Is incubation time for eggs the same when they're under a broody hen as when they're in an incubator

[annanimal]

Hahahahahahahaha, poor you, i can just imagine you running through the woods looking for pigs, good thing you caught them all!!

Very creative way to build a pig "coop", i am still laughing at the thought of you chasing pigs.

I cant believe those little fuzz butts got out of their dog coop, the big ones didnt atack any of the other ones that had gotten out, right, only the one that jumped out of your arms?
I got Midnight and Sunshine a waterer and feeder because i was tired of having to check and see if they knocked their water over every 20 minutes and cleaning up the mess of their food so that it doesnt atract rats...
The waterer and feeder that i got dont have a little loop on top so that i can hang it, i didnt notice that when i bought them so i cant hang them high enough so that they dont send the food flying everywere, oh well at least i dont have to worry about the water...

I made brownies today, they are DELICIOUS i dont mean to brag but yum yum yum.
Haha Natasha is so funny, i cant believe she actually sat on the kittens, what did their mom do?
To bad you couldnt keep the ducks...
I just realized that i hadnt taken any pictures of the chickens either, i will get my camera out tomorrow and take a few of the coop and of the chickens!
Yes that is another island that you see it is pretty far away though, when i take the pictures of the coop and chickens i will take a picture of another island that you can see from my window.
I went outside today and Boots was lying beside Soliel (the mama) and they were just enjoying the sun, it was adorable but i was late for work so i couldnt take a picture...
Alright, bye for now, i will try to take some pictures tomorrow and post them!

 

[DuckiesGarden]

The little escapees weren't getting bothered by the bigger chickens, only that one that hopped out of my hands, but like I said, I think the others thought I was dropping food and they grabbed at it not taking time to see it was a chick not food! If the new ones weren't so tiny I'd let them have run of the coop yard but I just don't trust it yet! They can fit thru the fence so I'm worried them going in and out would be too much temptation for the cats! Here's how I've got them set up now:



That's Duckie sitting there keeping guard. He doesn't seem to be interested in the chicks, just their food!
Yeah that pig fiasco was definitely funny! Afterwards! LOL

They'd probably find a way to make a mess of it even if you had been able to hang it up! Like you said, at least you got the water handled! You could try and hand some cottonballs soaked in peppermint oil in front of their spot if you think the rats might try to bother them. Or set their food bowl in a box like you used for their dust bath spot. That way anything they spill stays in the box and it'd be easier to just dump out the box when it's time to clean up.
Natasha kept chasing the mama cat(Jakepaws) off. I ended up having to move the kittens so she could at least feed them! Silly duck. She never did sit on the eggs she laid long enough for them to do anything. I think she thought the kittens were her ducklings and didn't need to sit on the eggs. I'd love to have ducks again! But only if we can figure out how to make them stay at the pond! I'll have to take a pic of the pond so you can see it. It's a perfect duck pond. I found a couple I took of it last fall:



There's wild ducks that live in the trees around it, you'd think our ducks would have loved to hand out there! Stupid ducks.
MMMMMMMMM, brownies! That sounds good! It was Jim's birthday last week and I made a chocolate cake with dark chocolate frosting. Very yummy! I'm a sucker for anything chocolate!

 

[DuckiesGarden]

Those fall pics made me wonder...Do the trees there turn colors in the fall? Or do they lose their leaves at all?

 

[annanimal]

WOW!!!
That cage and run you have for them is amazing!!
It is so nice, how did you make it?
Good news, remember my to do list?
Well i got a couple of things done on it, i dont actually remember what was on it but i did something that i had said i was going to do, remember that little "space" that i was going to fix up for the 5 older chicks and the 6 younger ones?
I did it!!!!
Like i had said it has an outside area and an inside area, it is very big and it can definietly fit more chicks comfortably.
I will have to take some pictures, here i go again saying that i am going to take pictures of everything...

Good thing that the big birds dont bother the new little chicks.
I decided to give Moonlight and Sunshine some cut up apple and a broken pomegrante yesterday to see how they react, they enjoyed it for a full 10 seconds and then started having a contest of who can throw the pomegrante the furthest.... spoiled little brats, then i went to the other chicks and gave them some and they loved it, i have created two little monsters.

Good job Duckie, dont let anything get past you, not even a fly.

Well, yesterday i decided that i am not going to let them make a mess of it any more, this is before i read your post, so i decided to try and hang the feeder so i got a needle and went to work, i started by putting a whole in the top and then another and another but the plastic was quite strong so it was a bit hard, finally i got a hole in the top that was big enough to fit the wire thingy that i wanted to fit through but i couldnt just have one hole so i started again, anyway, long story short i finally got two holes in the top but i had no where to hang it so i went inside and got a nail and a hammer and tried to nail it in the roof but the dust kept falling in my eyes so i went inside and gott sunglasses, 3 nails later i decide that i will just nail it to the wall which i did and i hung the feeder but the little devils didnt like it there so five minutes later they had knocked it over so then i came inside frustrated and went on the computer and you had replied so i started reading and i got to the point were you said to put it in the box, i ran outside put it is a box and saw how they reacted, they jumped in the box and started eating, they didnt even scratch the food, i guess they knew that there was no way of making a mess so they decided just to eat there quitly.
I cant believe i rambled on for this long about a chicken feeder, all i wanted to say was thank you for the idea, it was very smart and now i dont have to worry about the rats, i just bring the box inside every day.
I am not worried that the rats are going to kill them or anything, they are just such filthy animals that i dont want them around the house, they are big enough to defend themselves now, i think, even if they arent nothing can get in their spot.
Haha, can you imagine, a duck mama to kittens?
Wow the pond is very nice, i dont see any reason why they wouldnt want to stay there, maybe the wild ducks were bothering them, who knows...

I love everything chockolate as well!!!
No, the trees dont turn different color in the fall, i do have one little plant that turns red in the winter though and green in the summer, it is very nice!

 

[DuckiesGarden]

Thanks for saying that chick cage is amazing! It's just one of the dog crates and some chicken wire tho! I bent the wire into a half tube and put some more wire over one open end and the other open end up against the crate so they can go back and forth. I'm going to have to make it bigger soon!
Awesome job getting one more thing off your to do list!!! Sounds like you got them set up real cozy!

LOL, Spoiled is right! The others knew something good when they got it! Mine would have gobbled it up before it hit the ground!
I'm glad the box trick worked out for you! I figured they'd still make a mess tho, just make it in the box! I guess putting it in there took the fun out of scattering it to the 4 winds! LOL. At least if they do spill it in the box, you can just dump the spillage right back into thier bowl!
Yeah a duck mama would have been funny, I wonder what would have happened if she had gotten a chance to lead her kittens to the pond! I can see her swimming around with little cats swimming along behind her all in a line! HAHAHA

I hadn't thought about the wild ducks bothering them! That's actually a good possibility! Especially if the wild ones had nests!
The trees turning color is one of the reasons fall is my favorite time!
Guess what? Biddy's chick hatched! Just a few hours ago! It's all black so far except it's front toes are yellow. I'm thinking of putting it with the other chicks but I'm giving it time to dry off and get it's strength. Here's pics!

 

[DuckiesGarden]

I tried putting them in hatching order but it didn't come out that way!

 

[annanimal]

Well it is amazing!
Do they go I there at night?
Next year I might make something like that if I get the incubator set.
Nah they only enjoy making a mess so that they can see me clean it up.
Lol just kidding, they started making a mess the second day but it is really easy to clean up.
Haha and if the kittens got tired they would hop on her back.
I can't believe they hatched, has it already been 21 days?
Wow, time goes fast!
How many have hatched so far?
That chick must have been from one of Biddies eggs.
Why aren't you going to let Biddy raise the chick?
Ooh you should put all the chicks under Biddy, never mind, scratch that, it would just overwhelm her, has she ever raise chicks before?
Ths is so exciting, do you hear any other eggs pipping?
Is that going to be the only chick, if it is than you can try putting a couple of the other chicks under her and taking out the eggs.

 

[DuckiesGarden]

LOL, I love telling you what I do with the chickens! Your such a confidence boost when I think I made this monstrosity of a cage for the chicks you tell me it looks amazing! Your great! I actually added another bit of wire to it to make it longer and taller at one end so I could put the waterer on the ground and not in the dog crate since they kept making a mess of the water(sound familiar?). So now their food and water are out in the grass and the crate is just the grass hay and thier little box house that they sleep in at night. I put another bigger crate over the smaller crate so if it rains they won't get wet at all, and I put a flannel blanket in between to keep it insulated so they're mosty toasty at night(it's actually been almost cold here at night for some reason). So now that I feel it's secure and all I've been leaving them in all the time. They go in their box house at night and when I go out in the morning to let the others out and check on everyone they're all happily pecking away in the grass and rolling around in the dirt. Plus, they're right next to the big chickens so I think it's helping for everyone to get used to each other. I'm hoping it'll make introductions easier when the time comes to put them in the big coop.

That would be so funny! A bunch of little cats riding around on the back of the mama duck!

That little chick actually hatched right on time! I had the 29th circled on the calendar just for an estimate and lo and behold there it was! It was from one of Biddies eggs, it hatched from a brown egg and the Biddies are the only ones that lay brown eggs right now. It's hard telling what it'll grow up like! Biddie is a black star which is actually a cross between a Rhode Island Red roo and a barred rock hen and then Pickles is an Old English Game bantam but his colors are all mixed up. I'm calling the new chick Rico (my mom's idea) since it's all black like her cat that's named Rico. It does have a little bit of white under it's chin tho, and it's toes are funny since their all black except for the middle toe of each foot is yellowish. And, I decided to go ahead and let Biddie take care of it. I went so far as to take little Rico out of the nest and headed over to the other chicks but I changed my mind! I felt bad taking her baby after she worked so hard sitting on it. Plus, it's so much smaller than the other chicks. No, she's never raised any chicks before, this is the first time in all the years of having her that she's even sat on any eggs! But I'm going to leave her to it and see how it goes. She's still sitting on some eggs but I don't think they have anything in them. I'm going to go out and check again today. Ginger or Georgie laid an egg yesterday in her nest so I'm going to leave it in there until they decide if they want to sit again. I figure that'll give it a head start. Are your girls still sitting on eggs?

 

[annanimal]

Haha, trust me that cage is beautiful compared to some cages that I have tried to build!
I am glad that I am a confidence boost but I just tell the truth!
Yes, it sounds very very familiar, every night when I lock them in their cage I put their waterer in with them and every morning when I let them out it is filled with sawdust and they follow me around until I clean it out but it is very easy to clean and then they drink and they drink and they drink...
The crate that you have for them is just a big dog crate right?
I have two of Roxy's old ones but I don't think they are big enough to fit water, food and a nice little area to sleep in, oh well I will just go and buy one if I get the incubator set...
Does a hen fit in that crate?
Can you move their little coop easily?
If you can, I say you put it right against the chicken coop so that they can see them real easy, or even put the little coop in the big coop.
I made a box house too, the bad thing is a broody hen doesn't fit in one of those boxes so it is only for Midnight and Sunshine...
I think I am going to change Sunshine's name because it is a bit girly for him, he is now known as Tweetie.
I have got to go and feed everyone and then get ready for work again but I will be on soon.
Yes, all my broodies are still sitting, I have two new ones too, I will tell you about them later!

 

[annanimal]

Ok i am going to make this quick because i have got to go.
My hen had chicks and the other one that was right beside her saw that and they decided to share them.
There were 5, 4 yellow ones and one black/yellow i think.
She killed the one and the other is sick.
She killed the black/yellow one by squishing it, it had just come out of its egg and hadnt even dried off and i guess she squished it...

The other one looks sick, i dont think it is going to live, i dont have time to take care of it and i feel terrible about that...

The other three are healthy and happy but i have to build them a little coop.
I put the other eggs that didnt hatch under another broody that doesnt have any eggs under her and i want to see if they hatch.
And the last broody is due any day now too i just kept forgeting to tell you, she has four eggs under her.
Got to go, will take pictures soon!!!

The two that are sharing the chicks arent very good mothers, i dont know about the one that has four eggs under her but the one that i just put the eggs under is so great!