Managing flock turn over

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Ok. Officially starting the project today. Two broody hens each has some eggs.

Let’s see how many chicks we get

 

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Day 2
i checked last night and both of the Austrolops are in full on nest mode And did not go roost. I will mark the eggs they are sitting in with a sharpie so we don’t have any unpleasant surprises

 

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Day 4 and they have decided to
Move around a bit.

And the chickens

 

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chicken thinks she is a turkey.

 

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uugh and the egg rotator died. :-(

So back to Coastal and got another unit. Hopefully this one will work better.

On the chicken front, our psychotic Austrolops are still trying to sit on the nest. First one is in chicken jail, so hopefully she snaps out of it soon. We have another two that will be following soon.

Filthy chicken has been bathed and is looking decent again (before and after) and now in chicken jail.

 

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Why are you breaking your broody hens? You’re going to have to raise those chicks yourself!!

I am waaay to lazy to do that, I usually more the incubator eggs over to my broodies on day 18 and the hens take over from there. Saves me a lot of work, that’s for sure! But it’s understandable if your hens have been sitting for a long time already. Hopefully they will be easy to de-broodify.

hmm that’s an interesting idea if we have any problem children still on day 18 I will go ahead and give them a few eggs to hatch to experiment.

With regards to raising chicks these guys were pretty low maintenance in that we had a heat lamp, water feeder and food and they figured everything out themselves.

 

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And we have another broody Australop.

 

[Hip Hillbilly Acres]

Oh how I envy your green grass! Here in the throes of our catastrophic drought. I have a broody BA right now. Her second broody session this summer. But I love the breed. Jolene was my oldest BA and my best buddy--she lived to be 9 years old.

Oh to know all the abbreviations necessary. Oft times I am in the dark.

 

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Day 3

I felt bad and put some straw in the section of the roll away they are nesting in.

 

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The broody hen camera has been installed.