Tis Time for a March 2020 Hatch-a-long!

[BluebirdHomestead]

Eeek!! A Marans egg is pipping!!! It’s the one I was pretty sure was fully developed.

 

[julskinka]

She's so pretty though!

She's really not, haha. She always looks grumpy!

These is my pretty chickens:

Room, CCL, comes to say hello

Ziggy, tolbunt polish, thinks about fleeing

Aubergine, welsummer, has confused sexual feelings

(Sorry, I am just absolutely the worst photographer)

 

[julskinka]

What a great brooder set up!

Thanks! It's made from an old Ikea bunk bed, on top of the bathroom vanity we pulled out, with basement window screens, 2x4s, and hardware cloth. Everything was just laying around so I made this!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

She's really not, haha. She always looks grumpy!

These is my pretty chickens:

Room, CCL, comes to say hello
View attachment 2041830

Ziggy, tolbunt polish, thinks about fleeing View attachment 2041833

Aubergine, welsummer, has confused sexual feelingsView attachment 2041834

(Sorry, I am just absolutely the worst photographer)

Ziggy is my favorite!!! I love Tolbunt Polish! Well, all Polish, but especially Tolbunts, Laced, and Mottled Polish. lol

 

[FortCluck]

While I run around here on D19 prepping my brooder and doing other chores, I want to just take a moment to complain about this chicken:
View attachment 2041826
This is Big. She is an F3 or 4 olive egger that's part cuckoo marans and part cream legbar. I hatched her last spring. She has never started laying eggs. I marveled today how I'm literally about to hatch new babies, and last year's hatch hasn't even all started laying.

Screw you, Big. I'm gonna change your name to Sucks.

We had a cream legbar that we got from somebody and it never laid eggs. It was the meanest hen I've ever had too. She got rehomed to another far.

 

[FortCluck]

Big brooder and feeder/waterer are all clean and ready to go! Just need to set up the Mama pad and a temporary brooder now. Oh right, and go buy chick feed.
View attachment 2041828

I got chick feed yesterday. I almost forgot to though. I'm keeping the bantams in for a bit then I'll put them in the shed with the 3 little chickens I didn't move yet.

 

[jolenesdad]

I actually reached out to them yesterday and have eggs coming from them in the next 2 weeks. So glad to hear this feedback. I’m more concerned about egg color over SOP.

Good luck!!! I did an entire dozen of splash eggs and I only got one splash that was a cockerel.

I’ve been trying for a splash marans pullet for a year and a half, and have hatched 4 sets.

When I move I’m hatching Connie and James’ eggs again and ill retain a blue cockerel to just make it happen myself.

 

[ASteelman]

For those who are looking for Marans eggs, I highly HIGHLY recommend G-Bear Farms. The Guilberts in Oklahoma. You can find tbem on FB under G-Bear farms and reach out directly. I’m sure they have a website too.

they consistently win the national egg show, but have some over-melanized lines that aren’t necessarily best for SOP breeding. I had my absolute BEST hatch from shipped eggs from them this year, and I’ve hatched a few hundred shipped eggs this year. I hatched 21 out of 24 eggs.

they’re not cheap because they’re some of the best, I think 80-100 per dozen shipped. I broke even selling off the hatch at 4 weeks and keeping 3 pullets. everyone wants those birds, you can even sell cockerels. I wanted them Gone in a hurry so I did one batch sale, but could have easily made a profit if I took more time to sell them. As it was, I sold them in ONE day.

I bought some adult blue wheatens from The Guiberts and they're lovely! Worth the drive over to Apache.

 

[gimmie birdies]

A watched pot never boils, when I first got a welsummer, I waited so long for it to lay an egg, then I was not impressed with how often it laid and swore, I would never get welsummers again. Last year I was at a feed store, and they had .68 roosters, I glanced and saw a perfect dark stripped chipmunk pullet, ha-ha on the feed store, and Meyer's because they both guessed wrong on that one. I snagged her for .68. I got so busy last year, I didn't really pay attention to how long it took her to lay, and she does good and lays a dark enough egg to rival a maran, but the egg is matte. Her egg is the dark one to the middle right. and a few more..with the freckles.
.

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

No problem. Foxfire is in Idaho and Cindy is really a good communicator. She is meticulous in her listings about which birds are in each pen and what to expect. I know a lot of people who have had great experiences with her eggs. I have been holding off only because of distance to GA in such cold.

I second foxfire as a great eBayer to get eggs from. Been VERY happy with all 5 batches I’ve purchased from her. Actually won’t buy from anyone else due to previous bad experiences with other sellers.

Almost all the chickens in this video are foxfire babies. Except for 2 mix breed eggs I hatched and the 6 little chicks from TSC.