Larkwell Valley (2023)

[JacinLarkwell]

My Spitz just went broody again, in the garage again. She is on eight eggs on a work bench behind a transmission.

Has she raised chixks before?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Spitzhauben still was on the nest. Good, I need her to stay until I get home. Thankfully today's my last day and a half day, so I'll be home earlier.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

On the bright side, I think my nicest bobbed Swedish is my boy. Definitely not hearing quacks from them, but I can't tell 110% yet

 

[NagemTX]

Has she raised chixks before?

No not yet. She started a nest in the garage before but stopped because I think an egg burst on her. Or there was to much commotion. She is not sweet like my Phoenix are. She was trying to murder my hand when I was trying to count eggs.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

No not yet. She started a nest in the garage before but stopped because I think an egg burst on her. Or there was to much commotion. She is not sweet like my Phoenix are. She was trying to murder my hand when I was trying to count eggs.

Yeah. Mine are pretty stupid with nesting. Once they do hatch, they usually do okay, but they've started way more nests than than they've hatched

 

[NagemTX]

Chickies in North Houston! Should get them at 9am at my post office.

 

[NagemTX]

I'm still working on separation pens. Its just weather and well what weather has shown me that its turned into more work than I expected. Hope to have that all done or what I can get done by end of summer. What I can get done is whats not going to be part of the barn. So like three more pens at most. I have 2 and one started now. So she will have a space that is safe for hatching in the future.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I'm still working on separation pens. Its just weather and well what weather has shown me that its turned into more work than I expected. Hope to have that all done or what I can get done by end of summer. What I can get done is whats not going to be part of the barn. So like three more pens at most. I have 2 and one started now. So she will have a space that is safe for hatching in the future.

That's good. I've noticed my try hards tend not to need a safe space away from other birds so much as they need to learn it's okay to let the eggs breathe. Especially this year. Out of almost 80 eggs (or so I've estimated), almost half were cooked by the hens by accident. Then about 24 have hatched and the rest either killed by some fault during incubation or a hen that killed them during popping. I've lost about 6-8 to hens as well after hatch. Unfortunately I have a lot of new broodies and they seem to be panicking at hatch more than I normally have. My Araucana Bunny absolutely destroyed a chick that hatched under her, as well as one that wasn't even pipped (I'm assuming she sensed something was wrong since that was the only one she did that too, but it was awful having to dispose of that egg when I found the source of the blood in her nest.). I'm not sure I'll let her set again, I'm waiting to see what she does with this batch now that she seems to have calmed down a bit.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Chickies in North Houston! Should get them at 9am at my post office.

What breeds are you getting?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I will say, Bunny seemed genuinely interested (and not the hunter interested I was afraid of) when she heard babies under the Spitz last night. Took a lot of coaxing to get her to go back on her nest and stop bugging te Spitz. Hoping that's a sign that the one that pipped and was killed just pipped too early under her. She ended up on what had been a batch older than her brooding was, so hopefully now she's further along and has figured out its not anything bad worming around under her.