March 2017! Hatch with us!

[Ella2017]

Hi everyone! So glad I found this group and thank you for starting it. First time hatcher here and really nervous about everything lol. I have 18 eggs in the incubator, which include BLRW, silkies, ameraucanas and some type of maran breed. The guy threw in the maran eggs for free and I forgot the exact breed, I think it was either cuckoo or copper maybe? I'm going to need help figuring out what I have when they hatch when it comes to the marans and ameraucanas, as I am not familiar with these breeds. I think it is amazing to watch these lil cotton balls hatch. Ours are due on the 23rd and my daughter is checking them every hour

. Thank you for sharing all of the pics, love them!

 

[orrpeople]

That is a beautiful set-up - a much nicer life for a meat bird than a factory farm.  Do you mind if I ask about fencing? I have a half acre, somewhat rocky and partially wooded, and I need to get some fencing in. Was the property fenced when you bought it, or did you hire a fence company, or did you put it in yourself?  What kind of affordable fence do you recommend for poultry/dogs? I like the wire fencing you have, because it does not obstruct the view.

Our entire back property was fenced (about 2-1/2 acres) when we bought the house, so we ended up fencing off the far corner for the young fellows. We use welded wire - in this case 5'for most of it, and 6' in a smaller area that is covered with orchard netting (when they are really young 'hawk bait', they stay in there) so it would be harder to escape to the girls!

 

[dannyelle123]

Our entire back property was fenced (about 2-1/2 acres) when we bought the house, so we ended up fencing off the far corner for the young fellows. We use welded wire - in this case 5'for most of it, and 6' in a smaller area that is covered with orchard netting (when they are really young 'hawk bait', they stay in there) so it would be harder to escape to the girls!

At what age do you separate the boys? A while back I got an accidental boy from a feed store and didn't realize until he crowed! But I noticed that the 3 girls he was raised with had different personalities than my other chickens... Much less social and a bit mean and one hen even mounts her sister flock members. I'm wondering if I should separate my boys from my last hatch, they are 4 weeks old...? Or wait until 7 weeks old when they all go outside...?

 

[Cerise1924]

Hi everyone! So glad I found this group and thank you for starting it. First time hatcher here and really nervous about everything lol. I have 18 eggs in the incubator, which include BLRW, silkies, ameraucanas and some type of maran breed. The guy threw in the maran eggs for free and I forgot the exact breed, I think it was either cuckoo or copper maybe? I'm going to need help figuring out what I have when they hatch when it comes to the marans and ameraucanas, as I am not familiar with these breeds. I think it is amazing to watch these lil cotton balls hatch. Ours are due on the 23rd and my daughter is checking them every hour

. Thank you for sharing all of the pics, love them!

Welcome to the March hatch! You and your daughter are in for a memorable month. My girl loves BLRWs, but we don't have those in our mix of hatching eggs. I'll be excited to see yours! Wishing you best of luck with your hatch.

 

[Cerise1924]

Our entire back property was fenced (about 2-1/2 acres) when we bought the house, so we ended up fencing off the far corner for the young fellows. We use welded wire - in this case 5'for most of it, and 6' in a smaller area that is covered with orchard netting (when they are really young 'hawk bait', they stay in there) so it would be harder to escape to the girls!

Sounds like a brilliant addition for the young guys. Did you put in the welded wire fencing yourself? Did you need a post hole digger and concrete? I have lots of questions, I know.

 

[DPWPDX]

Following! I have a dozen shipped from Alchemist Farm (Sebastopol, CA) to Portland, OR, set on Friday 3/3/17 with an estimated hatch date of 3/24/17! Sage eggers (Welsummer under CCL); OEs (BCM under CCL); FBCM, and others! I'm having such a hard time waiting to see if they're growing or not ..... waiting to candle til next Friday ...

Also I couldn't wait for the eggs to hatch, and while my roommate says that they are all going to be OK, I had nightmares about not growth / no hatch! So I got 3 chicks from the feed store yesterday!

1 each barnevelder, black laced gold wyandotte, and cuckoo marans. So far, they sleep, eat, poop, drink water, sleep ....



This also means I need to submit a permit and pay to have more chickens in my backyard to my city.

 

[DPWPDX]

Yes! We are in the same boat! First time hatcher, super excited / nervous! Waiting for next Friday to candle and see if they're growing ...

 

[Cerise1924]

Following! I have a dozen shipped from Alchemist Farm (Sebastopol, CA) to Portland, OR, set on Friday 3/3/17 with an estimated hatch date of 3/24/17! Sage eggers (Welsummer under CCL); OEs (BCM under CCL); FBCM, and others! I'm having such a hard time waiting to see if they're growing or not ..... waiting to candle til next Friday ...

Also I couldn't wait for the eggs to hatch, so I got 3 chicks from the feed store yesterday!

1 each barnevelder, black laced gold wyandotte, and cuckoo marans. So far, they sleep, eat, poop, drink water, sleep ....



This also means I need to submit a permit to have more chickens to my city.

Welcome! I am very interested to know how your Alchemical eggs work out. I am in the Willamette Valley, and have had great luck with eggs shipped from AZ, but poor luck with those from Tennessee, for example. It's just too far, I think.
Sounds like you have a great mix of eggs on the way! I love my FBCM. I got her as a day-old chick, to keep my sole peachick company, and she turned out to be the sweetest, funniest, most affectionate, goofy hen.
Enjoy your feed store babies!

 

[Mylied]

Great question! I'm curious about that too.
Also @Mylied, you got all 40 and know they're cockerels? How are you managing or planning to manage that many males together? How old are they now? Have you seen any issues? (aggression, fighting, food/water possessiveness etc). How many hens do you have?

They were sex linked, so yep, all boys. They will be for meat. It’s our first time raising birds for meat. They are around 4 weeks. So far they are fine with each other. There’s no pullets, or shouldn’t be anyway, and they all look like roos to me. They are mean little jerks to me though. I’ve never had such mean chicks. When I reach in to get the food or water, I get a bunch of them trying to bite my hands. I’m planning on processing them around 14 weeks, so hopefully they won’t get themselves into too much trouble before then. Right now they are all together in a brooder made of 4 plastic tubs I cut holes in. It’s pretty … um hodge podge. Lol. I need to add another feeder and waterer at this point too.

 

[Mylied]

My boys all go out to our converted horse trailer (we jokingly call is the meat wagon) and they have about a quarter acre run all to themselves. I will end up keeping a couple as breeders, but the rest grow out enough to be processed. In the meantime they have a great quality of life, so I don't feel bad when its 'time.'
Here's their digs:

Very nice setup. In a few weeks I'll be moving mine outside too. They will probably not have fancy digs like yours do. Lol.