Meyer Hatchery Chicken pics anyone??

[christine9]

..and in with the new.... So you give them 8 nest boxes and this is what they do, crazy chickens! A couple days ago we finally completed covering all the open areas and let them out with a temporary ramp. Ellie the EE was the brave one to go out first. Here is Rocky, the once broody PR deciding how to get down. After two nights in a cage in the new coop, she finally stopped being broody. Big Mama Ash, RIR- Who needs a ramp? The ladies Blackie- BA Daisy, WR and Dottie, CW- Not so sure about this I got this! Dottie I had them locked up yesterday morning while we fixed up there run some more. Here is their patio. We gave them a cover for the patio. We let them out in the run most of the day yesterday. Last night I shut them in early and painted the patio to match the coop. I realized last night that they still need a ramp when Dottie, the CW and Buffy, the Buff Laced Polish could not jump up to get back inside. I put a temporary pallet ramp in there until we get a chance to build one. We can rest now, plus we'll have rain the nest few days so I guess it is break time. We need to landscape around the run and build the outside ramp and an inside ramp for the roosts. They are moved and they are safe. So glad all the hard work is over!

You're my hero! I feel inspired. I can't wait to have a nest box filled like yours.

 

[MamaShell]

J

...

Here is out old coop when we first built it last year. Here it is last month after the snowstorm. We gave them a outside area covered with bird netting on the left of the shed and they also could get into the garden on the right of the shed. If you notice the 3 trees in the pictures you can see the progression of what has been done this week. We took down the run and all the fencing and tore up the garden, so the shed was left. The city workers volunteered to use there equipment to break it down, it took them just a couple of minutes to smash it down. It would have taken us hours without their help. They had a guy that wanted the metal from the shed so they helped us out. So notice the 3 trees again? The coop, run and garden are all gone. This is where the garden was, right where the yellow vehicle is. We removed all 13 of the 8 x 4 raised bed boxes and my 3 compost boxes and then they pushed the soil up for us in that big pile in the picture. So out with the old. I really miss my garden already, I won't be able to have much of one this year. [/quote I love the puctures of your girls getting out into the new run! So great. Your backyard is going to be awesome! Good for you!!

 

[trsturself]

Love all the hard work Lynn!

Well we had 8 hatch and they are doing good so far. I threw the last 8 eggs away. I candled them and there was no internal pips or movement. I poked a hole in the air cell of two of them and they were dead. They weren't shrink wrapped. I don't know why they died. Researching it the only thing I could find was poor ventilation. My fans did quit on me around days 11 and 14.
So.... I made a few changes. I put 2 more ventilation holes around the top. Replaced the fan with a different style, disinfected the whole thing, added a large piece of flagstone for a heat sink, taped the inside of the hole in the lid so humidity and heat don't get lost in there. If I ever do another hatch after this one I am going to figure out a heat shield for under the lamps to try to help prevent hot and cold spots.

I'm letting things stabilize again and then I'll set the Cream Legbar eggs. I had a 0% hatch rate, then 30% this time. Hoping for much better this next round!

The splash silkie has the coolest pattern. I'll try to post a pic of it soon.

 

[christine9]

Love all the hard work Lynn!

Well we had 8 hatch and they are doing good so far. I threw the last 8 eggs away. I candled them and there was no internal pips or movement. I poked a hole in the air cell of two of them and they were dead. They weren't shrink wrapped. I don't know why they died. Researching it the only thing I could find was poor ventilation. My fans did quit on me around days 11 and 14. 
So.... I made a few changes. I put 2 more ventilation holes around the top. Replaced the fan with a different style, disinfected the whole thing, added a large piece of flagstone for a heat sink, taped the inside of the hole in the lid so humidity and heat don't get lost in there. If I ever do another hatch after this one I am going to figure out a heat shield for under the lamps to try to help prevent hot and cold spots. 

I'm letting things stabilize again and then I'll set the Cream Legbar eggs. I had a 0% hatch rate, then 30% this time. Hoping for much better this next round!

The splash silkie has the coolest pattern. I'll try to post a pic of it soon.

Can't wait to see pics. Removed an egg today. It was leaky. Small yellow beads of liquid on it. 12/16 still cooking on day 9. One may still be clear.

 

[NanaLynn]

Love all the hard work Lynn!

Well we had 8 hatch and they are doing good so far. I threw the last 8 eggs away. I candled them and there was no internal pips or movement. I poked a hole in the air cell of two of them and they were dead. They weren't shrink wrapped. I don't know why they died. Researching it the only thing I could find was poor ventilation. My fans did quit on me around days 11 and 14.
So.... I made a few changes. I put 2 more ventilation holes around the top. Replaced the fan with a different style, disinfected the whole thing, added a large piece of flagstone for a heat sink, taped the inside of the hole in the lid so humidity and heat don't get lost in there. If I ever do another hatch after this one I am going to figure out a heat shield for under the lamps to try to help prevent hot and cold spots.

I'm letting things stabilize again and then I'll set the Cream Legbar eggs. I had a 0% hatch rate, then 30% this time. Hoping for much better this next round!

The splash silkie has the coolest pattern. I'll try to post a pic of it soon.

Wow, hatching sounds so hard. You are improving each time and I guess learning a lot in the process. I sure would be. This is such a great experience for your kids too!

Thanks everyone for the compliments. I read them all to my husband, he needs all the encouragement he can get. Thank goodness he loves building things. I give an idea and he just goes with it.

 

[jonsccm]

So still not sure what breed this is from meyer rare layer assortment. thinking it's a splash Andalusia.....

She is five weeks old

 

[trsturself]

So still not sure what breed this is from meyer rare layer assortment. thinking it's a splash Andalusia.....

She is five weeks old

Looks like one. Was she really tiny as a little chick? We have one from their rare breed that is smaller than our bantams and looks like a splash. This is what we were thinking she is.

 

[jonsccm]

Also my blue red laced wyndotte male seems to have popped out a strait comb. He did not have points for like the first 4 weeks of his life.

I still like him tho.

 

[trsturself]

Here are the chicks that hatched.
This is the darker of the 2 dark silkies


The lighter one


This is the last silkie to hatch


I love the color on this one! It's like a black and white chipmunk even though it's hard to see the detail in this pic


This is the one that came out of the egg marked Java


This is the BCM (should've turned the flash on but didn't realize it was this bad until I was posting)


This is the bantam cochin (MF?)



And our buff chipmunk

 

[christine9]

Love all the chic pics!!