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

[Mosey2003]

Oh no! I really hope that's not the case!

He just doesn't seem that interested in breeding them yet.

Two of them looked ruffled this morning though, so hopefully this next setting will be better.

 

[baby-blue]

Candled late last night and only one of my first 8 silkie/seramas was growing and the other 4 standard sized eggs were growing. Haven’t checked the rest of the 80+ eggs yet, likely doing that tonight. I finally figured out how to reset my bator though! Got the temp up (finally reading 99-100F on my hygrometers) and now it’s turning eggs automatically. No more hand turning eggs!! Woo!!

I have to run to RK later to pick up feed, and they’re getting a shipment of baby fowl (chicks, keets, ducklings, poults) in today too. I wonder if my planning to go today was coincidence Time to see if my mother, who is coming along just to see the babies, will be an enabler or not... Ugh, if only class would go by quicker!

 

[Mosey2003]

I took my mother to Farm & Fleet last weekend as they had feed on sale and Saturday is her grocery day, and I found her at the RIR chick bin, she tried to convince me we needed at least one red chicken "Just a rooster even?" Egads, ma, NO WAY. Of all the hatchery birds out there, a "RIR" rooster is the LAST one I'd ever choose willingly!!!

 

[gimmie birdies]

I gave away 3 roosters recently, 2 RIR and one olive egger, I could pick up the RIR roosters, one was kind of a jerk, the other seemed melow. The OE was a bit skiddish, because he was younger but I could still hold him. The gal I gave them to said she was going to keep one rooster, but she wanted to interview them first.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I gave away 3 roosters recently, 2 RIR and one olive egger, I could pick up the RIR roosters, one was kind of a jerk, the other seemed melow. The OE was a bit skiddish, because he was younger but I could still hold him. The gal I gave them to said she was going to keep one rooster, but she wanted to interview them first.

Interview??? LOL! That's a first for me!

 

[gimmie birdies]

7 months old and they left before they crowed. plus my hens didn't get bred.

 

[FortCluck]

I got antsy and candled yesterday, would be day 4. Saw absolutely nothing. Still gonna wait for day 7 to be sure, but 45 clears really hurts

I was so mad when I candled my bantam eggs and all of them were clear. I just hatched some of her chicks two days ago. Hopefully her eggs will become fertile again.

 

[Trisseh]

If it was just the weird toes that’s one thing but something is definitely wrong with it’s leg. It is not getting around normally.

Toes wouldn’t be of any concern to me, looks like they’re not completely missing. leg issue, hard to say. I haven’t dealt with any of my own with problems like this, but since I work at a vet clinic we see the occasional one. The last one was a turkey poult that had a slipped tendon, but her leg bent out, as the tendon slipped to the inside. Same general rules apply to baby poultry or puppies or calves, if you’re going to try to help straighten them out, the earlier the better. Although if you have neuro (nerve) damage, may not be much you can do. Some stretching/range of motion exercises can help if things are just a little contracted or twisted up. definitely no judgement no matter what you decide. Sometimes the kindest thing to do is ease their suffering permanently. It’s a terrible thing to have to decide but it’s a gift we can give them if they need it.

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

Oh boy I could tell you some funny TSC stories One time I got 10 chicks and they were supposed to be all pullets. 6 of the 10 were Cockerels! Another time I got ducks and they said they were all the same breed... Nope, they weren't. Another time all were the wrong breed... Needless to say I stopped buying chicks at tractor supply

Last year I got like 6-8 "pullets" from the bargain bin at TSC. At our store that's usually the 2+ week olds they clearance out at Rock bottom prices. I think I paid $0.25 a chick. Anyways they were sex linked birds so I thought I got an amazing deal. First time buying birds from TSC.

What I have since learned is for red based sex linked birds the females are the red/darker ones and males are the white/yellow chicks. Our TSC must have gotten a wrong order, from Jenks hatchery, because every single bird was a rooster!

 

[FortCluck]

I gave away 3 roosters recently, 2 RIR and one olive egger, I could pick up the RIR roosters, one was kind of a jerk, the other seemed melow. The OE was a bit skiddish, because he was younger but I could still hold him. The gal I gave them to said she was going to keep one rooster, but she wanted to interview them first.

I want to know how she interviews them because if HeiHei doesn't make it through whatever is wrong with him. I am going to keep one of the cockerels I was going to butcher... I wouldn't want to butcher the wrong one

I butcher them tomorrow