Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[Chicken Egg 17]

Yuck! The S word is a dirty word around here! I just checked the local weather and it looks like it's going to be around 30° first thing in the morning when the kids are hoping on the bus. You better believe I'll be preheating the car to 1000° and hibernating in the house as much as possible tomorrow. I don't do cold!

I my dog loves the snow last year we got the two feet she looked like a kangaroo jumping through the snow. I'm hopping we get a good bit that actually last if it's going to be cold I want snow.

 

[stake]

Normally, I would say incubate them

The egg shells are fine for the dog but if they don't like them, they won't eat them. My dogs are raw fed but they hate egg shells. I gave up front to give them to them lol
Thanks for the info, we'll keep it in mind. Unfortunately, since we do have a mobile home, or options are rather limited. In order to keep our home insured, we would need to have one that is HUD approved and there aren't many out there that we could find.


Incubation update! My new CCL roo apparently was doing his job. All of the eggs that I collected when they were seperated are developing great! The chimney egg was too hard to see in the last time I candled but it was still early. I'll be checking again in a few days. In the hatcher, two Ayan cemani eggs are peeping away! The other two are working on it. They're due to hatch tomorrow!

lucky girl....you got sand in your pants hatching this late....you'll have the brooder going to Christmas....I may ping you on some CCLs in the spring....who knows.....

 

[dheltzel]

You have ayam cenami's! I might message you in the spring then

I don't raise them (they have never appealed much to me, other than their rarity, which is going away fast), but a good friend has some very good ones, so I have access to chicks locally if I want them.

 

[dheltzel]

lucky girl....you got sand in your pants hatching this late....you'll have the brooder going to Christmas....I may ping you on some CCLs in the spring....who knows.....

Last year my Jill Rees Legbars started laying about now and I just couldn't eat those valuable eggs, so I accumulated them for a few weeks and incubated them, not expecting much. I had 12 chicks hatch in later November. They were still in my garage (crowing) until late March!!

I learned a lesson from that. The incubators are shut down now.

 

[dheltzel]

Is there anything you can't get?? You certainly have earned your name as the Poultry Pimp.

Very little, actually, I like to search for sources of rare breeds, even if I can't possibly keep them all (at once). There are some breeds and colors that are simply not present anywhere in the US, but other than those, I bet I could find any breed.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

I my dog loves the snow last year we got the two feet she looked like a kangaroo jumping through the snow. I'm hopping we get a good bit that actually last if it's going to be cold I want snow.

Oh, my dogs (and kids) love the snow too and I definitely agree with you. If it HAS to be cold, there should most definitely be snow. Just right now, talk of snow means talk of delving into the inevitable and seemingly neverending winter lol

lucky girl....you got sand in your pants hatching this late....you'll have the brooder going to Christmas....I may ping you on some CCLs in the spring....who knows.....

Lol, I don't have a ton of eggs set, I think maybe 14 still in the bator and the 4 in the hatcher now. I don't expect every one to hatch and I have a large, winter brooder set up to handle them until they can move outside as soon as its warm enough. I'm not sure if it'll ask work out the way I plan lol but I couldn't pass up the Ayam cemani eggs, and I wanted to use my new CCL roo immediately to try to have a few nice boys with crests to use in the spring. Gotta do what you gotta do!

I never thought in a million years that I would having incubators humming while @dheltzel has his shut down lol. I may need a little more restraint!

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

Girl where did you get Ayam Cemani eggs!?  They are on the list of my breeds I need to try.  That list is constantly increasing however. Ha!

I won 6 eggs on the games for eggs thread lol. I never actualy expected to get any but a lucky game of bingo just happened to get them to me

You said you had peeps yesterday. Pics or it didn't happen!

Is there anything you can't get?? You certainly have earned your name as the Poultry Pimp. 

Very little, actually, I like to search for sources of rare breeds, even if I can't possibly keep them all (at once). There are some breeds and colors that are simply not present anywhere in the US, but other than those, I bet I could find any breed.

Why am I not surprised? . Grateful though!

 
lucky girl....you got sand in your pants hatching this late....you'll have the brooder going to Christmas....I may ping you on some CCLs in the spring....who knows.....

Last year my Jill Rees Legbars started laying about now and I just couldn't eat those valuable eggs, so I accumulated them for a few weeks and incubated them, not expecting much. I had 12 chicks hatch in later November. They were still in my garage (crowing) until late March!!

I learned a lesson from that. The incubators are shut down now.

I dont't believe your incubators went into hibernation. They are just getting a well deserved break. Haha!

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

A chicken people documentary? This should be interesting. Hopefully my Dh can find a copy for me soon. Looks funny!

Edited because the link was wrong...

 

[OneMountainAcres]

You said you had peeps yesterday. Pics or it didn't happen!
Why am I not surprised? . Grateful though!
I dont't believe your incubators went into hibernation. They are just getting a well deserved break. Haha!

There's are two little Ayam cemani babies in the brooder right now. One is very spoiled and demands to be held already lol. I'll get you pictures in a bit

 

[Blarneyeggs]

Good early afternoon, PA!I live in Schuylkill County and will be moving soon. Looking to rehome my last two old lady silkies where they can live out the rest of their natural life and not become dinner. I'm not sure where I can post, or if I can post, something of this nature in the forum. If anyone has any advice, or interest in Loon and Big Bird, I'd be grateful. Have a great day!

Just got the new (old girl) silkies from Wellwupdo today. He was very generous and gave me all of his supplies. The girls are quarantined in the garage for now.

And here is the rest of my flock, safe and sound in their new home. They were each carried there after it got dark. Tom is very heavy and strong! Once I have the chicken guard door opener, I will keep them in there permanently. I went around and tested all of the ventilation areas to make sure they were secure. The bottom roost is broken because I tried to step on it, haha. It on,y gave way because the wood broke, not where I secured it. It was an old railing, so not meant for weight support. Lol! There is another roost beneath it, which is not visible.

Now to build the run....

Oh how sweet. Silkies are so cool. Each flock should have at least one. IMO. That is hysterical that you broke the roost, SO something that I would do....but never admit it.

[COLOR=0000FF]This time of day is so beautiful. Wish the chooks would all go to bed so I could finish work inside.[/COLOR]

Another STUNNING picture! Thank you for sharing--and the second best over-priced animal item I ever bough was my automatic chicken door. (First best is my Litter-Robot)

Ok, I gotta ask....what is a Litter-Robot? And how is it that we haven't met yet. Seems unlikely as I am in Kennett Square daily. We probably pass each other at the Giant and don't realize it.

Chicks came today! Neighbor was ecstatic with hers and coveted my little chipmunk chicks (dark Cornish). We're trying to guess at what she got in her layer mix, I might post pictures tomorrow if anyone wants to take guesses. For now, just a picture of my little Delaware who isn't standing properly. Can this be fixed with a split/brace of some kind? I've made little bandaid braces for messed up feet and splints for splayed legs but this seems different and I'm not sure what to do (other than call the hatchery, bc they shouldn't have sent out a chick with jacked up legs). Agree. 'Jacked up' legs = No Bueno. Call em out on that. As for fixing the legs, sometimes it's caused by a vitamin deficiency. Liquid Infant vitamins (NO IRON) are good to keep on hand when hatching. Can't hurt, might help. I also had to post a quick picture of my orpington molting. This is the lady I got from @chiques chicks last year. It looks so funny the way her feathers are all coming in together.

Hi all - I noticed one of my hens had gone broody in a strange spot underneath the coop. I got her out after only a day or two, but somehow she managed to accumulate 18 eggs down there. I figured she had just stopped laying for the winter, but turns out she was hoarding all of her eggs! Anyway, now I have 18 eggs that have been sitting outside for who-knows-how long. Any suggestions as to what to do with them? I am not going to eat them myself - but maybe scramble them up and feed them to the chickens?

You probably already know this, but the float test can be somewhat helpful in determining an eggs age. Just submerge your eggs in water. The ones that float are the oldest, the ones that lay flat on the bottom are the freshest, and the ones that stay on the bottom but the larger end of the egg rotates upward, they are in the middle. The air cell grows larger as the egg ages, which is how this works.

Thanks. I will see if I can pick some up at TSC for now, but stock up with Jeffers later. What do you guys use for your runs, material wise? I want to use hardware cloth eventually, but for now, some it will have the be the welded wire fencing. That should be okay since I will have the group secured in the shed at night to sleep, and have the automatic chicken door to let them out when the sun is up.

I'm in the middle of experimenting with the height of a low fenced run. Our chickens are out ranging all day every day but some days we want them to stay close by have access to the compost bins and a little bit more freedom that the covered run. They can easily fly higher than 4ft but don't escape a 4ft high net. Once I make the net into a fence though, I think they might jump up to it and then over. I'll put up a temporary structure to see if they do. Then, if they do, I might buy some of that 4ft high green vinyl fence I see everyone using to keep dogs in. Wood covered Hogwire looks really good, but it's expensive per 8x4 piece. (Pictures from http://www.houzz.com/photos/query/coop/)

I've noticed that a four foot fence is sufficient for my heavier birds, like Orpington, but not for my flightier birds, like EE and Leghorns. FOr keeping them in anyway, not for keeping predators out.

Hi new neighbors! I have a 9 month old lavender ophington rooster looking for a home, got 2, need one--

Aurora! Incubating when DHetzel dares not... that certainly is an accomplishment. Hope your peeps are all happy and healthy.