***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[i-love-my-honey]

Ugh!!!! My son had a friend over for the weekend and this afternoon I found out he has head lice. I ran to the store and bought lice spray and Lice shampoo. All the bedding and coats have been washed in hot water and the beds have been sprayed. Do I need to do anything with my chickens? I do know they looked at the chicks and maybe touched a few. Will head lice jump from human to chicken? What about my dogs and rabbits?

The shampoo did not do A THING for the lice when someone shared them with us. Did not even kill all the live ones. After about four weeks of trying every treatment we could find we bought a Robi-Comb. It was pricey, at about $29.99 from CVS but worth $99.99. It works by zapping the little creatures as you draw it through your hair. It took a little over a week of daily brushing but it worked!! I still.use it occasionally just for peace of mind.

 

[NanaKat]

Wow! It is COLD outside this morning. The water tubs had more than an inch of ice on top. The pens flocked to the hot water poured on top of the ice at 7 am this morning. By 8 am that already had a thin ice forming. Gave each pen their morning allotment of scratch and will go back to give feed. The starlings were already lined up waiting for their share of pellets. The chickens gobble up the scratch before the starlings can get to it.
Checked the hatcher this morning for the 9 eggs that are supposed to begin pipping today and the temp had dropped to 78 degrees.

I've adjusted it back up and will check it several times today to make sure it is holding. It has been sitting on 99.5 consistently in the back bedroom. The other three incubators are holding temps just fine. Now seriously looking into hubby's suggestion to get a Sportsman. Will have to keep it in the hot tub room since they are so big.....

Little Joe is now getting three bottle feedings a day and loves to run around the inside of the barn when it is too cold to go out....at least for now. The floor is concrete so Im having to clean up after him. He loves it outside too. Yesterday morning he was charging and jumping at the sparrows that would land in his pen. Good Calf! Then he would run around the coop and under the trampoline shade and wait for more to land. We moved him back inside before we left for Roger's doctor appointment. He was ready to go inside under his heat lamp. A very spoiled calf for sure.

 

[Kimbroe1981]

Really cute!  What breeds are they?   

Cream Brabanters, Welsummers, Black Sex Links and Barnevelders

OMG! They're so cute!! Where did you get the brabanters from? I have a friend that really wants some.
Thank you!!

 

[NanaKat]

Wanted to wait until I was sure this little Serama was going to come back from near death when the hatcher temps dropped...When I was moving the eggs to another incubator to try to save them, I could see that the egg had a pip, but the little beak was not moving. On the chance that the chick might possible be alive, I went ahead and chipped back the shell and removed the fully developed but cold baby from the egg. Then I warmed it in front of a room heater and it began to move and made a cheep. I continued to warm it and then placed it in the incubator with the other eggs. I just checked on it and as you can see, the little booger is standing in the paper egg cup and beginning to dry. Seramas are known for dying quickly when chilled so this baby will be named Miracle. I'll watch it and move it when it is completely dry. I will probably water candle the other eggs to see if any of the other chicks are alive once the eggs have reached 100 degrees.



And the boys brought Little Joe a 2 gallon bucket of green grass from the back pasture. He is gobbling that stuff down like it is candy.

 

[BetsyOK]

Hope to see several of you at the show in Norman Saturday. It is at the Cleveland County Fairgrounds.

 

[lonnyandrinda]

Hope to see several of you at the show in Norman Saturday. It is at the Cleveland County Fairgrounds.

I'll be there, showing some of my birds for the first time!

 

[BetsyOK]

Be sure to look me up and remind me which birds to go see! Good luck!

Betsy

 

[NanaKat]

I have a wedding shower in OKC on Saturday...sure would like to go to the show and visit with you ladies and gentlemen! Would love to see your birds too.

Water tested the eggs and it looks like only one wasn't moving. I put them back in the incubator with damp wash cloths wo bring up the humidity. The hatcher is holding at 99 and if it stays there, I'll put the eggs back in it and check it thru out the night. White Wyandotte, Serama and Buckwing Rosecomb eggs I sure want to hatch.

 

[SharkmanDan]

I want to ask a little advice from y'all.
Thanks to some guidance from local friends, my egg production is back, way up, from a month ago. Add in the 36 new adult birds I recently picked up (29 hens, 7 roos), and My wife being out of state, visiting family, and I have eggs coming out of my ears.
So, I started advertising "Farm Fresh Eggs" for sale, at what seems like the going rate, for most of the folks I know, selling eggs. $2-12/$2.75-18 medium to large and $3.50-18 XL to jumbo. Not a lot of response, so, I'm finding things to do with the eggs. Hard boiled, and chopped, they get gobbled up, by the chickens.

I have had, though, a few requests, for fertile eggs, in order to hatch.

Several of my chickens, I have segregated by breed, and have been keeping some of the eggs of those whose breeds are known, marked, with the breed, and date laid. Cuckoo Marans, Ameracaunas, Speckled Sussex's, Golden Lakenvelders, RIR's and Australorps, are all breeds, which because of the breed separations, would breed true, if incubated.
Others, like Delawares, Jersey Giants, Euskal Oiloas, Swedish Flowers, hybrids, dominickers, Barnevelders, and brown leghorns, will all be crossed with the Australorp rooster, who watches over them, with vigilance.

First question. Would it be considered a faux pas, to breed tthe mutts, strictly for their capability as either egg layers or meat birds?

Second, if I were to sell the bred true eggs, how can I be certain that they're fertile? I'm not THAT good at candling, that I can tell a fertile egg, from one that isn't.

Third, if I sell eggs, is there a standard price? Does it vary by breed, like I would expect? Again, the "not being certain of fertility" issue, makes me concerned about selling. I see my roosters doing "the deed", but, I've never hatched any, and I don't know how to check for fertility, until the egg is out of the shell. Now, most eggs I crack open, show fertility, so, I would expect the same rate, but, I don't know what to expect, and I want to be ethical.
I have a woman, today, wants two dozen of my Ameracauna eggs, for hatching. Since I am not certain, I'm simply going to charge her the dozen eggs price, then ask her to report back, after hatching, what her results were, and use that, as my guideline, on what to expect, in the future.

I really respect so many of you folks. Your generosity with knowledge and experience, has been truly wonderful, and I value your opinions. Your guidance, to me, means a great deal. I want to try to make a little money, out of my little farm, but, I want to be ethical about it, too.
Thank you, one and all.

 

[erinszoo]

@SharkmanDan I can't address everything you asked but we normally sell fertile eggs "as is" with no guarantees. So when people buy they know they haven't been candled and if they develop or hatch is not my problem. I usually can't even tell when candling until at least 3 or 4 days after they are in the incubator. And so much about fertility or hatching depends on how the eggs are handled and incubator settings, etc. There are just too many variables to guarantee egg fertility. Not even big producers do that. I've never sold chicken eggs, just turkey eggs. I get $2 each for them and people don't even blink. I think price would depend on variety of chicken.

We sell eggs for $2 a dozen mixed but I know others around here sell for more than that and always have takers. I've only ever sold by word of mouth though. Friends of friends of friends kind of thing.