May 2020 Hatch-A-Long

[FortCluck]

It has been the same here. Lots of new people wanting to get into chickens but no chicks available. I have 3 broody hens so I'm really hatching for them but if I have a decent hatch I'll also sell some. These are eggs from the same friend that had an invader rooster having his way with the Marans that resulted in a weird genetic issue in those eggs. So hopefully that doesn't happen again...

Hopefully both of our hatches will be really good this time!!!!

I want some chocolatey eggs. The person that I'm buying them from says that they have about a 90% hatch rate so I am definitely excited about that!

 

[kelseyk]

We we're driving one day and there were about 50 cattle in the road... We stopped and put our four ways on and called the sheriff's department. We were trying to keep them contained until they got there and two bulls decided that they were going to try to charge us welcome to the country.

The road they were on had a speed limit of 55 mph so I didn't want anyone to hit them because I'm sure no one would survive that.

Our cows would have probably walked right up to you and your car checking to see if you had any distillers cubes (cow cake). LOL!

Cattle out on the road is always a pain! It would completely depend on the vehicle being driven and how well the driver was paying attention, but most people come away from a vehicle/cattle wreck with only minor injuries. The vehicle is almost always totaled though. The worst wreaks seem to be when darker colored cows are out on the road at night.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Peeps around here don’t want chicks, they’re all looking for RTL or adult birds. They also assume that anyone with chickens must of course have a rooster, and subsequently fertile eggs; those ones at least are willing to put in a little work and start their own. of course they all missed the boat on ordering from the hatcheries, who are all limited in the number of shipments they’re sending. We don’t have TSC here, and our feed stores are agents for out of town hatcheries, so not really many choices. I have to look at it as a chance to educate those who don’t know, but it wears thin pretty quickly when every other phone call at work (vet clinic) is someone wanting birds. or having problems with pigs that they‘ve impulse bought and have no clue how to deal with. I’m hopeful that some good may come from this pandemic in that people who otherwise would never give it a second thought, is now learning about where their food comes from!

I agree, I've had people reaching out to me from all over the place with questions about keeping chickens, hatching, illnesses, etc. I love to help, but it is a lot right now. Part of why I backed off from hatching during the virus is because the interest was TOO intense, lol! I can't help myself though. I love hatching, so I might as well enjoy the additional reasons to hatch more. Lol

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I love how dark the eggs are with the black copper but love the look of the blue. I just hatched come black copper and lav. Ameraucanas split dozen so I can make some olive eggers next year. I love having different colored eggs ❤

The BBS Marans I'm hatching are actually from pretty dark eggs. You just have to hunt a bit to find lines where people focused on darker eggs.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Hopefully both of our hatches will be really good this time!!!!

I want some chocolatey eggs. The person that I'm buying them from says that they have about a 90% hatch rate so I am definitely excited about that!

Fingers crossed for both of us!!

 

[kelseyk]

Peeps around here don’t want chicks, they’re all looking for RTL or adult birds. They also assume that anyone with chickens must of course have a rooster, and subsequently fertile eggs; those ones at least are willing to put in a little work and start their own. of course they all missed the boat on ordering from the hatcheries, who are all limited in the number of shipments they’re sending. We don’t have TSC here, and our feed stores are agents for out of town hatcheries, so not really many choices. I have to look at it as a chance to educate those who don’t know, but it wears thin pretty quickly when every other phone call at work (vet clinic) is someone wanting birds. or having problems with pigs that they‘ve impulse bought and have no clue how to deal with. I’m hopeful that some good may come from this pandemic in that people who otherwise would never give it a second thought, is now learning about where their food comes from!

I am also hoping that people come away from this with a larger understanding of where their food comes from as well as a little more respect for those who do it as their everyday job!

 

[BertyRoux]

I was planning on keeping three females and then the rest I will be selling as straight run. I might grow out five of them and put them as point of lay pullets in the fall.

Have you had good luck selling straight run? I feel like all the people clambering to get chicks right now are only looking for layers, but could be wrong. Depending on how many chicks I get out of this hatch, I have a friend who may buy some of mine - but he can't have a roo in the city.

I *gave* a dozen fertile eggs to some lady on a FB group who couldn't find chicks mid-March. She was most ungrateful, rescheduled coming to get them several times and then last minute wanted me to meet her 15 miles away so she didn't have to drive as far. Won't make that mistake again!

 

[FortCluck]

Have you had good luck selling straight run? I feel like all the people clambering to get chicks right now are only looking for layers, but could be wrong. Depending on how many chicks I get out of this hatch, I have a friend who may buy some of mine - but he can't have a roo in the city.

I *gave* a dozen fertile eggs to some lady on a FB group who couldn't find chicks mid-March. She was most ungrateful, rescheduled coming to get them several times and then last minute wanted me to meet her 15 miles away so she didn't have to drive as far. Won't make that mistake again!

I only sell straight run chicks. I had some pullets that I sold that I wanted to keep for myself, but I sold them to a very nice family.

I think that I might grow out 12 of the marans. I'm going to try to vent sex them because I vent sex ducklings so it's not much different but I doubt I'll be too accurate.

 

[ASteelman]

Joining the May group! This is my first hatch of the year out of my blue wheaten marans. I'm not clan breeding anymore but rather making specific selections.

These eggs are from my older two hens who have the best type. They're not very dark but large and very round. They were covered by a 'nephew' cockerel from a very dark egg (I'm loosely following a line breeding plan).

So hopefully I will get offspring with great type who lay darker, round eggs! Cross your fingers for me.

View attachment 2089947

I candled these the other day and unfortunately only 7/14 were developing. These eggs were out of two hens so I'm relatively certain my cockerel just hadn't mated with one of them. So NATURALLY I condensed this incubation into one incubator and started a fresh batch in the one on the right.

So I have seven due to hatch 5/5, and now another batch of 7 due 5/15. Hopefully after spending some more time with his hens I will not have so many clears.

 

[LavvyTaffy]

Started out with 7 eggs on April 14th, only three of them started developing and one broke. So two barnyard mixes set to hatch on May 5th! This is with a broody, but my new Brinsea Maxi II is arriving today and I'll be setting more soon.