Put the bator away...

[pbjmaker]

But my broodies just can't stop incubating for me - enablers they are!

My little frizzled barred cochin (Jet) decided it was time to sit for the third time this year, We enabled each other with 4 eggs from my cuckoo maran X BCM. Here's hoping for some more pullets!

BTW I still think this is her way of hiding from the two roos. She is my only frizzle with shoulder/ head/ back feathers.

 

[Camelot Farms]

I keep swearing I am going to put the bator away. I even let it sit empty for 2 days! Then, i couldnt resist the temptation and its full again....

 

[2txmedics]

I need an "INTREVENTION"...

I want eggs in my bator!!!!

I keep coming in here and see the words:

Lockdown
hatching
zipping

and my hands are shaking...my body is sweating and I need a FIX!!!! Im gonna put some in maybe friday...

 

[FenDruadin]

I swear the batch that's due Sept 7 is my last one for the season. Really.

But... I do have a fawn & white that's sitting on eggs. Unfortunately, she's in the front yard. Darnedest thing--she's been missing several times in the morning when I've been leaving the house, always on days when she didn't leave me an egg. Then she would show up later. I suspected she was "holding" her eggs and then laying them somewhere private. I finally found her this morning because she is sitting on them--even though she laid an egg in the pen this morning. She must have been really upset that I let them out of their pen an hour later than usual!

Anyway, I actually need some advice. She has gone broody before, and sat on the eggs with another fawn & white I had (who sadly served as dinner for a raccoon or fox a few weeks ago). One of the two destroyed the eggs at about 3 1/2 weeks. I saw her do it. But I don't know which duck it was. And they've never damaged fresh eggs--only those nearly-ready eggs. And some of them were good eggs too--there were dead ducklings all over the pen, as well as some rotten eggs... Anyway... the point is, is there a chance she can brood a batch if I let her?

And if I were to let her try, can I move her current batch into the pen, or will I need to start letting her build a nest and sit on it inside the pen with a new batch? It doesn't get cold here till November, so she should be able to raise a batch before hard winter sets in (what passes for hard winter here in the South anyway) around January.

I kind of want to let her try. I would love to have some mama-raised ducklings, and it would be cool to have a Runner who actually makes a good mom. Also, SHE really wants to--she is in love with my current ducklings, but she's not allowed to spend much time with them because the drake tries to kill them, so they are always separate right now. She lies down next to them in their pen, though, and always tries to get close to them when they come over to the big duck's pen (they get closed in late in the afternoon, and that's when I let the ducklings out to range a bit while I'm out there, and they always go over and talk to the big ducks).

I think she really wants to be a mom, and I'd like to give her a chance. Besides, it would mean I could expect babies even AFTER I set my incubator aside for the season.

What do you all think? (I don't want to hijack your thread, though, so let me know if I should put this question in another thread.)

 

[pbjmaker]

I have to stop - I live in the city and am at my limit. For any that hatch that I want to keep - I have to sell one of my flock I have already. Animal control has been out two times already so I can't risk going over. I have a stinky neighbor somewhere around me that told them I have over a hundred chickens and he doesn't want to hear hens cluck.

Ironicly we live 4 blocks from the airport and I bet he doesn't call on them for the national guard jets, planes taking off. Or the fire station that is 5 blocks away and evertime a truck comes our way with sirens on all the neighbor hood dogs start to howl.... hmmmm


Sorry just a little vent - need to go hug a baby chick now.

 

[FenDruadin]

Hmmmm... Maybe your stinky neighbor needs some eggs. Do you know who it is? A dozen well-timed eggs in a pretty package delivered with a smile might go a long way toward reducing animal control visits.

I hate that for you. It really does stink.

What will you do with the new babies, then? Sell them as day-olds? Or?? Will animal control not cite you if they're still babies, so you can wait till they grow up to sell them?

And don't get me started on dogs vs "livestock." Dogs are such obnoxious creatures (I have one, so don't think I'm a dog hater but...)--they stink, their poop is the grossest substance on earth, they are louder than most livestock and their bark is annoying as h**l, and the larger specimens can be quite dangerous, even on a leash. And unless they're working dogs on a farm, they're completely useless. But nobody thinks *they* should be banned from cities.

Goats, though, now *those* ought to be banned. I mean, their little neighing voices are only half as loud as a dog's, they poop neat little packages of fertilizer with no odor and that don't stick even if you step on them wet, they eat weeds and keep the yard tidy as well as being capable of producing milk products when properly managed, they're sweet and affectionate, and while any large creature is capable of causing harm, are far less inclined to be aggressive with humans than are dogs. But GOATS, now goats really don't belong in a city.

Whatever. It really gets under my skin. It's part of a whole mindset that thinks in order to be "high class" we have to separate ourselves from our food chain by as many layers as we possibly can, including not even being reminded of where our food comes from by having to look at (or hear) a chicken or goat, EVER.

 

[pbjmaker]

Our city allows goats

Someone on my side of town had one for the longest time out grazing his yard.

I thought I knew what neighbor called but I found out from my friend with "connections in the police dispatch" that it is a man calling. This lady's husband wouldn't have the guts to call.

I do give eggs to any of my neighbors that want them and they mostly tell me how much they enjoy the chickens, even the roosters. The one other neighbor that didn't like them has even conceded that they are now just white noise to her. I think this is a neighbor on the block behind me that I don't know.

No matter - animal control is always nice and the last guy told me that anytime someone is town does something "different" they get all kinds of calls and have to go check it out. We are doing nothing wrong and he even took an 18 pack of eggs.

Oh - and legally I can't sell day olds, so I just grow them out and then sell them. They are not counted until they are 10 weeks old.

 

[FenDruadin]

Actually, goats are legal in our city too, but they tend to get complaints. And we do have a nuisance ordinance, so sometimes even following the rules and being "legal" doesn't mean you get to keep your goat pets--a guy in a "nicer" neighborhood than ours recently had to give up his goats due to this. And by "nicer," I don't mean one I'd rather live in!! lol

 

[mulia24]

hmm, so difficult and complicated live in city in USA, no goat, no chicken, no poultry, animal control. what the heck

i live here in a small "town" maybe still village but people 20 metres beside me can build a new "praying place (i'm not telling it name in order to prevent chaos or misunderstanding or problem" cost 2 billion rupiah or about US$200.000. i think that's useless since it will produce more noisy sound than current building (still safe cause i did NOT mention the building name).

in here, people are free to "keep" or "tend" or "raise" (i don't know the right one, maybe raise) start from ant, rat, cat, chicken, ferret, wolf, goose, duck, goat, buffalo, pigeon, snake, deer, even crocodile, actually dog and pig also allowed but maybe have to be hidden since people here didn't like those two animal cause of their "re******", but i have a dog, for pig i can buy slayed one just to cook it cause people will hunt me if i keep pig here

. but it's prohibited to raise lion and tiger since they're "threatened" to lost cause of illegal hunting. so you can keep whatever you want except those "protected by country".

oh ya, in here it's very rare i can find predator, only my dog is predator since he was "killing" my 2 eggs about 2 days ago and i've gave him a very severe punishment for what he had doing.

so if you want to raise animal prohibited in USA just sent them here, as long as they do no harm to me of course or that will be the last thing they're doing.

JK