Incubators Anonymous

[Arielle]

Quote:
Karen, THese are gorgeous. At first I thought these were golden laced wyandottes, which I love, but these are . . . . gorgeous.

 

[Arielle]

I was popping in to say while working on yard clean up-- I heard that special peep-peep that only a young chick makes.
My head swivels focusing in on the sound. A missing hen with 4 chicks.

DH and I are already behind on making coops and pens. DH is still playing catch up despite the finished 4 x 8 tractor for the speckled sussex and the one day start to finish coop for some juvies to kick out of the house.

It took me all of about 3 hours to decide we don't have the time to make another house for a broody and her brood; chicks whisked away to live with the 4 poults, who need baby sitters anyway. and hen is back with the flock.

And one less thing to do!!

Yes, incubators are still shut off.

 

[ki4got]

Quote: YIKES! it's amazing anyone's willing to breed them like that... you put a small fortune of food into them just to get your first egg!
but they sure are purty

 

[seventreesfarm]

I was popping in to say while working on yard clean up-- I heard that special peep-peep that only a young chick makes.
My head swivels focusing in on the sound. A missing hen with 4 chicks.

DH and I are already behind on making coops and pens. DH is still playing catch up despite the finished 4 x 8 tractor for the speckled sussex and the one day start to finish coop for some juvies to kick out of the house.

It took me all of about 3 hours to decide we don't have the time to make another house for a broody and her brood; chicks whisked away to live with the 4 poults, who need baby sitters anyway. and hen is back with the flock.

And one less thing to do!!

Yes, incubators are still shut off.

Boy do I know that lightning thought process. Some 'surprise' happens and you run through all the assorted ways to cope, usually involving money, materials and more time than weekend. Sometimes it's almost impossible not to go off on a crazy tangent.

Congratulations on not taking on another project

 

[WinklerFarms]

So I now have two of my cx pullets laying! I set some test eggs in the bator and the third egg from th first pullet is growing. I know it probably won't hatch as the egg is quite small but I will try just to see! Now it is about time to take my del x hamp roo out of there and put in my biggest dellie cockerel. They may not be quite ready but I guess I will see. Plus just hatched out another 50 Amish surprise chicks and Friday more cream legbar chicks will be hatching.

 

[Arielle]

So I now have two of my cx pullets laying! I set some test eggs in the bator and the third egg from th first pullet is growing. I know it probably won't hatch as the egg is quite small but I will try just to see! Now it is about time to take my del x hamp roo out of there and put in my biggest dellie cockerel. They may not be quite ready but I guess I will see. Plus just hatched out another 50 Amish surprise chicks and Friday more cream legbar chicks will be hatching.

THose girls need time to dispose of the old boy to be sure the chicks are all from the NEW boy--that should give the eggs time to become a larger size for setting.

I have set plenty of pullet eggs and they hatch. Just watch the air cell development--I have sometime moved the eggs over to the hatcher with a higher humidity if the aircell has hit the perfect size BEfore day 18. SOme develop at the same rate.

Good luck.

 

[WinklerFarms]

Thanks,, I am taking that roo out tonight and will put a couple young dellie boys in there. I am not going to hatch any of the eggs for a couple weeks or more depending on the dellies. The first one already has decent sized eggs...now I wait!

 

[Arielle]

THe waitng is hard. One breeder I know of waits 5 weeks because once she got a mixed chick at 4.5 weeks. SOme people only wait 2.

I just put my speckled sussex hens in with the new rooster--wait, wait, wait . . . . . Everyone was very excited the first day. ROoster trying to hard to grab the hens , and the hens jumping away in a frenzy. Two days later ---all is peaceful. Wait, wait, wait.

 

[ki4got]

wow. this latest batch of chicks are related to pirranah i think. LOL didn't take them long (maybe 2 minutes?) to learn that my hand going into the brooder means a yummy snack of hand feeding formula mixed with chick crumbles. LOL usually layered nicely over my fingers from mixing it. fun to watch but boy my fingers are sore.

the hand feeding formula is for a few that were slow starters or just aren't thriving. i tube them till they're almost full, then mix the rest of the formula with crumbles and put on a paper plate in the brooder... it's a feeding frenzy and then some. i figured 2 feedings a day may boost them a bit to try and catch up to the others. tube feeding the littlest /weakest ones just to get their energy back up. seems to be working. they're actually in the shuffle trying to clean up the paper plate where the rest of the feeding formula and crumble mix goes.

i took a bit of video last night, but haven't got it online yet.

 

[Arielle]

Oh Karen, that must hysterical to watch.

DH and I often say chickens are much more fun than we ever thought.