NY chicken lover!!!!

[pharmchickrnmom]

Sorry Rancher...I had to share baby silkie pics! Eowyn is a good mommy and had them outside today. Unfortunately the chick with the curled toes was left inside so I had to round up momma and babies and put them back in the coop. I will leave them in for a few days in hopes the little chick will get better. Needless to say, Legolas and his other wives are keeping their distance from momma as she has laid down the law when it comes to her babies!

Olaf went to freezer camp today. He is currently reclining in the cool recesses of the fridge. He will be moving in to camp in a couple of days. He dressed out at a nice weight. His brother was in the crock pot hot tub all day and was dinner. Fell off the bone and was soooo good! Might have to rummage for another brother this week! I think the girls are enjoying their peace and quiet and the ability to go out and do their thing without being jumped or chased down. Hopefully their feathers will grow back soon. Everyone else is out and about enjoying some freeranging time. Someone please turn off the heat!!!!

 

[Nuttyfrom6kids]

Nutty-it's taking me forever to decide which direction to go with my olive egger project. That will determine which birds go. I was surprised to hear that my cousin,s son got the scholarship my parents set up in my brother's name, but it does seem fitting.

That is so nice he got that scholarship. Did you go to the graduation?

I forgot to mention that POL is point of lay. Here's a list of what we're going to sell so far:

Hens: 1 straight comb BLRW, 1 BLRW, 3 buckeyes, 1 cuckoo maran, 1 blue cuckoo maran

Started Pullets: 4 EE, 1 OE, 1 frizz NN

POL Pullet: golden cuckoo maran

Roos (free): 2 EE, 1 orpington

How old is the blue cuckoo maran

One of my pretty muscovy girls sharing a nest with her mama.

They are so cute

I set up a pen outside the stall for the kids to be outside, but not yet free-ranging. Didn't want them pestering Luna with her new babies and eating all the food.
2 red, 2 BR, 1 Brown Leghorn pullets all from TSC. 1 pair Golden Blue Maran, 2 OE cockrels, 1 OE Frizzle pullet, 1 pair Del from Tab. The splash Americauna pullet is locked in her Eglu pen, Hubby named her Miranda.


And the new babies!!!
Happy momma hen Luna. Switched her to a muck bucket laying on its side with some fresh shavings and hay. Luna is so good, Hubby and Little Girl came out with me this morning to admire them. We pulled her out of the bucket, she ate and drank while we switched the babies out of the other bucket. After all the babies were moved, they started peeping loudly and she climbed right back in with them. Good girl.


And all the babies, 7 total. I can see two are Partridge Rocks with the darker heads, but cant tell the others apart and didn't want to handle them too much. Sorry for the poor quality, iPod isn't great in low light. I did roll up the tarp sides on the coop to get more light and air in today.


So I started with 14 purchased and one homegrown EE egg. Had two eggs broken at day 7. Pulled one clear at day 14. Had 3 crushed chicks during hatch and the EE wasn't right. Had one Welsummer egg left this morning, no pips. Tried candling it, which is difficult with the dark color, believe it was clear so tossed it. It smelled, but may have been from the other eggs hatching and smearing on it.
Yay for 7 little fluffy butts!

Yay for fluffy butts

Eowyn and her babies. The one in front has some curled toes. I am hoping they will straighten out soon. It doesnt move as well as its siblings.

Eowyn and the babies are adorable

 

[Lynzi777]

Can someone please tell me how I raise the humidity in my incubator without raising the temperature of it? Its been reading at 45% humidity and 100 degrees. It'll go up in Humidity if I raise the temp but I obviously don't want to do that when it comes times to hatching eggs. I have a bowl of water in there and just added a sponge to the dish to see if that helps at all.

 

[Nuttyfrom6kids]

So far I have 4 baby chicks the other eggs are being slow you can hear them making peep noises and chipping away at the eggs but they are just being slow and me looking at them every 10 minutes doesn't help LOL!

 

[rancher hicks]

I have 4 of them in the fridge. I am NOT amused, as she used to lay an XL egg almost daily. They are all just coming out of molting....what a scraggily bunch of birds. But I am thinking after 4 days of tiny eggs she should get with the program. I have recently restretched my hose to the chicken coop so I can provide fresh water daily....was only doing it when the waterer was empty, cuz I have to carry it down from the house. (in my defense there are 6 water containers out in my yard/coop, so they were never deprived of water for even one minute of the day) Maybe that will help. Right now I am ready to give all my chickens away and start a new flock of Mixed breed birds...nothing pure bred, cuz only my mixes are laying consistently.

If you have birds coming out of a molt, I suggest increasing the protein. Find something in the 20 -21 % range.

Also keep in mind that heritage breeds require a higher protein feed. Most are 16%. Agway has an "Egg Producer" feed that is higher, but does cost a dollar or so more.

I've been letting up on the scratch too. My Dels lay and the marans lay very well. My Dels do well in confinement, my orps do not.

Remember EE's are hybrids. Many crosses are popular.

Buying birds from "breeders" doesn't guarantee good utility in a bird. I'm finding in their quest for a SQ bird they're sacrificing utility. There has to be a happy medium.

IMO the SP, is a guide line of appearance but should not sacrifice the utility of the breed.

Who of us is keeping laying records of our flocks?

 

[Gramma Chick]

And the new babies!!!
Happy momma hen Luna. Switched her to a muck bucket laying on its side with some fresh shavings and hay. Luna is so good, Hubby and Little Girl came out with me this morning to admire them. We pulled her out of the bucket, she ate and drank while we switched the babies out of the other bucket. After all the babies were moved, they started peeping loudly and she climbed right back in with them. Good girl.

Cute ! Congratulations !

What does everyone do to help keep the coop cool on hot, stagnant days?
My coop has two 18" windows, always open (will be adding a large four foot x one foot window shortly to the side wall where a breeze will come in). I have a small window on the front of the coop (way up high) with a small fan pointing out, always on high, to suck warm air out of the coop. During the day, I have a mammoth fan hanging head height in front of the door, blowing straight OUT the door. That fan makes a huge difference.
On really hot days, I hose off the deck and run 40 feet or so immediately around the coop like twice a day. They like to come and lay on the wet deck.
Anyone else have any tricks to keep them cool?

My Coop is open on the back & raised off the ground so they can get under it for Shade & cooler breezes .
Last year they had a fresh run with grass ..I set up a pet sprinkler ..to cool them in the run .
It attaches to a regular hose but sprays 2 mini mists. This year I think I may put it under a tree as my run has no grass ...And would become mud slides
Ice water to drink ...Frozen bread cubes as treats or bread cubes with yougurt

 

[Gramma Chick]

Originally Posted by pharmchickrnmom


Cute Babies

 

[Gramma Chick]

Not sure why it didn't show up first time but here it is

AWWW How Lovely

CONGRATS ...Is this your First ?

 

[JLaw]

My BR and a hen sleep on the floor. I attribute it to not having a roost early enough. My Sussex hen is very nice but has gone broody twice and is the longest at mothering. I got her from Marquella, so if you do decide to get more and you didn't get yours from her, I would. I've no intention of breeding them but of the breeds I don't, I'd say hers is a nice sized bird. Not sure how they are for eating size.

Yeah I don't think the people I got these birds from had a set up for roosts. I know she had 4 roosters split in twos in show style cages. I don't think he ever saw a roost before my coop. He does stand on the board I have at a slight angle over my rabbit cage in the coop for when I want to put younger birds in there before turning them loose. I just hate that my blue amer. roo has white spots on his neck/head. I guess I will have to put in a poop board. Its funny I have 8x12 coop, 3 roost bars across 8 ft like 16 inch higher and apart from each other, and a ladder going up one side. The roo and LS sleep in corner of coop almost under the ladder/top roost bar. The top bar is like 18 inch from wall. The other birds that sleep on bars are all on top of ladder and roost bar in that corner. I'm going to cut the ladder down some more so it don't go over the top of roost as of now it goes like 2-4 inches taller. My silkies and what ever random bird desides to sleep with them are normaly sleeping in corner by my door so at least they are clean not like you would see the white poo too much on them any ways.

 

[JLaw]

"I caught Duncan mating with my buff orp the other day so if I do get ansy to try hatching again I'll use those eggs, but I obviously won't want to keep any of the chicks and I don't know anyone who is going to want silkie x buff orp mixed chicks so I really don't want to do that. these lavender chicks probably have another 8wks before they start laying. I am not a patient person. "

If you don't mind the chicks being used for food you could always do craigslist for like a dollar a bird or free if your just wanting to test it out. I had 11 bantams from TS assorted that wife wasn't liking at all and I thought I had like 5-6 roos so I offered for free guy came picked up and gave me 10. yeah was a loss on my part but I didn't care made wife happy and at least I got feed money back.

I am testing my bator out on $7.00 eggs at the moment. It's just eggs from people I know have roosters and they sell eggs so no knowing what is fertile till after they hatch or I break them open. I have 8 out of 35 with veins and a few where the top is darker so hoping in a few days may have veins at least. and I have a lot where there is just slightly tinted top so duds i'm thinking. I am hoping to sell for $1 a chick figure at least pay for part of egg cost.

Point is people will take just about anything if it's free/cheap. So I would say try the silkie x buffs out see what you can do and hope someone wants chicks this late in year.

jlaw