NY chicken lover!!!!

[SAHchickenmom]

Lynzi, I have officially named the Sizzle roo Hiccup! Its the cutest thing to hear his little crow followed by a hiccup, lol!
Lots of chicks hatched while I was sleeping. I believe there is 5 lav. orp. 8 GC Marans and 1 SS. Of course they are not done yet but I hope they hurry up cause I need to put 33 guinea eggs in lockdown at 4 and I only have the one hatcher.

 

[Lynzi777]

Lynzi, I have officially named the Sizzle roo Hiccup! Its the cutest thing to hear his little crow followed by a hiccup, lol!
Lots of chicks hatched while I was sleeping. I believe there is 5 lav. orp. 8 GC Marans and 1 SS. Of course they are not done yet but I hope they hurry up cause I need to put 33 guinea eggs in lockdown at 4 and I only have the one hatcher.

LOL that's what we were calling him too. I've never heard a rooster crow like that before. Thought it was funny.

 

[PhoredaBurds]

Visited a friend yesterday & helped her w chores. She's got several broody chickens & turkeys, one of each decided the hay rack was a good spot to sit:

She's got another hen who just hatched out a dozen chicks in the rabbit hutch. A little chaotic over there, lol.

 

[Lynzi777]

Got some updated chick pics of the Frizzle Cochins I got from the chickenstock and the two Orp chicks that hatched here. I think so far I have 1 little roo, the frizzled white cochin. Let me know what you guys think...


From left to right: Ancona, Blue Orp, Splash Orp, Frizzle Cochin, Frizzle White Cochin and the Smooth Cochin on the bottom.

Frizzled Cochin Roo (?)

Splash Cochin Pullet (?)

Splash Orp

Frizzled Cochin Pullet (?)

Here's the 3 Cochins on the right in this pic so you can see how much red the white chick has in his.

Another

White and Splash Cochins



Smooth and Frizzle

 

[floydp97]

So sorry ...Get that sucker !

 

[floydp97]

Sad night tonight. I went to close up the chickens and something had killed and partially eaten my barred cochin bantam hen who had chicks. The chicks are nowhere to be seen and I'm sure she died trying to defend them. So tomorrow a trap is going out and it's going to be baited with chicken.

How horrible. So very sorry for your loss.

 

[PhoredaBurds]

Thanks everyone. So the trap is set with some delicious chicken breast in the area near where the attack happened. Just out of curiosity, does anyone know what would kill the hen, eat her head and open her chest and eat the innards, and leave everything else? I believe this thing also took my frizzle pullets that disappeared, but it has not bothered any full size birds. Something also snuck into my coop and stole every single egg, even the ones under the broodies, a few days ago, but did not bother the broodies themselves. Could be the same thing that killed the hen. So if anyone has any guesses as to what it is I would love to get some opinions.

On the hatching front, I did some eggtopsies and as I had suspected, the humidity was too high and most of the chicks drowned. Would poking more vent holes in the LG help this, you think? This is the problem I had with my old one and why I only use it as a hatcher. The other option is to just take the heating system and fit it to my homemade styrofoam incubator whose thermostat quit. Of course the turner doesn't fit it though, so I would like to be able to use the LG if at all possible.

And finally, hatch count so far is four ameraucanas, one of which is under a broody outside, one lavender orp and one black orp. All the others drowned. Also, the black orp is doing a weird thing. It doesn't walk right. Its legs appear to be perfectly fine, and it can stand perfectly, so it's not slipped tendons. It's not splay leg either. It just doesn't seem to grasp the concept of moving one leg and then the other, and instead kangaroo hops around the brooder.

Sounds like a mink. They're very smart & tough to catch, especially w a live trap. I've heard a conavair trap inside a box w a hole works. The minks are very curious and will crawl inside the hole to see what's in there. Good luck. Hope you catch him.

I'm new to hatching, but have read in other threads that running a dehumidifier in the room w the bator is the only way to really get high humidity down. I have to do a few eggtopsies & expect to find drowned chicks too. So sad & discouraging.

 

[Kinmera]

Sounds like a mink. They're very smart & tough to catch, especially w a live trap. I've heard a conavair trap inside a box w a hole works. The minks are very curious and will crawl inside the hole to see what's in there. Good luck. Hope you catch him.

I'm new to hatching, but have read in other threads that running a dehumidifier in the room w the bator is the only way to really get high humidity down. I have to do a few eggtopsies & expect to find drowned chicks too. So sad & discouraging.

I was just thinking that this is what happened to us when I was child - only it was weasel.

 

[SunnysideupstateNY]

Thanks everyone. So the trap is set with some delicious chicken breast in the area near where the attack happened. Just out of curiosity, does anyone know what would kill the hen, eat her head and open her chest and eat the innards, and leave everything else? I believe this thing also took my frizzle pullets that disappeared, but it has not bothered any full size birds. Something also snuck into my coop and stole every single egg, even the ones under the broodies, a few days ago, but did not bother the broodies themselves. Could be the same thing that killed the hen. So if anyone has any guesses as to what it is I would love to get some opinions.

On the hatching front, I did some eggtopsies and as I had suspected, the humidity was too high and most of the chicks drowned. Would poking more vent holes in the LG help this, you think? This is the problem I had with my old one and why I only use it as a hatcher. The other option is to just take the heating system and fit it to my homemade styrofoam incubator whose thermostat quit. Of course the turner doesn't fit it though, so I would like to be able to use the LG if at all possible.

And finally, hatch count so far is four ameraucanas, one of which is under a broody outside, one lavender orp and one black orp. All the others drowned. Also, the black orp is doing a weird thing. It doesn't walk right. Its legs appear to be perfectly fine, and it can stand perfectly, so it's not slipped tendons. It's not splay leg either. It just doesn't seem to grasp the concept of moving one leg and then the other, and instead kangaroo hops around the brooder.

Sorry to hear about the losses, hope you catch it! What kind of Ameraucanas did you hatch?!

Here's the link from Greenfire : http://greenfirefarms.com/store/category/chickens/malines/

Full disclosure, I purchased these on auction and got 11 for about what they are selling a single chick for on their site. I like rare breeds, but I'm not THAT fancy!!! Hope we will love them (do so far) and will maintain a small breeding flock.

Very pretty! I'm glad you got them for a reasonable price! I've always admired the Bielefelders from Greenfire Farms...too rich for my blood.

Got some updated chick pics of the Frizzle Cochins I got from the chickenstock and the two Orp chicks that hatched here. I think so far I have 1 little roo, the frizzled white cochin. Let me know what you guys think...

I love this one! Very cool!


Not much on the chicken front, Am babies are doing well, they are starting to get their feathers in! I love watching them with mom, its so much more entertaining than keeping chicks in a brooder.







We got to take a day trip down to DH's family hunting camp, we were looking for bear sign but instead found some little surprises!

 

[Lynzi777]

Sorry to hear about the losses, hope you catch it! What kind of Ameraucanas did you hatch?! Very pretty! I'm glad you got them for a reasonable price! I've always admired the Bielefelders from Greenfire Farms...too rich for my blood. I love this one! Very cool! Not much on the chicken front, Am babies are doing well, they are starting to get their feathers in! I love watching them with mom, its so much more entertaining than keeping chicks in a brooder. We got to take a day trip down to DH's family hunting camp, we were looking for bear sign but instead found some little surprises!

OMG my son has been hunting for one of those salamanders since we moved here over 3 years ago! The first year we were here my FIL told him that there are orange salamanders up here in these parts (I don't know how on earth he knows that) so he's been searching and searching. We do have those moths! We find them on our plants on out front porch in the morning. I'll have to show him these pics.