Utah!

[corvidae]

Well, I posted some feedback on the seller. Tried to keep it short and to the point and not too snotty. Not sure I succeeded there--what do you guys think?

"Received 18 Isbar chicks of varying ages and 1 Marans chick. Within 72 hours, 7 dead. Within 5 days, all but the seven oldest when shipped dead, total of 11 dead. Chicks in the next brooder over who had contact with the Isbars now dying. Never had chicks die like this, shipped or hatched. I have also never in my life left bad feedback on a seller. Seller is aware of the situation (has been notified), does not have much to say other than the problem is not with the birds he has, and does not, of course, offer refunds. Not very communicative under the circumstances."

The remaining chicks are all still alive right now, though the same ones who were looking so bad this morning are still dropping their wings down. I'd like to be hopeful, but I don't want to jinx myself! Even if they all survive, I'll still have to make sure the whole bunch of them get NPIP tested when they are old enough, or I'll never trust things enough to breed them. I was kind of planning on doing that anyway, but it really has a new importance for me now.

Love the picture of the duckling, chiko--my son cooed over it.

 

[Chiko]

Guess what? I'm incubating 17 EE eggs for a friend...just when I was excited to put my incubator away for good, she shows up at my doorstep with a burger king bag full of eggs. I couldn't say no to her lol. I can't say no to ANYBODY. Well, hopefully this turns out ok because she's giving me 15 dollars to incubate them and she'll give me 3 dollars for each chick that hatches. So if I get a perfect hatch it will be $51 dollars. I told her it's a big high but she didn't care and left me with 17 eggs. This...will be fun

 

[Cynthia12]

Thanks for the pictures, Cynthia. Your girls are so pretty! I love that second shot with the SS. She just looks graceful to me.

Wow, serious? You think the NH is starting to lay already? How old is she?

No she isn't. Had to stop and think when you asked. I do believe she is one from McMurry, the Feb. order. I was thinking Dec. when I hatched some. I didn't keep any of those. I wasn't sure about them, they had too much black in the wings, so, sold them. This girl is looking more right. I got the others off of e-bay. His Rooster didn't look all that great, but I thought, well, NH's. Sometimes I do great with e-bay..love my Silkies I got from there.
This little NH will be laying probably early June. I wonder if the shell less egg came from one of my poor girls that got a bit stressed from our dog, Dallas, chasing them when I didn't know that was what he was barking at! Little stink!

 

[Cynthia12]

Well, I posted some feedback on the seller. Tried to keep it short and to the point and not too snotty. Not sure I succeeded there--what do you guys think?

"Received 18 Isbar chicks of varying ages and 1 Marans chick. Within 72 hours, 7 dead. Within 5 days, all but the seven oldest when shipped dead, total of 11 dead. Chicks in the next brooder over who had contact with the Isbars now dying. Never had chicks die like this, shipped or hatched. I have also never in my life left bad feedback on a seller. Seller is aware of the situation (has been notified), does not have much to say other than the problem is not with the birds he has, and does not, of course, offer refunds. Not very communicative under the circumstances."

The remaining chicks are all still alive right now, though the same ones who were looking so bad this morning are still dropping their wings down. I'd like to be hopeful, but I don't want to jinx myself! Even if they all survive, I'll still have to make sure the whole bunch of them get NPIP tested when they are old enough, or I'll never trust things enough to breed them. I was kind of planning on doing that anyway, but it really has a new importance for me now.

Love the picture of the duckling, chiko--my son cooed over it.

That sounds perfect. Hopefully, someone will stop bidding when they read up!

 

[Cynthia12]

Guess what? I'm incubating 17 EE eggs for a friend...just when I was excited to put my incubator away for good, she shows up at my doorstep with a burger king bag full of eggs. I couldn't say no to her lol. I can't say no to ANYBODY. Well, hopefully this turns out ok because she's giving me 15 dollars to incubate them and she'll give me 3 dollars for each chick that hatches. So if I get a perfect hatch it will be $51 dollars. I told her it's a big high but she didn't care and left me with 17 eggs. This...will be fun

EE's are fun. They change so fast in coloring. I have some barnyard mixes going into lock down on Mon. Three are EE's. The eggs are a dark green olive color. Man I wish I could live someplace where I can have lots and lots and lots of chickens. That would make me smile. )

 

[auntie hattie]

Chico- cute ducklings! I would love to have ducks.

Cynthia- How old is your silkie chick? Mine is one week old and doesn't have the feathering yours does. Funny thing about my black silkie is she is suppose to be a blue but that didn't happen :/
The other one is a Partridge. I just went out to the coop and now one of my white ones is going broody! I think it is contagious. Silkies are really fun to have my grandkids love them. I think I'm down to only three hens laying now. Not good.

 

[Chiko]

EE's are fun. They change so fast in coloring. I have some barnyard mixes going into lock down on Mon. Three are EE's. The eggs are a dark green olive color. Man I wish I could live someplace where I can have lots and lots and lots of chickens. That would make me smile. )

 

[the-bird-man]

Well, I posted some feedback on the seller. Tried to keep it short and to the point and not too snotty. Not sure I succeeded there--what do you guys think?

"Received 18 Isbar chicks of varying ages and 1 Marans chick. Within 72 hours, 7 dead. Within 5 days, all but the seven oldest when shipped dead, total of 11 dead. Chicks in the next brooder over who had contact with the Isbars now dying. Never had chicks die like this, shipped or hatched. I have also never in my life left bad feedback on a seller. Seller is aware of the situation (has been notified), does not have much to say other than the problem is not with the birds he has, and does not, of course, offer refunds. Not very communicative under the circumstances."

The remaining chicks are all still alive right now, though the same ones who were looking so bad this morning are still dropping their wings down. I'd like to be hopeful, but I don't want to jinx myself! Even if they all survive, I'll still have to make sure the whole bunch of them get NPIP tested when they are old enough, or I'll never trust things enough to breed them. I was kind of planning on doing that anyway, but it really has a new importance for me now.

Love the picture of the duckling, chiko--my son cooed over it.

i think you did great! i am impressed

 

[SashaT]

I need some advice, please! I received 32 bantam Wyandotte eggs in the mail today (yay!) which Lisa is graciously hatching the majority of for me. Several of the eggs are pretty soiled with spots of chicken poop. Should we clean the eggs at all or leave them? I don't want to chance a bacterial infection, but don't want to compromise the fetuses by washing off their natural protection either. What do you think?
Sasha

 

[RedIII]

Sasha, did a quick search on the forum and this thread came up. It mostly says not to bother with washing the eggs:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/59871/help-clean-poop-off-fertile-eggs

I thought I saw something on here about cleaning them with cold water, but I can't find it. Don't rinse them off on my word alone - there are plenty of more experienced folk on here who I'm sure will pitch in on this.

corvidae, I think that feedback was very to-the-point, informative, and civilly written. Perfect!

aunt hattie, I love the picture of your little baby silkie sitting on mom. My BO tries to hop onto the older chicks I have, but they don't play that game and there ends up being a rodeo for a couple of seconds.

So, honestly you guys, how many of you dream about chickens? I had a nap today (it was an early morning) and I dreamed I had a bunch of oddball little chicks that I had no idea where they came from. Some looked like quail crosses, and others had the strangest combs. Like some kind of a tea cozy that reminded me of the flower on a grape hyacinth in it's shape. I know I'm weird, but this isn't the first time I've dreamed about chickens. I never used to dream about them until I started owning them, and since then, I've had three or four chicken dreams.