NY chicken lover!!!!

[Framac]

I was just surprised to learn that I have a new peep! I went out to lock up the birds just now, and found that the Marans cross has already hatched, and is dry and fluffy and cuddled up in Mom's feathers. She let me examine the peeper with no problem, and, when I left the coop, was talking to it very softly. No pips are evident in the other four, but it's not "officially" 21 days until nearly midnight. This is an early bird.

Congrats!

 

[marquisella]

so sorry to hear of your loss cass. i hope that the other two hatch safe and sound.

Sometimes when a hen is sitting on eggs in the same coop as other chickens, and the chicks start to hatch, they can fall out of the nest and the other chickens either kill and/or eat them. Or another broody hen kidnaps the chick. Then the hen eats the shells. That is why you don't find anything. I also learned the hard way...always put a broody hen in a secure cage or coop without any other chickens.

 

[itsy]

Hey guys! Man, I've been neglecting BYC! I haven't been in this thread since we were on page 980-something.

Hope you are all having a wonderful spring!

I have eggs hatching as I type this....a really messed up (but is doing surprisingly well hatch) of both Coturnix Quail and Easter Eggers. In the beginning of the hatch, I had the temps too low... so I increased them and it threw off my hatch dates. The cots were going...and then I had to open it, and then more cots hatched...and I had to open it...then a chicken...then a day later one more chicken...then a day later two more chickens and more cots. So the bator has been open and shut and open and shut. I have two more chickens hatching now and I hope they're ok.

The other chicks look GREAT. I have a stunning EE roo and I can't wait to see what these chicks grow up to be. The one that was crossed with him and my Leghorn made a white chick. I'm curious to see if that makes me a white EE. The chick that popped out of an EE egg is the fuzziest most bear like chick I have ever seen anywhere. Ahh fun times! If anyone would like EE chicks or Coturnix in the future, send me a PM and maybe we could work out some sort of barter. I'm always interested in Bee products like honey or wax. Or if any of you folks live local enough...maybe veggies for chicks? Just thought I'd throw that out there for some locals.

Anyone also hatching right now??

 

[Henicillin]

So, I couldn't figure out why egg production had dropped so sharply over the past few days. Three broodies and one in sick lockup still leaves seventeen layers. I found out why today. I'd leaned the collapsed dog pen/chicken confinement yard up against a cabinet in the coop. I happened to look in there today, and found something like sixteen eggs. Nobody is setting them - they've just found a fashionable spot. Goofy birds. I've gathered them, but haven't decided what to do with them. I may just scramble them and feed them back to the crowd, as I'm not sure how old some of them are.

Still no pips in the other four. Argh. The patient had a little prolapse this morning, but seems to be holding out now. *crosses fingers* I do have a mystery, though. My broody who is due next week had four eggs under her. Today she has only three. She insists on nesting on the floor in the playroom half of the coop away from most of the others. I've looked through all the bedding, and there's nothing - the egg has been spirited away. So, now I'm wondering if my dog went in there with Alan this morning and stole it before she was caught. I'll bet she did - yuck.

She helps herself to eggs she finds laid on the floor - this one just had an extra special center. He probably figured that, since the older peeps now go out with the adults and the little peep is hidden under Mama, it was OK. I must disabuse him of that notion, stat!

So much for being overrun with peeps - the attrition rate is pretty high, and the poor things haven't even hatched yet!

 

[Framac]

Hey guys! Man, I've been neglecting BYC! I haven't been in this thread since we were on page 980-something.

Hope you are all having a wonderful spring!

I have eggs hatching as I type this....a really messed up (but is doing surprisingly well hatch) of both Coturnix Quail and Easter Eggers. In the beginning of the hatch, I had the temps too low... so I increased them and it threw off my hatch dates. The cots were going...and then I had to open it, and then more cots hatched...and I had to open it...then a chicken...then a day later one more chicken...then a day later two more chickens and more cots. So the bator has been open and shut and open and shut. I have two more chickens hatching now and I hope they're ok.

The other chicks look GREAT. I have a stunning EE roo and I can't wait to see what these chicks grow up to be. The one that was crossed with him and my Leghorn made a white chick. I'm curious to see if that makes me a white EE. The chick that popped out of an EE egg is the fuzziest most bear like chick I have ever seen anywhere. Ahh fun times! If anyone would like EE chicks or Coturnix in the future, send me a PM and maybe we could work out some sort of barter. I'm always interested in Bee products like honey or wax. Or if any of you folks live local enough...maybe veggies for chicks? Just thought I'd throw that out there for some locals.

Anyone also hatching right now??

I have done 5 hatches so far and moved most of the chicks but am sitting at 70+(45+ Chicks) and doing one more hatch. This last hatch will be only Americanas(sp) and the last attempt at the BLRW. If I get nothing I will probably move those birds along. I think that my wife is about ready for me to be done with hatching.

Framac

 

[Henicillin]

This hatch officially sucks. I found another crushed and dead chick half out of the shell, and I just had to cull the Marans cross because its leg was obviously broken and it was crying in pain. Poor little peeper...

The bird I thought would be the best mom has turned out to be a horrible klutz. She's not even that huge - just horribly, irredeemably clumsy. I'm going to put the last three under the BO whose eggs are only a week along and see what happens, and hit TSC to get a cheapie 'bator for those eggs.

Edited to add that I tapped on the three remaining eggs and had no response, and there are no pips, so I just put her back on them and blocked her in so she can't stomp around for the moment. Bloody clumsy bird. With the way this hatch is going, those three are probably duds. Argh.

At least Gladys and the Peeps are doing well. She has them out on the tree branches in the run at the moment, so I went and watched them for a while.

Ah, the joys of animal-keeping...

 

[featherz]

SO sorry to those having bad broody hatches. =( I rehomed my one bad broody last year (an australorp) - she was a great layer but kept squashing eggs under her care. She did great if you gave her chicks, but noooo eggs.

I got one itty bitty green egg today from my new year's day girls! =) Not sure who laid it since most everyone in there is an easter egger or araucana. All I know is it wasn't the two barred rocks or the RIR.

 

[Cass]

Sometimes when a hen is sitting on eggs in the same coop as other chickens, and the chicks start to hatch, they can fall out of the nest and the other chickens either kill and/or eat them. Or another broody hen kidnaps the chick. Then the hen eats the shells. That is why you don't find anything. I also learned the hard way...always put a broody hen in a secure cage or coop without any other chickens.

Whaaa....why didn't you tell me this before? I am soooo sad. My silkie must just be a much better momma cuz she...wait all hers died too....But once a long time ago one of my D'uccles raised 4 chicks, in the coop, to adulthood. I ate 2 of them and gave the other 2 to my neighbor who had hawk losses and needed to suppliment her flock (and I had hatched eggs from the same person her chickens came from, so same breed)

The heck of it is, I went out of my way to obtain a free rabbit cage that is exactly the right size for this particular hen and I FORGOT that I owned it, so the chick and eggs didn't make it.

Now she is IN the cage, happily staring at the back of a feed bag, hoping the 2 eggs that I picked up and put in the cage will hatch. I sincerely doubt it, cuz I moved them and they SHOULD have hatched on Sunday. Well, one of them should have. The other one a hen laid in the nest area a few days later and I hadn't marked the original eggs yet.

WOW!!! Did I do ANYTHING Right? (I am not new to hatching, just this spring, wow, I sucked at it)

I am going to ask for an cheap incubator for Christmas and the next time I have a broody I am going to let her sit on 2 eggs and the minute one of them hatches I am going to slip the 5 - 6 I have hatched in the 'bator under her. I mean, if she can cluck 1 chick into the coop, she can cluck 7 - 8, right? And it much easier to cover chicks than eggs, right? The chicks find their own warm spot without being tucked under, right?

 

[featherz]

WOW!!! Did I do ANYTHING Right? (I am not new to hatching, just this spring, wow, I sucked at it)

I am going to ask for an cheap incubator for Christmas and the next time I have a broody I am going to let her sit on 2 eggs and the minute one of them hatches I am going to slip the 5 - 6 I have hatched in the 'bator under her. I mean, if she can cluck 1 chick into the coop, she can cluck 7 - 8, right? And it much easier to cover chicks than eggs, right? The chicks find their own warm spot without being tucked under, right?

No, you do not suck at it!! It's just bad luck, that's all. I've had all of my broodies in the coop with the others and for the most part all was well. Just depends on the hens. Right now the three week old chicks in my big coop are trying to roost with the big chickens and keep getting kicked off LOL.

That said, when I had the two broodies at once I had 7 eggs in the bator JUST in case. I think I'm doing that from now on also - keep just a few under the hens and put the rest in the bator. They took them all .. /whew!

(My two hens have 13 chicks to share and they all find their own spots to sleep under mama(s). Sometimes they jostle back and forth between them)..

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

Ah, Hen, I feel your pain. My silkie egg still hasnt hatched and my hen keeps knocking it around when she is turning around and scratching. Somehow she managed to get her poop on it (not a lot) and we all know how rank broody poop is. The lone chick I hatched out over a week ago is doing fine in there with her. She is caring for both but since I cant remember exactly when she started sitting on her eggs I am giving her till the weekend before I pull it. I would love to remove the wire separating the coop in half but I dont trust that Little Man wont try and kill the chick. Maybe I will try having her or her sisters hatch later this summer. I have to build a broody box first though. The whole coop thing is a little tight.

Terrorists (aka the rir, sexlink and br babies) are very happy in their new coop. Spent the last 2 days in there due to the rain. I dragged a chair in tonight and sat with them a while. I had a couple jump up into my lap and they let me pet them. Others jumped up onto the roosts and stood near me, just looking and then hanging out. They do love the big window to look out of and all the other windows to run to and look out of.

Have a good evening all.