Thinking of calling it quits.

[feedman77]

I candled my first batch off eggs on my mixed pen.

Started out with 15. Had 4 clears. 11 eggs made
It to day 24 all had movement.

Lockdown tomorrow. Hope my luck is better on 25 - 28 days. Thats where my losses seem start.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

This is my first year with poults and is had such good luck hatching chickens that I thought I'd have no problem with poults. I was wrong first set, 6 eggs. 2 hatched but 1 died at 2 weeks old. Second set, 9 eggs 2 made it to lockdown. Both died. That one was my fault though. My hygrometer speed working and my humidity was WAY to high. They couldn't breathe. This set was actually ok, 3 of 6 hatched but they weren't the breed I wanted. 4th set, only 2 of 12 hatched and one had issues at hatch. He died at almost 2 weeks old. I bawled so hard over him. He struggled and got so strong but had one misfortune. He would occasionally get knocked over and couldn't get flipped back over on his own. He got flipped in a cold spot in the brooder on a busy day where I just didn't have time to check on him. So out of 33 eggs, I ended up with 5 poults. Only 1 being the breed I wanted (21 eggs set were the breed I wanted). I was feeling extremely discouraged too . I managed to find some poults for sale locally of the Bourbon reds that I wanted so I just picked up 4 of them. Most of my eggs were shipped to me. I'm hoping to learn from my mistakes and have better luck next year. Don't give up everyone! I'm not!

 

[retlaw]

She can't do much worse for sure. sorry for the losses. That is horrible.

That is what I was thinking until today.

The hen is still sitting on the nest I built in the little shelter but 15 feet away along the fence I found 14 eggs.
I never looked under her because whats the point.
Why would she do that?
Move all the eggs and sit on an empty nest?

I feeling the flock needs to meet the axe.

 

[kmartinez]

My eggs this round are horrible. I had 20 eggs I am down to 11...and one is cracked but has great movement....I am going to go ahead and see if it is strong enough to live last one in a cracked egg I had to cull..I am hoping for 10 going to lockdown but honestly I not got my hopes to high on this bunch..All my settings are the same from my last hatching which i had an excellent hatching rate..I don't think its your fault really probably the eggs.

I know my eggs are all blue slates and where i got them from a predator took down her blue slate tom, seems her backup blue slate younger tom just did not do a good job all the eggs that were dated after her main tom passed have died early on...I wouldn't be to hard on yourself. It could just be the eggs and nothing to do with you.

 

[marchick]

That is what I was thinking until today.

The hen is still sitting on the nest I built in the little shelter but 15 feet away along the fence I found 14 eggs.
I never looked under her because whats the point.
Why would she do that?
Move all the eggs and sit on an empty nest?

I feeling the flock needs to meet the axe.

I know how you feel! I had hens last year wanting to set but would sit on a different nest every day or two. I guess they didn't read the handbook!!!

 

[ivan3]

 
She can't do much worse for sure. sorry for the losses. That is horrible.

That is what I was thinking until today.

The hen is still sitting on the nest I built in the little shelter but 15 feet away along the fence I found 14 eggs.
I never looked under her because whats the point.
Why would she do that?
Move all the eggs and sit on an empty nest?

I feeling the flock needs to meet the axe.

Has she gone broody on that empty nest, hissing and biting at you? Is she still working on getting to the "magic number" of eggs along the fence (sneaking off of "your" nest, laying along the fence and sneaking back)? If that's her plan, wait until she is off of the authorized nest, move all eggs to the authorized nest and utterly destroy the fence line hideout (put a board over it, for instance).

Not only will hens try to wander off to their "favorite" location, they'll lay in both locations (approved and unapproved) if allowed. Our hens, will, when out with the flock free ranging, during laying season, often start giving out what I hear as a plaintive, regular, "whoot, whoot, whoot and wander off, as if in a trance - scrape a bit in the May Apples/ raspberry patch and lay an egg, then return to foraging. We just move those eggs back into the shed nests and cover the previous locations with branches and the like. They get the drift pretty quick as shortly after this behavior begins they're confined to the run/shed for the duration (they get the idea pretty quick).

Why? "Still collating..."

 

[retlaw]

Has she gone broody on that empty nest, hissing and biting at you? Is she still working on getting to the "magic number" of eggs along the fence (sneaking off of "your" nest, laying along the fence and sneaking back)? If that's her plan, wait until she is off of the authorized nest, move all eggs to the authorized nest and utterly destroy the fence line hideout (put a board over it, for instance).

The hide out is in the open, no covering on them.
Its like she would have taken them farther away but the fence stopped her.

She was broody for awhile sitting on a rock for weeks.
So I can't see a magic number she is waiting for when one rock did the trick for her.
None of the eggs are hers because she was rock sitting the time I was collecting them.
I don't even think she is laying.
I placed the eggs out there a week ago and the weather here is hot hot hot so my thoughts are the eggs are going down hill fast.
I don't even know when she moved them. Could have been sitting on them for a few days first.

 

[ivan3]

Has she gone broody on that empty nest, hissing and biting at you? Is she still working on getting to the "magic number" of eggs along the fence (sneaking off of "your" nest, laying along the fence and sneaking back)? If that's her plan, wait until she is off of the authorized nest, move all eggs to the authorized nest and utterly destroy the fence line hideout (put a board over it, for instance).


 

The hide out is in the open, no covering on them.
Its like she would have taken them farther away but the fence stopped her.

She was broody for awhile sitting on a rock for weeks.
So I can't see a magic number she is waiting for when one rock did the trick for her.
None of the eggs are hers because she was rock sitting the time I was collecting them.
I don't even think she is laying.
I placed the eggs out there a week ago and the weather here is hot hot hot so my thoughts are the eggs are going down hill fast.
I don't even know when she moved them. Could have been sitting on them for a few days first.

How old is this hen?

 

[retlaw]

How old is this hen?

The hen is two.

But just wait a second here.
I just got back from the pen and a different hen is sitting on the egg pile by the fence.
looks like she is laying. Last years poult. So many eggs there now that she can't even sit and cover them all.

So I went to the nest that I made in the shelter where I placed the eggs and kicked the hen off it because I am choked.
To my astonishment the eggs are still their that I placed.
Chased her back in and she sat on them again after less then a minute.

Where did the other 14 eggs come from?
I walk the pen almost daily looking for eggs.
Some times it might be two days.
6 hens and two have gone broody not laying eggs leaves me four egg producers right now.

I am stunned and still can't believe that I could have missed this cash of extra eggs.
They are not hidden or under a bush or anything.
In plain open sight.

Finally I have a turn of luck.
Just maybe they are going to give me an education lesson that I strongly need.

Maybe they heard me sharping the axe.

 

[ivan3]

How old is this hen?

The hen is two. But just wait a second here. I just got back from the pen and a different hen is sitting on the egg pile by the fence. looks like she is laying. Last years poult. So many eggs there now that she can't even sit and cover them all. So I went to the nest that I made in the shelter where I placed the eggs and kicked the hen off it because I am choked. To my astonishment the eggs are still their that I placed. Chased her back in and she sat on them again after less then a minute. Where did the other 14 eggs come from? I walk the pen almost daily looking for eggs. Some times it might be two days. 6 hens and two have gone broody not laying eggs leaves me four egg producers right now. I am stunned and still can't believe that I could have missed this cash of extra eggs. They are not hidden or under a bush or anything. In plain open sight. Finally I have a turn of luck. Just maybe they are going to give me an education lesson that I strongly need. Maybe they heard me sharping the axe.:cd

One really has to infiltrate & spy on turkey hens and their habits. They are some sneaky weasels and, at this location, that sort of behavior most often leads to death (and not by ax). Had a Royal jenny that was, we thought, happily sharing a nest with a Slate jenny. They had gone broody, one would leave to go dust bathing while the other pulled duty on the nest. All seemed copacetic. One afternoon we noticed that the Royal girl had flown back in to the run and was standing in the shed??? Went out and checked. She was completely torn up - how she managed to fly we do not know. Turns out she was leaving the shared nest, daily, and laying eggs at a location not far up into the woods! As they were locked down at night, the injuries had to have taken place during daylight hours. We put the poor thing down, and I set a live trap at location of the nest in the woods. The following day we were out picking berries and heard the trap slam shut off in the distance. Nasty raccoon on a daytime schedule! I'm certain, as I opened up the dead coon and examined the GI contents. She had obviously lost her life defending the unauthorized nest. So we learned NO nesting in enclosures outside of the run proper. With turkey hens (particularly jennies)? My making "predictions" is only an amusement to be indulged in when I have nothing better to do - only direct observation is a sure bet. (jenny that flew out of run on a Feb. evening and was sitting tight in the snow on nothing at all - go figure (hissed at me all the way back to the shed).