Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[gonehencrazy]

Broodies are inevitably a disaster for me. I had a silver Ameraucana that was such a determined broody that I decided to let her hatch some. I gave 2 a dozen guinea eggs that were a week from hatching. She hatched 9 of them and killed every one. I have been finding limp bodies all over the pen. I'm gonna stick with incubators and brooders, my broodies are not to be trusted.

I'll give you my EE broody. It's her third time broody. She hatched 8 eggs in May and is broody again!!

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

You per, we had a member here...troyer...who raised those type of birds, I believe. He moved to Michigan last year but still stops in once in a while. He can help get you answers or direct you to where to find them...
@Blarneyeggs ...do you have Troyer contact info?I tried tagging him with the @ symbol but his name didn't come up on the list?

I still have his and his wife's cell number in my phone if so,done needs to contact him. I picked up Cubalaya eggs from him for my first broody.

In more positive news, it's hatch day for our second batch of meat chicks and a dozen BBW turkeys are on their way to us in the mail. We had 2 chicks out last night and several external pips... we now have 8 chicks out and 2 more zipping. Started out with ~20 eggs and never got around to even candling them or removing clears because we were so busy with vacation, etc.

So sorry about your losses. It's always crappy, and makes you feel terrible.

As long as I'm taking over the thread here...The darling Teenager only closed 4 of the 10 poultry pens last night (and told me EVERYTHING was closed up). The dogs were going crazy all night, we didn't realize why until we woke up this morning to chickens out everywhere. So far, they are all alive. There is a missing Easter Egger that may have gotten eaten, but she also may be busy laying an egg or routing through the goat's hay. I'll keep my fingers crossed until I know for sure.

Glad it turned out reasonably well, and that the dogs were on duty! It could have been so much worse.

Aurora, if you can take Sabrina, that would be preferable.

Did you get your duck coop back together? Where do they roost?

Just a little positive that I had happen yesterday. Those of you that remember "stake", I hatched 2 chicks from eggs I got from a trio of his that I picked up (the eggs) after he had passed. Got a little teary when I saw that they both had hatched.

Aw, thanks for that. I still have two birds from him that he gave me as chicks. Rusty Shackleford, my main Roo, and Cinnamon, his sister. They are both CCL & Marans cross.

Btw, the two Langshans are doing great! I have decided to name them Batman and Robin. He is so cute, and his little crow is not a bother at all. I love how tiny they are!

Broodies are inevitably a disaster for me. I had a silver Ameraucana that was such a determined broody that I decided to let her hatch some. I gave 2 a dozen guinea eggs that were a week from hatching. She hatched 9 of them and killed every one. I have been finding limp bodies all over the pen. I'm gonna stick with incubators and brooders, my broodies are not to be trusted.

Haha, my brooodies have alll been great over here thankfully. My Silkie is being stubborn, and the one BSL is still broody. I will give them any chicks that hatch out from the @Auroradream26 eggs. Finger crossed for an AC pullet! I think I am going to make a separate broody pen and coop, since it seems to be a trend here. It's a pain to crawl under the coop at dusk to get the chicks that can't see how to climb the ramp.

 

[yoopergirl1211]

So I've been hearing about fermented feed and would like to try. There is so much information out there that I am getting confused. Do I just get a bucket and put regular layer feed, water, and ACV in? Stir, and feed when the food has fermented? Do I keep it covered? How soon does it need to be emptied so that it does not grow mold? Can I also ferment their scratch grains? Sorry for all the questions lol.

Yep thats it. Make sure its wet enough to stir every day and it wont mold. You can mix in anything just make sure you take into account when doing treats. I was adding scratch and still tossing out my normal amount for treats so I took it out of feed. We make enough for almost two weeks at a time and have a screen over for bugs but still gets lots of air.

 

[fangedknight]

Wow! Lots of stuff! @Blarneyeggs thank you for letting me know about Lebanon Valley, I had already stopped by their website about the show, and now I'm definitely going to be joining up as soon as I can. I also need to join the APA anddd get my copy of the SOP. Ugh so much to do. I want to try and do the York Fair and Lebanon Valley's Show if possible. I literally just found out about all the testing and banding and everything so hopefully the guy that's supposed to be a PDA Tech right down the road from me is still doing that.

We're gonna have soooo much fun banding Klaus. Omg...

 

[fangedknight]

Gonna hide over here just in case I pissed off someone rather important... but they were completely idiotic and said the most stupid thing ever. Look...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/bathing-methods.1190715/page-2#post-18820270

 

[dheltzel]

I'll give you my EE broody. It's her third time broody. She hatched 8 eggs in May and is broody again!!

I get plenty of broodies, they just are bad at it, killing chicks before they even try to take them out of the nest. I don't really care, I have incubators and brooders that are far more reliable than these broodies have been. I thought it would be cool to raise some guineas in with the broodies and see if they socialize with chickens better when broody raised. My guineas are all snobs and only deign to flock with other guineas.

 

[yoopergirl1211]

He's a growing Boy! With those legs to catch up to he is probably feeling starved 24/7! Looks like he is going to be a very big boy!

He should be! So far he's a gentle giant. Hes about 3 1/2 months old right now. He doesn't really fit in to any breeding I want to do but I love having him. Everyone that comes to get chicks always point him out and ask about him. Maybe George can be my mascot lol.

 

[dheltzel]

Im excited to try them!

If you have the space to grow out chicks and the will to eat the extra roos, it's a good deal to get the surplus chicks from Sand Hill. First of all, you get the "pick of the litter" to keep for yourself. I'm keeping all of the Mille Fleur Leghorns and Kraienkoppes (aka "Twentse") to make a little flock of each. If you let your chicken friends know what you have to sell, you can setup some of them with flocks of other breeds. Finally, you can grow out the remaining ones and sell the pullets to the general public, while eating any unsalable roos.
With the "chicken train" moving some of these breeds around, you could get a group of chicks that might end up all over the state, building flocks and making a lot of people happy.
I'm still waiting to get Creme Brabanters and Welsummers this year. Next year I'm hoping to get Tomaru (long crowers) and Frizzle Sumatras (putting my request in early, if you happen to get any of them in your assortments, LOL).

 

[FluffyButt789]

Just a little positive that I had happen yesterday. Those of you that remember "stake", I hatched 2 chicks from eggs I got from a trio of his that I picked up (the eggs) after he had passed. Got a little teary when I saw that they both had hatched.
View attachment 1099160 View attachment 1099163

Oh how sweet! You should name them after him!

Yep thats it. Make sure its wet enough to stir every day and it wont mold. You can mix in anything just make sure you take into account when doing treats. I was adding scratch and still tossing out my normal amount for treats so I took it out of feed. We make enough for almost two weeks at a time and have a screen over for bugs but still gets lots of air.

I'm having a problem with mice getting trapped in the feed bin so I will have to put a mesh on the fermented feed when I start it! How long does it ferment to be ready to feed the chickens? overnight?

I get plenty of broodies, they just are bad at it, killing chicks before they even try to take them out of the nest. I don't really care, I have incubators and brooders that are far more reliable than these broodies have been. I thought it would be cool to raise some guineas in with the broodies and see if they socialize with chickens better when broody raised. My guineas are all snobs and only deign to flock with other guineas.

Yikes I didn't think of that with my broody. Luckily this is her first time and she is doing great with her 2 babies.

 

[kie4]

I entered a "pet look-a-like" competition, and won the runner up!
Prize was a $20 Amazon voucher and this chicken bridge/swing thing. I'll set it up later and see what the chickens think of it. Should at some colour to the coop!