Utah!

[Sphinx]

Oh, love the pictures. Sasha, those babies are adorable.

Lisa, wouldn't it be awesome if Villain was a frizzle?


Today I cut carpet remnants into squares to put in my nest boxes. Silly birds keep kicking all the shavings out, laying eggs on the bare wood, which cracks the egg if they land wrong.

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

Hattie I would LOVE if Masked Villain was a frizzle. yay That one will be the spoiled brat because we love her even more now

Red, looks like I will pass on Cynthia's Marans if you want to go ahead and get your Icelandic......Mine are all hatching. I had a boyish one hatch out of nowhere late last night and both the others are chirping and have their noses out. Hoping there is a girl in there. Just one, would make me quite happy

Daloorashens, cute chickie pics You may even have two Blue Wheaten in there...wait till the body feathers come in, when my 5 week olds started feathering in I could not believe how beautiful, gray, rust, brown, all kinds of pretty feathers come in on these.

Sphinx, hope you have better luck with eggs not cracking! I use cat litter pans in my next boxes with that foamy shelf liner inside. Easy to clean every so often (mostly if my teens decide to sleep in the next box and poop in it, stinkers!) I keep kicking those guys out at night but they are not getting it. My littlest babies got let out of the cage permanently yesterday, so far nobody is getting picked on too bad. Hope they are ok this morning!

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

Aw man! One of the marans chicks still in the shell stopped moving. No peeping. I took it out of the bator to take a closer look---totally still, looks dead in the shell. Funny because it pipped, has air, no shrink wrap, no blood that i can see...not a darn thing wrong with it, it just quit breathing. Hmmmm I peeled back a little shell, looks totally ready for hatch. Wonder what happened? I am stumped. Poor baby.

The other one is still trying, I am not helping because it does have a little more blood on it still. Looks pretty healthy so far. Better be a girl!

 

[Sphinx]

Lisa, I'm sorry that one suddenly died. I hope the next one hatches out and looks like a girl. Feather sexing seems to work quite well on bcm, so in the next day or so, you should be able to tell for sure. I knew right away with my two marans that I had one of each. It's been really obvious with the differences. At this point, they're almost 2 months old, and the cockerel still looks a bit patchy and not feathered in.

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

I am thinking boy here....take a look and tell me what you think. More white, big feet, broad comb. Thanks for the info I was just getting ready to ask what to look for on these after I saw your post !

 

[Sphinx]

Those are awfully big feet. I'd wait a day or two and do feather sexing though.

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

Those are awfully big feet.  I'd wait a day or two and do feather sexing though.

Will do! Thanks. #2 is almost out. Pretty broad comb as well. Will wait to feather check them in the next day or two though Send girlie vibes my way everybody!

 

[Cynthia12]

Oh, love the pictures. Sasha, those babies are adorable.

Lisa, wouldn't it be awesome if Villain was a frizzle?


Today I cut carpet remnants into squares to put in my nest boxes. Silly birds keep kicking all the shavings out, laying eggs on the bare wood, which cracks the egg if they land wrong.

Shinx, that's what we do. Scott put that in our nest boxes..works like a charm. I kept getting cracked eggs too. Makes sense they would crack when they push so hard with that last push..standing up, then it hits that wood floor. They always have to make that nice little round spot to lay on/in when they lay their egg, but they expose the bottom.

Another hot day? Yesterday was a breaker in early heat. It's usually June 7th, so, we were close.

I go into lock down today with those eggs I was telling you about Jill. The Lavender Ameraucanca dad, with the white leghorn. These chicks are supposed to lay blue blue eggs. He was going for a lot of eggs, large eggs, which these are, and then of course, the blue. Guess I'll have to wait a long time before I see what color the chicks will lay. Plus I got some real pretty olive egg colors from him, plus, lol..I have my catdance Silkies in with them. All, in my new bator. We shall see by Fri. how this bator does. I can say one thing for sure, this think holds the humidity like no other. I've done the dry incubation all the way, except when it got down to the low the high teens, and the air sacs started getting big enough. So, put a tiny piece of paper towel in, and that brought it up into the 30's. Now, I'm watching it, how much paper now?? lol I can open this bator "during" lock down and not worry about it according to others that have it. That's ok, I always opened my other bators to snatch a baby out once in a while when they were all taking a long time to hatch anyway. The pipped ones always made it. Probably loved the fresh oxygen in there.

Hope someone out there is doing something fun today. Where's Brad? Brad, speak up! We will let you get a word in, promise! What have you been up to? You always have a project you are working on. Did you get all of the trees/bushes pruned and cut back? Didn't you say you had water in the basement? Is that all dry now? There is always something to do with our homes. I am excited to be getting a new vinyl fence on the West side of our house! Can't pass up the deal this guy is giving us on the fence. He lives down the street from us, and is doing a lot of neighbors, including the fence on the East side of us. We won't worry about the back fence. We really need new linoleum in our upstairs bath. It will come. I know that stuff has had to be in there since the 80's, at least. Can't get into the little dents with anything to get it clean looking, so have to just mop and be ok. I've tried tooth brushes..of course a larger brush, but it is in there. Next thing I get in there will not have those little dimples in it. I know the ladies know what I'm talking about.
Book Done!! Later!

 

[Cynthia12]

Lisa, you posted while I was writing my book. You have marans!! Congrats..but sorry about losing one sooo close to hatching.

I'm with Shinx on waiting to sex them.. they come with swollen feet and bellies. Tomorrow, I'll bet you will be able to see those wings, stuby, a boy. Long and fluffy more than likely a girl, but you know how it works..you never know for sure with this wing guessing, but that seems to work pretty good.
Your two you sent me, look to be girls. One looks like a wheaton, and one a blue W. Very pretty.
Post more pictures tomorrow. Then we can guess away!

 

[RedIII]

Aww, thanks Red. I'm keeping that girl in the first picture.
Pardon my lack of knowlege, but what is a topknot?

Check out the pictures on this page:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/299038/icelandic-chickens/15430

The chickens that have that mini tufty thing poking up are displaying topknots

Lisa, I'm sorry the one chick just quit on you. That's disheartening. I hope the other baby is okay!

Sphinx, I like your idea for the nest boxes. I think I might try something like that when I install a box on the coop here.

Dalooras, cute chicks! Those Amer's are looking very pretty already. And you're gonna love the Delawares. Not that I'm biased, or anything