"Hi!" to all from sunny Las Vegas!
I've been lurking for several months, but got SO inspired by all the information and enthusiasm that I have renovated my ancient incubator (a 15+ y.o. Miller...No model number, even!) from underneath Mom's house in storage. I've redubbed it "the rat bator" because it was filthy and the styrofoam had the teeth marks of gnawing rodents. Ewww. Put in a couple of new windows as the old ones were solid yellow with age, sprang for a new wafer, thoroughly disinfected it and it is holding the temps nicely with a batch of 4-day old Trader Joe's eggs (such a zany idea...LOVE it) to see if it flies. Thank you to all you folks for enticing me back into the poultry game....truly an obsession of mine and I'm glad to learn I'm not the only one crazy for chickens. I adore hatching.
History: I'm not new to chickens and used to try to convince my folks as a kid that our suburban S.F. Bay Area lot was big enough for chickens. Eyeballs would roll followed by "Why can't you play golf and tennis like all the other kids at school?" Nope. I am a country girl at heart and wished there were a local 4-H in the city. At the time the zoning ordinances were anti-poultry (they've since allowed scant numbers of hens...folks still not interested), so had to wait until I had a place of my own in the country of the CA foothills to finally indulge in my passion. Had an incubator and a Brower brooder which enabled a chicken co-op as it were for all my chicken hobby friends and locals to order up chicks and have them feather out under my care for their coops (a good way to ensure visitors for the weekend in the boonies!). My incubator was used primarily for goose and duck eggs (hatchlings were bartered regularly at the feed store) as we had a varmint skunk and raccoon problem at the farm, although I did hatch a batch or two of chicken eggs before an unexpected divorce forced the retirement of my poultry aspirations upon the sale of the ranch. Learned a lot hands-on about incubation, meat bird production, diet, etc.
Since my recent marriage I've been chillin' in Las Vegas....but want to move someday soon to a more farm-friendly less-corrupt location. Husby is eager to give the country thing a try. And with a new granddaughter, me thinks a pony will probably join the future menagerie. At present, I'm operating at an animal deficit of just two dogs and a bator full o' eggs..... Quite a difference from 25 horses (stud farm/animal husbandry major), 50+ chickens, 30 goats, 8 geese and a sustainable veggie garden and orchard. Miss the critter company, but I do enjoy the sleeping in! Hobbies down here in the desert include staying out of the sun and cooking up a storm. Wow, I do miss those fresh eggs!
My favorite chickens: Cinnamon Queens. I had a steady and prolific layer flock of six friendly hens who had the smart sense to stay out of the garden and really kept the fly numbers down on the horse ranch when allowed to free range. Raised quite a few meat birds and turkeys...the latter provided my Christmas gift money for many a year.
That's about it. I'm VERY happy to join this flock of like-minded chicken-lovin' peeps!
I've been lurking for several months, but got SO inspired by all the information and enthusiasm that I have renovated my ancient incubator (a 15+ y.o. Miller...No model number, even!) from underneath Mom's house in storage. I've redubbed it "the rat bator" because it was filthy and the styrofoam had the teeth marks of gnawing rodents. Ewww. Put in a couple of new windows as the old ones were solid yellow with age, sprang for a new wafer, thoroughly disinfected it and it is holding the temps nicely with a batch of 4-day old Trader Joe's eggs (such a zany idea...LOVE it) to see if it flies. Thank you to all you folks for enticing me back into the poultry game....truly an obsession of mine and I'm glad to learn I'm not the only one crazy for chickens. I adore hatching.
History: I'm not new to chickens and used to try to convince my folks as a kid that our suburban S.F. Bay Area lot was big enough for chickens. Eyeballs would roll followed by "Why can't you play golf and tennis like all the other kids at school?" Nope. I am a country girl at heart and wished there were a local 4-H in the city. At the time the zoning ordinances were anti-poultry (they've since allowed scant numbers of hens...folks still not interested), so had to wait until I had a place of my own in the country of the CA foothills to finally indulge in my passion. Had an incubator and a Brower brooder which enabled a chicken co-op as it were for all my chicken hobby friends and locals to order up chicks and have them feather out under my care for their coops (a good way to ensure visitors for the weekend in the boonies!). My incubator was used primarily for goose and duck eggs (hatchlings were bartered regularly at the feed store) as we had a varmint skunk and raccoon problem at the farm, although I did hatch a batch or two of chicken eggs before an unexpected divorce forced the retirement of my poultry aspirations upon the sale of the ranch. Learned a lot hands-on about incubation, meat bird production, diet, etc.
Since my recent marriage I've been chillin' in Las Vegas....but want to move someday soon to a more farm-friendly less-corrupt location. Husby is eager to give the country thing a try. And with a new granddaughter, me thinks a pony will probably join the future menagerie. At present, I'm operating at an animal deficit of just two dogs and a bator full o' eggs..... Quite a difference from 25 horses (stud farm/animal husbandry major), 50+ chickens, 30 goats, 8 geese and a sustainable veggie garden and orchard. Miss the critter company, but I do enjoy the sleeping in! Hobbies down here in the desert include staying out of the sun and cooking up a storm. Wow, I do miss those fresh eggs!
My favorite chickens: Cinnamon Queens. I had a steady and prolific layer flock of six friendly hens who had the smart sense to stay out of the garden and really kept the fly numbers down on the horse ranch when allowed to free range. Raised quite a few meat birds and turkeys...the latter provided my Christmas gift money for many a year.
That's about it. I'm VERY happy to join this flock of like-minded chicken-lovin' peeps!
