Meyer Hatchery Chicken pics anyone??

[MsChickenMomma]

I have a question for all of you. I heard that it is easy to move chickens in the night. We'll be moving all 22 of ours soon. I plan on getting the calm ones throughout the day once the coop is ready, but I have around 6 to 8 of them that are pretty flighty and do not like to be touched.

Is it really that easy to move sleeping hens?
When I check on mine at night, some of them still seem to be awake. Maybe I am not checking on them late enough? If I grab one will it make a lot of noise and wake the others? Have any of you done this before? So you just pick them up off of one roost and put them on another?

I want to make an easy transition. I know that if you start chasing them around it is much more traumatic, so I am going to try to keep them as calm as possible. I'm nervous about the whole change. I know they're just chickens, but still I am nervous about it. Maybe I am just over thinking it?

Moving them at night works really good. It's best to wait until about 10:00pm or later if possible, because then they are all pretty drowsy with sleep. Just take all of the flighty ones out first. Each hen you take out may make some noise and wake up the others, so you don't want to leave the flighty girls for last.

When I used to have almost 40 chickens (several years ago) we built them a new coop and had to move them all. There were only maybe 5 or 6 hens out of the 40 that were fairly tame, the rest were extremely flighty. Moving them late at night helped wonders because then they were almost too drowsy with sleep to really care.

It's also less time consuming to move them at night, since you don't have to worry about catching them all.

 

[trsturself]

I've gone out to put mine up for the night and found some roosting on the top of the fence. I walked right up to our most flighty one and picked her right up. She didn't make a fuss or peep.

 

[NanaLynn]

Moving them at night works really good. It's best to wait until about 10:00pm or later if possible, because then they are all pretty drowsy with sleep. Just take all of the flighty ones out first. Each hen you take out may make some noise and wake up the others, so you don't want to leave the flighty girls for last.

When I used to have almost 40 chickens (several years ago) we built them a new coop and had to move them all. There were only maybe 5 or 6 hens out of the 40 that were fairly tame, the rest were extremely flighty. Moving them late at night helped wonders because then they were almost too drowsy with sleep to really care.

It's also less time consuming to move them at night, since you don't have to worry about catching them all

I've gone out to put mine up for the night and found some roosting on the top of the fence. I walked right up to our most flighty one and picked her right up. She didn't make a fuss or peep.

Thank you both. I guess I need to just wait until it is late enough. It's good to hear that someone has moved a lot more then I have too.

 

[christine9]

I've heard the same about moving chickens. Sounds like it's true!

I'm really disappointed in Meyer right now. My eggs were supposed to be here tomorrow or Monday, but they haven't been sent yet. No way they are getting from Ohio to SC by Monday.

 

[trsturself]

I don't remember if I posted... all 8 of our girls are laying again. Even Mona is laying again (the one who was attacked awhile ago).
My skelter is filling us way faster than we can use them. I sold 3 dozen yesterday and have about 1 1/2 dozen on the skelter.

I candled our eggs again today. One silkie egg wasn't viable and one is questionable but the rest are going strong. Lots of movement. We have one maran egg that I think is clear but it's too dark to tell for sure. So we have 13 silkie eggs that are definitely developing, 1 bantam Mille Fleur cochin egg, and the following mixed with Barnevelder: 1 java, 1 RIR (that egg is HUGE, it barely fits in the carton!), 1 Austra White or Lakenvelder, 1 possible Iowa Blue,1 maran,
They are at day 13.

 

[christine9]

I don't remember if I posted... all 8 of our girls are laying again. Even Mona is laying again (the one who was attacked awhile ago).
My skelter is filling us way faster than we can use them. I sold 3 dozen yesterday and have about 1 1/2 dozen on the skelter.

I candled our eggs again today. One silkie egg wasn't viable and one is questionable but the rest are going strong. Lots of movement.  We have one maran egg that I think is clear but it's too dark to tell for sure. So we have 13 silkie eggs that are definitely developing, 1 bantam Mille Fleur cochin egg, and the following mixed with Barnevelder: 1 java, 1 RIR (that egg is HUGE, it barely fits in the carton!), 1 Austra White or Lakenvelder, 1 possible Iowa Blue,1 maran,  
They are at day 13. 

Yay for eggs! I'm starting my first hatch shortly. Yikes!

 

[trsturself]

Yay for eggs! I'm starting my first hatch shortly. Yikes!

Keep us posted. What are you going to set?

 

[christine9]

Yay for eggs! I'm starting my first hatch shortly. Yikes!

Keep us posted. What are you going to set?

Well....I just picked up my ameraucana eggs sent from another BYCer. BUT my Meyer eggs (EE and Marans) are not likely to be here till Tues. I think I may just risk setting them on different days rather than let my AMs age. Ahh! The Meyers eggs were supposed to be here today too. Right now I'm trying to figure out which thermometer I want to pay attention to. They are read almost 10 degrees different. There were the same before going in. I think I might set the eggs to the one side that is keeping a better temp. This is truly nerve racking!!

 

[trsturself]

Well....I just picked up my ameraucana eggs sent from another BYCer. BUT my Meyer eggs (EE and Marans) are not likely to be here till Tues. I think I may just risk setting them on different days rather than let my AMs age. Ahh! The Meyers eggs were supposed to be here today too. Right now I'm trying to figure out which thermometer I want to pay attention to. They are read almost 10 degrees different. There were the same before going in. I think I might set the eggs to the one side that is keeping a better temp. This is truly nerve racking!!

I feel you. I had a lot of nerve wracking moments. I found I had the best temp results with my indoor/outdoor thermometer probe put in a blow out egg filled with water. I first calibrated the thermometer in ice water so I was confident in it's reading (I know it reads around .5-1 deg high). Do you have a separate hatcher? If so, definitely set the EE eggs now. If not, it is tough to do a staggered hatch due to the higher humidity those last few days.
Any word from Meyer on when the eggs will ship? Does your order status on their website say anything?

 

[christine9]

Said Sat, now says tues. No separate hatcher. I figure I'll side with the more expensive eggs. I could always order more LOL!! Or perhaps I can make a coolerbator. Oh hubby will kill me. I can't even think about doing that!

I know staggering is going to be difficult. Especially for a first hatch. I've been reading about how people manage it. Seems like dry hatching is a good method to lessen the humidity difference at the end. Looking into it some more before I do anything.