Our introduction to keeping chickens, the high's, the lows and pics of our journey.

[NovaAman]

Ya know... Mr. Fluffers was great at that. He'd take a youngster down in no time. Rod Stewart, Roger.. Both the same. Great at keeping the teens in line. Infact, as I have said before, Rod Stewart gave Florus quite a beating...

 

[lindz8504]

Well I had a CRAZY afternoon! I had to do some rearranging so I could go get my new girls and have somewhere to put them! I ended up separating the big coop into 2 sections with a gate and putting Clarabelle and the babies back into the big coop. I am hoping that this will help with integrating them into the flock a little easier in a few weeks! Anyway, while moving them, I got everyone in the big coop, and one of the chicks jumped out while the door was open and was running around under the coop trying to get away from the other big chickens who were trying to peck it! I was PANICKING! I ended up grabbing Clarabelle and pushing her under the coop toward the baby! She went CR@ZY on the other chickens, then her and the baby finally came out and I was able to catch them! Then Hubby yelled out to close the coop door! The other babies had managed to fit through a gap in the gate and were running around! So, we put them back and was patching holes. Then I went to pick up the new girls! They are GORGEOUS!!!!!!! I am tickled with them! Then I get home with them, and I had stopped and bought some hamburger because it was on sale.... as I was bringing it in the house first I see something on our heat pump unit outside! It took me a minute to figure out that it was one of the Golden Comet girls! My heart sunk! In the chaos of the chicks trying to escape, we had forgotten to open the coop back up, and it was well after dark! So we go out with flashlights to find everyone and put them in the coop. Luckily, everyone but the one girl was roosted on a small fence panel down next to the coop! I proceeded to pick everyone up and try to put them roughly where they normally roost in the coop! I got everyone but Rogue and two of the GC girls in, and he proceeds to peck me anytime I get my hands close enough to him. Unfortunately, the other two girls were between him and the coop wall. I ended up just pushing him off the fence onto the ground, and he ran around for about 10 minutes. I was finally able to grab a leg and throw him in the coop. He will be going to freezer camp very soon! I am not going to deal with a rooster that I can't even get my hands on!

If it hadn't already been dark, he may have already joined that club! Anyway, once we got him up, I went back to the van and got the new girls out and took them down to their new coop! I hope they like it! I plan on getting up early in the morning and making sure everyone is settled in and doing well! Pictures tomorrow!

 

[Bens-Hens]

Wow, busy thread today!

Happy world egg day, might have to poach a couple in celebration.

Lindz, I always look forward to seeing peoples pics.

We are at Day 14, start of the third tri, or the 'short week' as I trick myself into thinking "big candle tonight, then just a couple of days until lock down....then the action will start" I know it's really about 7 days, but I tell myself little lies to make the time go faster lol

Also found Cleo the LS sitting on three eggs this morning, I though she had already laid. I removed the eggs from her and she stayed...wonder if we have our first broody or if she was yet to plonk one in the nest box.

 

[ozexpat]

Wow, busy thread today!

Happy world egg day, might have to poach a couple in celebration.

Lindz, I always look forward to seeing peoples pics.

We are at Day 14, start of the third tri, or the 'short week' as I trick myself into thinking "big candle tonight, then just a couple of days until lock down....then the action will start" I know it's really about 7 days, but I tell myself little lies to make the time go faster lol

Also found Cleo the LS sitting on three eggs this morning, I though she had already laid. I removed the eggs from her and she stayed...wonder if we have our first broody or if she was yet to plonk one in the nest box.

you better get some of those sussex to put under her.

you may have a bonus round

 

[Bens-Hens]

I was kind of hopeful she was still in there but she was not...She must have just been hanging around an empty nest box after laying.

Rosie is still in there after much longer, but she does that sometimes, takes ages and then leaves behind a whopper.

Might have to leave the 'bator running a bit longer lol

 

[EverMystique1]

For my staggered hatches, i ran amuk of the 'rules'. I kept the temp steady at 99.5 F. Have no idea of humidity, but opted to go with the dry hatch approach. Kept just a small amount of water in the bator. At 'lockdown', I used my percolator and added some nice, hot water any time I had to open for whatever purpose. I also only turned the eggs once a day. Due to crowding, I would quickly remove any shells that seemed to be in the way; otherwise, I tried to keep all of that hatch in to be removed at the same time. This changed, of course, if they kept rolling the pips downward.

All in all, I had around an 80% average hatch rate onc I 'threw out' the rules.

 

[CB and CG]

Good luck with the day 14 candling!

 

[Bens-Hens]

Just got home from dinner out, showers and kids to bed then I get to sit down with my nerdy note pad, scales and a torch.....my oh my, how my Saturday nights have changed!

Will report back later with the latest figures.

Oh, Fancychooklady has finally broken my back! All those Coronation Sussex pics has sent me over the edge. Plans are underway for hatch No.2 (not that I needed to be pushed that hard in the first place.)

Order will be placed tonight.

 

[Wrightsx4]

Those coronations are gorgeous - I'd do it too can't wait to hear the candling results. Would love to see the new breakdown of which eggs remain from each of your hens too!
haha - yes how Saturday nights have changed. Our hatches always start and end on weekends intentionally too, so day 14 is always a fun Saturday night to look forward to (notebook in hand, lol).

 

[Bens-Hens]

Hehehehe, crazy chicken math is dangerous when you already have a bad case of 'bator brain'

Day 14 all done and results are in.

We started with 47, 24 purchased, 23 home grown's.

Day 7 Candle, we removed 1x purchased; clear (Wellie) and 12 home grown's, all for being clear. Smudge seemed to struggle with the LS and RIR, but achieved with the BA,BV and ARA's.

Day 14 Candle, we removed 2x purchased (1 early death, 1x blood ring) 0 home grown's

Left standing currently 21/24 purchased, 11/23 home grown's.

Total result Day 14: 32/47

Weights. Given the quantities, I am working on mean's. Some are a little high, some are a right on but our average target for Day 14 is 50.5g and we have an average or 50.25g. We are rounding to the nearest gram anyway, I think we are on target for our 13% weight loss.

We have started out at about 56% humidity, but that has been dropping over the past two weeks, lately 50-51% is logged more. Trying to keep it above 50% for the next couple of days before moving to the Hovabator (hatcher)

Fingers crossed we can get the little ones over the line and into the world. We have given them the best chance we could so far!