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

[Ravynscroft]

I think i must of phrased myself badly. I mean the eggs will be hatching 5 days after she went broody, not that it will be 5 days from first hatch to last

Ah... that should be fine too... I gave my Am broody hen eggs that had internally pipped a few days after she went broody... hatched them out and took care of them fine... once they hear the peeping, their instincts usually kick in fine...

 

[frmboyinthecity]

And yet another today.  Even darker than the first two.  I asked the hens who laid it but they didn't answer.  It was in a nest box, though, so she should be easy to spot.  I just need to find out what time she lays and watch for her.

That is such a great looking egg!

 

[WalnutHill]

That is such a great looking egg!

Thanks. I have high hopes for the rest of the youngsters when they start laying. It's been a long dry spell with only two green egg layers in the flock.

 

[Ravynscroft]

They are doing good. Haven't lost any in a few weeks. Not laying any eggs though......slackers. I felt so embarrassed the other day when I had to buy eggs at the grocery

I mean really, I've got over 100 chickens! That would be like a dairy farmer with 50 head of Holstein cows buying milk:/

Well, I'm glad they're doing well... I commiserate with you on the slackers... haven't seen a Marans or Legbar egg in over a week... get an egg *maybe* once every other day from the other pens...
The Calls I got from mini are outlaying all my flocks! And it looks like a massacre out there each day... have to count beaks just to make sure, but it'sjust their awful molt... :/

Agreed, type is the first criteria.  I do need the color diversity, though, since I am still working on improving my Narragansetts and Golden Narragansetts and APA standard weight hens with great conformation are hard to find.  

I sooo cannot wait til Spring... poults!!!

Well the birds are mad at me. I had three cockerels and a bunch of silkies that refused to sleep in the coop - the silkies will get their own coop come spring but for this winter they need to sleep with everyone else. And the two cockerels were sleeping right on my back deck, so the crowing was very loud during the night and in the morning.

So I had to lock everyone in the coop. I was trying just moving them at night but it wasn't working. No one is happy about it and I feel bad. Well, I take that back - the cemanis are happy about it because they get to have supervised free range time now that there aren't other roosters in the yard that might mate the hens.

Anyway, everyone has to be locked up for the next three days at least to convince everyone that they need to be sleeping in the coop. They are not pleased, but what can you do?

Ugh, I hate the gotta move them and get them adjusted to change bit... they're a right PITA, but not as bad as ducks, thankfully...

 

[chicapee]

Talk to a plumber about installing a water conditioning system.

Those are pretty expensive. We do our own plumbing. We may have to put in a second tank and aerate the water and add an ozonator.

 

[chicapee]

Mother in law had water like that. She used one of those Brita filter pitchers and we got her one to install on the kitchen sink faucet, for drinking and washing dishes, etc. Doesn't help for showers though. Good luck!

We have a filter at the kitchen sink for drinking water and in the fridge.

 

[chicapee]

two ways to fix that . one an in line pressure regulator or  two, turn the pressure down at the pump .all the blue tank does is to delay the pump from starting when you turn on the tap .depending on the size five gallon ten gallon so on and so on the bigger the tank the longer the delay . well pumps are set to come at 40 psi and turn off at 60 psi . which means when your pump stops running you should have 60 pounds per square inch of pressure in your water system . to test this you can buy a testing gage that hooks up like a water hose.it will screw on any hose bib .the gage should be at least 100 psi .you can get one at home depot or lowes . To reset the working range of your pump you need to access the pressure control switch . if the pump is a submersible pump meaning it is down in the well. The pressure switch will be on the line going to the blue tank. remove the cover . you will see two springs one tall one short with nuts on top .turning  the nuts clockwise will increase pressure . counter clockwise will decrease pressure . turn each nut the same number of turns . This keeps the 20 PSI on /off . You need to check your pressure before making any adjustment .  the in line pressure regulator  is pre set at the factory most of the time at 40 psi but is adjustable and I believe you can get them preset at different pressures . but are very easy to reset . and not to hard to install. the one you want is a 3/4 inch .I forgot to ask is there a pressure adjustment on the chlorinator?

I am not sure about the chlorinated I will check with Jay in the morning. I will also talk to him about the pressure regulator. I think he he is thinking about adding a second tank and an ozonator, to allow the gas to be released before it enters the house.

 

[chicapee]

I've had well water almost all my life.  We had a brief apartment stint on city water but moved back to wells as soon as we could.

Our old well had a steel casing, and the casing had rusted.  If the house sat empty, even as briefly as a week or so for vacation, the naturally occurring iron eating bacteria in the water will emit sulphur compounds.

What we found worked was to add a pint of bleach to the hot water heater at the inlet, then let sit overnight without running the water.  Drain off a little from the bottom of the tank, then use the water as normal.

We had to replace the well last year this time.  The new well has a PVC casing, and we haven't had rust stains or odors since.

It is affecting both hot and cold water. Sometimes I turn up the thermostat on the tank and that will help a bit with the hot water. The trouble is the iron bacteria is in all the plumbing.

 

[Ravynscroft]

It is affecting both hot and cold water. Sometimes I turn up the thermostat on the tank and that will help a bit with the hot water. The trouble is the iron bacteria is in all the plumbing.

Hey, hon! Have missed ya...

Sorry, I never had to deal with well before... :/

 

[sjturner79]

Well I have turned off the brooder and put the eggs out under the silkie. Hopefully will have baby chicks again on tuesday.
@chickapee you need to replace as much of the cold water plumbing as possible with poly, and any hot water that is not copper with copper. Adding a secondary storage tank for the water to air after commng out of the well makes a huge difference as well, but requires a second pump. If you do use a storage tank you want all pipes after the tank to be poly or copper.