The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[PeepsCA]

Okay, so I am totally new to candling and wondering when these babies will ever come - just so you know, I did not save eggs at the right temperature and then put them under her all at once. I collected the duck eggs in the morning for 4 days and gave her 1 the first day and 2 each consecutive day. I didn't know any better - first time my silkie had gone broody and my sister wanted ducks so I wanted to give my silkie something to hatch...
Anyway, do you think these eggs look good or bad?

Yikes! For those to be on day 27, 28, 29 and 30 I'd say those are all bad (unless maybe I misunderstood your dates?). I'd call every one of them Maypops AS IN THEY MAY EXPLODE AT ANY TIME!!!). Handle with extreme care, or you may be sorry, and end up wearing a lot of bad bad bad funky smell that won't wash off even if you scrub with BLEACH, lol. I would not try to open them (and I am ducking/wincing just looking at your pics, lol). Do they have a foul smell to them? are they oozing/sticky at all? I see little or no development, and to me they look rotten... are you sure these eggs were even fertile? Turning too much may have twisted the chalazas too much, but it's hard to say. IME with incubating, typically you see blood rings when an embryo has started to develop, but died shortly after.

 

[delisha]

Quote: front is pullet back is roo? I can't see the back one...I would say both pullets unless back one had red wattles.


Ok I am trying to play guess the sex......These are Sally8's pics but I'm curious if I guessed right? Could the OTs help? Thank you
They are BCMs and BR of course lol

Delisha I have a question. We had a discussion a few pages back that BRs can be sexed by feather color. The lighter markings are male and the darker feathered ones are female.

The 1st BR I guessed as roo since its lighter feathered than the pullet in the 2nd pic. Did you say pullet because it has the darker feathers in the saddle area & tail? It seems in those areas it is darker. After looking again I notice there is barely a comb & no wattles. Do you use this as well when deciding sex?

And for the BCMs I just went by comb & wattles. I forget how old Sally8 said they were but If I had to guess I would say 8-10 weeks old?

Thanks for your patience. I have never had such young chicks but I still like to guess what the sexes are from the information you have shared prior.
They come in a variety of light and dark..the cockerels are quite light. The pullets have a single bar of white...for BR's I do not look at wattles or comb at all..some pullets have as big of a comb as cockerels.

For BCM..the males should have copper in the head, chest and wing area already..You can see slight copper on the one..the pictures are hard to judge. So I went to comb and wattles for the BCM.

If they were Ameracuana's you go by comb color since they do not have watttles. Males have color and females stay pretty neutral color. As they sexually mature, combs on males get tiny bumps. 3 rows of peas for males. a single row for females.

Here are some pictures of my HRIR chicks in my grow out tractor.




pullet

front to back starting on the left..cockerel..cockerel..cockerel..pullet

pullet

from back to front starting on the left....cockerel..pullet..cockerel..cockerel
Any gender guesses for the chick closest to the camera?

Quote: I guess blue..for color unless its my computer

Quote: yes..stuffed full!!

 

[RedRidge]

First five Rhodebar chicks... looks like only one pullet out of the first five... a few more on the way.
These were about dry so I dared a quick open to remove em from the bator and put em under the heat lamp.

 

[PeepsCA]

Quote:

 

[Quailsong]

Thank you, Sally8, for your personal experience with deep litter. Best of luck removing those mites!

New concern: I'm reviewing my memories and now I'm wondering if the cement really was painted. If so, I'm worried that may be an issue w/ paint chips down the road.

Would any of you OTers even care about that if it were your barn? Would you try to sand blast the barn floor or even add an extra layer of dirt/mulch & come 'clean out day' just not use the bottom-most layer for the garden?

I'm probably over-thinking this but I always like to be safer than sorry.

 

[lalaland]

chick update and question:

they've been home in the brooder less than 24 hours.

whitewashing: duh, they peck at it, it chips off, can't be good for them to ingest! Had to tape paper towels over the walls. Hopefully they'll be done pecking in a few days.

question: these are 1, 2 and 3 day old chicks. someone has watery pinky/mauve poops with absolutely no solids. I don't remember seeing this kind of poop in chicks. Can't id the culprit, so I don't know if they are also passing some solid on other poops. Should I be thinking cocci? all are looking good, I think although with 19 of them it is a little hard to sort out and make sure I am seeing each one for a good period of time.

 

[countrygirl74]

Yikes! For those to be on day 27, 28, 29 and 30 I'd say those are all bad (unless maybe I misunderstood your dates?). I'd call every one of them Maypops AS IN THEY MAY EXPLODE AT ANY TIME!!!). Handle with extreme care, or you may be sorry, and end up wearing a lot of bad bad bad funky smell that won't wash off even if you scrub with BLEACH, lol. I would not try to open them (and I am ducking/wincing just looking at your pics, lol). Do they have a foul smell to them? are they oozing/sticky at all? I see little or no development, and to me they look rotten... are you sure these eggs were even fertile? Turning too much may have twisted the chalazas too much, but it's hard to say. IME with incubating, typically you see blood rings when an embryo has started to develop, but died shortly after.

Ok, I guess I will throw them all out. I just thought maybe a couple of them might hatch as we weren't at day 28 yet with the last ones. Can my silkie stand another few weeks if I put some new ones under her? When I have been eating the duck eggs, they all look fertile to me - the drake seems to be covering them well. They do not smell at all and no oozing - but I don't see any movement or hear anything and I thought I would see something by now. Thanks for the info - this is my first time doing duck eggs under a silkie.

 

[Sally8]

Just an update on chicks. They are BCM. Both hen and roo are out of Bev Davis' lines. Bought by different breeders at different times. (Means very little to me). It is so hard for me to grasp the bloodlines when a piece of paper can't be produced and registered like with dogs or horses. My concern has never been the actual chicken but I'm trying for darker eggs. If the chicks are anything but BCM they would be from Pecky, the Silkie no one wants. And then that would be very slim.
The white Silkie looking chick came from a Sizzle hen and either BCM or Silkie. BUT, I have a thought. I used to have a EE roo but had gotten rid of him well over a month before I collected eggs. Since the Sizzle does't lay as many eggs could the EE still be the father?

I believe I read on here that if a BCM has a white feather as a chick, it could lose it after the first molt.
Honestly, I'm really liking the turkey's. right up until I get attacked. No bending over in the run for me anymore! lol

Don't worry about offending me on any comments. They say that some children have a face that only their mother could love. Having chickens is just pure enjoyment. I have a chicken that I'll try to get a pic. It's so terribly ugly. It looks half duck to me. Somehow it got thrown in with something I bought. So, I have to keep it. sue

 

[aaggjg]

Ok, I guess I will throw them all out. I just thought maybe a couple of them might hatch as we weren't at day 28 yet with the last ones. Can my silkie stand another few weeks if I put some new ones under her? When I have been eating the duck eggs, they all look fertile to me - the drake seems to be covering them well. They do not smell at all and no oozing - but I don't see any movement or hear anything and I thought I would see something by now. Thanks for the info - this is my first time doing duck eggs under a silkie.

FYI If they were that close to hatching the egg would be really hard to see into. It would be all black except where the aircell is .... I vote BAD .... sorry

 

[aaggjg]

Some pictures of the progress from the week!














We are expecting so much rain :/ It's been raining all week, but they've kept at it. Today it was down pouring, so they couldn't work outside. They did the interior stuff today instead.

Where is my room??? I am SO MOVING IN!!!