NY chicken lover!!!!

[Lapeerian]

My first hatch is officially over. Checked/opened/tossed the remaining eggs last night. Many never finished growing and there were a couple that appeared shrink wrapped, never pipped. So out of the original 30, I got 1 B Leghorn, 4 Wellies, 1EE, 1 BR and 1 Red. Of course all mixed with 1 of 3 roosters. While cleaning up the BR chick last night, I think it doesn't have a tail! There is no little nub. Should be interesting to watch grow out.

 

[Lynzi777]

Very cute! How did u get them all to stay still at once?

Well lucky for me they weren't even 24hrs old yet so they were still very tired and sleepy! Lol

Good news my little lone duckling finally hatched yesterday! I thought I was going to have to cull it because it just didn't look right and wasn't acting very normal for a newly hatched duck/chick. I thought for sure I was going to wake up to a dead duckling in the brooder but to my surprise I woke up to this little cutie!

 

[chicken blessed]

Lovely bunch!!

Beautiful!

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

Morning all. Woke up to rain because we needed more rain....NOT! My poor tomato plants want some sun and heat. My broccoli and peppers are doing well though. Some of the brat boys are feeling their hormones kicking in. I hear the girls squeeling when they grab them on the backs of their necks. Have to check my records again to see how old they are. Coming up on 12 weeks I believe. Only 6 more till canning season is open!

Still only getting 10 eggs a day from the terrorists so will be culling there too. I need eggs for my customers and this isnt cutting it. I cant afford to feed freeloaders.

Played with my silkie chicks last night. They are too adorable. They are losing their baby poof and getting their feathers in. Looks like I will have a couple of lighter blues in this bunch. One chick is on the larger side and seems to have some of the same mannerisms of Little Man. I am hoping its his son. Eggs in the bator are perking along but this heat and humidity have the bator at 100.2 which makes me nervous. It fluctuates between 99.8 and 100.2 in this weather. I am restraining myself from candling and will do so when I lock them down on monday.

Gramma--that was a good save! You didnt buy them and bring them home so its not your fault that they are there!

Lap and Lynzi--congrats on your hatches!

Pyxis--good luck getting that raven. They are very smart birds so you will have your work cut out for you.

Time to get my "day of leisure" (as dh calls it) started with laundry, etc. Later chickenistas!

 

[Lynzi777]

Pharm I hear ya on the rain. I had to re-plant my watermelon sprouts yesterday because the storm we got the night before flooded them!

I drained as much water as I could, added more dirt and placed them back in the large pot I have them in.

So I think I have to keep my three silkie hens locked up today. The splash I got from Pharm is good, she lays in the coop. Never skipped a beat that one even when we moved them into the bigger coop. After finding out Penelope was sneaking into the Chick's coop to lay her eggs yesterday, I'd like to make sure she learns to lay in the big coop. She's not a big fan of that ramp going in and out of the big coop. Even at night when I lock up she's the only one left outside and I have to pick her up and put her in with the others. This is going to be a tough one... I eventually want to get rid of that smaller coop so I can't even just leave her be and say the heck with it and let her "live" in there with the chicks. I don't know what to do. I DO need to remove that roost in there and maybe make a corner one so the polish can roost without their droppings landing on the silkies. I don't need that big roost bar going across the whole coop, so that's my job today, is try to build something smaller.

Thankfully it's a little cooler this morning but I'm sure that'll change by this afternoon.

 

[Kinmera]

Morning all,

Yesterday I came home from work to find a box of chicks on my back doorstep. The usps just dropped off my chicks from Sand Hill Preservation. They did not call or anything. I am going to be calling to complain though. I have No idea how long the babies were there, but they are super lucky that the cats, or my dog or the neighbors dogs, or something else didn't turn them into a snack.

I'll post pics of the babies soon. There are blue, black, white, and cuckoo orpingtons (the cuckoo was an extra, can't wait to see what it grows into), and Black Sumatras for my daughter's 4H project.

My DH and my DFIL are building me more tractors because I don't have enough tractors or fencing to get all my birds out on grass this year. 1 should be done today, then we'll modify ISS needed for the rest. I finally convinced my husband that these tractors needed to be smaller so I can have more control over breeding. A nice 4 x 8 with a triangular shape is much easier on than the 10 x 8s he built me before. Those are good for my Cornish crosses and that's about it.

I also finally have a sustained market for my eggs. I set up an agreement with the local CSA to supply them with eggs weekly. They even have some people interested in meat, so I have to work out a plan for that too.

I need to put manure on the garden this afternoon, the only thing
loving the rain around here are my young runner ducks.

 

[wny egger]

Not crazy! The hen in my avatar with chicks is a red sex link. She was an excellent mother, although I don't expect her to ever repeat her broodiness.

So I found out what has been killing my chickens and stealing my eggs. As I had suspected, it was a raven. I know this because during the huge thunderstorm we had last night, the coop I was brooding my chicks in was damaged. The raven took advantage of this and broke in and stole and ate every single baby. Not one was left. All were gone without a trace with the exception of one duckling that got stuck in the chickenwire trying to get away. This one the raven just ate the head off of, just like it did to my broody cochin. I know it was the raven because when I went out to care for everybody this morning I caught it in the ate of trying to slip back in and see if there was anything left for it. So now the question is, how do I get rid of the raven? Shall I just borrow a bb gun and shoot the stupid thing? It's around every day around one pm so it wouldn't be hard to get.

i wouldnt even bother with the bb gun ..i would go much larger..12 guage would be my weapon of choice for the raven ..he needs to die ..and i am not a violent person at all..

just a little nutty tho..

 

[rancher hicks]

This is going to sound crazy but I have a broody golden comet! She has been sitting on wooden eggs since yesterday. I never thought a comet would go broody, crazy! I think I will give her a few eggs tomorrow. My silkie hens eggs should hatch this weekend, also I have some eggs in the bator due this weekend. I had to count chicks today for the NPIP. I have 86! That's counting guineas and turkeys, lol. The inspector wanted to buy some keets but we don't have extra. Lol.

I had a friend whose Comets went broody. I've never had them.

Another friend has a flock of Comets and he said his never went broody, but I think it's cuz they didn't handle them right. He had them for eggs sales. His second batch (100) of RIR's and Comets didn't lay at all so that makes me suspect. I mean if none are laying then something must be wrong, right?

He sold them all and is now into goats. I don't know if the goats are laying better or not.

I can't believe you didn't sell the inspector some Keets. If you'd started there, the inspection might have been over faster.

 

[rancher hicks]

Rancher, tomorrow morning I have an appt. in the city. Why do you ask?

I'm not on for long these days. I was going to tell you to swing by and get a couple of hens or some chicks. But we have to schedule around DW's appointments.

I'm not following many threads these days just the NY ones. Aren't you lucky?

I've been spending to much time on BYC and I suspect certain other folks are upset with me, so I'm considering stopping all together. It's no longer fun.

 

[Glasshen]

Sorry to hear of the killer raven. How awful. Life here has been chugging along. Every morning the two broodies in the preferred outdoor coop have a special broody time where they are released for dust baths, food and different water, and to chase each other around. They also fertilize the lawn for me. Everyone else is still locked in the coop complaining about the broodies' private time.

Those in the big coop had been very bad, I found each nest box with carpet to have two hens in it. One facing in and ne facing out. And I was getting very few eggs. There was rampant egg eating and staining of the carpet...I think the extra hens in the boxes were waiting for an egg to appear. It smelled terrible...so there were harsh words and all the carpets were removed.

I scrubbed them, but was unable to get them clean enough, so I brilliantly decided to pop them into the washer.THAT DIDN'T GO WELL. They kinda unravelled and the washer wouldn't drain...now I'm waiting for the local repairman to come on Friday...maybe I should take a book to the laundrymat...my DH is a truly wonderful man, and has not sent me to the dog house, or worse yet, the chicken coop, but just asked if I wanted to get the repairman to check out the refrige which refuses to dispense water but is more than happy to throw ice cubes at you...

Think I'll go plant some stuff in the garden that is about 3 weeks late and drive the mower around. Hope things go better on the mower, don't think Countywide does mowers.