Maine

[gracejr]

I'm

yeah I was talking about you are those blue cochins?

This SHOULD be a cross between my blue orp rooster and light brahma hen. I wouldn't have guessed a sold blue chick from that pairing though?? I do have a blue Cochin, but I don't think she's laying yet. Plus this chick doesn't have a straight comb.

 

[gracejr]

Our chicks go outside when they are fully feathered (usually around 6 weeks) as long as the temps are above freezing. Chickens are amazingly hardy if you let them "harden up". They get used to even extreme cold better than most people think.

Hardening is when you put them out and just bring them in a night, right? When you do that are you putting them with the flock during the day or do they need their own space? The girls last year were inside forever before we had the coop and run ready, so they didn't go out until way past the point they were ready.

 

[LOVEMYCHICKS03]

I thought it was a blue cochin because it was blue it had furry legs e.c.t

 

[gracejr]

I thought it was a blue cochin because it was blue it had furry legs e.c.t

It's possible, but I think there would be a straight comb, right? This one isn't as flat and smooth as the combs on the EE cross chicks, but doesn't look like the straight combs on the other chicks. Almost looks like a cross between a pea and straight combs. The Brahma and Cochin are my only two with feathered legs, so it's definitely one of them.

 

[LOVEMYCHICKS03]

ok

 

[longgrove]

Well, our first attempt at broody hatch resulted in one live chick...hatched on day 25 to 26, depending on how you count (started in afternoon). The others died at various stages.

Have been trying to make sense of this. The brody was a tiny bantam Wyandotte, and a first timer. She sat very consistantly. She started on May 24th, (the coop isn't heated (she was in a large dog kennel in the corner). All I can come up with was she just didn't have the body mass to keep the eggs warm enough. She was still setting and wasn't teaching the chick to drink or eat. Has been doing better since the eggs were removed and a new smaller nest was put in. I gave them some milk soaked bread with chopped hard boiled egg. When the chick saw her eating, she (please let it be a she!) it started to eat too. It will be a preety bird, very light but with a grey tinge on the face (broody is foster mom, hen mom is blue (a cross) with beautiful lacing and roo dad is one of the Isbars, either a blue or a splash. I think chick will be a splash.

Does this seem a reasonable explaination (? for experienced hatchers). Let the 2 Silkies (who insisted on co-sitting) start a new clutch of the same cross last Tuesday the 16th. Hoping for better results. Project aim is a couple of laced blue or preety splash olive eggers. If "Littile red Hen" (my 4th bantam) goes broody, my next attempt will be hatching out a clutch of Isbars

 

[bwockbwock]

what meeting?

The Central Maine Bird Fanciers meeting today. I did well, I sat on my hands so one of them would not go up when they auctioned of two different pairs of bantams.I just have no where to put them right now. I have not even figured out where I am going to put the chickens that are hatching right now, which will be followed by ducks at the end of the month, then there are the two broody muscovies sitting nests of their own and turkey eggs. I have feral cats in the neighborhood so i am going to have to take the 'outside' babies away and put them in a brooder. I'd love to leave them with their moms but I don't have a way to protect them from the cats right now.

 

[lazy gardener]

How early are you all putting chicks outside right now? My older batch of chicks range from 3.5 to 6.5 weeks old. The 6.5 weaker seems ready, but she's the only one that age. Others are 5 weeks, 4.5 weeks, 4 weeks, and 3.5 weeks. They'd be going right in the coop with everyone else. Think any of them are ready yet? The 3.5 weekers aren't nearly feathered enough, but almost everyone else seems pretty close.

I put my babies out for the first time last night. RIR, BSL 8 weeks, Dominique and EE 6.5 weeks. You'd think that I was chopping their heads off, they complained so much! And, they weren't even in a new enclosure, I just moved their little tractor out into the front yard. If I had any reservations at all, it was with the Doms, as they are slower feathering.

 

[Keric]

Does anyone have any advice on hatching goose eggs? Or is it the same as hatching regular chicken eggs aside the fact that it takes 28 days. I read somewhere about cooling and misting the eggs. I would rather not change incubation methods but if misting is a for sure winning method then I would have to switch. Any thoughts?

 

[buckabucka]

Our chicks go outside when they are fully feathered (usually around 6 weeks) as long as the temps are above freezing. Chickens are amazingly hardy if you let them "harden up". They get used to even extreme cold better than most people think.

Hardening is when you put them out and just bring them in a night, right? When you do that are you putting them with the flock during the day or do they need their own space? The girls last year were inside forever before we had the coop and run ready, so they didn't go out until way past the point they were ready.

I put mine out at 5 weeks and they've been fine. Temperatures at the time were upper 30s at night, and around 50 during the day.

I would not put them directly in with the flock at that age, because they can't defend themselves. If there is nowhere to section off a separate area, at least provide something they can scoot underneath that the other birds are too big to get under. One time I bought cheap plastic baskets (a little smaller than a laundry basket) at the dollar store. I turned them upside down and weighted them in place with a brick. I cut slightly larger holes along the base, and the smaller chicks could run in there while the larger, older chicks could not. I put food in there too.

One of the lavender Ameraucana chicks from my hatch a week ago appears to be failing to thrive. In just a week, everyone else has grown, but this one has not changed size, and she seems to be breathing in a labored manner. I had to coax to get her to eat and drink today. Something appears to be wrong, I'm just not sure what it is. I hope it either bounces back or dies quickly. I don't want to have to cull it.