Ribh's D'Coopage

[Ribh]

Oh before I forget, I set eggs today to hatch. Most have orders for day old chicks.
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Oh. Wow. I wouldn't know what to do with that many eggs. Is that your Delawares or something else ~ or a mix? I'm hopeless @ egg colours.

 

[Ribh]

My eggs are 10x better than the organic "free range" commercial eggs at walmart and I'm doing a horrible job with my birds. I'm going to need to rebuild their numbers so I can start free ranging them again. Over the next few days I need to get into price negotiations with potential customers. Some want day old chicks others want hatching eggs. There's a hatchery out there hosing up the market. They sell eggs and chicks for the same price $5 each. Shipped eggs at best have a 50% hatch rate. I suspect the chicks they're selling are what they consider to be junk and want to get rid of them rather than feed them. There are currently three of us in the US breeding these birds for resale and I'm the only one selling live chicks. The other two will only sell hatching eggs. Not withstanding the hatchery of course.

Did you find the quirk in your fence line? I would be absolutely paranoid with a fox around.

 

[Kris5902]

Oh before I forget, I set eggs today to hatch. Most have orders for day old chicks.
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Wow! Just wow! I now have incubator and egg envy... that’s awesome. What breed are you hatching?

 

[Kris5902]

You guys might enjoy this... so for the last hour and a half I’ve been checking my arms, sniffing my hands, just changed my clothes even because I could not find the source of the chicken poop smell... it MUST be the shirt, even though I can’t see it? Nope. Stuck to the top corner of my glasses frame was a tiny little bitty piece of chicken poop! Of all the places... Well, the proximity to my nose explains the intensity of the smell I guess.

 

[rjohns39]

Those are all Barred Holland Eggs.

 

[Ribh]

I thought they [the chicken not the egg; I had to look them up... ] looked rather like my Rocks but I see Rocks were used in their breeding line. How lovely to be helping preserve such a rare breed! I've not heard of them out here but I am fond of single combs & patterning.

 

[WhoDatChick]

You guys might enjoy this... so for the last hour and a half I’ve been checking my arms, sniffing my hands, just changed my clothes even because I could not find the source of the chicken poop smell... it MUST be the shirt, even though I can’t see it? Nope. Stuck to the top corner of my glasses frame was a tiny little bitty piece of chicken poop! Of all the places... Well, the proximity to my nose explains the intensity of the smell I guess.

Oh ma ga! That’s hilarious

 

[Ribh]

You guys might enjoy this... so for the last hour and a half I’ve been checking my arms, sniffing my hands, just changed my clothes even because I could not find the source of the chicken poop smell... it MUST be the shirt, even though I can’t see it? Nope. Stuck to the top corner of my glasses frame was a tiny little bitty piece of chicken poop! Of all the places... Well, the proximity to my nose explains the intensity of the smell I guess.

Oh, dear. So there.

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

You guys might enjoy this... so for the last hour and a half I’ve been checking my arms, sniffing my hands, just changed my clothes even because I could not find the source of the chicken poop smell... it MUST be the shirt, even though I can’t see it? Nope. Stuck to the top corner of my glasses frame was a tiny little bitty piece of chicken poop! Of all the places... Well, the proximity to my nose explains the intensity of the smell I guess.

It's always where you least expect it...

 

[Ribh]

Chickens are chickens. I never wanted lap chickens. I am happy to have them chat when I'm out & about, & not spook if I touch them & apart from the Campines, who are a law unto themselves, that's pretty much how my little flock works ~ in my head @ least. I cannot vouch for the chickens.

Today was cold & overcast with showers coming across intermittently but all the girls were in the big run so I took my chances on getting the coop cleaned out without help. Perish the thought. Lottie followed me round, hot on my heels so that I was terrified of accidentally stepping on her. Ha'penny raced up & down the steps, in & out of nesting boxes screaming, having decided that seeing I wanted to work ,now was a good time to lay! Everyone else wanted to be underfoot to see what I was doing & comment on it. You should have heard the ruckus when I had removed the poopy mulch but was delayed in putting the new stuff down!

By 4, it was cold & the food tubs only held the *dust* so I grabbed the mealworms & started filling tubs. Three is usually enough for everyone to get a fair share but the girls were hungry & chowing down like there was no tomorrow. I watched for a bit because I always check no~one is missing out & usually it all works out. Not today. Lottie was scooting between all the different stations & couldn't even get close so I grabbed the teacup I use for treats, 1/4 filled it with fresh crumble & picked her up. She snuggled into the crook of my arm with a great sigh & set to. She's so tiny she doesn't often get choice pickings unless I intervene ~ which I don't like to do in case it upsets chickeny ideas of the rightness of things but tonight everyone needed a good feed to settle happily for the night. When she was full she let me know by perching on my fingers, in no hurry to hop down & rejoin the flock. Oh. dear. I think I am in danger of a lap chicken.