Maine

[Jazor]

I would have enjoyed the show, but didn't even catch up on BYC to find out about it until it had already happened. Bad timing on my part. Hope it went well, and everyone enjoyed themselves!

 

[Carrie54452002]

Quick question for anyone with experience in hatching with broodies.. I have an OEGB hen that is broody for the first time. It is my first time too! She is sitting on 15 eggs! Long story but the short of it is she all of a sudden was missing but showed up for a brief period of time early in the AM then ppof gone again... finally followed her back and found where she had been laying eggs all this time I thought she wasn't laying yet! Should I let her try, if so what should I do for precautions, should I take some away to better her chances of success? She is currently not fenced in or anything.. just kinda tucked away in a corner under a roof off the garage. She is just so tiny I can't imagine she can keep herself warm enough let along that many babies... thanks in advance if you took the time to read this and respond!!

 

[Widget]

Quick question for anyone with experience in hatching with broodies.. I have an OEGB hen that is broody for the first time. It is my first time too! She is sitting on 15 eggs! Long story but the short of it is she all of a sudden was missing but showed up for a brief period of time early in the AM then ppof gone again... finally followed her back and found where she had been laying eggs all this time I thought she wasn't laying yet! Should I let her try, if so what should I do for precautions, should I take some away to better her chances of success? She is currently not fenced in or anything.. just kinda tucked away in a corner under a roof off the garage. She is just so tiny I can't imagine she can keep herself warm enough let along that many babies... thanks in advance if you took the time to read this and respond!!

I had one broody hen earlier this year who sat on 15 eggs. Took me a bit to find her since she was under a rose bush hidden in the deep grass underneath. This was back when we had a couple weeks of cold rainy weather. She was usually soaked but determined to sit on her nest so I let her. She ended up hatching at least five of the eggs. I do not think all of them were fertile since I had lost the rooster about a month before. All in all she did fine with the nest. Two of the chicks have made it this far. Both pullets and now almost four months old. I could have removed the chicks after the hatched and raised them inside but I decided to let the hen take care of her babies.

 

[MEMama3]

Quick question for anyone with experience in hatching with broodies.. I have an OEGB hen that is broody for the first time. It is my first time too! She is sitting on 15 eggs! Long story but the short of it is she all of a sudden was missing but showed up for a brief period of time early in the AM then ppof gone again... finally followed her back and found where she had been laying eggs all this time I thought she wasn't laying yet! Should I let her try, if so what should I do for precautions, should I take some away to better her chances of success? She is currently not fenced in or anything.. just kinda tucked away in a corner under a roof off the garage. She is just so tiny I can't imagine she can keep herself warm enough let along that many babies... thanks in advance if you took the time to read this and respond!!

I'd wait until night time and try moving her to a safer location. If you have room in the coop, great, if not, maybe whip up a broody setup. While moving her I'd take an opportunity to candle the eggs. If it were less than a dozen I'd let her just keep them all, but over a dozen could be too many for her to handle. If you weed out duds or ones with reduced growth it may help the odds with the others.

 

[CoopChick719]

Just is case anyone is interested, this came from the Robert Plamondon newsletter. It is about roost mites, not the other kind. (if not interested, you can skip the rest of this long post!):

Update on Roost Mites--The lime-sulfur spray worked okay on the roost mites and killed them very nicely, but the effect was temporary, and they came back pretty quickly.

Next, I applied oil to the roosts and the results were much more thorough and longer-lasting. In the spirit of "waste not, want not," I use whatever oil might otherwise go to waste, which turned out to be a combination of boiled linseed oil and type F transmission fluid. The linseed oil is nice, but you really want a non-drying oil, so spiking it with transmission fluid should make a mix that doesn't turn into a real varnish. Since I no longer have a vehicle that uses that kind of fluid, this is the best use I have for it. If I were to buy everything new, rather than use what was on hand, I might have used raw linseed oil, if I could find any, or plain mineral oil. I wouldn't use edible oils because I don't want my roosts going moldy.

There's no special trick to painting oil on roosts. I do it early enough in the day that the oil will be soaked into the wood by nightfall, to keep the hens' feet from getting oily. The oil stays wet longer in the cracks and crevices where the mites hang out, so a roost that's nice and dry to the hens still protects against mites.

Oil kills both mites and their eggs, unlike insecticides, so that provides a more thorough solution right off the bat. And the oil can remain effective for months if you're lucky. I apply the oil with a cheap paint brush. I haven't tried rollers or sprayers.

With nest boxes, using oil is a more delicate matter, since you don't want any oil getting on the eggs. So far I've only oiled the outside of my wooden nest boxes, and have left the insides untreated. This dealt with most of the mites, but not all of them.

Hmmm....sounds much easier than the whitewash and wouldn't have to wait to do the roosts or nesting box outsides & walls. I wonder if baby oil would work. I know the Dollar Tree sells it.

Giving a shout out to see if I have Frizzle hens or roo's! I got them at the fair last night from Mr. Prime and I'm sure he must be correct but it was like Black Friday in there! There so cute, but that's just my opinion and it's the only one that counts!

I am no expert but I have 2 Frizzle hens who look nothing like this so I vote Roo!

Coop chick 719: What part of the state are you in? If any one else is interested in splitting a bag of barley and or wheat, please contact me. I'll wait about a week, and if no further interest, I'll let the subject die a natural death. I'm in the Bangor area, can get the stuff in Newport. Hubby works in Fairfield. Both whole grains are about = in price to chicken feed, and grains could be used as scratch, sprouted, or FF. Any unused grains could also be used for green manure crops. I'm hoping to do a fair amount of sprouting this winter, hopefully enough to give them a crop full every day, in addition to FF or dry feed. In my research on fodder feeding, the yield of green sprouts is about 6.5 X greater than the dry grain. 1# grain = approx. 6.5# of sprouts, so it's a real good way to increase the chooks nutrition, and you get a lot of bang for the $.

I'm in the Augusta area so Fairfield isn't too far for me. We go through Bangor approx. 1x a month to get to camp in Houlton. DH's work takes him on the road a lot up that way as well. Just keep me in the loop!

 

[CoopChick719]

Quick question for anyone with experience in hatching with broodies.. I have an OEGB hen that is broody for the first time. It is my first time too! She is sitting on 15 eggs! Long story but the short of it is she all of a sudden was missing but showed up for a brief period of time early in the AM then ppof gone again... finally followed her back and found where she had been laying eggs all this time I thought she wasn't laying yet! Should I let her try, if so what should I do for precautions, should I take some away to better her chances of success? She is currently not fenced in or anything.. just kinda tucked away in a corner under a roof off the garage. She is just so tiny I can't imagine she can keep herself warm enough let along that many babies... thanks in advance if you took the time to read this and respond!!

:

I'd wait until night time and try moving her to a safer location. If you have room in the coop, great, if not, maybe whip up a broody setup. While moving her I'd take an opportunity to candle the eggs. If it were less than a dozen I'd let her just keep them all, but over a dozen could be too many for her to handle. If you weed out duds or ones with reduced growth it may help the odds with the others.

Hi Carrie,

I've had 2 broody hatches--1 success, 1 not so much. I agree w/MEMama3 especially if she is out in the open where predators could get her. Here is a link to the Natural Chicken Thread on some examples of nesting boxes. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...eeping-thread-ots-welcome/21290#post_12020522 I especially like the Rubbermaid one that LeahsMom uses. You could get it setup and slide her & the eggs right in & cover the opening with a blanket or towel for transporting back to coop or wherever.

Good Luck!!

 

[Carrie54452002]

I had one broody hen earlier this year who sat on 15 eggs. Took me a bit to find her since she was under a rose bush hidden in the deep grass underneath. This was back when we had a couple weeks of cold rainy weather. She was usually soaked but determined to sit on her nest so I let her. She ended up hatching at least five of the eggs. I do not think all of them were fertile since I had lost the rooster about a month before. All in all she did fine with the nest. Two of the chicks have made it this far. Both pullets and now almost four months old. I could have removed the chicks after the hatched and raised them inside but I decided to let the hen take care of her babies.

:

Hi Carrie,

I've had 2 broody hatches--1 success, 1 not so much. I agree w/MEMama3 especially if she is out in the open where predators could get her. Here is a link to the Natural Chicken Thread on some examples of nesting boxes. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...eeping-thread-ots-welcome/21290#post_12020522 I especially like the Rubbermaid one that LeahsMom uses. You could get it setup and slide her & the eggs right in & cover the opening with a blanket or towel for transporting back to coop or wherever.

Good Luck!!

I'd wait until night time and try moving her to a safer location. If you have room in the coop, great, if not, maybe whip up a broody setup. While moving her I'd take an opportunity to candle the eggs. If it were less than a dozen I'd let her just keep them all, but over a dozen could be too many for her to handle. If you weed out duds or ones with reduced growth it may help the odds with the others.

Thank you all soo much! So I think after your advice I will find a small dog/cat crate and make her a little nest and then move that into the coop safe and sound. She is an OEGB so she needs little space. Last few questions, I use shavings for the coop... is that ok for nest as well? Also, is it ok to keep her shut in as long as she has food and water and just ler her out once a day or do you think it will get yucky in there? We have 9 other birds and I don't want them bothering her. Thanks again everyone!

 

[lazy gardener]

If you type in : My simple laundry sink fodder growing setup, or simply "growing fodder" . in the search discussions, it'll take you to a multi page thread with details about the method. Basically, it's just the process of sprouting grains or seeds to use for animal feed. It takes about 6 days to sprout a grain seed to the optimal size, depending on the temp it's grown at. So, if you feed fodder on a daily basis, you'll need a series of trays, or you could grow a batch and refrigerate it while you use it up. Some folks have large systems set up to supplement the diet of their goats and other hooved animals. It's actually cheaper than purchasing hay, from what I've heard, though if you feed fodder to ruminants, they still need some hay for the roughage. It can be grown in the large trays that seedling six packs are sold in, or any container can be adapted by drilling drainage holes. One gal does hers in a burlap bag.

 

[Widget]

The vanilla extract is now in process. Very quick shipping from the seller on eBay. I could tell it had arrived before I took the mail out of the mailbox. Love the smell of vanilla.

Even though the cat was thoughtful and brought home yet another squirrel and mouse to leave as an offering

I opted to try a ground pork burger recipe for lunch. While I am sure the squirrel would have been tasty I am very pleased with how the pork burgers came out. That and a slice of homemade pumpkin pie and it was a great meal. The pumpkin was home grown and for the first time I successfully made a pie crust from scratch. The crust came out flaky and light but I must admit that I prefer the Pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts.

I still have about ten pie pumpkins that will become a chicken, goat and horse treat. The pumpkins were by far the winner in my garden this year.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

I think you should have tried the squirrel.

Use this pie crust recipe:

4 cups flour
1.75 cups shortening
3 tbsp white sugar
2 tsp kosher salt
1 egg (prefer duck)
1/2 cup cold water

Add all ingredients except egg and water together. Blend until crumbly. I use my food processor. Add egg and water together in small bowl, scramble. Add to other ingredients and mix together. This makes 2 full (top and bottom) pie crusts. I usually use one and freeze one. Super easy. It needs to be really cold to roll out right. If not the right temp I throw it in the freezer for about 30 minutes before rolling.