INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Leahs Mom]

That blue egg thing is very misleading. While there may have been something that caused the pigment to change way back in the genetics, there is NOT an active virus causing blue eggs.

Bad thing is that folks think they'll get a virus from a blue egg. Poorly written; poorly explained; needs to be qualified and re-stated by the magazine.

 

[bradselig]

How exciting to have little chicks running around! And more to hatch, too!  If you could grow out a pair of the German New Hampshire females for me, I'd be thrilled - and pay, of course!  The only place I have to use as a brooder is a bathtub, because the bathroom is about the only place I could shut off from the cats.  Starting them off in April would be great.  We will be ready for them just when they are ready to move.  Now I just need to track down Heirloom Barred Rocks and Rhode Island Reds.  Then, maybe an Australorp or a Marans or a Wyandotte.  There are so many wonderful chickens out there! 

if you can wait on yhe heritage barred rock I may have some chicks in a month. I have 2 dozen eggs coming this week. I can send you pictures of the breeding stock I got them from. I have a dozen from 2 different people

 

[pginsber]

That is a terrible article. People are already refusing blue and green eggs because they just seem weird. Now if they read the article, they'll refuse them because they are 'gross', and if they don't read the entire thing, they'll refuse them because 'oh my gosh, those eggs have a virus!'

I'm already reading reports of this happening among our fellow chicken keepers.

The truth is, virus or not, the color is in the shell only and doesn't affect the interior in any way. If you were to crack open a blue egg and a brown egg laid by hens from the same flock, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. What affects the quality of the egg is what the bird eats. If she is fed only crumbles and not allowed to forage, her eggs will likely not be as rich as those from a hen who is allowed to free-range. Yolk color is usually darker in birds that free-range as well, though that is not a great indicator of a bird's ranging time as one can do something such as feed marigolds to a cage-raised flock and get the same dark yolks as those of a free-ranging hen.


Interestingly enough, I have seen this with my own eyes (not the marigold effect, but the difference between a ranging hen and a hen eating nothing but crumbles). I have a rescued silver Sebright named Francine whose previous owner debeaked her and did it so badly that she has almost no upper mandible. She can eat nothing but crumbles because she can't pick anything up while free-ranging. I can tell which eggs she laid by cracking them open. Her yolks are much paler than the other Sebrights' and in general they don't seem as firm or taste as rich.

This is Frannie, by the way. She is understandably human shy, but I think she's just beautiful and she has a home here no matter what.

Frannie looks so SWEET...I'm so happy you have given her a forever home.

 

[pginsber]

I don't know if I want to use an incubator now. I haven't experienced anything quite like watching a momma hen with her chicks before. It really is something special.

It really was very special! I agree.
But, you can't play with them as much when they're with Mom, as if they were in the brooder. We talked and held ours quite a lot when they were inside. I do miss that!

 

[kabhyper1]

Here is a sneak peek. More to come when the hatch is done. Still a few pipped eggs under her. Just waiting. She doesn't mind me picking up the chicks so that's a plus.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

I don't know if I want to use an incubator now. I haven't experienced anything quite like watching a momma hen with her chicks before. It really is something special.

I kind of want both. Once I start getting a decent number of eggs a day, the incubator can set more, but I'm not sure the bator's hatch rate will ever be as good as a broody's rate. There are different issues with a broody but I would not have to think twice about a child touching that ever sensitive temp knob, or the humidity, or the power, or the turner.
My HRIR are supposed to go broody once in a while, but nothing like a silkie or sumatra. I have 3 Sumatra chicks that I will grow out and 1 sumatra roo from my last sumatra attempt. If I still don't have a hen, then I will break down and start looking for more local sumatra options, preferably chicks. But I have to say once they are hatched these sumatra chicks are very sturdy and seem to get up and go investigating the brooder area much faster than the other breeds I have hatched (PRIR, Mixed mutts, ducks, CL). It would not surprise me if the sumatra's were trying to escape in the next week or so. Something else a broody hen would take care of.

 

[pginsber]

We had no plans for hatching, and selected breeds with low broodiness.
I couldn't find much info on Cream Legbars, so I moved forward hoping for no broodiness.
Our CL layed for a month then went broody for two months.
Guess she had the last laugh, didn't she?

 

[kabhyper1]

Question, there are still pipped eggs under her. She just pooped on the chicks and eggs again, so I quickly lifted her off so I could get it out of the nest. It took like 5 seconds max. She never pooped in the nest the whole time she was sitting. Now that 4 of nine have hatched she has done it twice. Does that mean she is ignoring the rest of the eggs under her? A couple of them have been pipped about all day long. I really hope 5 of them don't pip and quit. Does it take a long time for an egg to zip once it has pipped sometimes?

 

[Leahs Mom]

Question, there are still pipped eggs under her. She just pooped on the chicks and eggs again, so I quickly lifted her off so I could get it out of the nest. It took like 5 seconds max. She never pooped in the nest the whole time she was sitting. Now that 4 of nine have hatched she has done it twice. Does that mean she is ignoring the rest of the eggs under her? A couple of them have been pipped about all day long. I really hope 5 of them don't pip and quit. Does it take a long time for an egg to zip once it has pipped sometimes?

Leave her to take care of it. She will know what to do. Quit disturbing her or she may leave them to die. She's not getting up because she knows she needs to stay with the babies and hatch. Poop won't hurt them.

If, for some reason, she leaves the nest for more than a few minutes and there are still live eggs working on hatching, you can try putting her back with the babies too. Or put the rest in an incubator.

Usually they WILL NOT leave the nest while there is a hatch in process unless someone takes their babies away.

Seriously. Leave her, her poop, her babies, and the hatching ones. She'll take care of it.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Also - if there are chicks that are unhealthy she will know that too. They usually have enough sense to let the weak ones die so that they don't become a drag on the rest of the brood and possibly get them all killed with predators.