M
member 544621
Guest
Hi all,
It has been a while since I had birds - now have 8 chickens (4 roo's and 4 hens, pretty sure). They are about 3.5 months old now. Started with 10 (that we hatched in an incubator) - just farmyard chickens from local eggs to get a handle on inubating eggs (it is a brinsea, so pretty easy!) - lost one to a black snake (whole other story - continued below) and one that just didn't thrive... The roos will be going into the slow cooker soon, as they are starting to crow now - which is amusing... for now. LOL
Hatched 34 chukar eggs (started with 49) - unfortunately the power went out for about 1.5 hours 3 days before the chukar were due to hatch, or I believe we would have had a much better hatch rate...Then we lost about 10 5-6 week old chukar to black snakes so far - of the ten - 6 were left because they were too big. This was as a result 3 different snakes getting into the hen house or yard... The chicken wire obviously doesn't keep them out of the birdpen and I believe two got in through a very small crack in the door to the henhouse....going to get that resolved soon. Just saw another HUGE black snake cross the road, 1/4 mile from our house... (had NO idea there would be that many around - we have already relocated 4! in the last month!)
Have 10 mallard eggs in the incubator now - they are due to hatch in a week. These and the chukar will be used for dog training (I understand some people may be offended by this, however, I have no intention of hiding the fact that I use birds to train hunting dogs). And yes, I do have the paperwork for the eggs and will clip the duckling dew claws to id them as domestic.
After the mallards are hatched, I am putting in some deathlayer eggs... These, I am really looking forward to because I think they are just stunning as far as 'looks' goes, and I think it is neat to have a 'heritage' breed. Looking forward to keeping them. If they lay well, I may just sell the farmyard pullets to someone who doesn't care if they have a purebred chicken.
It has been a while since I had birds - now have 8 chickens (4 roo's and 4 hens, pretty sure). They are about 3.5 months old now. Started with 10 (that we hatched in an incubator) - just farmyard chickens from local eggs to get a handle on inubating eggs (it is a brinsea, so pretty easy!) - lost one to a black snake (whole other story - continued below) and one that just didn't thrive... The roos will be going into the slow cooker soon, as they are starting to crow now - which is amusing... for now. LOL
Hatched 34 chukar eggs (started with 49) - unfortunately the power went out for about 1.5 hours 3 days before the chukar were due to hatch, or I believe we would have had a much better hatch rate...Then we lost about 10 5-6 week old chukar to black snakes so far - of the ten - 6 were left because they were too big. This was as a result 3 different snakes getting into the hen house or yard... The chicken wire obviously doesn't keep them out of the birdpen and I believe two got in through a very small crack in the door to the henhouse....going to get that resolved soon. Just saw another HUGE black snake cross the road, 1/4 mile from our house... (had NO idea there would be that many around - we have already relocated 4! in the last month!)
Have 10 mallard eggs in the incubator now - they are due to hatch in a week. These and the chukar will be used for dog training (I understand some people may be offended by this, however, I have no intention of hiding the fact that I use birds to train hunting dogs). And yes, I do have the paperwork for the eggs and will clip the duckling dew claws to id them as domestic.
After the mallards are hatched, I am putting in some deathlayer eggs... These, I am really looking forward to because I think they are just stunning as far as 'looks' goes, and I think it is neat to have a 'heritage' breed. Looking forward to keeping them. If they lay well, I may just sell the farmyard pullets to someone who doesn't care if they have a purebred chicken.
Enjoy your time here!
We are glad you joined this flock!
