Minnesota!

[Cyrus83]

Well I like to keep it to one so I don't come off as a know it all.

 

[bantiesrule]

I did not know that either, but I refuse to learn this today, I had already learned my one thing for the day...

Tell me this again tomorrow, early and I will see if I can learn it.

I'll try to remember to tell you tomorrow and you'll have to tell us what one thing you learned today so that can be our one thing tomorrow.

 

[ejb3810]

Ralphie, I believe that the smallest egg in the photo is a guinea egg. It sure looks like the ones that mine lay.

 

[duluthralphie]

I know I have seen some of you talk about this before...BUT I being old forget most things I read..


I put Bert in a coop by himself with three girls to try and make toads.. ( a CX Dixie Rainbow cross).

I have a few problems:

Bert is reverting into a CX and wants to eat all the time. If I remove the food I wonder if the Dixie chicks will get enough to eat.
The Dixie chicks have started spending the night in the nests. ( how do I stop this?) I have better roosts but they like the nests.

The Dixie chicks do not seem to like Bert. I have not seen them allow him to do his job. He grabs them behind the head and they break free.



They are in the coop I originally put Ed and Ole in when they got out of "jail" from moving here. Ed is spending too much time in this coop, but not in the same partition Bert is in wooing the girls, I think. I watched Ed tonight and he is even spending the nights alone in his "old" roost. That surprises me as I thought he was head rooster and would live in the other coop. I wonder sometimes if I even have a vague idea of what their pecking order really is.

I am remodeling the coop for this winter. I plan to keep all the peasant chickens in this coop and give the other coop to the royal creamettes. I will have 2-3 separate areas and runs, which should help me get started hatching earlier in the winter.

 

[duluthralphie]

Update on Mondays hatch of creamettes..

They were all looking good last time I candled, today, not so much.

2 of them the air sac has moved to the side instead of the top...WHY??/

3 look good.
1 I cannot tell which is bad, I should be able to tell now.

and 1 I am going to chance and break it., I think.

All most all the turkey eggs look viable. We even saw one move when we shined the light into the egg. My wife ooooh'd and ahh'd at that one and made me shine the light in again..

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Ralphie I wouldn't know what to do with your 3 Rooster situation. Lol. Maybe it is not meant to be for Bert.

Ooooo sounds like the eggs are coming along then! Good work!

Tonight putting the chooks to bed I had a surprise. Under my ever brooding silkie in the nest box was a.....

Cream legbar egg! It's been three weeks since the last. I have to hand it to these birds. They have put themselves right with my flock every day trying to integrate. This AM I saw them grazing with the buckeye near the apple trees. At roost tonight one was up high with the old girls. And the other right next to Roger( a coveted position). I think they're settling in and are happy. The frogs are chirping, there's bugs waking up, and the brown Sahara of a lawn out there might be a tidge greener today.

BYC is not letting me upload photos right now!.... Hmmm....

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Here we go...

And then a little "spring is here" photo.

 

[Cyrus83]

Why does spring always show up right when I'm finally starting to acclimate to the cold

 

[holm25]

OK Minnie I have a question for u!! Is it OK to have my eggs that r in my bator in cartons that r on there sides?? Or do I have to do this differently?

 

[Minniechickmama]

Well that's interesting. I would have never guessed they could be held that long as long as they are "shifted". I would have chickens and ducks in all stages of hatching, thinking they could not be held for a bit.

Thanks Bogtown

Yes, eggs can be held up to 10 days before they lose their fertility. Actually, at day 10 it begins to drop significantly, but some will still develop and hatch though not worth the trouble in my opinion. They can be placed at room temp and do just fine. I never actually refrigerate my eggs, but a cool spot, not in the sunlight, and with a good relative humidity will be fine. I hold eggs for a week, or should I say, I collect them for a week and set every Monday or Tuesday from December to June. Some eggs that get frozen slightly will even hatch, but again, not worth the trouble for the percentage that make it. Rocking or turning eggs is so that the embryo doesn't get attached to the side of the egg from sitting and drying out. Again, I don't always turn mine and still have the same outcomes as I do when I do turn them but some of them have stopped development after about a week and they embryo seems to be stuck, but not enough to make me turn them daily. I do wash my eggs just before they go into the incubator, usually. Some of my stupid hens will lay their eggs under the roost, in the poop, even though they have a nice double nest box in each pen. Sometimes they scratch around and break an egg trying to fluff up the nest, and it gets on the other eggs. I know all about the bloom on the egg, and I agree to an extent with leaving them, but since I am certified by the state to be a hatchery, I am following instructions for that. I normally only use warm water and rub whatever is sticking on them with my finger, but sometimes I do use a scrubby to get the really bad stuff off. I also incubate in 300-600 egg units inside my house and if I didn't clean the eggs first, it would smell pretty awful in my home (which it does bad enough from the 3 dogs

). One reason for setting once a week is so that I can ship out chicks in a batch when i have orders and they have to be no more than 24-hours old to do so. The other reason is that I have time to clean the hatcher in between, which is really important to the success of the successive hatches. Besides, if you just keep tossing more eggs and have them hatching all the time, that thing STINKS!

I have one warning though before you start hatching anything...
IT IS ADDICTIVE AND YOU WILL NEED TO JOIN A GROUP FOR THERAPY!!! Not this group because we are all pretty much nuts, and enablers. I am at least, and I am pretty sure Ralphie is.