Illinois...

[cavemanrich]

It's still 45° F now, but started snowing, and sun was shining. I took in, into garage my flower pots that I have been placing outdoors for fresh air. Frost would finish off the plants

 

[Faraday40]

The kids were wearing shorts yesterday & wanted to wear shorts again today. I jokingly told them to put on a snowsuit. I didn't actually think it would snow! This afternoon, there was DS blowing bubbles in the snow. What a strange sight!

 

[Faraday40]

I brought Cookie inside last night to clean her up a little. (Orps have a lot of fluff. She laid a few soft eggs & had some egg on her feathers. Poor girl.) Afterwards she got a blow dry and some time inside to finish drying out. I just let her walk around & she was very interested in hearing Coge & her 2 chicks. Then Cookie went to the sliding door and saw all the other bantams with their chicks. Guess who's acting broody this morning?!!

Good old Cookie! I have an incubator full of eggs and no one I'd rather have in charge of them than my expert broody!

My 6 yr old bantam orpington, Cookie:

A new record. Broodiness is contagious. She just SAW other broody hens through the windows and the next day caught broody fever!


Going back to Coge. I put her back into the bantam coop today. She did OK. After a few hours, I added some treats, and Coge came running out of the coop. Where were her babies? I was so worried when I didn't see them! I checked the coop & the nest boxes. I started pushing bantams aside and searching for bodies in the bedding. I simply couldn't find them, & Coge didn't seem the least bit upset. I went back to the coop & found them content & warm under Sesame. Her chicks are 4.5 weeks, but I guess she didn't mind having them over for a play-date. Now they are settling down for the night & the 2 seramas are sharing a nest. I guess I won't have to worry.

 

[Molpet]

I brought Cookie inside last night to clean her up a little. (Orps have a lot of fluff. She laid a few soft eggs & had some egg on her feathers. Poor girl.) Afterwards she got a blow dry and some time inside to finish drying out. I just let her walk around & she was very interested in hearing Coge & her 2 chicks. Then Cookie went to the sliding door and saw all the other bantams with their chicks. Guess who's acting broody this morning?!!

Good old Cookie! I have an incubator full of eggs and no one I'd rather have in charge of them than my expert broody!

My 6 yr old bantam orpington, Cookie:
View attachment 2082480View attachment 2082482View attachment 2082483

A new record. Broodiness is contagious. She just SAW other broody hens through the windows and the next day caught broody fever!


Going back to Coge. I put her back into the bantam coop today. She did OK. After a few hours, I added some treats, and Coge came running out of the coop. Where were her babies? I was so worried when I didn't see them! I checked the coop & the nest boxes. I started pushing bantams aside and searching for bodies in the bedding. I simply couldn't find them, & Coge didn't seem the least bit upset. I went back to the coop & found them content & warm under Sesame. Her chicks are 4.5 weeks, but I guess she didn't mind having them over for a play-date. Now they are settling down for the night & the 2 seramas are sharing a nest. I guess I won't have to worry.

Plenty of warm fuzzy butts for those chicks

 

[bellaisa]

Hopefully my chicks make it we lost power last night so the eggs were driven across town to my mother's and then back home again today. We used a USB battery in the car so the temp stayed good. Do you think the car ride damaged the chick?

 

[Faraday40]

Hopefully my chicks make it we lost power last night so the eggs were driven across town to my mother's and then back home again today. We used a USB battery in the car so the temp stayed good. Do you think the car ride damaged the chick?

Some teachers I knew used to do bring their classroom incubators home every weekend. (Energy conservation policy would drop their school temp to about 45-50'F over weekends.) Transporting the incubator was not ideal but better than temp fluctuations all weekend.

If it's likely going to be a couple hours, it's better to wrap up the incubator in towels or comforter to maintain temp. A drop in temp for a little while will probably only delay the hatch - if anything. If the outage is uncertain and could last while, than a few bumpy roads is worth the risk. The teachers who brought their incubators home hatched chicks. Their unplugged, towel-wrapped incubators had to make 6 trips, so I doubt your little car ride would be too bad.

 

[Faraday40]

Plenty of warm fuzzy butts for those chicks

Seramas don't have fuzzy butts. LOL They make up for it by squishing in tight places.
Here's Sesame, both of her 4.5 wk old LF orp chicks, Coge, and her two 1 week old LF orp chicks. They all decided to go on the smaller side.

 

[WhyDoILikeChickens]

So I went to TSC today and got 6 golden comet pullets to put under my broody Icelandic hen.

I have 4 gold comets. They are very good layers. A bit skittish but not real bad. 2 of them will let me pick them up

 

[WhyDoILikeChickens]

Ok, these guys are 3 weeks old. Do you think they would be ok without heat in my garage? It gets down to about 50 when its cold outside. Also, impressions on gender? Look like girls, act like boys.
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I cant comment on the chicks but can u make my garage look like that?

 

[WhyDoILikeChickens]

Seramas don't have fuzzy butts. LOL They make up for it by squishing in tight places.
Here's Sesame, both of her 4.5 wk old LF orp chicks, Coge, and her two 1 week old LF orp chicks. They all decided to go on the smaller side.
View attachment 2082586View attachment 2082584

REALLY COOL FEATHERING ON YOUR SERAMA! (Ahem)