Straub’s search for colored eggs

[Tstraub]

Went smelt dipping once. It was pretty fun, but not a fan of eating them.

I have never smelt fished before. Regular targets are catfish, bass, crappie, and for a couple weeks a year during the spawn sturgeon are a lot of fun.

Once in a while one of these Asian carp jump right in the boat. It’s really wild to watch but they are invasive and do a lot of damage to the environment.

And on the days that the fish don’t bite I do enjoy some bird watching

 

[NanaK]

I never went smelt dipping. People use to dip for herring. The river herring stock was depleated so herring dipping is illegal now.

Crappie makes a fine meal. They are fun to catch too.
Locally we've caught catfish, large and small mouth bass, crappie, lots of pan fish, bream and robins.

We also fished coastal waters. My favorite spot to fish is in brackish water. Head inland it gets fresher, head out it get saltier. There we have caught flounder, trout, croakers, spots and red drum sometimes rock fish(striped bass). Red drum are a blast to catch! They take the bait and run. It can take some time and effort to land them. Love it!

We have caught small sturgeon in nets we pulled for shrimping. They are also protected here so we throw those back.

I think my favorite to eat is crappie, flounder and rock fish.

I've seen carp in the rivers too. Also have jumping mullet. Hubby was almost hit in the head by a mullet. He didn't think it was funny as I almost fell out of the boat laughing at him! He just wiped the fish slime off the side of his head.

When the fish don't bite, I enjoy just being there. You never know what you will see.

@Tstraub Nice photos!

 

[Tstraub]

Genna update, so far she has continued to go up to roost at night so she is not ready to sit right now. During the day if she sees eggs she sits but if I take them away she doesn’t put up a fight she lets me have them and goes about her day. I don’t think she has laid an egg in over a week. It’s hard to be totally sure on that because the Wyandotte, Brahama, and Jersey Giant eggs look very similar in size and color.

I kind of feel like I could talk her into full broody if I gave her a pile of eggs and didn’t take them away but we have another artic air mass heading this way and predicted wind chills -30F possible next week.

 

[wrathsfarm]

Genna update, so far she has continued to go up to roost at night so she is not ready to sit right now. During the day if she sees eggs she sits but if I take them away she doesn’t put up a fight she lets me have them and goes about her day. I don’t think she has laid an egg in over a week. It’s hard to be totally sure on that because the Wyandotte, Brahama, and Jersey Giant eggs look very similar in size and color.

I kind of feel like I could talk her into full broody if I gave her a pile of eggs and didn’t take them away but we have another artic air mass heading this way and predicted wind chills -30F possible next week.
View attachment 4030122

Yes, I'm hearing bitter cold for a couple days here also. Gorgeous day today tho at 38

 

[Tstraub]

Yes, I'm hearing bitter cold for a couple days here also. Gorgeous day today tho at 38

40 and sunny here at the moment great day but almost too warm. The snow is turning to mud so I’m getting very dirty eggs. The girls don’t listen when I tell them to wipe their feet.

 

[Tstraub]

She is sleeping in a nesting box tonight. Now to decide what to do with her.

 

[wrathsfarm]

She is sleeping in a nesting box tonight. Now to decide what to do with her.

Take 2....

 

[Tstraub]

The cold weather system has moved in highs in the low teens lows at or below 0F for the next couple days. Does anyone have any experience hatching and brooding chicks in this weather? If I wait another week for slightly better weather she might break before they hatch.

I guess I could set eggs tomorrow then candle next Tuesday and reset if nothing looks viable. My work schedule is always 3 12 hour shifts Saturday afternoon to early Tuesday morning so almost any Tuesday is a good set day for me. Any thoughts are appreciated

 

[NanaK]

If I wait another week for slightly better weather she might break before they hatch.

I've never hatched in winter. I don't normally have winter broodies. I did have one around Christmas 2023. I broke her. She was only 8-9 months old.

No way to tell if your hen would break if you wait a week. I've have had broodies take 2 wks to break. Some who gave up easily.

Unless you are ready for chicks, it is still January. Plenty of time.

Your call.
Sorry I don't have better advice.

 

[Tstraub]

She was sitting on some freshly laid eggs this morning and out of curiosity i stabbed one with a meat thermometer just to see how warm they are in these conditions. It measured 97 degrees when i first stabbed it but dropped to 96 by the time i got my phone out of my pocket. This is not a calibrated thermometer but given how close it is to 100 and the fact that I carried the egg from the coop to the kitchen before temping it I believe these eggs would very likely hatch if she stayed on top of them.

So I stuck a thermometer under her to monitor temperature over longer times. She is playing musical chairs in the nest boxes so I don’t think it’s worth trying at this time. I’m sure I’ll get plenty more opportunities I think I’ll wait and not set this week.