***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[Kassaundra]

Got our first egg today.

Congrats, always exciting when you get the first one.

 

[NanaKat]

@NanaKat Eh, all of the sudden yesterday she was fine. I brought my mom some BOSS for her, and she seemed perky again. We came up with the possibility she went through a juvenile molt. I read a really helpful article about it. I had no idea that chicks can go through at least 2 molts before all of their adult plumage comes in. I guess I just never really noticed it much with my other birds because it seemed like they were always losing feathers.

Glad to hear she is improved.
With some color varieties like my Columbian, one should not do a second or third cull for color until the first cut birds have their full adult plumage. You can winnow out the faults and body type, but hold color until last just because of those juvenile molts.

 

[Baxokie]

Congrats, always exciting when you get the first one.

So I wasn't going to crack this one open until we got another couple of them but I went to get it to show it to my three year old daughter and found it cracked almost open on the bitten so I decided to scramble it up and when I opened it up there was a decent sized spot of blood in the yolk is this normal for a first egg.

 

[jrjoplin]

First eggs are always exciting, or so I've been told as I'm still waiting for the first one. I would have it by now but I lost an egg bound hen last week. She was a pioneer that I kept because she wasn't as heavy as the others and I was trying to salvage as many hens as I could. Quick necropsy looked like the egg couldn't get through the fat around her vent. She should have gone to the freezer with the other meat birds. I only have 4 hens left from that original order and the younger birds are about 1 1/2 months younger.

Speaking of the younger birds, I've got 3 roosters that I need to figure out what to do with. I'm debating promoting one of them to #2 as my Silver Pencilled Rock rooster is scared of his own shadow and crows like he has a sore throat. He's no match for the White Wyandotte who has turned out to be quite the flock protector. The young ones are a RIR, a Partridge Rock, and a Speckled Sussex. All three look pretty sound so I'm going to let them get a little older and decide. None of the 22 hens from the second order are showing any signs that they will be laying soon but there still a little young.

My #3 roster is the, still unnamed, Blue Cochin. He is nothing but yard art and should have been caponized. He doesn't crow and I've never seen him show any interest in any of the hens. He is a pretty bird so I hope he remains docile. I joke that he has me (and the WW) fooled and that all my spring chicks will have feathered feet. His day old and yesterday pics are below.

 

[Kassaundra]

So I wasn't going to crack this one open until we got another couple of them but I went to get it to show it to my three year old daughter and found it cracked almost open on the bitten so I decided to scramble it up and when I opened it up there was a decent sized spot of blood in the yolk is this normal for a first egg.

Any egg can have that little bit of ovary tissue in it, but it is more common at the beginning of egg laying and the end of egg laying. So yes not uncommon at all. I saved my first ever eggshell. I blew it out and saved the shell, still have it all these years later.

 

[Fallenone05]

First eggs are always exciting, or so I've been told as I'm still waiting for the first one. I would have it by now but I lost an egg bound hen last week. She was a pioneer that I kept because she wasn't as heavy as the others and I was trying to salvage as many hens as I could. Quick necropsy looked like the egg couldn't get through the fat around her vent. She should have gone to the freezer with the other meat birds. I only have 4 hens left from that original order and the younger birds are about 1 1/2 months younger.

Speaking of the younger birds, I've got 3 roosters that I need to figure out what to do with. I'm debating promoting one of them to #2 as my Silver Pencilled Rock rooster is scared of his own shadow and crows like he has a sore throat. He's no match for the White Wyandotte who has turned out to be quite the flock protector. The young ones are a RIR, a Partridge Rock, and a Speckled Sussex. All three look pretty sound so I'm going to let them get a little older and decide. None of the 22 hens from the second order are showing any signs that they will be laying soon but there still a little young.

My #3 roster is the, still unnamed, Blue Cochin. He is nothing but yard art and should have been caponized. He doesn't crow and I've never seen him show any interest in any of the hens. He is a pretty bird so I hope he remains docile. I joke that he has me (and the WW) fooled and that all my spring chicks will have feathered feet. His day old and yesterday pics are below.

ooooh he's so handsome!! <33

 

[Critterwoman]

Please add me. I haven't been on for a while but would like to be added back.

 

[NanaKat]

@Critterwoman welcome back! We never drop anyone.

@jrjoplin Cochin are not fighters. Your Blue rooster has already figured out that the White Wyandotte is the lead cock. But, a Cochin will always entice a willing hen. My four Cochin boys know their place in the flock order with the Wyandotte roosters. They cover their own girls when they coop up at night after freeranging.

Life on the farm is finally calming down...the summer garden is almost spent, beds are prepped and seeded for turnips and carrots as well as lettuce and radishes. We are cleaning up limbs under some of the pecan trees so we can mow before the pecans begin to fall. Not all trees produce each year. May have two or three this year.
So far there are three large fowl with chicks moved to the floor and four bantam hens will get there tonight. I'm keeping a watch on the Serama babies that hatched. My take them from the Bantam hens and brooder raise. I hatched the Cochin chicks and gave them to the big hens before they went on the ground...cute little bundles of fluff.
We lost a setting hen to a coyote the other night. She had disappeared to sit on a clutch of eggs. Took me two weeks to locate her and the nest. She decided on a spot out under the metal pile behind the barn that is overgrown with blackberry vines. I was going to move her and the eggs into a brood cage the nest morning. One egg was broken and the chick that was developing showed almost mature growth. Moved the eggs that remained into the incubator and they are now in the hatcher for hatching. Hope to get some of her genetics. I have a hen sitting on eggs in a brooder pen that is due to hatch. She will get these new babies too.
The three ducklings are growing so fast. Won't move them to the barn until they are fully feathered, but they sure enjoy their daily swim and time in the sun.
Calving season is in full swing this fall. already have 15 of 25 on the ground. Took a load of 28 spring calves to market last weekend. Prices are down some, but we are running out of grass and already putting out hay in the rings.
Our ponds are about 2.5 feet down for this time of year. Sure hope this weekend brings water to fill them up for the winter. The cooler weather makes me want to go fishing.

 

[jrjoplin]

@NanaKat I had wondered if it was a breed trait. Do your's crow? He has never made a sound. When I go out and check on them in the evening all 3 of the roosters are lined up next to each other on the highest roost and the hens are on the roost below them.

 

[NanaKat]

@jrjoplin very rarely do the Cochin crow. My oldest cock will crow in the morning in their pen in answer to the others roosters in their pens and then stays quiet the rest of the day. We do hear a lot of Oohhh Oohhh Oohhh from the roosters as they talk to each other.
The three younger cockerels (11 month) don't crow at all yet.

We had a scare this evening. I had just finished in the hen house and was beginning to fill the feeders in the outside pens. All the pens were open as all birds were still free ranging and/or returning to their coops. Suddenly there was a HUGE ruckus going on in the hen house in the barn....where the layer flock and brood hens are located. I ran back to the barn thinking there was a big fight going on because hens are squawking and chicks are alarmed and birds are fleeing the hen house thru all doors. As I started thru the human door to the hen house ANSEL is flogging a hawk and has the hawk down on the floor jumping all over him...not a big rooster in sight. Just the mighty little Seabright. I grab a hoe near the door and make the final blow. Ansel jumps on the roost and crows in triumph. It was a sparrow hawk with a 20 inch wing spread...granted Ansel outweighed the hawk, but the hawk had talons and a vicious beak. It took a while to settle the moms and babies. Even the mothers inside brood cages had been slamming their bodies against their cage walls to get out. Fortunately no one was injured. I checked Ansel thoroughly for any sign of injury...not a scratch on him. What a great flock protector!