Meyer Hatchery Chicken pics anyone??

[Kalalyn21]

Out if 15 shipped eggs they all made it from TN to WY unbroken

 

[christine9]

I've also heard great things of DMRippy.

 

[christine9]

I've also heard great things of DMRippy.

And bargain's eggs.

 

[trsturself]

I bought eggs from a BYCer. None hatched. They were very well packaged but all had detached air cells which means they were shaken up pretty good. The rode around in a truck until 7pm and then left sideways on my porch in the snow. I've read more than one person say they don't mark the box at all and get better results, they also wrap the eggs in foil to protect them from xrays.
It was also my first hatch. So I can't say how much was my problem and how much was the shipping. 4 developed enough to lockdown but none hatched. I would try it again if I had a broody. Definitely try to find local ones first. I had a much better hatch rate with local eggs even though I was still working out the kinks in my incubator. Even if they have to ship them, look for closer states.

 

[cheeperchick]

That's great, it is so nice to finally get them outside. Sounds like you'll have more inside again soon, just enough time to get all the feather dust cleaned up before the new ones arrive!

Great pic! What a cute pup!


Sorry that it did not work out. The other property sounds nice too. We live on a slope and it is working out fine. The city is very close to being done with the creek work, I'll have to take pics once they complete the work. We live on almost 1 acre and it is plenty of room for us and the chickens. 5 acres would be awesome, I'd love to be able to have 4 footed fluffy pets too. We do have our chow, but goats, sheep, even a horse would be neat to have, but not here since it is just 1 acre. Maybe the extra time that you have to sell now will let you bring up the price a little with all the improvements.
Oh wow!! Must of been elves!!

Those elves had some good selections too!

Cute pictures. I love the peck and play, what a neat idea, I've never seen one before. Mama hen is doing a great job! Do you think anymore eggs will hatch or is it too late for them?

I checked on them when I got home from work and both were walking around the nest box. I checked inside the next box and found that another chick hatched but looked like it suffocated :\ I still have my meyer chicks inside the washroom...they are growing fast!

 

[NanaLynn]

I would suggest finding a local source of eggs before considering shipped ones. I just had a TERRIBLE experience with shipped eggs, they are a crapshoot unless you really know what you are doing IMO. I just think you would be disappointed with the hatch rate of shipped eggs, there is so much that can go wrong with them.

Adding,
I also did buy my first shipped eggs from a BYCer on here and it was a bad experience all around. They were a long distance away, he sent 14 eggs and only 2 hatched , one of the dead embryos was also grotesquely deformed which is from his "stock" not from shipping so I was NOT happy. And I'm not a noob at incubating. Not to mention that the eggs were pretty expensive and I'm not at all happy with the quality of the 2 hens that did end up hatching.

Adding agian...
Not to say that the sellers are all bad, just do your research if you decide to go with shipped and make purchases from a very experienced, highly rated seller. I am VERY happy with the other BYCer seller I ordered from.

Thanks... I think I'll get some.

How exciting!! Check out Craigslist; I think you'll be surprised how many people near you have fertilized eggs. Maybe you're looking for certain breeds though? I'm only 15 min from Phila and there are tons of ads for eggs and chicks this time of year... and great breeds too! And what will you do with the boys that hatch out? Soup?

Ok. I have to chime in on this. I ordered some from a BYCer and some from Meyer. Both boxes were packed really nicely. The BYCer I chose is a few states away and Meyer quite far. Of course this was my first hatch but the BYC eggs arrived in so much better shape. I followed some recommendations for allowing the air cells to reattach. It seemed to help. The BIGGEST difference was my post office. My PO held the BYC eggs at the office for me to pick up. They did not hold the Meyer eggs. The Meyer eggs rode around in a truck all day until the mail carrier got to my house, then rode back to the PO when no one was home to sign for them. Agh! Three of my BYC eggs hatched and two were fully developed out of 8. Two Meyer eggs also fully developed but none hatched. Everybody says they hate shipped eggs, but I could not find local eggs. Nowhere! I would order eggs again definitely

I have ordered eggs from bycers, awesome packaging from I believe her SN is dmrippy. She had a great selection. I have maran eggs from her in my bator now. Don't expect a huge hatch but wanted some new lines for my marans

Out if 15 shipped eggs they all made it from TN to WY unbroken

I've also heard great things of DMRippy.

And bargain's eggs.

I bought eggs from a BYCer. None hatched. They were very well packaged but all had detached air cells which means they were shaken up pretty good. The rode around in a truck until 7pm and then left sideways on my porch in the snow. I've read more than one person say they don't mark the box at all and get better results, they also wrap the eggs in foil to protect them from xrays.
It was also my first hatch. So I can't say how much was my problem and how much was the shipping. 4 developed enough to lockdown but none hatched. I would try it again if I had a broody. Definitely try to find local ones first. I had a much better hatch rate with local eggs even though I was still working out the kinks in my incubator. Even if they have to ship them, look for closer states.

Thanks everyone, good info. I checked out Craigslist and was surprised about how many people around me has chicks, chickens and hatching eggs. I also like bargains, so I'll check out DMRippy on here too. Thanks for all your advice. Have any of you bought eggs to hatch under a broody before or do you just incubate them?

I'd like to sneak a few eggs under a broody and surprise the family when chicks hatch out since we do not have a rooster, everyone will be so confused!

Of course, none of the chickens are broody now...just my luck!

I checked on them when I got home from work and both were walking around the nest box. I checked inside the next box and found that another chick hatched but looked like it suffocated :\ I still have my meyer chicks inside the washroom...they are growing fast!

Your Meyer's chicks are getting big fast. So how many chicks does the mother hen have now?

 

[autumnhearth]

So in the last few days the girls discovered dust bathing!


First the Black Copper Maran and Silver Grey Dorking. The EE is just observing.


So the next day Amelia decided she must try it. The Buff Orp is supporting and learning, she has been "practicing" dust bathing on my lap and on the rug, very intensely today, but hasn't tried it with you know, actual dust.


She didn't pull it off quite as well as her grey and black sisters.


They also got a proper perch courtesy of the husband, who made a second high one at my request as Amelia likes to get as high up as she can, but we decided the set up was unsafe for now.


And they have a nice stump in their favorite people watching corner.


And here is Amelia today looking so grown up, she is a Golden Buff (sex-link)

 

[NanaLynn]

Went to Tractor Supply. They had White Leghorn, Golden Buff and some other kind of red chicks, plus assorted bantams....so hard to resist. There were so many and they were so cute!!!! and ducks....oh my.....so hard to resist!!!

 

[trsturself]

Looks like your chicks have a great setup!

Ducklings are SO hard to resist! Luckily we do not have anywhere near the setup for them or I'm sure we'd have some by now.


Opinions needed: If you could buy 10 acres of your dream land with a house that leaves A LOT to be desired OR 5 acres of land that is ok with a nice house, which would you go for and why?

More details:
10 acres: beautiful land with perfect mix of trees and grass, 4 horse loafing shed and views, the house is very tiny, no closet space (we are already busting at the seams in our current house and this one is even smaller), needs siding, garage doors, and everything in the room downstairs (DH said it looked and smelled like a dog had lived down there w/ no access to outside), driveway needs fixing, and the deck is coming off
5 acres: the land is slightly slanted with 1 or 2 trees, good chicken coop, 2 horse loafing shed that needs work (we would probably just use this for storage and build a barn), house is good just needs appliances and floors refinished, has nice views, asking price $50K above 10 acre property

 

[NanaLynn]

Looks like your chicks have a great setup!

Ducklings are SO hard to resist! Luckily we do not have anywhere near the setup for them or I'm sure we'd have some by now.


Opinions needed: If you could buy 10 acres of your dream land with a house that leaves A LOT to be desired OR 5 acres of land that is ok with a nice house, which would you go for and why?

More details:
10 acres: beautiful land with perfect mix of trees and grass, 4 horse loafing shed and views, the house is very tiny, no closet space (we are already busting at the seams in our current house and this one is even smaller), needs siding, garage doors, and everything in the room downstairs (DH said it looked and smelled like a dog had lived down there w/ no access to outside), driveway needs fixing, and the deck is coming off
5 acres: the land is slightly slanted with 1 or 2 trees, good chicken coop, 2 horse loafing shed that needs work (we would probably just use this for storage and build a barn), house is good just needs appliances and floors refinished, has nice views, asking price $50K above 10 acre property

Seems like you would need the 50k to spend fixing up the 10 acre property anyway. So I'd go with the 5 acres. Especially if the house on the 5 acres is bigger.That still is a lot of land. Well to me anyway. We've been at our house almost 20 years now and we are still trying to get it fixed up the way we want it. So even if you buy a fixer upper it may take some time after the initial buy to actually do all the fixing. With us it seemed that the kids needs always got in the way of the house needs, now that the kids are fully grown we're getting a lot more projects done around the house. As far as the slope goes, just don't build the coop at the bottom of the slope since water will be a problem. I learned that lesson the hard way.