July Hatch-a-Long (including 4th of July hatch-a-long)

[FortCluck]

Lockdown here starts tonight!

I didn’t put mine on lockdown

 

[FortCluck]

I'm not going to try again. With all the healthy breeds out there... I feel bad for the birdies.

I’m not trying either. I have 1 which is sold I’m done with that breed

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

My February hatch a long pullets started laying!!! They're 21 weeks today. I'm not exactly sure when it was layed but sometime over the last week. There are 3 pullets who it could have come from. An Isbar (Silverudd's), a Olive Egger/Barnevelder cross, or a Cream Legbar. I'm guessing one of the first two since it's a minty green. Can't wait for the rest of them to start!

I have 14 Isbar in the incubator right now. I'm so glad I ordered more. They're such a fun breed to work with.

Here's the pullet egg! Nobody else understand the excitement of a new layer but other chicken people. It's like Christmas! Here's a pic next to full size brown and green eggs for comparison.

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

I’m not trying either. I have 1 which is sold I’m done with that breed

BCM do require a bit of fortitude. That's for certain. However they're one of the reason I got into chickens. No matter what I just can't quit them.

 

[SnapdragonQ]

Also, the Bieles were super early hatching. They were all done by yesterday afternoon. Started a whole 24 hours early.

Good to know, thank you. I had read that sometimes the bigger breeds can be late hatchers so was thinking I could relax a little until Sunday. Sounds like I need to get my rear in gear and reset up the brooder! And thanks for sharing the numbers too. I thought you had 11 to start with like I did.

Also, on reading up on Bieles...someone mentioned in the reviews over on Murray McMurray...that keeping them on a little higher protein chick starter seemed to help them develop better/less apt to just keel over at 1 1/2. Their thought seemed to be that a little higher protein helped for a stronger heart? Not sure what to think on that.

 

[SnapdragonQ]

My February hatch a long pullets started laying!!! They're 21 weeks today. I'm not exactly sure when it was layed but sometime over the last week. There are 3 pullets who it could have come from. An Isbar (Silverudd's), a Olive Egger/Barnevelder cross, or a Cream Legbar. I'm guessing one of the first two since it's a minty green. Can't wait for the rest of them to start!

I have 14 Isbar in the incubator right now. I'm so glad I ordered more. They're such a fun breed to work with.

Here's the pullet egg! Nobody else understand the excitement of a new layer but other chicken people. It's like Christmas! Here's a pic next to full size brown and green eggs for comparison.
View attachment 2236789

I always tell my non-chicken friends that collecting eggs is like Christmas everyday! Yeah, they look at me funny too. I don't even bother trying to explain the excitement of finding little cadbury eggs.

 

[TheBajan]

Good to know, thank you. I had read that sometimes the bigger breeds can be late hatchers so was thinking I could relax a little until Sunday. Sounds like I need to get my rear in gear and reset up the brooder! And thanks for sharing the numbers too. I thought you had 11 to start with like I did.

Also, on reading up on Bieles...someone mentioned in the reviews over on Murray McMurray...that keeping them on a little higher protein chick starter seemed to help them develop better/less apt to just keel over at 1 1/2. Their thought seemed to be that a little higher protein helped for a stronger heart? Not sure what to think on that.

My Biel's hatched early also. Just FYI. Curious about the heart issue. Do they tend to have weak hearts? That's not something I had heard of before.

 

[RoseHawke]

Okay, a bit off topic, but, for those who are having FB problems, you might want to look into installing "Fluff Busting Purity" https://www.facebook.com/fluffbustingpurity/ . It made all the difference for me between signing off permanently, and actually being able to keep up with some things. It's not perfect, there's always going to be the odd person you end up blocking, but it has helped me tremendously.

 

[AgnesGray]

My February hatch a long pullets started laying!!! They're 21 weeks today. I'm not exactly sure when it was layed but sometime over the last week. There are 3 pullets who it could have come from. An Isbar (Silverudd's), a Olive Egger/Barnevelder cross, or a Cream Legbar. I'm guessing one of the first two since it's a minty green. Can't wait for the rest of them to start!

I have 14 Isbar in the incubator right now. I'm so glad I ordered more. They're such a fun breed to work with.

Here's the pullet egg! Nobody else understand the excitement of a new layer but other chicken people. It's like Christmas! Here's a pic next to full size brown and green eggs for comparison.
View attachment 2236789

Yay!! So much fun! Hopefully mine will be doing the same soon. That is one gorgeous pullet egg!! Congrats!

Good to know, thank you. I had read that sometimes the bigger breeds can be late hatchers so was thinking I could relax a little until Sunday. Sounds like I need to get my rear in gear and reset up the brooder! And thanks for sharing the numbers too. I thought you had 11 to start with like I did.

Also, on reading up on Bieles...someone mentioned in the reviews over on Murray McMurray...that keeping them on a little higher protein chick starter seemed to help them develop better/less apt to just keel over at 1 1/2. Their thought seemed to be that a little higher protein helped for a stronger heart? Not sure what to think on that.

I haven't read that about them yet. My experience is that I had one that was one of my first bieles that remained weak her whole short life. She came from an ebay egg in the fall and was a big beautiful bird, but suffered in the heat and died on the first really hot summer day this summer. I raised them on 22% non-gmo chick starter initially before switching to a 16% all flock. The others from that particular batch are not as hardy or as large as I'd hoped they would be, but do grow slowly and I hope will continue to grow a bit more. I have since added birds from two other sources with the plan of breeding the best and healthiest birds.

 

[Muscovy Wunda]

Just careful when looking to buy eggs on FB. And I don't mean of the sellers. I mean of posting "does anyone have fertile eggs for sale?" Publicly. FB has been shutting down poultry pages left right and centre for even having an inkling live critters are being sold. One page had a a post from 4 years ago bumped up and it had an egg sale in the old comments, fb shut it down within the hour. All the Aussie pages I am on have moved over to "mewe" as a back up and even though I'm still working out how to use it, no rubbish on mewe as yet!