Utah!

[corvidae]

Oh, Desert, that is a brilliant set up. I love it. Sadly, no, I don't have a backup roo. I don't have the hens to handle it. Plus, with a total of 3 roosters already, it seemed a little excessive, given that I am in suburbia. Worst case scenario, I have a batch of legbars hatching in just over a week. I could hold a cockerel back from that. But, he would be the son of my existing legbar, which is breeding a little too closely for my taste. Hopefully I can figure something out. Corvidae, have any more spare roosters were contemplating sending to the soup pot that I could buy from you? The more I think about it, the more surprised I am that I didn't lose MORE chickens- I have my enclosure right along the property line, and those giant backhoes (i'm talking the 10' tall ones) going back and forth right along the fence would be incredibly terrifying for them. I noticed my hens were in the henhouse, which is very unusual this time of day. I suspect they ran, and my poor rooster stayed out there to protect his girls.

In happier news, I got a text from the kindergarten teacher that she went to turn the eggs today, and FOUR of them had pipped. I hadn't even planned to put them into lockdown until 3:30 today. It's only day 19. Barely. So, I got everything together and have the hatch cam live again. I'm a little peeved because I'd planned to put sponges under the wire mesh, candle everyone to take out any quitters and set everything up at my leisure, without kids around. Oh well, what do you do? Anyway, hatch cam is live, but where they just pipped a couple hours ago and they're early, I don't expect anything exciting yet. But then again, at my last hatch, I said the same thing and had a chick hatch 3 hours later, so who knows?

Unfortunately, my friend offed the last cull rooster two weeks ago. Don't think he would have been good, anyway--I thought he was kind of mean to the hens. On a better note, I believe I have 5 cream Legbars due to hatch this coming weekend. I haven't had time to candle or do more than glance at them in the incubator since I set them, but if any of them come up boys, I was going to sell them on KSL anyway.

 

[corvidae]

Ash and I went to IFA in Salt Lake today to get flock blocks and dried meal worms and, of course, we had to look at all the chicks, just for fun.

It wasn't fun.

There were 4-5 week old large fowl in with what looked like maybe week old bantams, who were getting squished and rolled around almost constantly. A couple of the were dead. Most of them had poopy butt big time. There was a large tub thing with maybe 10 chickens with varying degrees of peck wounds on them--one of them had a nasty bloody tail. There were a few chicks here and there who had literally been squished flat. It was awful and Asher was very upset.

When we saw the tub thing with the bloody chicks (they were maybe 5-6 weeks old), I stopped the girl that worked there and asked her how much they were, thinking maybe I could rescue them (like I need more chicks, for pity's sake!). She quoted me $3.50 each. I just kind of blinked at her and said, "These birds are all bloody and pecking each other and you are selling them for full price?" "Oh, they aren't pecking each other--they are just mounting. They're supposed to look like that."

I briefly considered slapping her. Since I'm pretty sure that comes with jail time, Ash and I elected to just leave. Never going to buy chicks there again.

On a good note, my roommates brought down 20+ BLRW eggs from the land yesterday and I promptly stuck them in the incubator before running off to work. I have 6 or 7 Black BLRW chicks and one splash that I'm 90% sure is a roo that I'going to put up on KSL for $2 each if anyone wants them. Don't need anymore blacks and I don't run a Splash rooster.

 

[corvidae]

Gah, I just realized I sell my black good quality BLRWs for less than that IFA was selling bloodied up hatchery birds. There's something wrong with this world!

 

[Sphinx]

Corvidae, that would be so, so upsetting to see. I wish we could complain to animal control and have abuse charges leveled against them. I'd be so ticked off. And yeah, you should be selling your BLRW for much more than $3.50. Your stock is absolutely stunning. Let's get together and chat about trading a legbar- I am hatching some in just over a week, so if you do get a boy, it'd be of a comparable size to stick in with mine.


Two chicks out now- one is either a hamburg or a polish mix, and the other came from a tan egg, so who knows WHAT it is. LOL

 

[cyndiloowho]

These Girls/guys are 16 wks now. Can anyone tell for sure if I got a pullet or roos?
Is it still too early?











#2 is lighter weight and walks with a lifted tail a lot.

 

[sillycmoy]

These Girls/guys are 16 wks now. Can anyone tell for sure if I got a pullet or roos?
Is it still too early?











#2 is lighter weight and walks with a lifted tail a lot.

#1 looks just like my almost 6 week old, so I'm hoping everyone tells you Pullet...

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

Am i crazy if I think they both look like girls? The second one def has bigger wattles but I have lots of sexed females that are not near 16 weeks that look more manly than those For 16 weeks I think they are looking good!

 

[cyndiloowho]

Anyone who tells me I have 2 pullets is instantly my very favorite person!
Thanks for the guesses

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

Anyone who tells me I have 2 pullets is instantly my very favorite person! Thanks for the guesses

Well just take note of that "crazy" part. Lol Sphinx and Corvidae see these all the time and will know far better than me. If they were mine though I would be hopeful. But I have had lots of birds right up until crowing and my DH says I am far too optimistic ! I hope they are girls for you, you have paid your dues with boys this year!

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

This is very cool. We were cleaning the patio, and some sparrows were on top of our outdoor speakers,under the eaves...We sprayed up there to scare them out, and realized there was a nest up there. We waited and waited, to see if they would come back and they did not....that is not the coolpart, I felt really bad, I did not know they were trying to sit on eggs up there dang it! But they didnot come back and they abandoned these two little eggs, so I put them in the bator. The cool part is one of them has a baby! I took pics, it is pretty neat--I never thought in a million years they would develop, because they sat there half the day with no Momma sitting on them. They are the size of small jelly beans, little blue eggs. I could totally see the baby moving--my quail eggs are doing great too, lots of movement, so i wonder if they will hatch at the same time, they were set just a few days apart. I need help! If it hatches what do I feed the poor thing?

Thisone you can see the baby--the dark spot, it was rolling around and the egg was pretty transparent, you could really see the body parts.

See how tiny?