The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[Faraday40]

I set 3 doz chicken and 1 doz turkey eggs. I candled last night. I have 33 chicken eggs and all 12 turkey eggs developing. I have Cookie sitting on some egg-shaped rocks. It's looking good so far.

I think the chicken eggs are 26 orp and 7 serama. The seramas are 100% fertility. Little Teddy takes his job very seriously. The orp hens have 2 roosters and are not close to 100% fertility. Sadly it seems Darling's eggs are rarely fertile. I guess I'll try some grooming before the next hatch. What's funny is that the lav roo's two fav hens are the young laced pullets (Stormy and Treasure). They're supposed to be for Awesome.

 

[ColtHandorf]

That's exciting! I'll be glad to see how many are developing when I candle the first time next week. The candler on that 360 insanely bright. @Faraday40 did your turkey eggs fit in the turner? Or are you having to hand turn them? I was going to look to see if they had different sizes available for geese, turkey, and bantam eggs.

I'm picking up a huge dog kennel this weekend (the big chain link one) My friend used it for her peacocks and no longer has them. I think I'm going to move the turkeys into it. The tom keeps trying to breed Odette and I'm afraid he's going to kill her. I don't understand why she squats and lets him trod on her. I can't put anyone in with the geese as that is just going to end horribly for everyone involved.

 

[Faraday40]

That's exciting! I'll be glad to see how many are developing when I candle the first time next week. The candler on that 360 insanely bright. @Faraday40 did your turkey eggs fit in the turner? Or are you having to hand turn them? I was going to look to see if they had different sizes available for geese, turkey, and bantam eggs.

I'm picking up a huge dog kennel this weekend (the big chain link one) My friend used it for her peacocks and no longer has them. I think I'm going to move the turkeys into it. The tom keeps trying to breed Odette and I'm afraid he's going to kill her. I don't understand why she squats and lets him trod on her. I can't put anyone in with the geese as that is just going to end horribly for everyone involved.

When did you pick up the NR360 incubator? Did you get it b/c of mine? The turkey eggs I got are on the smallish side - for turkeys. I did have to move them around a lot until I found a placement that allowed all to roll. Even if an egg only does a partial turn, the turner goes off several times a day, so it's no big deal. (I hand turn my coolerbator only 3xs per day, so the 360 is far better.) I like how you can test the turner with the press of a button to make sure everything is working. Some people say the turner is loud. I don't think it's bad, but I wouldn't put it in my bedroom.

The quail eggs had more issues turning. Sometimes they'd flip. Right now my NR360 has one lonely quail egg in it. All the others were infertile. It's due on Sunday. I've collected 6 more so those will go in as soon as my ONE quail is out.

 

[ColtHandorf]

When did you pick up the NR360 incubator? Did you get it b/c of mine?

I did set 22 eggs last night in the new NutureRight 360 I picked up from Tractor Supply Co. yesterday. I also set eggs in the Rcom and the Brinsea Mini Advance Tuesday with 10 and 9 eggs respectively for a grand total of 41 eggs.

I'd been looking at one, but you geting one pushed me to go ahead and do it. I can always save up for one of the bigger fancy Rcoms later.

Some people say the turner is loud. I don't think it's bad, but I wouldn't put it in my bedroom.

On the 360, @Faraday40, does it turn your eggs really smoothly? My Brinsea and Rcom are very smooth. I only know they are turning when the machine beeps to let you know. I forced the 360 to turn twice last night and was surprised to hear the eggs actually rolling across the plastic grid underneath them. Is that normal? And are you planning on pulling the turning mechanism out at lockdown, or are you going to let them hatch with it in place?

So maybe it is a little rougher than I'm used to. I just thought it was funny the directions mentioned being gentle when candling as vibrations can hurt developing embryos and then it rattled them around when it turned.

 

[Faraday40]

I just thought it was funny the directions mentioned being gentle when candling as vibrations can hurt developing embryos and then it rattled them around when it turned.

I've seen how rough hens are when rolling eggs around, so I'm not too worried.

 

[Faraday40]

Here are my serama's 2 orp chicks.
Just about 6 weeks old
Such mysteries!

Black Orp:
At hatch and every day 'til now I thought the black is a female. Today out of no where I see wattles. Still no comb or comb color - but pink wattles!!!! Jewel had big red wattles, so a female is still possible if related to Jewel - especially since there's hardly any comb. However, my laced orps all have smallish combs, so I need to look at feather growth, feet size, shank width, and wattles.

Ugly Blue Orp: (went from mauve, to lav, to blue, and now blue with gold leakage)
At hatch and up 'til recently, I've been saying this MUST be a male. It's HUGE, stands tall, and feels more 'meaty' / muscular. Why hasn't his comb grown? Where are the wattles? Why no face color yet?

.... and what's up with the strange color?!

 

[Faraday40]

The Odd Family Update:
My intellectually challenged silkie MaiMai hatched an orp egg 10 weeks ago. (This was the 1st time she went broody and didn't try to incubate her food bowl. She actually incubated & hatched a chick!!!) At the time, I also had a traumatized serama pullet afraid of other chickens, so I decided to see if I could bond her with the little family to help integrate her into my bantam coop. She spent 4 months living alone in a storage tub and it was time for 'Solo' to move out.

Remember:



10 week old orp pullet
6 month old serama
2+ year old silkie (mama)

Here are some pics of my odd family. They are still companions. It's been pretty cold out, so I often find some seramas snuggling under this orp. The serama looks bigger in the pics than she actually is. For some reason she kept running up to the front. (She has that "look at me" type of personality.)

 

[ColtHandorf]

I agree on hens being rough turning eggs. I was just shocked I think at the difference in between the incubators. I actually candled a few minutes ago and pulled six that were for sure clear. Most of them were Odette's eggs. I think I'll replace her from the breeding pen altogether once I have enough white pullets to take her place. With her bad eye and very gentle nature I just don't think she's cut out for a big breeding flock so she can just live with the roommate's bantams. Which is actually where she is at the moment. She must have squatted for the stupid turkey again who tore all the feathers off her back and cut her (but not deeply).

We spent all weekend putting together a chicken pen and coop for the bantams. She hung out with us all morning and part of the afternoon enjoying the grass without any boys to bother her. The pen consists of two 10 x 10 chain link dog runs, which we roofed and wrapped. We moved all the babies over there and now the smaller coop and tractor is empty. I thought about moving Derek and Anne over there as well, but I really think he will over-breed her in such a small area where she doesn't have any room to get away from her at all. I'll order a saddle for her in the meantime to be safe, or I may just pop her in with the bantams too. The little d'Uccle cockerel is absolutely smitten with Odette who could care less. He crowed for her and tried to do "the big sexy" by dropping his little wing and dancing for her. He even tried to tidbit. She wasn't moved. lol

I've gotten two turkey eggs. I was hoping that I'd have enough clear to empty the Rcom so I could set the turkey eggs once there are enough, but I only cleared half of it. I'll candle again at seven and probably ten days and see what things look like then. My luck none of the turkey eggs are fertile since he seems to think chickens are for breeding and turkey hens are just for standing on the wrong way.

I also killed the first snake of the season last night. When my hands were just completely over everything, about ten last night I went out to the barn to grab eggs and of course the last nest box in the last pen had a huge rat snake in it. I called for Amanda, who is terrified of snakes by the way, and had to have her hold the flashlight for me so I could operate the hoe. He'd only just gotten the egg in his mouth so the minute I touched him he spit it up and then backed out of the box onto the board the box is mounted. Once I worked him out enough to drag him out I tossed him out past the slab and went to work. So hopefully that's the last one for the year too. Although I highly doubt it.

All the babies inside are doing great. The chocolate/gold looking chick is feathering in odd, but still appears to be Silver-laced. It just has more silver than lacing at this point. I've already decided I have a bunch of cockerels. So I hope I'm guessing wrong. But surely out of at least 30 eggs, I left a few questionable ones in the 360 as A) Oh my god could the candler be any more bright? I'm literally still seeing spots. If you accidentally catch it into your eyes you need to have back up to see veins and B) they were set about 24 hours after the Rcom and the Brinsea so I figured I'd candle again Wednesday and see what things look like.

 

[Faraday40]

Yes I like the 360's candler & yes I too accidentally blinded myself when taking an egg off it. Last time I used it DS asked why I was candling my finger. (I was sliding my left hand over the light to as I removed the egg with my right and exchanged it for another.)

 

[ColtHandorf]

Haha, yes! I was also covering it with my left hand in between eggs. It was soooo bright!