New Mexico

[svenskavessla]

I'm in northern NM- but it definitely freezes here quite a bit in the winter. This is my first winter with chickens (this should be interesting)- but I know I have to have a heated bowl for my dog's outside water and there are a few VERY cold nights every year (like -14F) that are just insane. Times when I keep trying to explain to my friends overseas that yes, I am from New Mexico and yes, this is technically a desert.... (I'm 30 minutes from the Colorado boarder so I get a tad more cold weather than you central folks, lol).

 

[bumpercarr]

I've rebuilt my flock after the two dog attacks this spring. Does anyone know who I need to contact about NPIP testing? I know it was in this thread back in the spring, but I can't find it now.

 

[Peep_Show]

For those of you inside when it happened today:

Moonrise at sunset over the Sandias

 

[emmyeagle]

Ooooo pretty!

 

[BOrion]

I desperately need to re home some of my roosters. Had to buy straight run, at $15 each, to get what I wanted. But, now I have too many Roos. I have a two year old Buckeye, and six month old Welsummers and French Black Copper Marans. All are very nice and pretty tame. They've been handled quite a lot. I can deliver to the edgewood/albuquerque area from northern NM. They are free to a good home. The Buckeye is a great protective rooster.

 

[BOrion]

I'm in northern NM- but it definitely freezes here quite a bit in the winter. This is my first winter with chickens (this should be interesting)- but I know I have to have a heated bowl for my dog's outside water and there are a few VERY cold nights every year (like -14F) that are just insane. Times when I keep trying to explain to my friends overseas that yes, I am from New Mexico and yes, this is technically a desert.... (I'm 30 minutes from the Colorado boarder so I get a tad more cold weather than you central folks, lol).

Where are you? I'm near Cimarron?

 

[Peep_Show]

I desperately need to re home some of my roosters. Had to buy straight run, at $15 each, to get what I wanted. But, now I have too many Roos. I have a two year old Buckeye, and six month old Welsummers and French Black Copper Marans. All are very nice and pretty tame. They've been handled quite a lot. I can deliver to the edgewood/albuquerque area from northern NM. They are free to a good home. The Buckeye is a great protective rooster.

Oh, please! By any chance will you be willing to sell fertile Welsummer and FBCM eggs later? I'm having horrid luck with shipped eggs due to (1) USPS handling and (2) eggs laid at sea level do not hatch well here. I'd even come and pick up (within reasonable distance..where are you?) (too many shipped scrambled eggs for my $$)

I've got one CCL x RIR roo to rehome, so cannot help you there. (Egg seller lied when they said the chipmunky chicks would be female....grrr. GIANT roo comb at 5 weeks. Bye-bye, Ethel!)

 

[BOrion]

Sorry, but I don't keep my chickens separated, so there would be no way to insure what the eggs would be. I've thought about raising them, but to date I just keep chickens for the eggs.

 

[bumpercarr]

Oh, please! By any chance will you be willing to sell fertile Welsummer and FBCM eggs later? I'm having horrid luck with shipped eggs due to (1) USPS handling and (2) eggs laid at sea level do not hatch well here. I'd even come and pick up (within reasonable distance..where are you?) (too many shipped scrambled eggs for my $$)

I've got one CCL x RIR roo to rehome, so cannot help you there. (Egg seller lied when they said the chipmunky chicks would be female....grrr. GIANT roo comb at 5 weeks. Bye-bye, Ethel!)

There is a thread about hatching at high altitude, if you do a search you should find it. We will be starting the conversation back up probably about January, but there is a lot of great information there to read to catch up. Shipped eggs don't do well at altitude, but you can increase your hatch rate by changing a few small things. The only thing I noticed when changing the humidity to a much higher humidity is that a lot of my chicks needed help getting out of the shell. They don't dry and fall off, I've had to immerse them in warm water to remove shell that sticks to them. I went from 0/56 to 4/18 by playing with the methods described on the thread. Hopefully, this year will be even better because I'm going to go to automated humidity control (and I'll be mostly hatching my own).

I've also started ordering eggs from breeders that are at a higher altitude. Hard to find, but I've had better luck ordering from 3500 feet than from sea level. If I could find some at 5000 ft, would be even better but haven't found any yet.

And no, I don't raise Welsummers or Marans. I'm a LF Brahma girl, and only Brahmas.

 

[Peep_Show]

I've been googling shippers altitudes like crazy and most of the selections are sea level to 600 feet. I did find Bielefelders in Montrose, CO, and some Penedesencas (sp) at 3500 feet, but no Marans or Welsummers. I may have to ship chicks, but what's the fun in that?

I feel fortunate to have hatched out 6 pullets, but the Welsummers and Marans were a bust for me this year (the former hatching ALL boys and the latter hatching nada as they gave up at about hatch time). Believe it or not, I even hatched a Trader Joe's egg laid who-knows-where with questionable shell issues (she's a nice Austrawhite). All the mutt and hybrid eggs seemed to have the best hatch rate, even those from sea level. (???)

The bit with the soda lime on the high-altitude hatch thread is pretty interesting. Another thread (with all my science geek friends) had ideas on putting a pressure regulator on the incubator and pumping in air via a fish tank pump...of course, it would limit how often you'd open the incubator.

Bumpercarr:
I gather you've got a Brinsea for regulating humidity automatically? What humidity are you hatching at? You'll probably have great hatch results with your own eggs because the porosity won't be an issue with local laid eggs.