***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[Oakieridge]

Buster that sure looks like alot of work, lol.

Ksane, I love the little feather feet! We got 7 banty cochins 2 weeks ago and they are so stinking cute! I can't wait until they are big enough to know girl from boy.

We got our first egg from Jack's little Brahma Banty Cochin pair today. Hopefully she will start laying for us and we can have some of those hatched next time. He is looking forward to building a little breeding group of them.

 

[Oceanseve]

i find it really hard to tell, the closer you get to hatch the denser they are- have you posted on the incubation and hatching section? my big dilemma is i can only stuff so many eggs under my bantam cochin, and i have a full incubator, so what to do with eggs i won(didn't think i would) that can't fit anywhere???

I'm only on day 7 and the chicken eggs looked like that two days ago, now the duck eggs do......

I have a feeling that's not a good thing, but I'm hoping

For candling eggs a mini Maglite with the rubber collar on it works well. I use a spotlight and a piece of cardboard with a hole the size of a dime cut in it. Just place the egg on the hole and it can be seen into pretty easily.

I have a small light similar to a minimag, I guess I need to get more creative to focus the light.

Believe me you will think twice about walking around your own property when one stands up and gives you that lovely cat play mode tail wag and the dog comes to hide behind you.. done that year before last here and do not walk the back of the property without personal protection since.. Its a very different feeling when the cat is bigger than my dog and my dog knew it.

that's not a good mental image.

 

[Oceanseve]

Need some help from the tractor people on here. We bought a used post hole digger, apparently it had been sitting outside for some years, but we got it hooked up no problem, then he went to raise it and the shaft and sleeve that extend from the pto to the digger is rusted apparently. Any tips on how to get it unstuck?

 

[Okla-doodle-doo]

Thanks for posting that about the cats Buster. It was very interesting. Jarvis,my buddy in Oregon lives up in the moutains and he said up there you always take'protection" when you go outside up there. The big cats were protected for so long that they over populated and now are a hazard to people in the area. I'll never forget my last sighting of one. It was 11:30 Christmas eve about ten years agoat Chewy Okl. WE were headed home after picking up my daughtger for christmas. A huge mama lion crossed in front of us onthe highway,we were so excited watching her that it didn't dawn on us till later that the reason she didn't run off was because she proably had a cub on the otherside of the road. She was goregous. That was quite a Christmas present for all of us!

The rain finally got here. No storms thank goodness.

Love the baby chick pictures. They are so cute when itty bitty.

 

[Buster52]

Its a very different feeling when the cat is bigger than my dog and my dog knew it.

If we are talking about the dog I saw, that would be one big cat!

 

[artsyrobin]

meet Zoey, daughter of Lea... ee... and got stuck in with the ducks and geese tonite, so hubby and i are out there trying to coax her out, the ducks sleep under the porch, so there are two ways in, the goose very helpful tonite, walked in one way and she came out the other- pouring rain, and everything is a swamp, so i take her in and blow her dry, meanwhile lea is not happy thinking the baby was gone... so i take her into the coop- from a dejected mama to wide open eyes... !! Amazing transformation!

 

[Buster52]

Buster that sure looks like alot of work, lol.

I've been wanting to do this for years. Why do you think it took so long?

 

[RetiredArmyWife]

Sorry, if you want more barred rocks let me know. I am not hatching any straight barred rocks (all we are hatching from them are black sexlinks) right now but we will this fall. I would be happy to give you a 1/2 dozen when we start hatching them. My barred rocks are only 5 weeks right now but as soon as they start to breed you are welcome to some chicks.

Thank you! I will keep that in mind. I really seem to be partial to Barred Rocks.

 

[Poco Pollo]

Robin - That's a great mom story. I love it.

I have a mom story tonight too. I found a box with three kittens in it in the barn yesterday: one white, one black, and one oranged striped. Two cats are no loner pregnant, and they are sharing the box and the kittens. The white cat is probably the mother of the white kitten with the black head spot, and the dark cat is likely the mother of the darkest kitten, but which is the mother of the orange striped kitten?

 

[Ksane]

Too cute! - I love feathered feet.
Jack incubated a dozen for me too test various pens I have set up and only 3 hatched. Carl is hatching 2 dozen for me and only 8 were fertile. Not such a good start but a couple of my roos are young and one is old. I have to remember that it is only March. I've got 8 breeding pensand if all of the eggs hatch I could be in trouble!
One of the chicks that hatched at Jack's has pure white down, sure looks strange and at the same time pretty. It already has tiny grey pin feathers. I have a Columbian-looking roowith a little Buff in his hackles and saddle feathers that had white down when he hatched. His parents were a Mille fleur roo and a Black mottled hen. I didn't plan on breeding him because his type isn't that great. This chick may be his since a couple of the test eggs were from my mixed pen.
I have another roo from the Mille Fleur x Mottled pair from last year. This one is is the opposite of his white-downed brother; mostly black with white detaile and buff hackles and saddle frethers. I am breeding this boy because he has much better type that his brother. I should put up some picks of the white down and the opposite brothers. Breeding sure gets interesting.

You're smart to be in love with a breed that's in high demand. You shouldn't have a problem in the world finding homes for the extras. I gave Carl 3 LF Faverolles eggs to try to hatch and only 1 was fertile, I got the coolest baby from it but I wonder if both our problem with fertility might be because of the poofy back ends on these breeds.
(Also I sent you a PM last night, MJ).
Carl, honestly-I don't know how you do it and how you keep track of all the hatches and all the babies.
There's not a dog I've ever met that scared me but a mad 2 lb cat is another story. I can't even imagine a 130 lb cat!
I ended up ordering the 10 egg Brinsea and am already wishing I'd gotten the 24 egg one. I'm fast becoming addicted to the idea of hatching and I adore baby chicks. I really think I can place the boys. It's to the point now that I don't *want to keep the boys if they're not going to be able to get along with each other. And it's unfair to the boys to live in bachelor yards if there's a chance they could have their own girls somewhere.
BAAcres, I'm saving blue eggs for you in case you can use them in a few wks for the kids if it works out that you can hatch eggs for them. I thought the kids would like having blue eggs since they're young kids. I can find little stickers to put on them, they'd love it. I'll meet you 1/2 way between Guthrie and Yukon if you end up being able to use them.