The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[TeaChick]

well today's been an adventure. I met with someone today (not sure if she's on byc or not) and picked up a trio of Columbians (very nice IMO) bantam cochins as well as 3 buff girls and 3 split silver/buff cockerels (from buff Columbian cock over silver Columbian hens). got them home and i'm putting them into their new pen and one of the cockerels managed to get away from me and ran/flew (with several other roosters on his heels) straight into my "pond". aka large kiddie pool everyone drinks from.

of course, not being familiar with it, he went straight over the ice and into the clear center section where my tank heater lives. bloop. his head didn't go under (thankfully) but in the time it took me to get the net to get him out, he looked dead when I got back. managed to get him out of the water, and no signs of life at all... something prompted me to rush him inside, I half filled a bucket with as hot water as our tap will do (not enough to burn, but uncomfortable at first) and dunked him in and just held his head out. nope. nothing. no blink response or anything.

I propped his head over his back (typical dead chicken limp neck thing) and left him like that for a few minutes. because I heard another baby in distress (lost my day old dorking chick to half an inch of water). went back and checked on the cockerel a couple minutes later, and still nothing. but his eyes caught my attention... the pupils were constricting and dilating very slightly. still no blink response. put my hand in the water and it wasn't so hot any more, so I pulled him out, dumped it and refilled again.

while I was holding him I noticed his body was warming up but not his head so I put him back in the hot water and laid his head on one hand since he wanted to droop forward now... after a minute, he gave a gasp and started breathing! within a couple more, his eyes were closed but the inner eyelids were blinking like crazy.

at first I thought it might be death throes or something, but he continued breathing. at this point I pulled him out of the bucket because i was getting tired standing there hodling his head up, and i was afraid to get him too hot, as that's probably as dangerous (or more so) than too cold... holding him in one hand, feet hanging and dripping, head hanging forward some, he started running and flapping slightly, like a dog having puppy dreams. got him wrapped in a towel and just set him on my chair so i could go outside and finish putting everyone in their new home, etc.

maybe 10 minutes later i came back in, he hadn't moved at all. but when i picked him up, he woke up. since then, he's been sitting, lightly wrapped in his towel, kind of nestled between my belly and left arm, while i sit here and type. the whole time talking to me lightly. a quiet little bokbokbok conversation that means nothing to me, except that it's music to my ears! he keeps nibbling at my wedding band and looking around but isn't making any effort to leave his warm nest right now...

i think his name is going to be lucky. he's shivering slightly now, so time to put in in a brooder to warm up further i think...

edit: the post above was around 5pm or so... since then, he's remained alert and talkative, but his front to back balance is shot. he will scoot around if necessary but seems to prefer being in a corner and stays backed into a corner of his tote currently. we'll see what the next few days bring, but i'm still amazed he's even alive.

Oh, wow! What an experience for him! Glad he's alright.

 

[TeaChick]

please elaborate on that 'sprout world online' thing? link please?

now if I could just get hubby to eat bone-in chicken, I'd be all set, but he prefers boneless... so I ususally end up marinating and baking. got any good marinade suggestions?

You can add vinegar, water, wine, etc. almost any liquid, to a dry rub or dry seasoning mixture and make a marinade out of it; I think there's generally oil of some kind in most marinade recipes I've seen too, but I'm not sure.

If your eggs don't hatch, you can take what you think are the viable ones and float them in warm water. If the chick is alive the egg will move.... If it is dead it will just float. Be careful to slowly lower the egg in as you want the water still ... and make sure the water is pretty hot!

Since this is your first attempt in the homemade incubator the eggs could be running behind schedule if it took a little while to get the temperature regulated.... Heres hoping something hatches for your son

Thank you for the advice. I'll have to use the float test on future hatches.
It appears the crock pot was hotter than we thought when I first started hatching them in it before I finished making my incubator (which, apparently worked well).
Thank you for hoping.
I'm going to set some eggs for him and a friend offered him half of a hatch that she's doing right now.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

I have been thinking of crossing my spare RIR rooster with by BR hen to get chicks. But then it was mentioned that I could also use a Dominique hen. While my Dominique hens won't be ready to breed until April, I'm wondering what kind of comb I would end up getting. The RIR has a single comb but the D. hen has a rose comb.
Anyone have pictures of this kind of combo? I checked out the calculator but I did not see a input on the comb type.

 

[TeaChick]

Apparently, I cooked the eggs I was hatching for DS.
I candled the other night and thought I had some that were pretty viable and others that looked pretty clear.
Today was day 26 and I started doing egg-topsies; one of them had something in it that looked like blood on the yolk and maybe a little bit of development, but I'm not sure. I wish I'd taken a picture of it, but I was so upset all I could do was get through them all and then shake my head (and cry). I guess the crock pot got hotter than I thought, b/c there was pretty much no development and the eggs I thought were developing when I was candling were just cooking very slowly.
Ugh!!!
A friend of mine is going to hatch my next set of eggs. I'll set some in a different incubator and then I'll use some to see if this incubator is really viable or not.
IDK; I'm pretty upset, feeling especially awful b/c these weren't even my eggs, they were my kid's!!!

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humph!!!

 

[aaggjg]

Apparently, I cooked the eggs I was hatching for DS.
I candled the other night and thought I had some that were pretty viable and others that looked pretty clear.
Today was day 26 and I started doing egg-topsies; one of them had something in it that looked like blood on the yolk and maybe a little bit of development, but I'm not sure. I wish I'd taken a picture of it, but I was so upset all I could do was get through them all and then shake my head (and cry). I guess the crock pot got hotter than I thought, b/c there was pretty much no development and the eggs I thought were developing when I was candling were just cooking very slowly.
Ugh!!!
A friend of mine is going to hatch my next set of eggs. I'll set some in a different incubator and then I'll use some to see if this incubator is really viable or not.
IDK; I'm pretty upset, feeling especially awful b/c these weren't even my eggs, they were my kid's!!!

and

and

and

and

and

and

and
humph!!!

Sorry it didnt work out for you .... My first hatch I heard the chicks peeping and nobody hatched ... It was SO DEPRESSING .... I have no idea what went wrong. Luckily I had a second incubator going that hatched a few days later. It is heartbreaking after waiting 3 long weeks for not one chick to hatch so I feel your pain!

When you candled did you see the black dot moving in the shell?? There is nothing cooler then candling eggs and I think it is so cool to share with kids!! Try again .... watching them hatch is SO COOL. Now I want to hatch chickens!!!

 

[ki4got]

Quote:
HOW do you debone a whole bird? I can see deboning the individual portions, but not a whole thing...

 

[delisha]

Apparently, I cooked the eggs I was hatching for DS.
I candled the other night and thought I had some that were pretty viable and others that looked pretty clear.
Today was day 26 and I started doing egg-topsies; one of them had something in it that looked like blood on the yolk and maybe a little bit of development, but I'm not sure. I wish I'd taken a picture of it, but I was so upset all I could do was get through them all and then shake my head (and cry). I guess the crock pot got hotter than I thought, b/c there was pretty much no development and the eggs I thought were developing when I was candling were just cooking very slowly.
Ugh!!!
A friend of mine is going to hatch my next set of eggs. I'll set some in a different incubator and then I'll use some to see if this incubator is really viable or not.
IDK; I'm pretty upset, feeling especially awful b/c these weren't even my eggs, they were my kid's!!!

and

and

and

and

and

and

and
humph!!!

why would you think a crock pot would work?

 

[ki4got]

I have been thinking of crossing my spare RIR rooster with by BR hen to get chicks. But then it was mentioned that I could also use a Dominique hen. While my Dominique hens won't be ready to breed until April, I'm wondering what kind of comb I would end up getting. The RIR has a single comb but the D. hen has a rose comb.
Anyone have pictures of this kind of combo? I checked out the calculator but I did not see a input on the comb type.

combining the two, first generation you get a rose comb. second gen you'll get either single or rose. more rose than single most likely.

but if you want nice clean distinct barring, you're better off using a barred rock not a Dominique, which is considered cuckoo (wider less distinct barring)

 

[lazy gardener]

combining the two, first generation you get a rose comb. second gen you'll get either single or rose. more rose than single most likely.

but if you want nice clean distinct barring, you're better off using a barred rock not a Dominique, which is considered cuckoo (wider less distinct barring)

Sally in Indiana: RIR roo over BR will give you a sex linked chick! I think you'll also get sex linked chicks when using RIR roo over Dominique hens as well! Nice advantage there.

 

[RedRidge]

 
I have been thinking of crossing my spare RIR rooster with by BR hen to get chicks.  But then it was mentioned that I could also use aDominique hen.  While my Dominique hens won't be ready to breed until April, I'm wondering what kind of comb I would end up getting.  The RIR has a single comb but the D. hen has a rose comb. 

Anyone have pictures of this kind of combo?  I checked out the calculator but I did not see a input on the comb type.

combining the two, first generation you get a rose comb. second gen you'll get either single or rose.  more rose than single most likely.

but if you want nice clean distinct barring, you're better off using a barred rock not a Dominique, which is considered cuckoo (wider less distinct barring)

Or I could drag you into my Rhodebar project. VBEG