Washingtonians

[FirewifeJess]

We've got lots of folks here that have homebred EEs (and OEs too, if you want a different color egg) and due to the crosses some of them are quite cool. Chickielady had one pullet that turned out to be an EE, she had Black Copper Marans coloring on an Ameraucana body, really pretty. And some were splash and so on. She currently has an Orloff roo over some of her hens and coming out with wild colors. Could be fun!

This is the boy I'm picking up from Dawn next weekend. He's an Appenzeller Spitzhauben/EE cross! I'm getting him to protect the girls...they're such space cadets when they're out in the yard!


Now I'm kinda wondering what kind of babies he'd make with my EEs, RIR, Black Aussie, Buff Orps, Welsummer, and GLW?! Should I forgo buying chicks just to see if one of my own girls goes broody and hatches some of her own chicks? Sounds like an adventure!

 

[CailetTempest]

Well in getting all the babies settled for the night, found one of the baby turkeys not doing so well. Dang it. This little bugger was the oddball of the 4 babies. I really wanted it to make it to grown up with feathers and everything just to see how it would turn out.

Made a liquid mash type food from the poultry flock raiser and it drank a little bit of it..but not much. Little bugger just wanted to lay down on the towel under the heat lamp. Saad sad sad.

out of the 5 grown turkeys that are in the pen only 4 eggs hatched... 3 were of the narangansett coloring so i'm thinking they might be purebred. The oddball was a yellow little bugger with a bit of chocolate color on the top of its head. best guess was either blue slate/chocolate cross or else blue slate/narangansett cross. DANG IT.. I tried my best with the little guy but he didn't make it.

well i am off to bed and gonna try to get some sleep before hubby gets home.

 

[birdly]

while sitting here watching the turkeys and the cat interact with each other through the wire of the cage. I am sure the cat is thinking "mmmmmmm tasty turkey treats" and the turkeys are probably like "Soo are you some type of a turkey?"

This made me giggle.


I read your latest post just now. So sorry to hear about the little guy that didn't make it.

 

[birdly]

This is the boy I'm picking up from Dawn next weekend. He's an Appenzeller Spitzhauben/EE cross! I'm getting him to protect the girls...they're such space cadets when they're out in the yard!


Now I'm kinda wondering what kind of babies he'd make with my EEs, RIR, Black Aussie, Buff Orps, Welsummer, and GLW?! Should I forgo buying chicks just to see if one of my own girls goes broody and hatches some of her own chicks? Sounds like an adventure!

I'm a newbie, so I don't know how to answer your question. But I just wanted to say: What a handsome guy!

 

[FirewifeJess]

I'm a newbie, so I don't know how to answer your question. But I just wanted to say: What a handsome guy!

I know! I'm super excited to add him to my small flock. The girls are gonna swoon!

 

[birdly]

I know! I'm super excited to add him to my small flock. The girls are gonna swoon!

I would too, if I was a hen!

 

[itsren]

I find it nerve wracking! I have hatched eggs with 2 broodys and now an incubator. My 11 year old loves it and the chicks are priceless. I end up with a lot of roosters that way and have had to put a chick down because its legs were deformed and it couldn't walk. I have the offspring of a pair that we hatched under a broody. The roosters name is Rupert and I have named his son Twopert but my daughter calls him Rupert the second. I almost feel like he is my grand child! The part I like about hatching chicks is that you can order some pretty amazing chicken eggs, rare breed and hatch the eggs. I have Marans from Kentucky and Bredas from California.

Do you prefer hatching with a broody or an incubator? And, are cockerals more common than pullets? If we hatch our own eggs, do we need to plan to hatch a lot more than we want to keep?

I've actually started to think about what we're going to do next spring. We plan to add 3 (city code max is 6 hens). I was thinking it might be kind of cool for the kids (and us) to watch the entire process. I'm not sure which would be the best way to go. From what I understand, our Light Brahma will tend to be broody, but the downfall with a Brahma might be that she'll be so big, she might tend to break eggs. As it is, she's already our clumsy one. I've also been looking at the Brinsea Mini Advance incubator. It holds 7 eggs - and has a clear top to see through.

Any thoughts/suggestions? Fortunately we have nearly a year to think this through.

 

[VelvettFog]

Hey VF, so were you an Echo or a Golf? The Army taught me Czech. And two weeks after I started the language, the wall came down in Prague. Heh heh. I was a Golf. Spent my first tour in God-awful Ft. Drum. Miserable place!

Yeah I've actually been thinking about learning Spanish lately, and dragging my 9yo DD into it, too. Shelton has a huge population of Spanish-speaking immigrants.

98G - RU,SC I also tested out at a 2 in, Bulgarian, Polish, Czech and Slovac. (Only to boost my language bonus to the maximum 300 a month )

 

[VelvettFog]

Question: Next year I'm fairly certain I would like to acquire some different colors of EE/Ameraucana pullet chicks. How do I go about ordering/finding different color chicks? What is my type called? I really like SunBug4's EEs, and a few others. Would love white, blue, splash, whatever. I just think my girl here is kinda pretty, though boring

I *think* this coloration is called "gold duckwing", but I am probably wrong. Is this Martha? If so, I'd say with certainty that *she* is properly named. Look closely at the comb, a boy would have a very pronounced 'ridge' down the center as the middle row of the 'pea comb' would be noticeably higher than the other two rows. Also, if a boy, I'd very much expect to see color leakage across the back/sides. I don't see any of that in this picture, although it is a bit difficult to see her flanks/back.

 

[VelvettFog]

Do you prefer hatching with a broody or an incubator? And, are cockerals more common than pullets? If we hatch our own eggs, do we need to plan to hatch a lot more than we want to keep?

I've actually started to think about what we're going to do next spring. We plan to add 3 (city code max is 6 hens). I was thinking it might be kind of cool for the kids (and us) to watch the entire process. I'm not sure which would be the best way to go. From what I understand, our Light Brahma will tend to be broody, but the downfall with a Brahma might be that she'll be so big, she might tend to break eggs. As it is, she's already our clumsy one. I've also been looking at the Brinsea Mini Advance incubator. It holds 7 eggs - and has a clear top to see through.

Any thoughts/suggestions? Fortunately we have nearly a year to think this through.

I prefer incubators. I think this gives me a better hatch rate. It definitely gives me the opportunity to watch And if needed I can intervene, although I usually avoid that. My thought is that if the chick cannot get out of its shell on its own, it is probably not going to be a strong healthy chick.

If you hatched 1,000 eggs you should be pretty close to 500 roos and 500 pullets. But if you hatch only 10, you could get a much less desirable ratio. 8 eggs *should* guarantee at least one of each sex. (Statistically speaking)

I use two incubators, both Styrofoam, both with fans. I have an automatic turner in one. Eggs go in there for the first 18 to 19 days, then I move them to the second for hatching. I set 14 at a time, usually every weekend. This means I'm also hatching out 14 every weekend (from 14 eggs I am averaging 11 chicks). I cannot seem to hatch them as fast as the Hispanics buy them (See why I need Spanish?)

I spent a bunch of time doing research before I purchased my incubators. I settled on the GQF Genesis (http://www.gqfmfg.com/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=77) I like the digital controls, and that it came pre-set. Plug it in and it gets to the correct temp. I added the automatic turner (http://www.gqfmfg.com/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=279).

This winter, I hope to build a cabinet incubator. My thoughts are to have drawers that pull out, with the bottom drawer the "hatcher". We'll see how motivated I am come November

Since it sounds like you only want to hatch once - maybe you could rent/borrow an incubator? Or keep an eye on your Craig's list - I've seen some pretty good deals there - just a month or so ago someone was selling everything you needed for 100 bucks - they had purchased it for their daughters science project, and were looking to move it along to someone with a similar need.


Sorry for the long post

Dave