (a little jealous of those lav orps LOL) I may give her some chicks from here since her hatch was poor this time. (Humidity pump got disconnected over the weekend and dropped to 20%, so perhaps the last 4 got shrink wrapped.)

at home:
DS has a few eggs incubating right now, so we'll have some more fluffies in less than 2 weeks.. (Trial 1 for his science project) His idea was to test egg age and hatch rate.

2 eggs 14 days old, 2 eggs 13 days old.......etc down to 1 day old. (....but then I added 2 more that were fresh from the nest.... so less than 1 day old.) 30 eggs total but we really weren't expecting many from the 10+ days to hatch, so about a max of 20 possible chicks. They're also in an old styrofoam incubator, so less than optimum conditions. We'll see what happens and he plans to repeat.

 

[WhyDoILikeChickens]

Slight update

 

[homeschoolin momma]

@Faraday40 I only see maybe 1 spitz. Do we know what the other eggs that didnt make it were? Do we know if they were developed at all? Just want to know if the spitzs were fertile. I naturally assume they are, but am curious.

In other chicken news:
Phoenix did accept all 4 baby seramas. She did not accept the orps. I tried to put her and the babies out in the coop in the garage. *insert Rocky theme song* First she beat down poor Jasper until he was bleeding from his comb. I had to stick my hand in the middle of one screaming hot mama trying to kill the daddy for just "looking" at his babies. Cleaned up Jasper and put him up top. 5 minutes later round 2 ensued with Phoenix going all out against Pippin for she was just sitting on her 1 chick. Remove cougar mama and stuck her in a rubbermaid. Look at all 5 baby chicks, now running around all over the place while Pippin is trying to gather all 5 under her. Now to try to find Pips baby in that mess. (They ALL look alike) Good thing I examined the two older ones the other day and knew Pippin had a silkied one and Phoenix had a smooth feathered one or I'd be in trouble! Take Phoenix's babies and put them with her. Now since Pippin had been trying to gather all the babies, maybe she would adopt the lonely baby orps! Right? Uhh, yeah no. You would have thought I threw the alien chicken children in the coop. Screaming, pecking, more screaming. Sigh.....

So pip and jasper are parenting one chick in the coop. (By the way, hes a fantastic father) Phoenix has her 4 in a large rubbermaid in the garage. And I've got 3 orps in a recyling bin in the laundry room. It's going to be a long couple of weeks. Come on spring, get warm!

 

[Justso]

Slight update

WDILC thanks again and I say keep those coming! Really fascinating. Sad to look back on time lost, but it does give hope for the future.

 

[Faraday40]

@Faraday40 I only see maybe 1 spitz. Do we know what the other eggs that didnt make it were? Do we know if they were developed at all? Just want to know if the spitzs were fertile. I naturally assume they are, but am curious.

In other chicken news:
Phoenix did accept all 4 baby seramas. She did not accept the orps. I tried to put her and the babies out in the coop in the garage. *insert Rocky theme song* First she beat down poor Jasper until he was bleeding from his comb. I had to stick my hand in the middle of one screaming hot mama trying to kill the daddy for just "looking" at his babies. Cleaned up Jasper and put him up top. 5 minutes later round 2 ensued with Phoenix going all out against Pippin for she was just sitting on her 1 chick. Remove cougar mama and stuck her in a rubbermaid. Look at all 5 baby chicks, now running around all over the place while Pippin is trying to gather all 5 under her. Now to try to find Pips baby in that mess. (They ALL look alike) Good thing I examined the two older ones the other day and knew Pippin had a silkied one and Phoenix had a smooth feathered one or I'd be in trouble! Take Phoenix's babies and put them with her. Now since Pippin had been trying to gather all the babies, maybe she would adopt the lonely baby orps! Right? Uhh, yeah no. You would have thought I threw the alien chicken children in the coop. Screaming, pecking, more screaming. Sigh.....

So pip and jasper are parenting one chick in the coop. (By the way, hes a fantastic father) Phoenix has her 4 in a large rubbermaid in the garage. And I've got 3 orps in a recyling bin in the laundry room. It's going to be a long couple of weeks. Come on spring, get warm!

School eggs:
Two of the unpipped eggs look white & two chicks look like spitzes. (In the pic: one chick on left by thermometer and one on right behind the lav orp) That would give 4/4 fertile, so your roosters are doing a good job.

The eggs all looked good when candled but perhaps the weekend's humidity drop affected them. One of the unpipped eggs is the welsummer and the other is an orp.


Your Mama Drama:
Well, I'm glad the mamas adopted "most" of the chicks. Perhaps try Pip again in darkness. I found that getting the mamas to get along can cause a bit of drama. Once chicks are fully bonded with mama and running around easily, you can try putting them together in a divided coop. Use zip ties or clothes pins to hang some screen, netting, or hardware cloth across the middle of their run. The mamas will strut & trash talk each other...... but they won't fight because of that flimsy divider. (It's so funny because they could easily rip it down but as long as they can look tough, they accept not fighting.) If your run is too small, you could also set up some type of cage or play pen right next to the run so they share a wall. The idea is that they get used to seeing each other & the other chicks. Try moving groups and alternating sides. After 2-3 days, peel back 1/3 of the barrier. There may be a minor skirmish but the mamas will pretty much keep to opposite sides. Then after another day just remove the remaining barrier.


My Mama Drama Story:
MaiMai & Xansie fought a lot when Xansie 1st returned. I had to put them on opposite sides but didn't bother setting up a barrier. I started by giving Xansie just 3 hours in the coop & then brought her back inside. She pretty much just stayed in place and covered her tiny serama chick. It was pretty cold that week. Each day I added a couple more hours and eventually she started her scratch lessons. In addition, Teddy was there to step in when the girls wanted to scratch each other. I also added Sesame & her chicks and then they formed a strange alliance. Xansie and Sesame refused to go to bed in the coop. Instead they would fall asleep next to each other while waiting by the door to come into the house. For several days I allowed it. I just opened the door & they walked inside straight to their storage tubs. I decided to break the pattern and started putting them to bed in a shared nest box. After a few days, they caught on. Now they sleep next to each other and the chicks will sometimes have sleep overs under different hens. MaiMai doesn't join them, but she's always done her own thing. I'm just glad that she's nurturing her chicks and no longer trying to hatch the food bowl.

 

[BReeder!]

I'm really loving my Rouen drake's coloring. I had to snap some pictures earlier today while he was escorting his lady ducks on the patio to enjoy some puddles.

 

[WhyDoILikeChickens]

Ok so I just couldn't resist. I walked past so many times, I think I was just tempting myself till I failed. But when I saw they had light Brahma pullet chicks i had to
Darn you F&F ottawa.
I was actually going to buy their cornish cross but would have been stuck in my work truck for hours. When I went back they were gone but the Brahmas remained.

@BReeder! would have bought some ducks if I knew more about them. They accidentally double ordered.

 

[Faraday40]

I'm really loving my Rouen drake's coloring. I had to snap some pictures earlier today while he was escorting his lady ducks on the patio to enjoy some puddles.
View attachment 2056471View attachment 2056472

Got a silly question but how is Rouen duck different than a Mallard duck? To my untrained eye, they look about the same.
(but I agree that he's very pretty)