[The Shire] Our growing flock!

[newchickychick]

Man, Fruzzle is doing SO WELL now. I’m so thankful!
All of the brooder babies are running around like little fiends. So cute!

We (well, I) got some Blue Jersey Giants at TSC yesterday. They finally had Brahmas in too! Two I picked out were super SUPER light though, almost like a White Jersey Giant chick, but had soft blue on the top of their head and the same little dark beak tops. I’m wondering if they’re just a super light blue or if they’re white that just seem to be more pale and blue than other pics of White Jersey Giant chicks I’ve seen. Unless they had blue x blue in their pens and they had Splash? They did have some in the blue bin that looked VERY very black like our Black Jersey Giant chicks. So maybe?
The really white with pale blue chick - there’s another like it too. So cute!

These were also in the Bantam bin the other day… self blue d’uccles? Maybe blue bantam Cochins? The mysteries continue!

 

[kattabelly]

I've never seen that here in any of the forum posts I've read re: incubating. Very strange and interesting.

I do it to start shipped eggs sometimes. The turning mechanism in my incubator has the eggs laying on their sides, so if they look like they've had a rough journey I'll put them in egg boxes with something underneath one end, and rotate the boxes by hand so the eggs are getting tilted in different directions but still more or less pointy end down.

Put one in last week with a completely detached air cell that was just floating around, and it's back where it should be now and so far seems to be developing normally.

 

[thistlewick]

I do it to start shipped eggs sometimes. The turning mechanism in my incubator has the eggs laying on their sides, so if they look like they've had a rough journey I'll put them in egg boxes with something underneath one end, and rotate the boxes by hand so the eggs are getting tilted in different directions but still more or less pointy end down.

Put one in last week with a completely detached air cell that was just floating around, and it's back where it should be now and so far seems to be developing normally.

I'm just curious as to why start incubating right away?

Let sit for 24 hours on pointy-end, sure -- but why incubate immediately?

 

[kattabelly]

I'm just curious as to why start incubating right away?

Let sit for 24 hours on pointy-end, sure -- but why incubate immediately?

It can take longer than 24 hours to recover - maybe next time I get a detached air cell I'll candle regularly to see exactly how long. My house is poorly insulated and I don't think sitting in fluctuating temps for another day or two, when they've already been in the post for 2-3 days, does much good.

 

[newchickychick]

It can take longer than 24 hours to recover - maybe next time I get a detached air cell I'll candle regularly to see exactly how long. My house is poorly insulated and I don't think sitting in fluctuating temps for another day or two, when they've already been in the post for 2-3 days, does much good.

Yeah, the seller for my second set I put in with the Polish said to start stat since they were already nearly a week out by the time they got here! All of their air cells are detached per the candling yesterday but I’m hoping since it’s a vertical turner, it’ll keep them from getting too scrambled. No veins really showing in any yet as of yesterday (which was only day 3 anyhow! I moved everything to the turners), but fingers crossed! I did have one single egg showing veins yesterday though out of the 21, and man were they showing!
Our house keeps the temperature well and humidity stays pretty even at 27-33% but… I’m hoping I didn’t mess them up by not waiting, but they WERE pretty warm when they got here. I assumed cooling down and then warming back up would be harder on them than just going right in like the seller suggested.

 

[newchickychick]

Well, it finally happened. I went in to check on the chickens to see how they were. I noticed... we were missing some chickens. A lot more than normal were on the roosting bars (yay!) but lo and behold, some were missing. Ensue momentary panic... until I hear clucking from up above. They were NOT missing - they've discovered the joys of being up as HIGH as possible. Oh no. I have a feeling this will be a constant battle for us.

 

[newchickychick]

Oh no. One of our Silkies from Ideal has wry neck. Not even a few hours ago it was just fine! Now tucking its head down under itself. I’ve ordered some vitamin e drops and selenium drops as the paste we had was so very hard to dose properly. Ugh. I really really hope we can help the poor baby. </3 I’m hoping because this one is much older that we can really help it.

 

[MROO]

Well, it finally happened. I went in to check on the chickens to see how they were. I noticed... we were missing some chickens. A lot more than normal were on the roosting bars (yay!) but lo and behold, some were missing. Ensue momentary panic... until I hear clucking from up above. They were NOT missing - they've discovered the joys of being up as HIGH as possible. Oh no. I have a feeling this will be a constant battle for us.
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FUNNY! They do seem to like the heights! I have a Nankin hen who perches on a very narrow cross-stud waaaay over my head. No other hens are allowed ... not that many could balance longways on a 3" wide ledge!
A word to the wise, though. Make sure you have a couple of roosts at different levels so they can hopscotch their way back down. As they grow and age, that hard landing after a long drop can cause all sorts of problems.

 

[newchickychick]

FUNNY! They do seem to like the heights! I have a Nankin hen who perches on a very narrow cross-stud waaaay over my head. No other hens are allowed ... not that many could balance longways on a 3" wide ledge!
A word to the wise, though. Make sure you have a couple of roosts at different levels so they can hopscotch their way back down. As they grow and age, that hard landing after a long drop can cause all sorts of problems.

This is our current setup. I’m shocked they got up! The highest bar is 4’ and the ceiling maxes out at about 8’ I believe. We can add some “middle ground” bars. As much as I would like for them to not be up there at all, I certainly want to be careful that they don’t accidentally hurt themselves! It was such a surprise. I’m sure they were laughing at me.

 

[MROO]

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View attachment 4166686

This is our current setup. I’m shocked they got up! The highest bar is 4’ and the ceiling maxes out at about 8’ I believe. We can add some “middle ground” bars. As much as I would like for them to not be up there at all, I certainly want to be careful that they don’t accidentally hurt themselves! It was such a surprise. I’m sure they were laughing at me.

Just keep one eye aimed at the rafters, just in case they decide to use you for ... ummm ... target practice!