setting eggs tonight!! anyone else?

[klj491]

Layna, did you get your ducks yet?

 

[LaynaDon95]

How fun! Good luck! If you remember to, let me know how it goes.

 

[cowchick11]

klj491

I just started to collect from two of my three Show Orps last night. I was hoping to collect from all three of the girls but the third one just went broody (like last week). That's three for three.

If she is still trying to set in 7-10 days she may get the eggs I have collected. But then again I want to mark the chicks as they hatch in the bator so I know the quality of babies and who they are from. Maybe she'll get the chicks after they hatch I've done that before too. Plus if I get a lot of eggs total to hatch we also have a buff orp feed store girl that is going broody too!

LaynaDon are you buying ducks or hatching them or buying started/sexed ducks? Did you pick a breed yet?

 

[klj491]

She posted pictures over on the duck board last night.

 

[LaynaDon95]

klj491

I just started to collect from two of my three Show Orps last night. I was hoping to collect from all three of the girls but the third one just went broody (like last week). That's three for three.

If she is still trying to set in 7-10 days she may get the eggs I have collected. But then again I want to mark the chicks as they hatch in the bator so I know the quality of babies and who they are from. Maybe she'll get the chicks after they hatch I've done that before too. Plus if I get a lot of eggs total to hatch we also have a buff orp feed store girl that is going broody too!

LaynaDon are you buying ducks or hatching them or buying started/sexed ducks? Did you pick a breed yet?

I got 3 adult Muscovies yesterday evening. They are gorgeous! Like klj491 said, I posted pics on the duck board last night. I'm uploading more to the computer right now. We are going to buy them a kiddy pool today. They are pretty tame, but still nervous around us. I think they will settle in nicely. They already don't mind the chickens.

When my Orp is breeding age, can I borrow one of your girls to train her to become broody? I really hope she sets when she's older.

 

[cowchick11]

I got 3 adult Muscovies yesterday evening. They are gorgeous! Like klj491 said, I posted pics on the duck board last night. I'm uploading more to the computer right now. We are going to buy them a kiddy pool today. They are pretty tame, but still nervous around us. I think they will settle in nicely. They already don't mind the chickens.

When my Orp is breeding age, can I borrow one of your girls to train her to become broody? I really hope she sets when she's older.

Three

I thought that you could only get two? Be careful with the kiddy pool. We have had ducks drown (yes, it is true) in a kiddy pool because the rocks that were piled up so they could get out fell down. The ducks swim and swim until they are exhausted and then they give up and drown.

Make sure you have something solid for them to climb out on. Also, did you know that Muscovies are not really ducks?

They are swans!

So, now you can tell your dad you want ducks too!

Hope that doesn't put your dad over the edge!
Ha, ha an orp job training exchange! I love it!

 

[LaynaDon95]

Three

I thought that you could only get two? Be careful with the kiddy pool. We have had ducks drown (yes, it is true) in a kiddy pool because the rocks that were piled up so they could get out fell down. The ducks swim and swim until they are exhausted and then they give up and drown.

Make sure you have something solid for them to climb out on. Also, did you know that Muscovies are not really ducks?

They are swans!

So, now you can tell your dad you want ducks too!

Hope that doesn't put your dad over the edge!
Ha, ha an orp job training exchange! I love it

I sweet talked my daddy. No, really I just explained that it would be less stressful for the hen(s) if the drake had more than one woman to... force himself upon.
As far as the kitty pool goes, I'll probably have a concrete block or something inside the pool as well as outside. When I was babysitting the ducklings last week I put a brick in the bathtub for them to stand on when they got tired. It worked really well.
I knew that muscovies weren't technically ducks, but I didn't knew that they were considered swans... "So Dad, can I have ducks now?" I can't see that going over well. =P

 

[cowchick11]

Don't think he would go for getting ducks next huh? I tried!

I'm getting close to setting my last batch of eggs for awhile. The room I hatch in already has afternoon variability so I'll have to have the fam watch that when I'm away at work. I already have a doz. of my eggs to put in on Friday so I'll collect until probably Sat. My friend collected 11 Serama eggs and I just remembered on the way home that they have a shorter incubation time and are super small drat! I don't have quail rails so will have to make something up myself to start with. I will try to put them in one day later and hope they don't go any earlier than 19 days. That way they will be at 19 when mine are at day 20 (for the most part). Anyway I'll set everything up tomorrow night and get the stuff all running then the first eggs go in on Friday night and the rest on Sat. I can't let the Seramas age much longer than that, I'll max out at about 11 days!

 

[cowchick11]

I now have in the incubator 18 of my Black Orp eggs and 10 Serama eggs that I'm setting for a friend. I'm a little worried about the seramas hatching early but I did set them about 24 hours after the rest. Hopefully that will put them closer to the same lockdown time/day.
Here are some photos of my last hatch(some home farm crosses, black Orps, and Lavendar project Orps); they are 4 weeks old and my Speckled Sussex that I ordered; they are 5 weeks old. The four week olds are still in the ugly stage

Unfortunatly I believe there are quite a few roosters in the bunch. Oh well, I'll save one or two for show and breeding and the rest will be sold or go in the freezer.

 

[LaynaDon95]

OMG look at those lavender Orps! They are going to be gorgeous! I'm so sorry I haven't been on. I'm not ignoring you, I promise! I've been ridiculously busy lately. End of school things, new animals, conferences, the works.

Any free time had been spent trying to find our last kitten a home, replying to emails, and trying to catch up on sleep. ~_~ I'm exhausted. Anyways, your chicks look great! How is everything going at y'alls houses? I, obviously have had a lot of things going on.
I have a broody muscovy sitting on 10 (I think) eggs.
My beautiful hatchery chicks are growing nicely with no medicated feed.
My aunt and grandma "stole" 2 abandoned mallard ducklings from a hotel pool. =P
My 9-10 month old bantam stopped laying as soon as I was about to start gathering her eggs to hatch. -_-
I have way too many roosters and they still aren't big enough to harvest.
I had a chicken I was pretty sure was going to die. She was so lethargic she couldn't even hold her own head up. I was away from home and my mom called me to tell me about her. They put her in a tractor and gave her electrolytes and kefir and she perked right back up. Apparently she was getting bullied away from the food so much that she couldn't get enough to stay healthy. I started keeping their feeders available to them full time again. :\ She is the smallest free-ranging chicken we have, and I've watched them peck her away from the feeders, so there's that.
We only have 4 kittens here right now, with 2 more going home this weekend. We're keeping 1 and 1 is still "homeless". As it turns out, I was right. =P We have 3 boys and 3 girls. It was perfecly split! The 2 black kittens are boys. The 2 stripey kittens are girls. The ginger is a boy, and the calico is a girl. I couldn't believe how perfect it was.

So now you know what's going on over here. I'm sorry I abandoned you guys. =P
I hope everything's going well over there. Have a good week.