The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[TeaChick]

whos starting to breed yet? im hoping one of my phoenix and weans will brood some friesian and phoenix eggs

My rooster's been on the job ever since he arrived!!!
I'm hatching Leghorn eggs, so I have plenty of eggs next winter.
My other breeding project will be to persuade my Cochin and Marigold (SLW x BO) to go broody for me
and I'm getting turkey eggs to hatch soon (I'm hoping for them to go broody too).

My incubator is full to the max right now.


There are at least 200 eggs in there. Think I may have over done it lol

I was told there's no such thing as overdoing it when it comes to hatching...

 

[TeaChick]

Coon tracks look like little hands....

Funny, ain't it?

 

[Nickeyo]

FYI i meant wyans not weans

 

[TeaChick]

Question:
I see some ppl on here (BYC and/or NCK) saying that they incubate in an incubator, then they hatch elsewhere. I don't understand, can somebody please explain?
I was under the impression that the chicks hatched in the incubator.

 

[Nickeyo]

they do most of the time but the really big scale people tend to have a seperate box made for the hatching. it can make it easier sometimes but hatching in an incubator is just as good and thats what I do

 

[TeaChick]

I had a giggle while lurking I seen the footprint chart I have a full grown male 2 yr old. Saint Bernard his paws are. Probably 5 or 6 inches. At night you can see and hear coyote way off he barks that uber deep bark and they run away..I guess they used to come up almost to my house according to the neighbor but they haven't came within a half mile since I have had him. I am sure they can tell by smell and sound there is something bigger then them living here

Yeah, we have dogs and the coyotes only visited once; we put our "big dog" out back that night and for the next few nights. The coyotes didn't want to come and play anymore. lol

I have a question. A guy my husband works with said he has three chickens, and a month ago when it was really cold (-15 before wind chill), they stopped laying for a couple of days. Nothing unusual about that, but then he said the next day he came out to check and there were seven eggs in the nest boxes! He swears they were holding them inside and then when it warmed up, pop, pop, pop (someone must have laid three in one day!).

What do you think? Is that even possible? I know this guy has embellished stories in the past, but before I tell my husband chickens can't do that, I wanted to know if you guys think it might be true. I thought it might be more likely that the chickens had kept laying eggs, but hiding them under whatever he has in the nest boxes so he didn't find them until it warmed up and he looked harder. I've never seen his setup.

I know it takes about 25 hours for one egg to go from the ovary to being fully shelled and laid, but could a hen be working on a few at the same time, so they all come out closer together?

I would think that two of them might have laid two eggs each, but one laying three is unimaginable to me. (but I'm a newb, so that's not saying much)
The biology question at the end is out of my league. ;-)

 

[CourtsCacklers]

I have to agree i have a big male Saint the Coyotes howl he barks they seem to sense he is much bigger then them and run away...and my husband pees all over the yard anyway i think that may help also.

 

[TeaChick]

Coyotes are bad here too...I have friends who hunt game on my property but at a cost...sort of, because they enjoy paying the 'price'...They set snares on the mid areas where my chickens, goats and dogs simply don't usually go. The snares are the kind that won't kill a dog usually because when the animal relaxes, the snare loosens enough to relieve pressure. In fact, most coyotes have to be dispatched because they relax after a while too. I wish the government would pay a bounty on them...after all, they drug hundreds of coyotes in here about 15 years ago...to help thin the the white tail deer population.

Results....more deer than ever, more coyote kills of sheep, calves and just about all other livestock.

OK...Off the soap box.

I agree. It doesn't make sense to add a predator, why not increase hunting limits and other such measures???
Bringing in a predator just increases the penned animals, the easy targets, getting preyed upon.

Okay, my turn on the soap box is over.

This was a disturbing story out of Grand Island, NE about a drunk guy who got stopped with over 100 chickens crammed in his small SUV. 50 of the chickens were dead, and the Humane Society there is trying to care for the 57 left alive. They are in pitiful shape, and the Humane Society is desperate to find them a home. Watch the accompanying news clips...
http://www.omaha.com/article/20140201/NEWS/140209820/1707

I can't watch it. Sorry.

I wish I lived closer to NE; I'd want to go get at least some of them to try and help them!!!
People who treat animals like that make me

!!!

 

[TeaChick]

Oh I know! Still plenty of deer even with nearby poachers. They've been introducing bears to surrounding counties. I'm not excited about that.Dh doesn't use traps and coyotes are hard to hunt.

BEARS?!?!?!?!?!?
Why would "they" introduce such a dangerous predator...removing man from the top of the food chain...and what about children????
Sorry, I'm off the soap box again.

 

[RedRidge]

The only good coyote....is a [COLOR=FF0000]DEAD[/COLOR]  coyote.  Everyone else can do as they please but if they are on my property or a neighbor's property...they are fair game to me and everyone I know around here.

All of my neighbors (and I) allow several folks from Tenn.,  Ky., OH., and WV come to our property in the spring with various types of den-dogs and Lurchers...

The coyotes here are never a threat... That's the point. They will not challenge my Maremma. I don't need to kill them... I simply need to protect my livestock. Traditional livestock Guardians work in pairs or packs... I have enough Maremma that a few hundred chickens and a hundred new born lambs (with their moms and all the cattle too), are at zero risk from any predator. I don't want to waste my time or ammo unnecessarily.