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

[FortCluck]

At least you get that much! I tell my other half ANYTHING about the birds... response is “mhmm”.

Me: One of my chicks didn’t make it

Him: “Mhmm”



Forgot: I was desperate in November when we bought the property and had to have SOMETHING in the coops. Some guy had 4 older guinea keets, so I went for it. Those suckers are loud! I was crouching down one afternoon and petting one of the chims, they forgot I was there so when I stood up they started screaming at me. They think scary monsters are out to get them 24/7.

Does he not like the birds or something?

We are taking in 3 retired hens and trading them for some of my chicks. My husband's friend wants to start over his flock, but he wants to completely start over so I offered to take his hens. I can't wait to see his new flock when he picks out some chicks from us.

 

[Mosey2003]

I got my pullets sorted and the rooster moved to the breeding pen last night. Hopefully he gets very amorous today and I can get going soon. Got the new 1588 home as well. Time to clean up and organize and set up. Need to calibrate all the thermometers too.

 

[julskinka]

They can be used for their meat and oil (used topically not consumed) The oil is the best for things like eczema, reduce scarring and psoriasis. Thats what my parents ones were bred for. But I think most people keep them for pets these days

I would have a full farm going here, complete with emus, turkeys, goats, and alpacas, if I thought I my town would be cool with it. But the impression I got is that my town had to hold its nose just to allow people chickens, and their cut off for being allowed to do any sort of "farm" activity is 5 acres, which I am annoyingly just short of. They don't say specifically that you can't have emus, but they also don't say you can.

 

[LilyD]

I would have a full farm going here, complete with emus, turkeys, goats, and alpacas, if I thought I my town would be cool with it. But the impression I got is that my town had to hold its nose just to allow people chickens, and their cut off for being allowed to do any sort of "farm" activity is 5 acres, which I am annoyingly just short of. They don't say specifically that you can't have emus, but they also don't say you can.

You really don't have a lot of options if your area is zoned anything but agricultural. Even here where I am when I contacted the zoning director for the town to ask about regulations for chicken coops when I first moved in. I was told but what if your rooster is noisy. I said roosters crow but if it's excessive and the neighbors can't deal with it I'll host a chicken dinner.

Thankfully all but one of my neighbors (we have a new one that just moved in) love to watch the chickens grow and are very tolerant in the summer when I have a lot of roosters left from hatching. Not sure if they would be okay with Emu's though lol. That might be pushing things a little bit.

 

[julskinka]

You really don't have a lot of options if your area is zoned anything but agricultural. Even here where I am when I contacted the zoning director for the town to ask about regulations for chicken coops when I first moved in. I was told but what if your rooster is noisy. I said roosters crow but if it's excessive and the neighbors can't deal with it I'll host a chicken dinner.

Thankfully all but one of my neighbors (we have a new one that just moved in) love to watch the chickens grow and are very tolerant in the summer when I have a lot of roosters left from hatching. Not sure if they would be okay with Emu's though lol. That might be pushing things a little bit.

We're in this weird in-between zone -- "Environmental protection." I share one property line with a neighbour who has similar property to mine, but otherwise my other line-sharing neighbours are a large horse farm (on preserved farmland) and preserved meadowland. It's funny to me that the town treats our (large, remote) plots just like the little residential plots in the town proper. We're not even allowed to have roosters. I've got dogs on two sides that bark incessantly, coyotes that howl all night, horse stink that wafts at us all day long (I don't mind the smell, personally, but it's definitely *there*), and a neighbour who keeps floodlights on all night. But to the town, chickens and small livestock are the real enemy, haha. I need to move!

 

[hysop]

My neighbor is awesome. We have noisy animals (well just animals, all animals are noisy). And he has yet to complain. We happen to be close neighbors by accident. He has a lot of land and remodeled a house on the edge of his property and we also have about half the amount of land he has and put a house on our edge as well. A storm hit and tore down a lot of trees and now we can see each other I didn’t even know he lived there til that storm hit.

But we have loud guineas and mooing calves who moo all the day long it feels. I find them more annoying than my guineas!! The chickens I’ve always loved their crows and cluckings so I don’t mind their noise. Eventually we wanna get more animals but we need to get into a good routine and care for our current animals well before adding a bunch and feeling overrun with chores.

 

[LilyD]

We're in this weird in-between zone -- "Environmental protection." I share one property line with a neighbour who has similar property to mine, but otherwise my other line-sharing neighbours are a large horse farm (on preserved farmland) and preserved meadowland. It's funny to me that the town treats our (large, remote) plots just like the little residential plots in the town proper. We're not even allowed to have roosters. I've got dogs on two sides that bark incessantly, coyotes that howl all night, horse stink that wafts at us all day long (I don't mind the smell, personally, but it's definitely *there*), and a neighbour who keeps floodlights on all night. But to the town, chickens and small livestock are the real enemy, haha. I need to move!

Yeah most people think of the battery farms when they think of chickens unfortunately and that gives the poor chickens a bad rap. Mine aren't terribly bad to clean up after. I have to clean out the coop maybe once a month but I do it every 2 weeks lol.

And they have access to the whole large barn their coop is in and I clean that up every few months making sure the excess hay is swept up and taken care of and that any droppings that are around on the floor get swept up.

They are literally outside from dawn until dusk on the property foraging and don't come in unless they need to lay an egg or it's bedtime. They drink out of the horse troughs more than their own water lol and my rooster only crows a few times a day so no one really minds him. He doesn't crow when we have new people come on the property or randomly all day long he's too busy watching the girls.

 

[julskinka]

Back on topic - tomorrow is my D7. WHY IS IT NOT HERE YET? HOW IS THIS THE LONGEST WEEK OF MY LIFE? I've had three full-term pregnancies and I swear they didn't take as long as this hatch is taking.

 

[hysop]

I’m on Day 9. Yesterday’s candling gave me the confidence boost to not mess with them today or til Day 14 or 18 really.

 

[gmjarvi]

I've been watching candling videos to get my fix I did a quick candle on one egg today because I had to change out the egg plate in the bator since the correct one arrived today (woohoo!). Air cell looked good, yolk is now visible so I'm taking that as a good sign. I read that on white eggs you can sometimes see tiny "spider veins" at this stage (D4), but I didn't see any. Hoping to see some "beans" on Sunday!