INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[JanetMarie]

Here's my strange situation....
I have an old orp (Mr Dummy) who's willing to mate but has some physical limitations (a limp). I have seen him mate but wonder if it's "effective." I've trimmed the excess fluff to help him out.

I also have my laced orps. They're 10 months old. I've seen that roo (Mr Wonderful) mate but when I candled my incubating eggs, only a couple eggs were fertile. Today I cleaned & trimmed them a little more, because the schools will start hatching next week.

From the 1st test hatch results, I discovered the laced roo mated the lav hens & the blk/lav & lav split mated the laced. I got rid of the young lav (Dinner) since he had some gold leakage. Sadly, he was a Romeo and the hens' fav. (He was only 5 mo old!) The boys get along and always have, but I am separating them during the day so I could hatch some laced orps.

The laced hens have been separated for 2 months. The laced orps are in a chicken tractor with a nest box during the day, and my old blk/lav split has the rest of the flock in the coop/run. At night when the roosters go into the garage, the laced girls get put back into the coop. This is working great for keeping my breeders separated, but I'm still wondering why the laced orp eggs are not 100% fertile. Recently I'm not seeing the laced roo mate. Mr Wonderful only has to fertilize 2-3 hens for goodness sake. Last summer we had 2 orp roos for 18 hens & fertility was never a problem.

Could the tractor be cramping Mr Wonderful's style? (Like fishing in a barrel.) Could the hens still be longing for the lav boy we gave away and not allowing the laced roo to mate? Any suggestions beyond trims? Vitamins? Romantic dinner?

BTW- Today while I was grooming the laced hens, Crystal kept squatting with her wings out. So why won't she do this for her rooster!?

This doesn't answer your question, but what I saw here with Mr. Dummy having a limp and mating may become a problem with the hens.

I had an Orpington that had a leg problem and limping, walking different than normal. He mated the hens, but with some difficulty, and his spur tore the vent of one hen.

She developed some bacteria in her vent (it looked like vent gleet) and I had to bring her in the house for a while. Her condition deteriorated rapidly, and she was on her way out. I gave her amoxicillin, and she got better quickly.

I didn't trim his spurs and they were long. I should have kept his spurs trimmed and filed smooth.

 

[Faraday40]

@Indyshent and @JanetMarie
Thanks for the ideas.

Mr Dummy has always been #1 roo - even with the limp. (He was de-throned briefly by his son last summer, but the son went to a farm. Dummy's back on top.) Mr Dummy did injure a hen's side, so we removed his spurs. They're nice & short now. The hen is in isolation to heal and prevent further injury. Dummy's not big into mating but we'll see him from time to time. He seems fine letting the young boys do the work. (The 5 mo old lav, named Dinner, was his great grandson & the flock Romeo. He's been out of the picture for 4 weeks now, but was kept away from the laced orps for over 8 weeks.) I think the girls would settle for their given rooster by now. I guess I'll find out in a couple weeks when the school eggs are developing - or not.

This morning Mr Wonderful circled a laced hen & she squatted under the hanging waterer. I could see his little brain trying to figure out how to mount her but the waterer was in the way. LOL Mr Wonderful is younger & a little smaller than Dummy. He seems to be too much of a gentleman. I just don't see him hen-chasing all day like most cockerels his age. He also never challenged Mr Dummy.

In some ways, Mr Wonderful reminds me of dear, old Brick. Brick was always a lover, not a fighter. Last summer when the 2 big roos were fighting for top roo, Brick let them fight it out while he stayed #3 and mated ALL the hens. I kept Brick around because I thought he was pretty (but "dumb as a brick"). I ended up giving him to a friend to stop my flock from becoming overpopulated with choc cuckoo orps! I love to visit him in his new home. He struts around and his new hens encircle him. He still remembers me and runs up to greet me when he hears my voice!
Remember Brick?

.... and what the hens thought of Brick.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

The tomato plants are dying off probably because they starved. I don't start the seeds too early, just 6-8 weeks before transplanting in the garden. 8 weeks is even a little too long.

A heat lamp and grow mat combined may be too much heat. I only use grow lights.

It is a grow lamp, not a heat lamp. Problem solved it was the seeds! I bought new seeds and everything is business as usual.

With those horrible thunderstorms last night I thought we were going to lose power so here's a question since my chicks are still under a heat lamp if we lost power what would you guys do?

We have kerosene heaters for backup. If power goes out I bring babies inside until its restored. My hubby has a Cpap so an alarm sounds if we lose power at night.

Late winter, I find myself LONGING for Spring. When Spring finally arrives, it's so easy to get distressed by having so many weather-dependent items on my to-do list.

My dining room table is covered in seedling flats, heat mats, and grow lights.

This year, one of my 4' grow lights died, as did my seedling fan. I bought a new seedling fan that oscillates, but even on the lowest setting, I have to keep it across the room so it won't blow my seedlings over! I've ordered a replacement 4' T-5 grow light fixture that should be delivered this week. My seedlings have all been stretching toward the single grow light fixture that's working and some are getting pretty leggy!

I have also been YouTube-ing over the winter. I plan to build a 6x8 greenhouse kit.

On YouTube, there's dozens of videos about greenhouse kit hacks. Two weeks ago, I started mine in the house. (DW was NOT enthused!) I had aluminum channels, polycarbonate panels, and screws and cardboard all over the house!

Last weekend, the greenhouse base I'd built in the house I took outside to the garden. Without exaggeration, it took me AN ENTIRE DAY to simply fashion a treated lumber base, square and level it, and sit the greenhouse base on it. (I was so grateful that the weather forecast included rain sufficient to cancel my outside work! )

I still have all 30+ of the polycarbonate panels in the TV room, leaning against the wall. I'm praying for decent weather this weekend so I can assemble the frame and install the panels. I'm pretty sure DW will have me outside regardless of the weather!

Oh I want that greenhouse too! I am hoping to get it by fall! hoping for good weather.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I am having same problem with notifications not coming to my email.. will look into it and try to figure it out.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I am excited to report we have 7 EE/OE (6 are lavenders!) and 2 leghorn chicks! Will try to get pictures ASAP.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@jchny2000
You wouldn't want to hatch and sell a few oe chicks around June 10 would you?

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

@jchny2000
You wouldn't want to hatch and sell a few oe chicks around June 10 would you?

Sure! The dad will be the dark cornish rooster by that time, but will still have the nice small pea comb. Most of my girls have the blue or green egg gene. I do want to do a test hatch from him to see what we get.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

OK I figured out how to fix the alerts. This happened last year too! upper right corner click the alerts box. Then middle top of page find alert preferences, click it. Check any of the alerts you want, scroll to bottom and click save.

 

[faerydust16]

Sure! The dad will be the dark cornish rooster by that time, but will still have the nice small pea comb. Most of my girls have the blue or green egg gene. I do want to do a test hatch from him to see what we get.

I wouldn't mind getting a blue egg gene in my flock! I love the color blue ♡♡

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I wouldn't mind getting a blue egg gene in my flock! I love the color blue ♡♡

I got lucky a few years ago, and was given a true Amerucana rooster. He was a good guy, excellent flock roo. Never a hint of a mean bone in his body! A hawk got him last month. He fathered a lot of beautiful lavender EE & OE chicks. I may try to find another someday, but I like the idea of adding the Beefy genes too! Beefy is my huge dark Cornish roo. He is also very well mannered with people and a heavy, solid big bird.