Should I buy eggs or wait it out?

[Wishing4Wings]

Quote: hehehe! Ron verzon, its the USAF friend. He is a sweet man, we have spoken on the phone several times. If we ever can go out I will let you know way in advance!

Derrrr... I need to get more sleep!

I also need to spend less time reading threads. The Ca - Northern is so busy. Most days 8+ pages and I skim through most of it. Have learned an awful lot from those good people, though.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: hehehe! Ron verzon, its the USAF friend. He is a sweet man, we have spoken on the phone several times. If we ever can go out I will let you know way in advance!

Derrrr... I need to get more sleep!

I also need to spend less time reading threads. The Ca - Northern is so busy. Most days 8+ pages and I skim through most of it. Have learned an awful lot from those good people, though.

I just got caught up on my Indiana thread, its cookin! Glad its taken off, meeting a lot of great people there too. We are all on coop building and chicken hatching frenzies!

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Missing ACW for this broody venture. She was supposed to hold my hand thru this process. Just checked and its been four weeks since she last posted on BYC. But with all my great friends here we will get it done. The broody is my large BO. I also have a smaller BO. She has been glued to the nest since she went broody. I have yet to catch her off of the nest but she has to get up on occasion I'm sure. I swear she looks like a boneless chicken laying there. Flat and spread out over the entire nest box. She is the biggest girl I have. She will probably make a good broody. We shall see. Right now she has at least one egg and a golf ball under her. I stole one of her eggs last night but thought I might be better off leaving her with something to keep her interested until the hatching eggs arrive. I had to reach under her to get the egg and she didn't like it one bit. So I left the other egg and the golf ball. My first try at this but if I understand right I give her the eggs and leave her alone. She will do the rest. Tips, Reminders, Advice, all are welcome. Should be a lot of fun. I will post pictures along the way as well as updates. If I end up with another ROGER I am officially out of the chicken business and will do my best to buy a KFC franchise so when I serve chickens it will be appreciated and nobody will poop on me

So strange that you should mention ACW. I was thinking of her yesterday and was going to ask if any of you have had contact with her, but saw that she hadn't been on. Afraid I'll be a poor substitute, but will try to share the bits that I remember from childhood and what I have learned recently, in addition to what Cheeka said, which was good stuff. Flat and spread out is good, as is grumpy and protective. Don't try to move her to a different location, unless you absolutely have to, until after the chicks hatch. Sometimes it breaks the broodiness. It's fine if the eggs are uncovered for a while each day. They are starting to make incubators with a cool down cycle to better mimic nature. After she's been sitting for a while, if she ejects an egg from the nest, it's probably no good. Any that smell should be removed because if a bad eggs breaks, there is a greater risk for bacterial infection of the developing eggs. If she messes in the nest (very unlikely) you should try to clean up for the same reason. Also, don't wash the eggs before setting to keep the protective coating on.

Can't think of anything else for the pre-chick stage. The hen (does she have a name?) will do all the temp and humidity control and turning. Maybe you want to mark the different eggs so you can know which, if any, don't develop. Sounds like it has begun..... chicken math. Have you started expansion plans?

Also, I know you're in Kentucky and all, but how about a Popeye's instead of KFC? Is that sacrilegious?

(I like their red beans and rice!)

 

[Wishing4Wings]

I guess I need to separate them from the rest of the flocker's....so they don't eat the chicks? I can see somebody getting their neck wrung

You may not need to. We only kept the chicks & mama penned for a couple of weeks until some wing feathers came in. For some reason one particular dog loved to snack on fuzzy chicks, but once they got feathers, he lost interest. None of the chickens ever bothered the babies, but ours were free range. Mama hens can be quite ferocious, but without a rooster to keep and even keel, you may have trouble. You can set up a little chick safety zone in the main coop. Good to keep their chick starter in there too. Layer feed can have too much calcium.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Cheeka, so sorry to hear about the white EE getting scalped.

From what I've heard, they heal really well if it's kept clean, and even the feathers grow back. Those young roosters have no manners. Teenagers!

Mylee is amazing. She is at that sponge age. Soaking up everything she can! I sure hope you can post your pics soon. Such a cutie.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Haha! Enough blabbing from me for one day!

Night all!

 

[cheeka]

ya OK, you shouldn't have to separate her unless the others are badgering her... but then you would want to move her at night. my little chick is almost big enough to be moved into the dome. then I can take those mannerless teenage roosters and put them in the portable run... hope they don't beat each other up too badly, but it's the way it's gonna be til I can build something else... for the most part, they get along fine, it only gets ugly when they are all trying to mate with the same hen. I sure do hope my white girl heals quickly! she looks awful with a flat head... she had such luscious feathers... i'm on my way out to check on her, feed them, and head out to work, just waiting for Mylee to get her shoes on!

 

[cheeka]

another spectacular day, and not just weather-wise! it's in the 60's, light breeze, sunny... the mail was on time, and light volume-wise, I was on the road by 9:30, done by 1:45! my record time there is 1:30, and that was kind of a fluke, some of our mail had gone to the wrong office. anyway, I zipped home, Mylee was outside running around, so happy to see me as she can only visit the birds from the outside when I'm not home. I moved the injured white gal in with Peach and the chick. Peach was none too happy, but she's leaving Ms. White alone. I need names for these birds, I asked Mylee to name them, she's still thinking about it I guess...lol

sooooooooo... I go on the search for eggs. first, there is Peach's perfect little blue egg... and 5 in the dark corner of the dome. when I get into the sunshine, there is something very unusual. I have one cream egg, Barred Rock... and what...?... wait... Two blue eggs and Two green eggs???

I HAVE NEW LAYERS! 17 weeks old! I have no idea who, maybe I have 4 new layers, or 3 or 2... Isis lays a much larger egg, I think I have 2 new blue egg layers, and 1 new green egg layer, the other green egg looks a lot like Blu's egg... but I don't know, either way

this is just so cool!

 

[cheeka]

ok, i have to reload those pics in my 'puter cuz those new one's are the only ones that won't upload, but I had to share this, wonder if the moderators will take it away, or ding me for the naughty word... hope not... going back outside to race Mylee around the yard! I'm gonna sleep like a rock tonight! love it

 

[animallover505]

Decaturville, Tn. AL. He says they are Heritage RIR and Heritage Delawares. He also says he is certified.

Cool! He and I are fairly close, then! He's about a county up and 3 over from me