NY chicken lover!!!!

[Nuttyfrom6kids]

Chick count so far is 28 hatched out of 36 and still have a couple more that should be hatching soon. Sons Graduation party was today so am tired from all the cooking and running around. Next weekend I have to drive 4 hours up to Plattsburgh to drop son off for his orientation to pick him back up on Tuesday wish his college was closer. Tonight the teeny boppers all but 1 of them put themselves in the big girl coop I didn't even have to chase them in. Ducks are getting a lot of feathers and loving their duck home. I hope everyone stays cool.

 

[vmdanielsen]

I'd be ok with some heat if this humidity would drop and the rain would stop for a week. Our field hasn't been hayed yet, so can't rotate the horses into more pasture. The dedicated pasture is over grazed, but until the hay is off the extra acres, I'm stuck.
Little Girl's 3rd birthday party was today and I survived. Feet and ankles are killing me from running around in the garage on the concrete then back in the house, all barefoot. Always make too much food, so lots of leftover fruit, veggies, Dark Chocolate Cake and yellow cupcakes both with white chocolate frosting and an extra batch of frosting. Yum!
I wonder since we now have the garage cleaned out, if hubby would let me have a chicken get together.... I'd ask him now but he is already snoring away, of course he can't say no then either.

With all this rain, we haven't gotten the winter supply of hay in. So it is double trouble. Over mature grass in the field and nothing in storage. I always feel better when the barn is full of hay. Good luck.

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

Morning all. Another scorcher today and its almost 80 here already. Bleh. I got home last night and found legolas out and about so I opened the fencing for the girls and the babies. Eowyn and Arwin are sharing mommy duties and they had the babies out in the front yard last night while Legolas strutted around flapping his wings thinking he was all that. Men. I left Little Man and his girls locked up so there would be no skirmishes while mommas and babies were out and about. Dh was hanging with the terrorists, divas and taters last night. He found some termites in one of the stumps out back so he opened it up some and the chickens went crazy! Termite m&ms they were and the cheeps were gobbling them down as fast as they could. Love all that free protein plus pest control. Tater tots (aka heritage rir) are filling out nicely and growing like weeds. They are going to be big. They already have a really nice weight on them and they wont be 4 months old till the 26th. Boys are slowly maturing. I have only seen a little sparring. No attempted crows as of yet. Waddles are still really little as are the combs but there is no doubt that they are boys.

Lynzi--yes, you have a blue silkie chick. Depending on how it feathers out, I think it will be a dark blue like one of my hens.

Nutty and Jlaw--congrats on your hatches. Babies are always fun.

Stay cool everyone. All this heat should be drying everyone out pretty quick so you can get some hay down and bailed.

 

[Tab's chicken obsession]

Candled our eggs last night. Have 40 of 48 growing. All 9 of the duck eggs are growing I put in to try hatching. I've had the ducks for a few years and never hatched any of their eggs.

I'll feel a lot better when we have hay in our barn too!

 

[ChickPrincess]

I worry with hay being wet about fires...
There was a fire just down the road from us last year that killed all their calves. It was so sad.
It was because the hay was stored too damp, and some sort of reaction happens that can cause it to catch fire.
They lost 40-some or 60-some calves but luckily were able to put the fire out before it spread to the horse barn.

 

[ChickPrincess]

I think there is, but not sure what it's called...
Is there such a thing that you can ADD to an incubator that controls the humidity and adds moisture as needed?
What would it be called?

 

[Pyxis]

I think there is, but not sure what it's called...
Is there such a thing that you can ADD to an incubator that controls the humidity and adds moisture as needed? 
What would it be called?

A humidity pump - I know you can get them for most brinsea incubators.

Ugh, today my work did the old hours switcharoo on me, which they love to do. I'm supposed to work nights, and so that's what my sleep schedule is, so of course today they wanted me in bright and early at 7. Almost no sleep to speak of was had last night.

Penny and her chicks are doing really well - she still has all ten. I'll get some pictures and post them if they cooperate. Two of my three ducks have decided to be broody together, so we'll see what they get. My third ducky girl wasn't looking so good last night - she was all droopy and easy to catch. I gave her some vitamins and electrolytes to perk her up but I didn't have time to check her before coming in to work this morning, so we'll see what happened. I think it's just the heat. I also sprayed her off last night, since she didn't seem able to get in the pool to cool down. I checked for egg binding and that wasn't it, so I really don't know. I'm hoping it was just the heat and she cooled down overnight. The poor drake is gonna be so lonely till the babies hatch if she didn't pull through.

 

[Lapeerian]

I worry with hay being wet about fires...
There was a fire just down the road from us last year that killed all their calves.  It was so sad. 
It was because the hay was stored too damp, and some sort of reaction happens that can cause it to catch fire. 
They lost 40-some or 60-some calves but luckily were able to put the fire out before it spread to the horse barn. 

Spontaneous combustion happens when hay isn't dry enough. Gets so hot that it bursts into flames.
I let the Amish take the hay off my field, it hasn't been seeded in years and is poor quality. This year they split the field between two of them, farther side was hayed then planted to corn. The closer side is still standing, very tall and full of weeds. We have wet ground, so it takes a few dry days before it can be cut. After it is cut, I use 2 acres to graze. I get hay from my dad, reduced rate in return for farm labor.

 

[Lynzi777]

I don't know why it took me so long to notice this (maybe all the excitement of family being up) but I was holding my blue Silkie chick this morning, took a closer look at its feet and saw it only has 4 toes. :-( so upset. So I shouldn't use it for breeding, right? It could pass that trait down to other chicks.

 

[Breella]

I don't know why it took me so long to notice this (maybe all the excitement of family being up) but I was holding my blue Silkie chick this morning, took a closer look at its feet and saw it only has 4 toes. :-( so upset. So I shouldn't use it for breeding, right? It could pass that trait down to other chicks.

Are you sure it doesn't just have small toes? I know you we're excited about that one.