The Moonshiner's Leghorns

[The Moonshiner]

Oh I've got it figured out. I'm waiting on the birds to do their part. It's a generation at a time and they don't mature and reproduce nearly as fast as my brain works so it's always a waiting game.
It's also playing the odds game. You look around and see what genes you have and what you can mix them together to create. Or you come up with an idea of what you want then you figure out what genes it'll need and where to pull them from.
You mix in different birds with the different genes you need then breed out the genes you don't need while keeping the ones you do until eventually you get them pure for what you need and all the unwanted ones gone.
That takes generations and a lot more birds that you don't want to get the few you do. Each generation you try to get closer to your goal but until the end is in site you're playing the odds to get what you need.
That's the fun with hatching project chicks. It's like Christmas you never know what you're going to get and you're just hoping for that one present that you want. One day it happens and all the planning and working and waiting and hoping pays off and it's live standing there in front of you.
Oh what a rush that is.
The chocolate project is far from done but the first goal was chocolate gold duckwing and I had the chance for pullet chicks so here we are.

 

[KF0002]

Busy day yesterday. Got up and went to an estate sale. Advertised lots of antiques. Kind of a list that looked redneck promising.
Not so much into antiques but more into "mantiques" and "farmtiques". You know old farm stuff and guy stuff. Selection wasn't too disappointing but prices sure was. I couldn't justify buying any of the cool stuff.
The regular stuff he'd bargain on. Yes @KF0002 that means I was trying to lowball. Got some insulated bibs. Those will be handy soon. Also got one of those big plastic utility sinks. Fancier then the regular ones and had a nice faucet that alone was worth 2Xs the price so I went ahead and got it to put in the mudroom.
Slightly disappointed on no awesome scores there I did errands and chickened for several hours after that. Nothing awesome there either. Finished splitting the other brooder lid and then mostly cleaned brooders and rearranged chicks.
Definitely looks like I have more cockerels then pullets this season and not like all the cockerels are looking like rock stars. Maybe they just need to get past that leggy stage, idk.
Wrapping up my collecting eggs to hatch. The end is near.

Meanwhile, I am trying to conjure up the best way to run lights to at least 4 pens without burning the house down or kicking the breaker.

Solar power?

There are two outlets on the outside of my house, one on the front that shares the same breaker thingy (whatcha-ma-call-it) as my bedroom, and one in the back of the house that shares the same breaker thingy whatcha-ma-call-it as the incubator room. I must not throw the breaker in the incubator room for obvious reasons once they are up and running. And if I use the outlet in the front, if the breaker is thrown, the lights will go out in the building when I am brooding chicks, so bad also.

What to do, what to do??

 

[sniper338]

My brown leghorns just started laying here 4 days ago.. finally!! I hate waiting for birds to grow out.. wish they grew faster!!

Size of pheasant eggs... little, but they will fill out..

 

[BlueBaby]

My brown leghorns just started laying here 4 days ago.. finally!! I hate waiting for birds to grow out.. wish they grew faster!!

Size of pheasant eggs... little, but they will fill out..

How old are they?

 

[KF0002]

My brown leghorns just started laying here 4 days ago.. finally!! I hate waiting for birds to grow out.. wish they grew faster!!

Size of pheasant eggs... little, but they will fill out..

I am waiting on 4 pullets to lay now and I'm afraid I may end up having to put lights on them if they don't start soon. They are 5-6 months old now, and the two oldest are getting nice red combs. I am trying to get a leg up on a couple of Leghorn projects. I'm hoping to have eggs to set without a couple months. If I can get chicks by December or January, those pullets will be laying by summer, allowing me to produce 2 generations within one breeding year.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Meanwhile, I am trying to conjure up the best way to run lights to at least 4 pens without burning the house down or kicking the breaker.

Solar power?

There are two outlets on the outside of my house, one on the front that shares the same breaker thingy (whatcha-ma-call-it) as my bedroom, and one in the back of the house that shares the same breaker thingy whatcha-ma-call-it as the incubator room. I must not throw the breaker in the incubator room for obvious reasons once they are up and running. And if I use the outlet in the front, if the breaker is thrown, the lights will go out in the building when I am brooding chicks, so bad also.

What to do, what to do??

I don't know anything about solar. Sounds like a fabulous plan but idk. What are trying to run? Laying lights so small draw LEDs or big watt brooding bulbs?

 

[The Moonshiner]

How old are they?

you've got a while to go still.

 

[BlueBaby]

you've got a while to go still.

I know that, but I was just wondering about when I should expect them to start.

 

[The Moonshiner]

My brown leghorns just started laying here 4 days ago.. finally!! I hate waiting for birds to grow out.. wish they grew faster!!

Size of pheasant eggs... little, but they will fill out..

Dude they're leghorns. I raised English type Orps before these. You talk about waiting for eggs. They were horrible.

 

[NagemTX]

Ameraucana are the worst to wait for them to lay eggs. So slow.