Utah!

[Cynthia12]

I just added water to one of the wells..not sure what the brinsea has? Just add water in one of the reservoirs.

 

[Cynthia12]

Lisa, nothing fancy! Two Sexlink, two Leghorn, and one RIR. Egg laying machines.

Just had to perform bumble foot surgery on my poor little leghorn this morning. That makes the second time with a leghorn. They are so tiny, not sure it's the landing on the floor from the roost..plus, I have a piece of carpet there to pad the area they land on, so not sure if she got something in her foot. She still laid me an egg today, will see if she will tomorrow with the bandage on, she's walking around like she never had that foot cut open, she also had a sore on top! That one was easy, the kernel came out pretty quick, it was a small sore.

 

[Iluvmysilkies]

I just added water to one of the wells..not sure what the brinsea has? Just add water in one of the reservoirs.

Did you add the water during incubation or do you mean during lockdown? Did you only fill the 1 well once, or kept it full the whole time?

 

[Ruralpearls]

Rural, how did you like the temperament of the African geese? Did you have them around any other poultry? They are on my list of considerations for "someday".

Yes, I got them as babies so they imprinted on me mad my husband. They would follow us around and one of them loved my husband to pet her. They hated my cats and would nip at them if they came near. They even chased the dogs once because it got too close. They were fine with my chickens because they grew up together but didn't like them too close. I adored having them but the only down side was how loud they could be. I didn't mind and I don't have neighbors but they can sure honk anytime someone new comes around. I couldn't tell you about the ganders as I had two females. If you look on my blog in 2012 I have several videos of them. A skunk killed the one that let us pet her and the other one had to be re-homed because they can't be alone.

 

[Cathie in UT]

Hi everyone I have been AWL (or absent with leave) for a while.
Amongst other things I spend almost 3 weeks in AZ visiting my brand new grd and grsons with hubby. While I was gone as I reported on FB I lost three hens to an unknown predator assumed to be a raccoon or fox...but who really knows until we can humanely trap it.
It was the middle of our time away and we lost all three within a week. Unfortunately one was the Barred Rock B'Jewell, Lisa. She was the first.
I also lost my black SL and my sweet Orpington. Sigh...
We shouldn't have lost the black but my son didn't realize she hadn't returned to the coop with the others...his excuse is that it was too dark and raining....so she was left out and was got!
I miss those "peeps" as I call them but unless I have a rescue hen sometime soon I will wait until spring to add a new hens.
We had a scare the other night as the latch on the coop broke, probably from the critter trying to get in and luckily my husband happened to hear the girls making a ruckus and we managed to chase the predator off with only some missing feathers from Maudie the Golden SL.
So, now they are very wary of the coop and don't want to go in to lay...they have found new places in the yard and hopefully they won't move around trying to hide the eggs from me. Hubby found two and I found the one today but that same hen...Mable...has now laid in three different spots since the last predator episode.

Any advice for my scaredy cat hens?

 

[themadchicken]

Hi everyone I have been AWL (or absent with leave) for a while.
Amongst other things I spend almost 3 weeks in AZ visiting my brand new grd and grsons with hubby. While I was gone as I reported on FB I lost three hens to an unknown predator assumed to be a raccoon or fox...but who really knows until we can humanely trap it.
It was the middle of our time away and we lost all three within a week. Unfortunately one was the Barred Rock B'Jewell, Lisa. She was the first.
I also lost my black SL and my sweet Orpington. Sigh...
We shouldn't have lost the black but my son didn't realize she hadn't returned to the coop with the others...his excuse is that it was too dark and raining....so she was left out and was got!
I miss those "peeps" as I call them but unless I have a rescue hen sometime soon I will wait until spring to add a new hens.
We had a scare the other night as the latch on the coop broke, probably from the critter trying to get in and luckily my husband happened to hear the girls making a ruckus and we managed to chase the predator off with only some missing feathers from Maudie the Golden SL.
So, now they are very wary of the coop and don't want to go in to lay...they have found new places in the yard and hopefully they won't move around trying to hide the eggs from me. Hubby found two and I found the one today but that same hen...Mable...has now laid in three different spots since the last predator episode.

Any advice for my scaredy cat hens?

A REALLY BIG ROOSTER!

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

Cathie, I am so sorry to hear about you losing your three babies. Especially B'Jewel, she was a favorite here (so sorry! ) I am sad with you!

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

Lisa, nothing fancy!   Two Sexlink, two Leghorn, and one RIR.  Egg laying machines. 

Just had to perform bumble foot surgery on my poor little leghorn this morning.  That makes the second time with a leghorn.     They are so tiny, not sure it's the landing on the floor from the roost..plus, I have a piece of carpet there to pad the area they land on, so not sure if she got something in her foot.   She still laid me an egg today, will see if she will tomorrow with the bandage on, she's walking around like she never had that foot cut open, she also had a sore on top!  That one was easy, the kernel came out pretty quick, it was a small sore. 

Darn the feet sores! Hope she heals super fast, sounds like she already is. Congrats on the new birds! Hey has your White Turken EE started laying yet? Mine is squatting, hoping for a blue or green egg, wondering if you get a colored one

 

[themadchicken]

Quote: Iluv, i have a mini advanced also. As long as there is water in the reservoir you are fine. I top mine off ever couple days. I set my rotation at 7 and watch to make sure the eggs are turning at least 180 degrees. I mix my silkie eggs with large fowl eggs and they do just fine. temp is set at 99.5 and it pretty much stays there even with the swamp cooler blowing in that room. I'm still messing with the turn intervals. The last clutch i hatched was set to turn every 1.5 hours and they all hatched with no defects. This next group i will try every hour and see the results. I have had broody silkies in the house during really cold winters and they never turn their eggs more then once in an hour, but of course they are better then any incubator and don't need instructions. and one last thing they will start hatching 18-19 days instead of the normal 21. I have learned to take the disk out at day 17 if i see pips, and day 18 no matter what. It is best to not take the dome off when chicks are hatching. If you do need to take it off to remove chicks by really fast. I usually let 3 or 4 hatch before i remove them.

 

[Iluvmysilkies]

Iluv, i have a mini advanced also. As long as there is water in the reservoir you are fine. I top mine off ever couple days. I set my rotation at 7 and watch to make sure the eggs are turning at least 180 degrees. I mix my silkie eggs with large fowl eggs and they do just fine. temp is set at 99.5 and it pretty much stays there even with the swamp cooler blowing in that room. I'm still messing with the turn intervals. The last clutch i hatched was set to turn every 1.5 hours and they all hatched with no defects. This next group i will try every hour and see the results. I have had broody silkies in the house during really cold winters and they never turn their eggs more then once in an hour, but of course they are better then any incubator and don't need instructions. and one last thing they will start hatching 18-19 days instead of the normal 21. I have learned to take the disk out at day 17 if i see pips, and day 18 no matter what. It is best to not take the dome off when chicks are hatching. If you do need to take it off to remove chicks by really fast. I usually let 3 or 4 hatch before i remove them.

Ok thanks so much! I guess I just wasent sure if I should add the water as directed or do a dry hatch instead because I was reading reviews from ppl who were saying that by filling the chamber it was producing way too much humidity for such a little bator. But if it's been working just fine for you then I'll do it. So have you been just filling one of the chambers all the way full and just topping it off before it goes empty and then fill both chambers at lockdown? And have you bothered with checking the humidity or you just keep it filled with water all the time and it's been fine? I was told the humidity should stay in the 30s but some peoples reviews were saying that when they filled the chamber it was going up to 80-90s and fogging the inside. So I wasent sure what I'm suppose to do besides maybe try to somehow fit one of the temp/hydro meters in there so I can keep the humidity around 30. This is my first try hatching and I guess I'm just nervous I'm going to do something wrong and get a bad hatch.