Minnesota!

[Bogtown Chick]

Creamette-itos! Woohoo. 2 of the 3 eggs are viable!
Cream legbars are $47 for a female chick on My Pet Chicken. Which is probably not the place to order from. The birds Ralphie and I got are Greenfire Farm birds. Not sure what their value is but enjoying them a lot. I'm sure mine will start laying again once they are over the shock of their new introduction. Edited to say that if you can buy local that's the way to go!

Today my husband took in the broad expanse of a bird that is my buckeye saying a few cursory words in exclamation at my hen. Standing next to my New Hampshire rooster she gives him a run for the money in size. We put her on the bathroom scale and she is a solid 8 pounds! So that was kind of fun tonight checking her weight. She's feisty but a love too.

 

[duluthralphie]

BogtownChick. I just checked my eggs. 2 of three are developing good. One is clear. I should just throw it.


One week from Friday...ie 7 more days and I should have two more creamettes!

I got a new incubator tonight after bribing my wife with a new GPS and then the proper amount of guilt I went to feetfarm and have a second one....

I will be setting it up tomorrow and stabilizing the temps so I can use it as a hatcher starting on Wednesday afternoon.....

Tomorrow ( 8 hours from now) I will be putting 6 more creamette eggs in the incubator 5 good ones and the repaired one!!


I am still trying to calculate the cost/value/price of young creamettes.... I am sure it will be less than the price of most new cars.....

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Haha. Your wife is probably not only tolerant and beautiful Ralphie but one heck of a negotiator.

My eggs are over at a Friends house and if they hatch. They're hers. I don't have the space for more hens right now unless I make some freezer camp decisions with some of my original and henopausal girls. Which is what I should do. But the kids are against it and for retirement accommodations for those lovely girls. Ahh well...

I just checked Greenfire and they are at $29 for female and $19 for a cockerel. $35 for the magic cardboard box that gets 'em here.

 

[nordicacres]

Alright experienced chickeners. Went out to check on the chicks before bed and found another dead chick under the sweeter heater. Laying flat out, chicks laying all over the top of it. How many dead chicks is normal per batch? Let's say I ordered 50 chicks (20 meat birds). What mortality rate should I expect? All three that have died have been some of the smallest in the batch. Is it normal for them to be eating, drinking, running and then just suddenly die?

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Home with our six new chicks. The two RIR's are easy to pick out but which two are the Barred Rocks and which two are the Silver Laced, well, that a more difficult question. Both are black with some white markings. I guess time will tell.

Congrats on the new chicks Scott. The barred rocks will have dots on their heads and the SLWs will be a more mottled on the head.
May I also say as to your Black australorps welcoming the new chicks that you couldn't have a nicer breed for welcoming new flock mates. My black Australorp is my "buffer" on the roost when introducing new birds. I'll pick her up and put her between the newbies and the other established growling old biddies. She never bullies or doesn't have to.

Now when those rhodies and wyandottes grow you may have your hands full! Lol

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Sorry to hear that Nordic acres. Do you have some ACV in their water?

It could be just weak or runtish birds. But you could be dealing with coccidia too... In which case that's more serious. Any bloody droppings?

 

[Minniechickmama]

Scott Did you not look at his location?

It says "Peace and Calming" The only place the can possibly be is Togo..........




Ole has made the move!

When I collected eggs last night Ole was sitting on the high roost in the coop. It is the first time I have seen him actually spend the night in the main coop. see him get it on yesterday with a EE hen. However I think it was cut short because Ed ran him off her and chased him down.

Ed is pushing his weight around still but is not sleeping in the main coop, He spends his nights in the guinea fowl coop, (prison).. I am very progressive and have an open door policy on my prison at this time. The prison is soon to become Turkey prison.

Ed still does not like Bert. He chased him yesterday right away when I let Bert out. I am going to move Bert into a corner of the turkey coop and give him and his girls their own run and a little coop area with 2 nests.



Other the hand that nothing new here except the thermometer is showing freezing out.


Jbenson: I have to sadly agree with the advice Minnie is giving you. I become attached to the chicks with special needs fast however ask yourself do you really want those genes in any other young birds? In addition A weak bird is a bird a virus or bacteria can fester in and get a foot hold into your flock. Minnie always gives good advice, even if it is hard to follow.

Thanks, Ralphie. I really just want to be helpful if I can. It is always with a heavy heart I take care of things like that. No matter how many times I do it, it will never be pleasant or something I just write off. The day I stop feeling bad is the day my soul has turned black and died.

 

[Minniechickmama]

Creamette-itos! Woohoo. 2 of the 3 eggs are viable!
Cream legbars are $47 for a female chick on My Pet Chicken. Which is probably not the place to order from. The birds Ralphie and I got are Greenfire Farm birds. Not sure what their value is but enjoying them a lot. I'm sure mine will start laying again once they are over the shock of their new introduction. Edited to say that if you can buy local that's the way to go!

Today my husband took in the broad expanse of a bird that is my buckeye saying a few cursory words in exclamation at my hen. Standing next to my New Hampshire rooster she gives him a run for the money in size. We put her on the bathroom scale and she is a solid 8 pounds! So that was kind of fun tonight checking her weight. She's feisty but a love too.

Now THAT is what a Buckeye is supposed to be!

 

[Rhetts]

Alright experienced chickeners. Went out to check on the chicks before bed and found another dead chick under the sweeter heater. Laying flat out, chicks laying all over the top of it. How many dead chicks is normal per batch? Let's say I ordered 50 chicks (20 meat birds). What mortality rate should I expect? All three that have died have been some of the smallest in the batch. Is it normal for them to be eating, drinking, running and then just suddenly die?

Sorry to hear you are losing chicks!!

Well, for starters I have never had meat birds let alone meat birds in with the layers. I can't really say for sure how many to expect to lose. I figured in the batch we ordered (62 total) that 5-8 would be about what to expect but I really don't know for sure. After the initial shipping loss, we have only lost 2. One was small, not really growing or feathering and then just died sometime during the night. I figured it would. It was a runt compared to the others of the same breed and age. The second loss I am positive it was entirely my fault. I am most certain they were too hot and one of the polish just convulsed and died. I really feel like crap about it but at least I am aware of the problem now and pay close attention.
So as far as suggestions IMO I would separate the meaties from the layers. I would make sure you have a thermometer to keep your temps in check hot or cold. If they are small or runty there isn't a whole lot to do there I do not think. How long after shipping can the chicks die from shipping stress? Are the chicks eating the bedding?
Perhaps some of the veteran chick keepers can offer you some better advice. Really too bad!!

 

[Minniechickmama]

So sad this morning! Two of our chicks were dead when I checked on them. They were healthy yesterday - no signs of illness. I wonder if those fat Cornish meat birds sat on them and suffocated them

. One of them was the freebie from MMM - a super sweet little Cochin who would run to you and cuddle up in your hand every chance he got.

Should I separate the Cornish from the layers? I'm worried about restricting the feed for the layers, anyway. Plus I don't want any more dead chicks! Those Cornish are already twice the size of our other chicks.

If you are talking about the Cornish Rock crosses, YES, separate them. For no other reason to spare the rest from the poop and stink that is so abundant from the CRX. The CRX just grow too fast to keep with others. You will be glad you did.