Utah!

[La Casa de Pollo]

Cynthia - Thank you so much. I turned on the incubator last night before bed thinking that by morning it would be heated to the temperature I needed.  It was only at 80 degrees this morning. So I have turned it up and we will see how long it takes to warm up. I want to put them in today but want to make sure the temp is stable first. So it will probably be tonight. I can't decide if I should use my silkie for some of hatching.The funny thing is I watch my little silkie who is broody and I don't think she is as careful as I am having to be with these eggs. I can't imagine her even being able to hatch some eggs. She is in her box all day but not always does she have eggs underneath her. So I don't now if I should switch and put fertile underneath her and take out the unfertilized eggs. Argh! This is so difficult.
DH says its a good thing it is difficult then I won't make this a common occurrence. hahaha right.

Auntie Hattie---Mine would sit in an empty nest too. Eggs or no eggs. But as soon as I would show her an egg, she would dance around trying to get me to put it under her haha!

Phoenix, how is Strawberry doing? She being a bee-otch?-- and is she laying? And how is the SLW? I have gotten eggs every single day from your blues. Yay! Yesterday the big egg was even a little bigger than the other two days. I figured it out, the bigger chicken (Lenny) is in fact the one laying the bigger egg. I saw her do it yesterday. Good girl Lenny Squiggy's are a little smaller---been giving her extra mealy worms to see if that fattens those eggs up a bit.

 

[Sphinx]

Oh, Hattie? You have a broody silky? I'd put the eggs under her! I think they're going to do a better job than an incubator. I'd keep them there til your incubator arrives.


Cynthia, I thought that if you got shipped eggs, you should be letting them "rest" with no turning for a few hours? You turn your resting eggs?

 

[auntie hattie]

spinx- My problem is they sent me 15 eggs and there is no way she could lay on all of those. Besides the fact that she doen't alway lay on the eggs. I have to keep going and putting the eggs under her. When she does get up to eat she goes back to another spot she likes better in the coop. Which happens to be right in front of where the little chicken door is. The reason I know all this is we have a camera in the coop. So I really don't know if she really knows well enough to hatch eggs.

 

[Sphinx]

Oh, yeah. Sounds like she wouldn't brood well.

If you got the mini advance, all fifteen eggs won't fit in there anyway- it only holds 7. So, sounds like the still air is definitely your best bet. That way, you can transfer your 7 most promising eggs to the mini advance, and keep the other 8 in the still air.

 

[Cynthia12]

Oh, Hattie? You have a broody silky? I'd put the eggs under her! I think they're going to do a better job than an incubator. I'd keep them there til your incubator arrives.


Cynthia, I thought that if you got shipped eggs, you should be letting them "rest" with no turning for a few hours? You turn your resting eggs?

I do let them rest..I usually let them set 12 hrs. or a little longer. I got these home and into cartons and resting around 8:30 a.m. then put them into the bator at 10:00 ish.

I got my last two boxes of eggs this morning. Oh my, more pretty blue eggs. I have to say though, I was disappointed in the blue of the Wheatens. The Araucanas were way more blue. More of that Robin egg blue. She sent me 32 eggs! I knew she was going to send extra,, whew..guess I'll get my turner out. I also got my 8 Exchequer's. They look to be pullet size. Hope they hatch.
By 4 I will have all the birds I wanted sold out of the hatchery birds, sold. Plus, talking with people about those, gives me a chance to tell people about what I have coming..I have a lot of people wanting Silkies. And, people wanting the BBS Ameruacanas. Yaay, not all sold, but some.

 

[endoux]

Hi all! I'm new to this website, and new to the idea of having chickens. I live in Riverton, have just started researching, and I'm actually getting a little discouraged. I don't have a lot of land. We have about 1/5 of an acre. I would love to have chickens, mainly for two reasons: I try to buy as much of our food locally as possible, and would love to be able to just go out into the backyard for eggs; and I'm allergic to most animals with fur. We can never have dogs or cats, but I bet my kids would love to have chickens as pets. The reason I'm feeling so discouraged is that it feels like Riverton isn't very friendly towards the idea of chickens, unless you have more acreage. It sounds like the limit is 2, and even then a coop has to be 40 feet from any houses. I measured my backyard, and I can go 40 feet from my house, but that doesn't leave me much room. And I have 3 kids. I want 3 chickens.

Maybe I just need to do more research, or maybe it's not meant to be for me. I would love some advice from anyone who lives in Riverton, or anyone whose ordinances are similar and has a smaller piece of land like I do. Thanks!

 

[the-bird-man]

Hi all! I'm new to this website, and new to the idea of having chickens. I live in Riverton, have just started researching, and I'm actually getting a little discouraged. I don't have a lot of land. We have about 1/5 of an acre. I would love to have chickens, mainly for two reasons: I try to buy as much of our food locally as possible, and would love to be able to just go out into the backyard for eggs; and I'm allergic to most animals with fur. We can never have dogs or cats, but I bet my kids would love to have chickens as pets. The reason I'm feeling so discouraged is that it feels like Riverton isn't very friendly towards the idea of chickens, unless you have more acreage. It sounds like the limit is 2, and even then a coop has to be 40 feet from any houses. I measured my backyard, and I can go 40 feet from my house, but that doesn't leave me much room. And I have 3 kids. I want 3 chickens.

Maybe I just need to do more research, or maybe it's not meant to be for me. I would love some advice from anyone who lives in Riverton, or anyone whose ordinances are similar and has a smaller piece of land like I do. Thanks!

i would get a chicken tractor coop so you can move it around your yard. i am not saying you should break the law and get 3 but i will say people around me in west jordan often do not fallow the law fully, like some in my neighborhood keep goats. are you on good terms with your neighbors? maybe talk to them about your plans and see how they feel. just keep the coop clean so there is no smell. i keep mine in a run if i am not watching them so they do not jump the fence and piss off the neighbors. one issue you may have is when they sing the egg song it can get a little loud, but its nothing compared to dogs barking. and 3 hens if managed right will not be much of a issue. chickens are great and if you can find a way to make it work i would do it. my life is so much better because i have chickens. i hope you do not give up, chickens are worth fighting for!

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh----the DH just came home with......an incubator. I am terrified to ever even use it....but I should try! It is kinda late, we finally have most of the chickens we want. BUT I have these Blue Wyandottes who were with a rooster, and I saved their eggs.....question.....if I picked them up on Sunday, how many eggs would I guess at being fertile? Just the first day eggs from Monday morning? I saved 3 days worth. I might try to put them in there and see what happens. the First day eggs have been on the counter in a little paper cup, point side down, untouched. the day two and three eggs are in the fridge point side down. Tell me what you guys think

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

I put an ad on KSL to see if I can find any more fertile eggs around Logan before tomorrow night. I want to set them tomorrow night or Saturday morning so that we can have eggs hatch (hopefully) for Easter weekend. Once I get any advice on how many of these I should try, I will set them all out at room temp and not disturb, right? then I did the x and o---and I read all the directions, the thermometer that came with it is way off so we will go get a good one and calibrate it, and a hygrometer as well. I have tried to absorb all I could from you Sphinx and Cynthia, I hope I get this right. Will keep you posted! But do let me know how many eggs you think would be fertile. Humidity---I read somewhere 30-40 until day 17 then 55+ after that? Any more suggestions or different opinions on that?

Endoux---Welcome! Hope you can get some girls ----I would just go for it if the neighbors had no issues. I am a bit of a rebel though

 

[corvidae]

So the hatch went pretty well. All eight hatched, but one of the was badly tweaked--legs not fuctioning right and toes completely curled up. I thought at first I might be able to brace the lags and make little shoes, but one set of toes couldn't even be straightened. The poor thing couldn't do anything more than flop around on it's belly. I ended up culling it after watching for a while to see is it might improve any.

On the upside, the other seven are all completely healthy and happy, looking quite robust with good coloring. Two are a little lighter and will probably be splash. I thought before that I would keep them all, but I feel so crappy the past few days and so overwhelmed with things to do that I am thinking about selling this group. I dunno, could just be that I am way to tired and sick to make a reasonable decision right now.

Anyway, i thought I would throw up some pics of the little tykes.