Utah!

[themadchicken]

My little broody silkie is now sitting on 6 eggs. I am a little concerned. Its been a long time (30 yrs or so) since i hatched eggs under a hen. She has laid 1 egg a day since Monday, and i added a LF egg on Monday to her clutch. I think i might add a 25 watt light in their coop to help with heat. i am going to mark the eggs tomorrow and only let her keep the ones she has already but the concern is the 5 days time difference in the laying. Once the fist ones hatch will she still sit and hatch the others or do i need to bring some in the house and help at that time. I know every one on this thread has incubator's but i wanted to do it the natural way. I guess this will be a learning experience but if anyone else on this thread has tried this then i would appreciate some experienced help.

 

[RedIII]

Chickenmom, I'm glad she's okay! And who doesn't like a nice, clean chicken?

I've enjoyed watching the chickens in the snow today and learning more about their behavior. They mostly holed up in the run, and I kept feeling like there was something unusual about it. Then it occurred to me that they were probably bored to death, and that when I've seen the chickens venture out in wintertime at my BF's house, they have several vehicles and trailers to go under to hang out. So, I started working on a playground today for my chickens. They now have a few places outside of the run that they can mosey between and stay dry. Not even chickens should have to deal with cabin fever.

And, I thought it was cute that at one point, I was holding one of the Icelandic pullets I got from Hattie. When I set her down, her sister came over and stood on my shoe. I looked down to find this little pullet waiting, as if to say, "Okay, my turn for snuggles?" She seemed pretty happy when I picked her up and scratched her neck.

 

[Cynthia12]

Red III, Blondie spent the night on a nest and today we got our usual five eggs....so guess she's ok. Soaking her seemed to have helped I guess. One good thing....now I know how to bath a chicken if I want to enter them in the fair!

But I hope never to have one egg bound again! I know she's sore!

I'm soo happy she's ok! That makes you ok too.

 

[Daloorashens]

My little broody silkie is now sitting on 6 eggs. I am a little concerned. Its been a long time (30 yrs or so) since i hatched eggs under a hen. She has laid 1 egg a day since Monday, and i added a LF egg on Monday to her clutch. I think i might add a 25 watt light in their coop to help with heat. i am going to mark the eggs tomorrow and only let her keep the ones she has already but the concern is the 5 days time difference in the laying. Once the fist ones hatch will she still sit and hatch the others or do i need to bring some in the house and help at that time. I know every one on this thread has incubator's but i wanted to do it the natural way. I guess this will be a learning experience but if anyone else on this thread has tried this then i would appreciate some experienced help.

It seems like they will sit on the eggs for up to a couple of days after they start hatching, so then you could take the ones left over into the bator, very carefully, since it's like lockdown... It's been about 15 years since I had chickens as a teenager, but I loved having the broodies, soooo much less worry than incubating... But, if she's still laying, is she totally broody?? They usually stop laying when they are truly broody...

 

[PressOn]

It is always funny to watch chickens in snow for the first time. Also this is the first time that I have had a silver laced whyandotte, what a cool looking bird in the snow.

 

[RedIII]

PressOn, I know what you mean. One of my EE's is almost totally white. She blends in with the snow at first glance, and then you see little black spots and a face moving.

 

[Cynthia12]

Brody, my dachshund. first time in the snow.


Mom? What is this stuff?

Oh well, it's fun! The one is Ziggy, he knows what it is..and doesn't care for it. Getting
older. Go's out, does what he is supposed to do outside..and then wants back in. He's
a schnoodle.

Yes, there is a chicken coop and run. It looks like I have tarp all the way to the coop,
but I only have it on the back end..there is chicken wire holding up all of that snow.
I hope it holds! It is actually keeping the snow from falling in right now, but when it
starts melting, it's a mess. Lisa, can't imagine what you have in Logan.

Where is Sasha? She's snowed in.

 

[RedIII]

Cynthia, it's funny to see how the animals react to snow. Both our dogs and one of our cats love it, but the other two cats think it's evil stuff. I have been getting a kick out of watching the Icelandics in the snow. All five of them will come out and walk around the run regularly. The oldest pullet and her buddy, the Leghorn, will walk further into the garden where there's a dry spot under a chair and hang out. I took a little video of some of them this morning. You guys are going to get flooded with pictures and video once my computer is back in shape

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

Oh Cynthia you have deeper snow than us! Ha ha! We got some, but yours looks much deeper.

My girls have straw bales stacked along the west side of the run, but the snow came in the east side this time. Pretty muddy feet they have this morning. I went out and threw handfuls of straw down on top of the wet dirt , to help make it a little nicer, My eggs were looking "dirty turdy birdy feet" this morning lol! Cute dog pics

 

[pawtraitart]

Wow, that's a lot of snow! No snow on the ground here whatsoever. Just windy and cold.