The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[countrygirl74]

My silkie will switch nests if the adjacent nest has more eggs.

My silkie never switched nests but I still can't figure out how she got an egg from a nesting box that's at least a 15 inches off the floor and got it all the way to the other end of the house into her lower nest in one piece...

Wow that must be tough to deal with. You have 3 kids right? You must have your hands full.


Do you know of Celtic Oaks? She is importing some Buff Toulouse geese for me next spring, and is also going to import some SFH for me here in Canada. I like things no one else has No one has them at all here. Would be so neat! She is a great friend, and is certified to do that importing.

X2 - your little girl is blessed to have you for her mom - sounds like you know exactly how to handle the challenges that come your way through autism

aoxa - I think that's great! It will be pretty neat to have one-of-a-kind breeds in your area!


QUESTION: My pullets are growing up and my silkie roo is realizing it too

- starting to go after them instead of just the big girls. The little ones just scream and run away and he doesn't push it. However, today, it appeared that he tried to mount my cochin - which we are all pretty certain is a cockerel. Does my silkie roo just not know this yet? Or is it still possible that it's not a he??

 

[starlingdaly]

LM's Not to mention the last few days my Blue Wheaton Ameraucana has been acting really weird clucking puffing up fighting with everyone.  I couldn't figure out what was going on ...  Well the light bulb went off when Ninja came out from her broody nest to eat and was clucking away as broody hens do ... Thing is this Ameraucana started the broody behavior before actually sitting on the nest ... Well today she didn't get off the nest....  DUH!!!!

My Welsummer did that same thing this weekend!! She moved super easily too, since the box she chose I needed to move to the new coop for broody mama and her foster babies. So far so good! She has stayed in her new nest and said some choice words in my direction when I peek in.

 

[aoxa]

My silkie never switched nests but I still can't figure out how she got an egg from a nesting box that's at least a 15 inches off the floor and got it all the way to the other end of the house into her lower nest in one piece...

X2 - your little girl is blessed to have you for her mom - sounds like you know exactly how to handle the challenges that come your way through autism

aoxa - I think that's great! It will be pretty neat to have one-of-a-kind breeds in your area!


QUESTION: My pullets are growing up and my silkie roo is realizing it too

- starting to go after them instead of just the big girls. The little ones just scream and run away and he doesn't push it. However, today, it appeared that he tried to mount my cochin - which we are all pretty certain is a cockerel. Does my silkie roo just not know this yet? Or is it still possible that it's not a he??

He is showing dominance. it's normal. My silkie Steve tried to mount Jagger when he was a certain age. That's probably why Jagger had it out for Steve once he was full grown. Had to keep them separate. Jagger would have tortured him if I didn't.

 

[TexasLisa]

broody question..does everyone just leave mama and the babies in the coop with everyone else? or take them somewhere else? a sectioned off area isn't really an option at this point.

Good Morning! This is my first time at having a mama and chicks. I put ours on the floor of the coop (next to the nesting boxes). We used chicken wire to pen her off from the rest of the girls. My DH just hooked the wire to one side of the wall and then we just roll it out to close her up or roll it in to let her and the chicks out.
(It is nothing fancy, but when she is done, I can reuse the wire.) Come morning, she is in frantic mode to be let out. I don't worry about the chicks with the older hens. When mama comes out of that pen, the girls make a pathway for the 'queen and her chicks'.

Lisa

 

[stonykill]

My goodness, if you need a broody, come to my house! I've got 6 right now, and a seventh with chicks. They are mostly ameraucanas (lavenders and blue wheatens) and salmon faverolles. Oh and my silkie and mille fleur d'ccle who only take a few weeks off per year from being broody LOL. I put 3 in my broody-breaking pen today. They are driving me crazy, and I have welts on my hands and arms from being pecked.

sounds like my place. 4 running around with chicks, 6 more who are still sitting, difference is I don't mess with mama so I don't get pecked

 

[BlueMouse]

Could she have worms??? That is the only thing that would explain it ..... give her some pumpkin seeds, garlic, cayenne etc etc see if that helps and I would give her special feeding extra protein to see if you can encourage her to put on weight!

First thing I did as soon as I noticed it was load up the feed with garlic and cayenne

I'll have to see if I can get some pumpkin seeds. I haven't used those yet because they're Expensive here. I'll try feeding her up, but it's going to be a real problem if she can't thrive on free range.

sounds like my place. 4 running around with chicks, 6 more who are still sitting, difference is I don't mess with mama so I don't get pecked

Had to move mine a few days ago. She had gone back to the wrong nest..... I've been more vigilant about collecting eggs since and she hasn't gone back to the wrong one again. Ridiculous chicken.

 

[BlueMouse]

Posted this to the hatching forum but cross posting here:

I have a dozen eggs in my incubator, they're at day 20 w/no internal pip. Should I just put them on lockdown anyhow and hope for the best? This is my first time incubating, and I really feel like none of my eggs are going to hatch. They're half shipped cream legbar eggs and half of my own Buff Orpington eggs (and I know those are 100% fertile pretty much) I tossed two clears on day 14, and gave four more to my broody a week ago. The remaining dozen are in the incubator. We had trouble getting our temperatures up for the first two days, and then we had a 12 hour power outtage, but it looked like the eggs were developing, at least at day 14 there were two very obvious clears. It's hard to see much except the air cells even with my really extremely bright flashlight, I think because of the colored shells? Two of the air cells have sort of morphed into a weird saddle shape today, I THINK I see a shadow in another air cell, but other than that... nothing... what should I do

Help? Aoxa? Mumsy? Delisha?? Other people with lots of incubation experience??

 

[aoxa]

Posted this to the hatching forum but cross posting here:

I have a dozen eggs in my incubator, they're at day 20 w/no internal pip. Should I just put them on lockdown anyhow and hope for the best? This is my first time incubating, and I really feel like none of my eggs are going to hatch. They're half shipped cream legbar eggs and half of my own Buff Orpington eggs (and I know those are 100% fertile pretty much) I tossed two clears on day 14, and gave four more to my broody a week ago. The remaining dozen are in the incubator. We had trouble getting our temperatures up for the first two days, and then we had a 12 hour power outtage, but it looked like the eggs were developing, at least at day 14 there were two very obvious clears. It's hard to see much except the air cells even with my really extremely bright flashlight, I think because of the colored shells? Two of the air cells have sort of morphed into a weird saddle shape today, I THINK I see a shadow in another air cell, but other than that... nothing... what should I do

Help? Aoxa? Mumsy? Delisha?? Other people with lots of incubation experience??

How large are your air cells?

What was humidity during the first 18 days?

High humidity slows down internal pip. I won't lock down I see them, no matter what day they are on. I've put them in on day 20, I've put them in on day 17. The difference I have found was exclusively humidity.

 

[BlueMouse]

Air cells have seemed on track as per the charts I could find. We started at 45% (it's a forced air incubator, not still, so not dry incubation) and tracked humidity based on the size of the aircells. I think it's at 52 % right now. I'm starting to really bite my fingernails here.... and I don't know what's up with the air cells all the sudden looking like saddles. I can't see a lot through the colored eggs (although I think I'd see something as big as a head in the air cell) and this is my first time. I'm just afraid I'm going to miss something and kill my poor chicks.

 

[aoxa]

Air cells have seemed on track as per the charts I could find. We started at 45% (it's a forced air incubator, not still, so not dry incubation) and tracked humidity based on the size of the aircells. I think it's at 52 % right now. I'm starting to really bite my fingernails here.... and I don't know what's up with the air cells all the sudden looking like saddles. I can't see a lot through the colored eggs (although I think I'd see something as big as a head in the air cell) and this is my first time. I'm just afraid I'm going to miss something and kill my poor chicks.

If you see a head in the air cell, that is an internal pip.

Here is an internal pip. This is when you want to lock down. I hatch separately from setting, so I move them to the different incubator as they internally pip. Yes I open up the incubator after lockdown to do this. So quickly humidity doesn't fluctuate.

My hatch rates have increased exponentially since I started to wait for internal pip before increasing humidity and stop turning.