Stella's Social Club

[mlm Mike]

Wonderful news, speckled hen!

 

[ronott1]

The Hatching Delawares let me sleep until about 2:30. That was very nice of them! I was able to snooze between louder chirps.

Two were out this morning and I see a lot of pips. The two chicks are perfect looking and will be so cute when they fluff up.

 

[mlm Mike]

That's great, ronnot1!

 

[speckledhen]

Delawares are the classic little yellow chick. Amazing how many folks I talk to who think all chicks start out yellow.

 

[ronott1]

Delawares are the classic little yellow chick. Amazing how many folks I talk to who think all chicks start out yellow.

White American Bresse are like that too.

The Leghorns from Trader Joes are very yellow also.

Three have hatched now. They are in baskets so it is hard to see. One group(grouped by hen)of 4 has one hatched, one zipping and two with a pip. I should have a bunch hatched by the time I get off of work.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote: Good luck with your hatch Jason!

I have two pips!

Perfect timing. I am really excited to see @kathyinmo s line of Dels hatch!

YAY! Are you gonna process them yourself?
I need to get my order in. My sister and I talked and we decided to butcher 100 of them. 50 for each of us. That is really only like one chicken per week. We do eat at least that much chicken. Besides that, my kids tend to go shopping in my freezer, too.

Yep, we'll do them ourselves. If it goes well (and I have enough freezer space) I'll do another batch in the fall.

All four chicks hatched. One black, two blues and one Delaware colored yellow chick. And that last one had the porcelain D'Anver first timer mama that I was concerned might kill it as it hatched, she was so hostile to the other chicks running around, but she's doing fine. The other first timer is also happy to be a mama. Her chick is out of my splash Rock hen, Gloria Jean, and it's one of the blues. Beautiful babies! Will have to transfer all the moms to the floor later today and then the chaos will begin, I guess, with them stealing each other's babies, or thunking them on the heads, one or the other. Some are famous for wanting them all for themselves and one seasoned mama, Carly, seems to not like the yellow chicks for some reason. Wish I could ask her why, LOL. Thankfully, hers are the blue and black.

Congrats! Glad the mama's are doing well so far. How odd that one broody doesn't like yellow chicks.

The Hatching Delawares let me sleep until about 2:30. That was very nice of them! I was able to snooze between louder chirps.

Two were out this morning and I see a lot of pips. The two chicks are perfect looking and will be so cute when they fluff up.

Why is it that the loud mouths always hatch first?

 

[Happy Chooks]

Mary - what are friends for. Especially friends that love talking chicken. DH gets a glassy eye look whenever I try to talk to him about chickens.

 

[speckledhen]

Here are some chick pics for you, but I could only photograph one from today's hatch. The first pics are Gloria Jean's baby, my splash Rock hen, hatched by Sissy-the chick was most likely sired by the male in my avatar since he's claimed Gloria Jean for his own. Sissy is one of my year old hens. She did great for a first timer.




The hen in the background is Carly, my 3 year old experienced mama, who doesn't like yellow chicks.


The 11 day old chicks, being raised by Penny and Mina. Penny is a chick stealer. She's already tried to wedge between Sissy and Carly to take the new ones and she and Carly got into a fight that I had to stop before they stomped on the new babies. Penny would take any chicks from anybody, same with Aimee, who just became broody.







Guinevere, one of the year old girls. Isn't she adorable? She's very sweet, too. All the year old pullets are Aimee's daughters. She throws mostly girls.



Aubrey and his son, Spike. Spike is Mina's son with Aubrey. Genetics is an interesting subject in this color variety to me. Spike, though visually mille fleur, is 3/4 porcelain, since Mina is 1/2 porcelain herself, and of course, you see Aubrey is pure porcelain. Spike is my little buddy and adores chicks. Aubrey is a good daddy, but has a more D'Anver-like male temperament, as in, "DON'T TOUCH ME!"



And, Aimee, broody for about the 5th time now. She's raised babies successfully every other time, such a great mom.

 

[The Sheriff]

All the baby chick talk is killing me, let alone the pictures! Congrats everyone! Glad the new mama is doing a good job. I have found that multiple mamas in the same coop works ok. They all seem to know who mama is. The only problem here was when they could slip under the fence and go next door. That mama didn't want them and they couldn't figure out how to get back. We put the erosion wattles down and that seemed to stop the problem of escaping chicks. I haven't had a broody for while so it will be fun to see what happens next time. Even Lukka seems to be enjoying the single life! Who woulda' thunk it?

Rain and more rain here. I haven't even fed the animals this morning because I am waiting for a rain break. Not for me, but for the feed I put out. Donkeys and goats don't like to get wet going to the feeder.

Then I'll start my hour + drive to my doctor's office and think about the BIG chicken picture.

Yesterday I was shooting pictures of eggs for a blog post. I have my room set up pretty nice. The desk works great with the lower area. I bought an ironing pad and I can iron the linens I use for the food shots without going up stairs. Kathy I am using the cute black chicken purse you gave me to hold the cords and gear to keep them off the floor. I only have one cord to plug in now! I attached a small easel to the back of the desk to hold the foam core boards I use for backdrops. That is working really well. I used to use all kinds of things to prop them up and they still fell on the food. In this shot I have my camera on a tripod, a large white reflector, a light box over my speed light, and a Lowell light turned around toward the window. I was shooting early in the morning and this is the dark side of the house. I don't need any additional lighting later in the day!







Oops jack just started braying. Gotta go! Stay warm and dry all!

 

[The Sheriff]

Yikes I got back in just before a huge downpour! I have good chore boots but I slip and slide anyway, especially in the donkey area. I fed them in their shelter so I had to trudge through the mud. Luckily the paddock fencing we added last Spring gives me something to hold onto, unless one hand is securing a flake of hay to my body and the other carry a bucket of oats. All bets are off on the way down but I can hold on on the trip back up. It is all of about 14 feet but still....

If I were to fall and break a hip I would probably lay there till dinnertime.