INCUBATING w/FRIENDS! w/Sally Sunshine Shipped Eggs No problem!

[DwayneNLiz]

Maybe not good to kick them into the snow. Mine did experience 34* their third night out. Seriously never expected them to adjust so fast!

You sound lucky I hope mine are good little duckies

 

[Ur-ur-ur-urrr]

Anyone know the breeds this barnyard mix is.

Looks like a golden laced whooping crane to me. Could be wrong...

 

[mlm Mike]

Quote: Yep!

 

[chicken hawk 33]

I couldn't find that breed online

 

[kwhites634]

Wow... seventeen times??? I hope you're finally there.

That won't take long to wrap up. Will that be it, or is there more to the build?

Just piddly stuff; no show stoppers. Got to putty some errant screw holes, paint over them, & nail the corner mold on (the only nails, other than the simplex roof nails, in the whole coop). 'Course, I still gotta build some kind of run.

 

[Chaos18]

I thought the lines I drew on the top of the egg would be a pretty good indicator, but obviously they decided they don't have to follow the rules. Hmm... reminds me of me! We should get along great!!!   

I would agree with you, but Ant Farm might take it the wrong way. Just a hunch...   

Wait.....you don't follow the rules? Ant Farm knows your harmless so I'll just blame you.

 

[Chaos18]

Looks like a golden laced whooping crane to me. Could be wrong...   

And a boy one at that.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Thank you. We haven't had to do that but I guess we must. Does it keep the ants out?

OK, so you all probably realize that my "handle" here has some basis in reality - the thing that grows best here is... fire ant mounds. It's bad enough that I actually have developed a sort of immunity to their stings/bites. I'm surprised at all the anti-ant solutions - are my chickens really that different? They LOVE eating ants! My Cream Legbars found mound and scratched the thing into oblivion, eating all the larvae. Ants crawling up their legs, they didn't really care (though they'd step back every once in a while to shake it off). It was a food orgy!!!

Next time I find a mound in my garden beds, I'm bringing out the Cream Legbar hens - best ant exterminators ever!

If you build it, they will come. No predators 'yet' is a common refrain.
A friend of mine had a raccoon get into a tiny opening in the pen and kill a chicken. She said she wanted to trap IT. As though there was only one raccoon around. I then sent her some pictures.

I build every coop assuming that if I go outside at night, this is what I'll find. Not a bad approach, as they pull the side of my house off to climb into my attic. This morning I found raccoon scat near the coops, and the fly traps dragged all over the place (one opened). All chickens completely safe. I'm not an idiot - one may eventually find a way in. But all my coops are very secure for a very good reason...

Quote:
I cull/process in a little alcove near the hose faucet that cannot be seen from almost anywhere else, in my yard or from the neighbors, for this reason.

Quote: You bad boy...

They had retired the chisel and stone but we did use an abacus for the first couple years. No, I'm not kidding. It was so modern, the beads were actually plastic instead of wood.
Calculators weren't around for another 20 years.

I had an abacus as a toy when I was a small child. I'm only 45, but my mother was a teacher and my father was an engineer. It was inevitable...

Quote: I want dairy goats - BADLY. (I make cheese and other dairy products.) I originally said to myself "I'll wait until I retire." Then I took stock of what my back, neck, and left knee feel like NOW some days, and decided that I may not be all that interested in that work when I'm 65 or 70 (everyone in my family is very healthy and lives a long time... with lots of artificial joints in place). So, I'm getting goats either next year or the following (depending on how long it takes me to stabilize the chicken math situation).

Quote: Oh, man, I had a HAND HELD Texas Instruments calculator - SUCH a big deal - with glowing red numbers (that you have to hold at the right angle to read). It was amazing how much fun a kid could have with a calculator, just playing games with numbers. (Ummmm.... Yeah, geek. Did I mention the father-an-engineer thing?)

Quote: You know, CC, I SERIOUSLY considered just starting with Penedescencas before I bought my first chick (I was doing all that breed research). I opted not to because I didn't have experience with chickens, and surmised (rightfully, I think), that they'd be hard for a beginner. I'm now up to my ears in my own project(s), but every time I see your birds, I am tempted to set up a space and coop for them in the back of my property and let them be free and see how they do...

Same here.
I think that's what people use emojis for. I hate them. I just thought my humor would shine through. Apparently I was overly optimistic in that regard.

You have an outstanding dry wit.

Tomorow will be extremly hot here, 36C almost 100F, so it is time for electrolytes and Chickensicle!

Thanks for the reminder - it was 91F today, I need to start making these for my peeps...

@Ur-ur-ur-urrr
@ChickenCanoe

Soliciting suggestions:

What could I use, that's pliable, to fasten to the hinge side of the top of an exterior nest box & up the side of the coop, to keep the weather out?

Thought about inner tube, but I don't have any, & it seems wasteful to buy a new one just to cut it up.

The other suggestions were more durable sounding, but I thought I'd share... My first thought was Gorilla tape. Bet it'd work.

Open mouth and check choanal slit for pus or foreign body like foxtail. Any discharge from nostril? Also look very closely where that pus is accumulating. If there is more hidden , you'll need to "milk" it out.

Photo above by BYC's @Nambroth

I found a rooster with a nasty infected eye, but no other signs of respiratory infection, so I removed the pus as best as I could and set him free. Several days later the pus was back, so I did it again, but this time I was more aggressive and manged to get this out of his choanal slit:



I'm not saying that your pullet has something stuck in there, just want to let you know that not all eye pus/swellings are from respiratory infections.


-Kathy

Have I mentioned lately that you are my hero??!! Such a guardian angel for everyone's chickens and flocks, always making yourself available, accepting of the concept of "being on call" all the time. So glad you are here (on this thread and on BYC).

I should be ashamed... I've posted this on three different threads... but I'm NOT!

And so it begins. I had a feeling my eggs would follow suit of the last two batches, and hatch a day early. This evening is day 19, and I have a pip!!!

While it's at the wrong end, I'm not too concerned at this time. I've hatched several that pipped in the same spot, and they've all been healthy and grown into healthy, happyy adults. It can take up to 24 hours before zipping begins, so I think I'm still on track for a Tuesday hatch. I only need another 18 pips... and 19 zips... then I can start to relax. Come on chickies!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!

(BTW, I know you don't read back - here are the paddock pics I posted for you - finally switched the poor grass starved Naked Necks, they are SOOOOO happy now!)
Before:

After:

Eleven baby three pips and one waiting on.

Hurrah!!!! Congrats, CH! Good job, and good job letting them do their thing and hatch on their own! They are lovely chicks.

I'm glad you were able to read "the sign"... but you might want to work on your timing a little bit. I think after the first golfball size hit me in the head, the chickens would have had to fend for themselves. I love my chickens, but I love not having knots on my head even more. Just my 2c...

Yeah, I was way back in the back and couldn't get in fast, and I also thought it would stop (it went on for much longer than I expected or had experienced before). Recently we had 4.5" hail that broke car windshields. I didn't know if it would get worse, and didn't want the chickens to have to deal with that - the ones that didn't take shelter were mostly the young ones who didn't know better. You can BET they know better now!!!!

- Ant Farm

 

[Ur-ur-ur-urrr]

Wait.....you don't follow the rules? Ant Farm knows your harmless so I'll just blame you.

I read somewhere on the internet that rules are made to be broken. If it's on the internet, it must be true!

Go ahead... blame me. Everyone else does...

 

[DwayneNLiz]

I call you "mostly harmless." Anyone else like that book?






Hey everybody, guess what? I'm doing a big post soon all about it, but for now y'all will have to sit tight.... (Hint: look at my avatar!!) e
-Banti

Quackers!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhh