Straub’s search for colored eggs

[Tstraub]

The weather here is much warmer than last week. Gena is still very broody but
Hasn’t settled into any specific nest box. I have been collecting about 3 times a day and she finds and sits on eggs as they get laid.

I put a clutch together for her today. I set only eggs from 2 hens Blue and Wednesday. I chose these two because I like the color and they both have pea combs and almost no wattles. My single comb birds have taken some frost damage and I’m not sure if I want to continue raising single comb birds. The pea combed birds are just so much less work to try to keep healthy in the sub zero temperatures.

Anyway I set the new clutch of eggs in a corner of the coop where I have easy access and moved a camera so it could see it. When I showed the eggs to Gena she didn’t immediately sit on them and instead went outside into the run for her daily take care of momma time. I guess it’s time to let her decide what to do from here.

I added a Bluetooth thermometer under the eggs I’m not sure if it will actually give any useful information since it’s buried deep under the eggs but it might show some sort of temperature rise and fall if she sits on it

 

[2ndTink]

The weather here is much warmer than last week. Gena is still very broody but
Hasn’t settled into any specific nest box. I have been collecting about 3 times a day and she finds and sits on eggs as they get laid.

I put a clutch together for her today. I set only eggs from 2 hens Blue and Wednesday. I chose these two because I like the color and they both have pea combs and almost no wattles. My single comb birds have taken some frost damage and I’m not sure if I want to continue raising single comb birds. The pea combed birds are just so much less work to try to keep healthy in the sub zero temperatures.

Anyway I set the new clutch of eggs in a corner of the coop where I have easy access and moved a camera so it could see it. When I showed the eggs to Gena she didn’t immediately sit on them and instead went outside into the run for her daily take care of momma time. I guess it’s time to let her decide what to do from here.

View attachment 4038038

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I added a Bluetooth thermometer under the eggs I’m not sure if it will actually give any useful information since it’s buried deep under the eggs but it might show some sort of temperature rise and fall if she sits on it
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I like the thermometer idea that's really cool. I saw you put one under her as well, now I'm curious to have my silkie set on a thermometer. I am down to 1 broody but a second one has been storming around like an angry football the last few days and she was in the nesting box this morning so I have a feeling ill have another broody soon. My current broody I need to break.


But, if you need to borrow a broody, I could just send her your way, but she might only cover 4 to 6 of those eggs, she's not very big, but VERY stubborn about being broody. Yay silkies! Lol

 

[Tstraub]

She still hasn’t moved onto the eggs. I moved her and the nest box she was in closer to the pile of eggs hoping she would take the bait but nothing yet. She got up to eat since I disturbed her. Picture attached Black Betty(BCM) on left Jersey Gina on the right. If she doesn’t sit by sunset I’ll just tuck the eggs under her wherever she decides to bed down.

 

[Tstraub]

Well she refused to set where I had planned for her so I moved the eggs to her. I did add one more egg to the clutch because Blue laid a fresh one this afternoon.


Here is a screenshot of the thermometer data. The first temperature spike around noon is when I carried the thermometer into the house to get the eggs. The temperature rise starting at 4:00(1600) is when she started sitting. The thermometer is buried under about 2 inches of wood chips and not in direct contact with her skin so that’s why it’s not closer to 99-100 degrees.

 

[wrathsfarm]

Well she refused to set where I had planned for her so I moved the eggs to her. I did add one more egg to the clutch because Blue laid a fresh one this afternoon.
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Here is a screenshot of the thermometer data. The first temperature spike around noon is when I carried the thermometer into the house to get the eggs. The temperature rise starting at 4:00(1600) is when she started sitting. The thermometer is buried under about 2 inches of wood chips and not in direct contact with her skin so that’s why it’s not closer to 99-100 degrees. View attachment 4038379

This is pretty neat. Not wishing for a cold snap but it would be cool to monitor the temps under Gena.

 

[Tstraub]

This is pretty neat. Not wishing for a cold snap but it would be cool to monitor the temps under Gena.

I just kinda want a data log so I can see if she leaves the nest box for any significant amount of time. My cameras are only live feeds so if she would get confused and sit in the wrong box for half a day I will be able to see that it happened on the govee. It would be too late to do anything about it but more information is always good to have.

 

[Tstraub]

So far so good. I’m surprised how warm that nest box is staying we had temperatures in the lower 30s and 25mph winds blowing. Part of the reason I wanted to move her out of the nesting box was I was afraid the boxes would be cold since they are on the outside of the coop.

 

[Tstraub]

We had a pretty warm day today it got up to 44F. I gave the chickens the last of the pumpkins I grew over the summer. I had to take 2 eggs away from Gena that the other girls decided to donate to her. When I looked at the govee data log I think I can see both times she stood up to allow another girl to add an egg.

 

[Tstraub]

When I went out to round everyone up and lock them up for the night I found Gena eating an egg. She had dug down to the thermometer so it was no longer covered with pine shavings. I think an egg got up against the edge of the thermometer and broke when she sat down. Then she decided to eat the broken egg in an attempt to clean up the mess

Anyway I cleaned up the mess as best I could with paper towels and changed out the shavings for fresh clean ones. We’re down to 10 eggs and I removed the thermometer. Hopefully she didn’t break and eat the egg on purpose and it was just an accident.

 

[Tstraub]

It’s warming up 46F and rain today lots and lots of mud out there. I did make it out ice fishing yesterday. I believe that will end my season. Egg sales are through the roof around here. I had one customer buy 10 dozen and I have another wanting 10 dozen but I haven’t filled that one yet.

I do have 5 or six dozen eggs that we waterglassed last summer. I still haven’t tried to eat any of them but I might break into them because I think the shelf life was 2 years. So I guess it’s about time to see what eggs stored at room temperature for over a year taste like.

Gena is still sitting sitting no additional broken eggs so I believe the incident the other day was and accident