She said/He said Who's right? Who's wrong? No one!

[kwhites634]

This hurricane might not be making landfall but it sure is stirring up some wind and rain. I just pray all my birds make it through this. The wind is steady picking up more speed every hour. This weekend is going to be crazy!! Anybody up for an online BYC hurricane party? Lol

We're not that far away, as the hurricane flies, but we haven't seen anywhere near that kind of wind here. Been raining off & on all day; enough to get you wet, but nothing serious. Weird!

 

[meganhundley]

I know the feeling... I set 6 mutt eggs from my own birds...candled day 7, tossed one clear...candled again day 14...light brown shells; never saw anything but air cells & a dark mass in any egg throughout the entire 3 weeks...no veins, no movement, nada. Having no idea what to expect, I locked down day 19, removing the turner & upping the humidity, & waited. Hatched 3, 1 DIS, 1 never developed.

Had never hatched chicken eggs b4, but I had nothing to lose except time & a little electricity, and it was a valuable learning experience. Now I've got to figure out how to get 3 growing chicks out of my basement & into an outside coop/run separate from the grownups b4 the weather gets too nasty. Looks like dog crate time.

Yea, I have to figure out how to get these 2 little Welsummer chicks outside in a couple more weeks. Looking forward to no more peeping in my bedroom at night but not looking forward to worrying about them outside.

 

[meganhundley]

We're not that far away, as the hurricane flies, but we haven't seen anywhere near that kind of wind here. Been raining off & on all day; enough to get you wet, but nothing serious. Weird!

It's crazy here. I'm seriously worried about these guys. I think I might have to put them in the garage before tomorrow. I was hoping they could make it til tomorrow so I could set something up in there to contain them but it looks like I won't be able to wait that long.

 

[kwhites634]

It's crazy here. I'm seriously worried about these guys. I think I might have to put them in the garage before tomorrow. I was hoping they could make it til tomorrow so I could set something up in there to contain them but it looks like I won't be able to wait that long.

It's about their bedtime anyway; stick them in a large dog crate or two & stash them in the garage; they'll be fine.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Day 21 starts tonight on my duck eggs. Still have 4 kickers! I cant wait for them to hatch!

I am thinking about asking my oldest daughters science teacher if they want to hatch out some eggs, she loves ducks and has a stuffed mallard in the class room.

Cute story: When our kids were small, in the early to mid-70s, we were eating supper one evening, and #1 wife had a dish of of sweet pickles on the table...she's pretty good at canning. I was always one to mess with the kids, so the following exchange took place:

Me to wife: "Where'd the pickles come from; I don't remember you planting any pickles".
Daughter: "Oh, Daddy, you don't plant pickles!"
Me: "Well, where do they come from then?"
Daughter: "The store".

LOL That's funny. My parents canned a lot when I was young. We had a huge garden plus raspberry and rhubarb patches.

 

[lazy gardener]

Hey y'all, I've stayed away too long, y'all can all smack me if you want, lol. So I couldn't stand it any longer and I candled today, it's day 4, and I saw my 1st heartbeat ever today!! And the veining is insane on some of these eggs already. All but 5 are showing signs of development and those 5 I think are just slow starters, the shells are kind of hard to see through on some of them but I think some of those 5 I could see veining but it was very very faintly so I'm calling them questionable for right now. So as of now I have 24 of 29 developing very nicely so far.

Isn't that just the coolest thing?! That's why I start candling early, sometimes as early as day 2! Just to see that glow getting started. I have one gal who lays white eggs, and I just LOVE candling her eggs! I think I may keep a white egg layer in the flock all the time, for that very reason!

You too? I'm in VA pretty close to the coast, I'm hoping it'll veer away and head north but only time will tell. We live in a double wide so if it hits us hard some stuffs going to get messed up around here. My poor chickens are getting soaked so I'm trying to do the same thing your doing and get them all inside the garage for the weekend and hope they don't kill each other. I guess I'd rather them peck at each other a bit instead of dieing in a hurricane. And I have 29 eggs set and I'm scared to death the power is going to get knocked out and they'll all quit on me. We're trying to find a generator before Sunday incase it does go out but everybody has bought them all up from Walmart and most of the local stores so we've been looking on Craigslist for 1 close by. It hard to find 1 cheap enough that we can afford and that hasn't been bought already.

Pick up a power converter at walmart. They are about $29 for 400 W as I recall. Good insurance policy.

Hi..... What you are seeing is chicken behaviour sometimes at its worst. You say that the hens are molting which means that the new feathers are blood rich at the base. Just the slightest amount of blood will cause them to peck. Chickens are omnivores afterall.
I have had this occur on occasion and there are several things you can do. First try and remove the birds being pecked and treat the wound. Here I use Stockholm tar. It also prevents further pecking because it tastes disgusting. You could use iodine or something.
During the molt I supplement my birds with blood and bone meal direct from a processing plant. The hens love it and it supplements their required protein intake.
Hope this helpshelps.

Welcome to BYC! Lots of good chooks down under!!

 

[meganhundley]

Isn't that just the coolest thing?!  That's why I start candling early, sometimes as early as day 2!  Just to see that glow getting started.  I have one gal who lays white eggs, and I just LOVE candling her eggs!  I think I may keep a white egg layer in the flock all the time, for that very reason!  

Pick up a power converter at walmart.  They are about $29 for 400 W as I recall.  Good insurance policy.

Welcome to BYC!  Lots of good chooks down under!!

Yes I'm loving these light colored eggs!! You can see everything so clearly! I never really wanted any white egg layers but now that I'm candling them I really like them, lol. When I first saw the heartbeat I thought that little tiny embryo was moving already til I watched it close for second! I kind of wish I hadn't seen it cause now I want to candle them all the time, lol.

 

[meganhundley]

It's about their bedtime anyway; stick them in a large dog crate or two & stash them in the garage; they'll be fine.

Just like that the wind has died way down. It'll gust every now and then but it's not nearly as bad as it was. Now it's just like a bad thunderstorm. I think they'll be fine tonight now. They're all inside and somewhat quiet. They were scared poopless earlier when that roof flew off. Poor things. Thank God this thing is heading away from us somewhat.

 

[kwhites634]

Yes I'm loving these light colored eggs!! You can see everything so clearly! I never really wanted any white egg layers but now that I'm candling them I really like them, lol. When I first saw the heartbeat I thought that little tiny embryo was moving already til I watched it close for second! I kind of wish I hadn't seen it cause now I want to candle them all the time, lol.

You get all your feathered friends all tucked in out of harm's way for the night?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Yes I'm loving these light colored eggs!! You can see everything so clearly! I never really wanted any white egg layers but now that I'm candling them I really like them, lol. When I first saw the heartbeat I thought that little tiny embryo was moving already til I watched it close for second! I kind of wish I hadn't seen it cause now I want to candle them all the time, lol.

I do a nightly candle. Granted the smallest hatch I have done so far was the last hatch where I only set 21, and that was my hatch that I set 6 aside to candle every single night to see if there was any negative effect on the eggs. (All 6 developed and hatched healthy as well as 15/16 of the hands offs.) But, I usually check 4 or 5 DIFFERENT eggs each night just to fullfill my addiction and check the air cells. This whole broody affair has really made my hands itch cause I want to see the every night. She's only got three and they are on day 16. I managed to get a good look at them tonight when I candled and they are looking great. Nice movement and growth. Just hoping they hatch alright next week and don't die of cold after.