NY chicken lover!!!!

[Framac]

Anyone looking for Jersey Giant Chicks?

 

[Chicken girl 15]

Anyone looking for Jersey Giant Chicks?

how much per and how old?

 

[ag29ande]

I just planted peas yesterday - Sat

I planted more today! I've been planting peas every 2 weeks (in succession no replanting). I finally had some pop! The batch planted 2 weeks ago are sprouting. I also got some lettuce, spinach, carrots, and beets in the ground. I have lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, and Brussel sprout that I could transplant, but I'm going to be out of town for the next week or so.

I've got Orpington, Easter eggers, and finally some speckled Sussex chicks hatching! Fertility with my SS rooster has been horrible. I have a feeling he's a lazy breeder. I never see him getting busy with the hens... I might try artificial insemination.

 

[Chicken girl 15]

Same here. I keep planting more every couple weeks. I plan on putting as much up for winter as possible and gifting what I have extra.

 

[horsekeeper]

Anyone looking for Jersey Giant Chicks?

Are they from a particular hatchery or line? Okay, I went to your website and saw the description. What color are they and how many do you have? I am looking for a few of good quality to improve my flock.

 

[Lapeerian]

I'll be traveling from CNY to Niagara Falls tomorrow for a couple days, anybody need chick/egg transport there or back?

 

[rancher hicks]

I have an older Gen 1588 and this has been my experience.

When I first started I used an old Hovabator 1602N. I got ONE chick, BUT, I had it in the wrong place. Placement of the incubator is important. Mine was on the pass through from the dinningroom to the livingroom.
Temp was impossible to control for me. The friend that loaned it to me says she has great hatches. She just has the skill I guess.

So I bought the Gen 1588 at the recommendation of a BYC member. Out of 29 eggs I got 6 chicks from shipped eggs. All from the same person. However I was inexperienced or I would have waited a few more days.

At the ALBC conference years ago I learned that many times it's the eggs at fault. Misplacement of the chick in the egg. Eggs that are less pointy can be confusing and the egg put in upside down. Too if you use more than one thermometer to average the two. My last hatch I had two at different placement. One said 101. ? the other 99.3 - 5. 12 chicks out of 35. Humidity % were far apart.

I have read in the Practical poultry mag that a temp of .5 above the 99.5 is not a crisis and might even be better. 101 + is okay.

Now one time I had experimented with eggs stored pointy side up and half pointy side down. Of those only one egg from each breed didn't hatch and it was even pointy side up or down. To me that means it doesn't matter as much as we think.

I do have copies of an article on hatching I can email to those who'd like to read it.

So these are my points?

1. Placement of your incubator is important. My usual place was my office with a room temp of 80* I did have it in the basement for a couple of hatches but it was surrounded by foil backed foam insulation box. Alright, but I think the temp was not good. Humidity is high down there. Last hatch was in a unused bedroom with a heater to keep the temp up. That was the 12 out of 35 eggs. (Not a big deal for me since I can only keep so many and unsexed chicks are hard to sell) High traffic areas are NOT good. Room temp is important too. Don't go by the thermometer in your house. Follow the instructions that come with your particular model.

2. The health of your eggs makes a difference. Storage not so much. Some eggs have thinner and more porous shells. So it can be hard to blame the incubator. My Delaware are generally the first to hatch. Marans eggs are my bane. They just will not hatch for me. I'll be placing eggs with the hens.

3. Position of the chick can be off. This last hatch I took the eggs out of the turner and didn't put them in the egg carton supports I've used in the past. I wasn't happy with the hatch before and figured I'd never seen a broody hen propping her eggs up. Hens generally do better.

4. Frenchy would have had five chicks but Buckwheat got in the nest box and two got squashed. I've read to take the first few chicks till she's done hatching and then replace the early chicks. Quarantine of a broody hen is important and I didn't move Frenchy soon enough. She is now by herself with her three remaining chicks. Too it prevents other hens from adding new eggs to her clutch. Some hens are better mothers than others.

5. Like all things is life there is a skill in hatching. Some folks are real good at it. Me? I'm satisfied if I get a 50% hatch. Practice does make perfect. I've just never invested so much.

I wish everyone well and if you'd like the article I mentioned PM me your email. I don't keep your emails nor give them out so don't worry.

Enjoy the weather folks. Love ya,

Rancher

Oh and one final note of importance. Did you know Voting inspectors get paid? Not a lot and it is a long day but one election can give you enough money to buy an incubator. You have to take a class each year but you get paid for that too. Just some thought for stay at home moms and dads who might like a day off and to meet new folks.

 

[Gramma Chick]

Up or Down ?
I find this FUNNY ..incubators do this
Hens dont DONT ..Hens hatch eggs on the side ...
Hens will also get out of the nest for a few minutes ..so eggs do cool a bit ..they also turn/ roll them
Whats Important
1) Fertility 2) even heat 3 ) regularly turned eggs

 

[2Fast2Curious]

Hey guys.

Sorry for falling off the edge of the planet. I actually ended up with crippling injuries in 2014, and still keep planning for more than I am now physically capable of. Still have yet to fully adjust to the body's new rules. Chances are, challenging Oswego's chicken ordinance isn't going to happen unless I get my pain managed OR they threaten to take our chickens away. I take ginseng, which helps a little - but nowhere near enough.

One reason I've been avoiding posting here is because, as some of you may remember, my family has a stalker. I refused at first to take a violent approach. He has now murdered one of our wonderful pet chickens, a beautiful silver laced wyandotte. If he's doing this to animals, I wonder what he's done to children while he hangs around the park. What he'd do to other humans that got in his "way" of doing sick, twisted things. I am now a licensed gun owner, and our property is surrounded by barbed wire. Despite a locked gate, trimmed trees, and locked up coop at night, he still gets in to commit his weird obsession with leaving trash in the middle of our property. We had the pleasure of hearing him get himself on the barbed wire, so now the *******'ll have to wear gloves year 'round to do his dirty work.

We watch our chickens all day now. Fostered a labrabull for a while, but it got to the point I couldn't eat due to throat swelling from allergies. If anyone's got chicken-safe, intruder-violent dogs that you'd like a few days off from and don't mind them staying outside/in the coop in this nice weather, feel free to drop 'em off here.

@Gramma Chick : Icarus has been rehomed to a young couple in Buffalo who wanted an EE for their hens. While he was mostly quiet, he had one single episode of cockadoodling it up while the city inspector's relative happened to be working in the abandoned house next door. So, the city's eye was on him specifically. We were instructed to keep a low presence, and while our neighbors didn't mind the hens... people are more hostile toward roosters. Caponization (neutering) also sounded risky. It's no doubt a better fit for him: more ladies, probably a bigger property too.

Bad news aside, we're looking forward to our garden. Looks like you guys are too. Hopefully we'll have a better time chicken proofing it this year.

 

[rancher hicks]

Up or Down ?
I find this FUNNY ..incubators do this
Hens dont DONT ..Hens hatch eggs on the side ...
Hens will also get out of the nest for a few minutes ..so eggs do cool a bit ..they also turn/ roll them
Whats Important
1) Fertility 2) even heat 3 ) regularly turned eggs

The position I mean is in the egg. They might be malpositioned making it hard to hatch. This can be genetic or if the egg is oval and put in the turner upside down. Incubators don't decide which end is up. Some eggs are oval. My Marans are sometimes like this.

My usual procedure was to place the eggs at lockdown in an egg carton cut so it supported the egg. Hatches weren't bad but I decided this last hatch that it might be preventing chicks from getting OUT of the egg, even though they'd cut the top off.

Genetics can play a role in chicks not hatching.