Silkie saga

[TwoCrows]

The incubators have both been used only once 2 years ago and were cleaned before I set the eggs, so hopefully no patient 0's hatching!

Juravenator is still broody, I keep pondering setting the big dog kennel in the coop and seeing if I can move her without breaking her. Then I could put an egg or two from the incubator under her. I can't leave her were she is, she's in a roll away nesting box in a flock of egg eaters if she took one or two eggs I'd have a nice spot for the Accurite to ride around full time in the incubator.

Oh goodness, we can't have egg eaters! Well you might give it a try just to see how it goes. You never know till you try!

 

[2ndTink]

I have never been able to figure out how nature does it, I guess we humans aren't supposed to be messing with mother nature.

Ultimately, if you have a broody that can hatch your eggs, chicks will grow up healthier and its way easier on you as well. If you are using a pre owned incubator, keep in mind that over time they come out of calibration. So always use secondary temp/humidity guages inside the machine as you are doing now. And ALWAYS fumigate the machine between hatches so you aren't growing bacteria from the last hatch. All the residue gunk from hatching becomes pathogenic.

Oh, and ain't God amazing? Nature is just incredible.

 

[2ndTink]

Oh goodness, we can't have egg eaters! Well you might give it a try just to see how it goes. You never know till you try!

Yeah, my fault, I had two metal trash bins in their coop with feed, and I didn't know they were flying on top to lay their eggs, then they would roll off and smash on the floor. I think this happened for a few days before I figured out what was happening and removed the bins. But, it was too late. They have made me so mad, for awhile I was getting 1, maybe 2 eggs a day, some times none. I finally bought a roll away nesting box, they still eat some but at least I feel I'm getting enough eggs to justify keeping them. They're a "closed" flock to me, I can't add new pullets to them to have them pick up bad habits, and I can't move what coop they are in because they require the roll away box. But, with all that, they are my pretty chickens who bring me joy, so we carry on with our workarounds in place.

If I can get Juravenator settled into a box in the coop with my young pullets, that should work.

 

[TwoCrows]

Yeah, my fault, I had two metal trash bins in their coop with feed, and I didn't know they were flying on top to lay their eggs, then they would roll off and smash on the floor. I think this happened for a few days before I figured out what was happening and removed the bins. But, it was too late. They have made me so mad, for awhile I was getting 1, maybe 2 eggs a day, some times none. I finally bought a roll away nesting box, they still eat some but at least I feel I'm getting enough eggs to justify keeping them. They're a "closed" flock to me, I can't add new pullets to them to have them pick up bad habits, and I can't move what coop they are in because they require the roll away box. But, with all that, they are my pretty chickens who bring me joy, so we carry on with our workarounds in place.

If I can get Juravenator settled into a box in the coop with my young pullets, that should work.

Try this... My flock started egg eating years ago because 1 young pullet couldn't put a shell on for the life of her. I installed curtains to make the boxes dark, it stopped others from cruising for eggs...nothing to see here! Hen slips in, lays her egg, it's dim inside, she doesn't bother it, others don't see it either. BUT you must collect eggs often at first and you need ceramic eggs in the boxes as well. They will play with eggs at first and ceramic eggs will teach them that eggs are impenetrable. I use cheap kitchen curtains, with a industrial staple gun, I stapled them to the top, a small slit in the middle for hens to slip into. Took a couple of weeks and egg eating was cured for good. Make sure to collect eggs often. I have suggested this method out in the forums to many people with egg eaters and this has helped nearly all of them!

 

[2ndTink]

Try this... My flock started egg eating years ago because 1 young pullet couldn't put a shell on for the life of her. I installed curtains to make the boxes dark, it stopped others from cruising for eggs...nothing to see here! Hen slips in, lays her egg, it's dim inside, she doesn't bother it, others don't see it either. BUT you must collect eggs often at first and you need ceramic eggs in the boxes as well. They will play with eggs at first and ceramic eggs will teach them that eggs are impenetrable. I use cheap kitchen curtains, with a industrial staple gun, I stapled them to the top, a small slit in the middle for hens to slip into. Took a couple of weeks and egg eating was cured for good. Make sure to collect eggs often. I have suggested this method out in the forums to many people with egg eaters and this has helped nearly all of them!

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Ooh, I have the perfect two hole nesting box to do that with! I could pop Juravenator in one side and let her test run some un-fertile eggs. I do have one hen who will lay off the roosting bar, any tricks for that?

 

[TwoCrows]

Ooh, I have the perfect two hole nesting box to do that with! I could pop Juravenator in one side and let her test run some un-fertile eggs. I do have one hen who will lay off the roosting bar, any tricks for that?

The roost bar laying is a tough one. I had a barred rock that did that a LOT. Fortunately she usually laid them overnight and I was able to clean it up first thing in the morning. If it's a young bird laying off the roost, usually they outgrow this. If it's an older bird, sometimes they have something wrong with their "plumbing" or they may be an internal layer. There isn't much you can do about roost bar laying.

Good luck with the two hole nest box experiment, it just might work with curtains!

 

[2ndTink]

The roost bar laying is a tough one. I had a barred rock that did that a LOT. Fortunately she usually laid them overnight and I was able to clean it up first thing in the morning. If it's a young bird laying off the roost, usually they outgrow this. If it's an older bird, sometimes they have something wrong with their "plumbing" or they may be an internal layer. There isn't much you can do about roost bar laying.

Good luck with the two hole nest box experiment, it just might work with curtains!

So, I put a curtain on the one side of the nesting box and blocked the other one for now. I tried to relocate Juravenator with two of her nicely warmed eggs and blocked her in until I heard her shuffle the eggs and settle down, it was maybe 1 minute. Then I crept out of the coop, it was almost dark out, so I thought I'd gotten off easy. Nope, she popped back out within 30 seconds of me closing the door and went back into the rollaway box. I had the great idea of putting the rollaway box on top of the wooden nesting boxes. That ticked her off so she just hopped up on a roosting bar. I even explained to her that if she'd just settle on those eggs for a few days I'd give her eggs that she could hatch chicks from. She wanted nothing to do with it. So if this breaks her from being broody, should I have just threatened to give her real eggs sooner? I mean, she's the reason I got chicks this year anyway, because she was supposed to raise them for me.

 

[2ndTink]

The roost bar laying is a tough one. I had a barred rock that did that a LOT. Fortunately she usually laid them overnight and I was able to clean it up first thing in the morning. If it's a young bird laying off the roost, usually they outgrow this. If it's an older bird, sometimes they have something wrong with their "plumbing" or they may be an internal layer. There isn't much you can do about roost bar laying.

Good luck with the two hole nest box experiment, it just might work with curtains!

Oh, and the bird laying off the roost is 2 years old and has been doing it for a good while. I might try to do all breeder chickens next instead of hatchery stock. Now that I have silkies, I should be able to have them hatch out some local breeder or even shipped eggs for me next year and then I can see if I like the health and performance of those better than hatchery.

I just have to find "pretty" chickens that also lay well so my hubby can enjoy watching them and not just have "ugly and plain" chickens like RIRs in the yard. Shucks, I'll just have to try a bunch of different breeds to find his favorites

 

[TwoCrows]

Oh, and the bird laying off the roost is 2 years old and has been doing it for a good while. I might try to do all breeder chickens next instead of hatchery stock. Now that I have silkies, I should be able to have them hatch out some local breeder or even shipped eggs for me next year and then I can see if I like the health and performance of those better than hatchery.

I just have to find "pretty" chickens that also lay well so my hubby can enjoy watching them and not just have "ugly and plain" chickens like RIRs in the yard. Shucks, I'll just have to try a bunch of different breeds to find his favorites

Yes, hatchery birds ARE boring! One day I'm going to start keeping Heritage breeds, maybe Buckeyes or Dominiques. They are by far more healthy, less genetic defects and prettier!

 

[2ndTink]

I traced 6 air cells yesterday, when I did the 3rd one I saw something weird, half "uh-oh'd" then realized it was the embryo! So three of the eggs I did definitely had development, yay!!! Two I couldn't see anything, and it was like the yolk wasn't moving, and the 6th one was iffy. There might have been something there, maybe. This morning the incubator is at 99.5 based on the human thermometer, and had dried out the water I had added. I'll need to figure out the humidity part now, it gets a little blanket at night to keep the temp steady, I might need to adjust the slider door at night when our interior humidity drops.

I thought I might have heard a crow other than Fizz Bang this morning. But it was 2 times with no noise from The Fizz, and he's very talkative, so maybe it was him. When I got up and checked outside, everyone was out in their runs but only Fizz Bang was crowing.