Ribh's D'Coopage

[Ribh]

My girls were making a terrible racket this morning so I took my head out of the computer to see this:

In less than 5 minutes it was all over but, Oh. My. Goodness!

 

[rjohns39]

Hey, Bob. Good day? How many chickies are you up to now or have you posted them? And how is that pup doing?

Pup's doing great. He's inside right now, guess he decided it was too hot out to work. I ended up with 73 chicks. I shipped 71 that he picked up 3 1/2 hours ago. Still waiting to hear how they arrived. I'll have to check on the two I held back but don't have high hopes for them. Both were assisted hatches and were shrink wrapped pretty bad. They didn't look good at all this morning.

Wow. I don't know what you do but it sounds stressful. Hope you have a lovely weekend with the cat & the chickens.

X2 @MaryJanet Sounds like my last job, pretty much 6 12 hour days per week. Worked from home when I wasn't traveling. That wears on a person.

 

[Ribh]

I ended up with 73 chicks. I shipped 71 that he picked up 3 1/2 hours ago.

That sounds like a pretty successful hatch. Well done! No~one ever seems to get %100 success rate Glad your pup is doing well. I feel for him & totally get not wanting to work in the heat.

 

[rjohns39]

I had 61 that went into lock down with good development and didn't hatch. They're still in the bator just in case. If they haven't shown any progress tomorrow, I'll candle them and see what's up.

 

[Ribh]

I had 61 that went into lock down with good development and didn't hatch. They're still in the bator just in case. If they haven't shown any progress tomorrow, I'll candle them and see what's up.

That's a lot of eggs. Everything chicken seems to go awry. Makes me wonder how they ever survived in the wild.

 

[rjohns39]

The ones that didn't hatch were smaller than the ones that did, so I'm wondering if the eggs just didn't have enough room for the chicks.

 

[Ribh]

Yeah, was reading something about that in the *June Hatch Along*. I didn't even know it was a thing. One would think the chicken & egg between them would be smart enough to ensure a chick would fit ~ but apparently not.

 

[MaryJanet]

I thought perhaps folks might like to see how Mary feathered out after her moult. She dropped her tail feathers about ten days ago, I'm pretty sure that was the last of it. I saw her eating shell grit a few days ago, so perhaps she's thinking about eggs again. She's also gone back to her old habit of suddenly stamping her feet, jumping on the spot, then running, usually in the direction of the pigeons when they're eating chicken food. Pretty sure she's almost recovered, but she's still very pale in the comb and wattles.

 

[Ribh]

I thought perhaps folks might like to see how Mary feathered out after her moult. She dropped her tail feathers about ten days ago, I'm pretty sure that was the last of it. I saw her eating shell grit a few days ago, so perhaps she's thinking about eggs again. She's also gone back to her old habit of suddenly stamping her feet, jumping on the spot, then running, usually in the direction of the pigeons when they're eating chicken food. Pretty sure she's almost recovered, but she's still very pale in the comb and wattles.

View attachment 1813349

That is such good news! She is looking great!

I'm actually quite worried about Namaste just now. She was doing rather nicely & I thought she was on the road to her old self but she was off her tucker 2 nights ago & I've found her roosting on the floor of the coop. I've tucked her up with a couple of others as it was obvious she was rather cold but she seems lethargic in spurts. I'm going to pick up whatever is the Aussie equivalent of nutridrench when we go to the mainland on Tuesday. Some of her back feathers just haven't grown back though I can see pin feathers. I can't see any sign of lice or mites. Thought it might be a crop issue but that seems fine too. I just don't know. At times she seems fine scagaing & eating & drinking as normal then all of a sudden she's dozing off in the sun ~ though Lottie is always doing that too so I don't think that's abnormal. Poor girl.

 

[MaryJanet]

I'm sorry to hear it. I assumed she was back on the lay again.

If I didn't know how careful you are with their diet, I'd say something about protein. Surely she's getting her fair share of the food. I know you're careful about that too. I hope the nutridrench (?) gets her back on her feet. I was giving Mary one ham slice a day for a few weeks, in addition to her normal diet, and I think perhaps it boosted her along a bit.