JUNE - JULY HATCH-ALONG!!!!!!!

[Cerise1924]

Another Marans hatched this morning! This one has normal toes, unlike the sibling with the short outer toe. That makes it easy to tell them apart. I scooped it out and put it in the brooder, and it hurried straight to its sibling for a cuddle. Do you think they recognize each other, somehow?

The Crested Cream Legbar, first to hatch, is keeping watch over them. As frustrated as I was that the broody wasn't going to raise them, I am remembering how pleasant it is to hand raise chicks in the house, despite all the trouble. It really is a nice way to bond and get to know their personalities.

 

[Enigmius]

Yes they are very competent egg and chick thieves! They also eat rodents and possibly copperheads though so I leave most of ours alone, except for the one that got into our coop. Since he then knew where this great source of eggs was located, we stuck him in a pillowcase and drove him to a cattle pasture two miles away, where he could be a help instead of a pest.

Did your get in through those gaps between the metal roof and supports? I use metal roofing too, but put those filler pieces in so there aren’t gaps... I try for no more than 1/2” gaps. You have a lovely setup, by the way!

Yeah, that is how he got in. I'm in the process of brainstorming, to fix that problem. I had no idea snakes could scale a vertical wall that high from the ground. Its amazing really! And scary.

 

[jolenesdad]

Hmm, mine doesn't appear to be so I guess I still needed to buy the bottle at least, lol. Maybe it's because I have original Listerine?
View attachment 1843006

Oops. Listerine doesn’t but lots do then I think. I’m gonna google.

Okay. Chlorhexidine is in a lot of mouthwashes for gingivitis and is the prescription when listerine doesn’t cut it. Carry on!

I knew I had heard listerine and chlorhexidine discussed in the same sentence. Sorry!

 

[Enigmius]

I don't enjoy dealing with snakes either! I had my first snake in the chicken run but it was while I was free ranging and it just went right in the front door. Lol

Also scary that the snake just moseyed on into your coop!! We have rattler snakes here in texas, so I got the birds out of the coop and didn't do anything until I knew what it was.

 

[Enigmius]

Its wasView attachment 1843066 to bad.

I'm sorry Two J Farm...

 

[Cerise1924]

Also scary that the snake just moseyed on into your coop!! We have rattler snakes here in texas, so I got the birds out of the coop and didn't do anything until I knew what it was.

Wow! Would not want to find a rattler in the coop. A couple of weeks ago, I went to close up the coop at dusk, and opened the big door to count all the hens. There was an extra in there - a big skunk! I closed that door so fast, lol! and it toddled out the small door, down the ramp and away into the woods.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

My teenager named all my latest hatching eggs for me, so they are all named after anime characters!

I love that idea!! It's funny because I actually keep a smaller flock here but I feel like I run out of names because even if a chick doesn't stay it's like I can never use that name again, lol! Most of my Marans have been named after chocolate or something related to chocolate but the only 2 that are still here are Kit Kat and Veruca Salt. Many of our original chicks were named after Harry Potter characters by my daughter and at this point, we have the most bizarre assortment of names! But we love them having names so if they stay, they do eventually get names.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Its wasView attachment 1843066 to bad.

Oh my goodness, I'm so so sorry!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Y'all say a pray for us in Louisiana. Hurricane Barry will make landfall tomorrow. My chicks should be hatching this weekend too.

Will your incubator run off of a backup battery? If not I've heard of filling the base with stones because they will radiate heat for a while even if the power goes out. I hope it's not bad!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Another Marans hatched this morning! This one has normal toes, unlike the sibling with the short outer toe. That makes it easy to tell them apart. I scooped it out and put it in the brooder, and it hurried straight to its sibling for a cuddle. Do you think they recognize each other, somehow?

The Crested Cream Legbar, first to hatch, is keeping watch over them. As frustrated as I was that the broody wasn't going to raise them, I am remembering how pleasant it is to hand raise chicks in the house, despite all the trouble. It really is a nice way to bond and get to know their personalities.

Awww! I believe they do peep to each other at the very least! That's how the broody hen starts communicating with them, by chattering while they're still in the shell.