Ksane Love my LilGuy Belgian d'Anver. I have eggs on order for five different color varieties for later this spring....1/2 doz each. I got bit by the Bantam bug and these are cuties...although the roos can be little "toerags"...living up to the fiesty "little banty" attitude.
BuckGuy I have 4.5 doz eggs on incubation with Carl ...due to hatch around the 29th. There are LF Blue Black and Splash Cochin (14) from an auction, LF Blue Cochin from my pair from Jarvis, SLW AI eggs, CW, Blue Wyandotte/CW, Blue Cochin/Australorp cross, and a few who's the daddy crosses Cochin or CW. Some of these are first hatch. So far Carl reports there is good fertility. My Little Giant styrofoam incubator just isn't reliable. Broody hens hatched a few in Dec and January.
Guy...I was taught not to cut or clip the vent feathers to increase fertility. Thinning the feathers by pulling selective bumm feathers is not painful for the hen or the roo. It protects the roo during breeding ...those clipped/cut feathers can poke the roo with those sharp edges. Thin the hen's feathers above the vent and thin the roo below the vent. Think of a 2 inch circle...her half above and his half below....leave the fine feathers nearest the vent alone. Pulling feathers for AI accomplishes the same thing. more for the hand breeders convenience than anything.
Today was a beautiful day. Woke with a lot of pain in my lower back so I had to medicate first....weather changes. Then cleaned and sterilized the chick pens and moved babies around to new areas. NNNellie started laying again so she went back in the hen house and her three babies went to a growout pen in the barn. Lucie and her three were moved to the big water trough in the hot tub room. The 11 week old CWs were moved into the small pen inside the hen house. Everybody got to go out to free range until Roger saw a coyote by the first pond. He didn't have his gun with him.
The boys sorted calves to wean and calves to go to town in the morning. Weaned 5 and will sell 9. We are feeding 3 big bales of hay a day to the herd and estimate we have enough hay to make it to May 1. We need rain.. I used the tens device this evening and a heating pad....much better.
BuckGuy I have 4.5 doz eggs on incubation with Carl ...due to hatch around the 29th. There are LF Blue Black and Splash Cochin (14) from an auction, LF Blue Cochin from my pair from Jarvis, SLW AI eggs, CW, Blue Wyandotte/CW, Blue Cochin/Australorp cross, and a few who's the daddy crosses Cochin or CW. Some of these are first hatch. So far Carl reports there is good fertility. My Little Giant styrofoam incubator just isn't reliable. Broody hens hatched a few in Dec and January.
Guy...I was taught not to cut or clip the vent feathers to increase fertility. Thinning the feathers by pulling selective bumm feathers is not painful for the hen or the roo. It protects the roo during breeding ...those clipped/cut feathers can poke the roo with those sharp edges. Thin the hen's feathers above the vent and thin the roo below the vent. Think of a 2 inch circle...her half above and his half below....leave the fine feathers nearest the vent alone. Pulling feathers for AI accomplishes the same thing. more for the hand breeders convenience than anything.
Today was a beautiful day. Woke with a lot of pain in my lower back so I had to medicate first....weather changes. Then cleaned and sterilized the chick pens and moved babies around to new areas. NNNellie started laying again so she went back in the hen house and her three babies went to a growout pen in the barn. Lucie and her three were moved to the big water trough in the hot tub room. The 11 week old CWs were moved into the small pen inside the hen house. Everybody got to go out to free range until Roger saw a coyote by the first pond. He didn't have his gun with him.
The boys sorted calves to wean and calves to go to town in the morning. Weaned 5 and will sell 9. We are feeding 3 big bales of hay a day to the herd and estimate we have enough hay to make it to May 1. We need rain.. I used the tens device this evening and a heating pad....much better.
