What did you do with your flock today?

[Luv Ducks]

That is awesome. We have next to 0 predators here- pretty much just dogs but we lose plenty to dogs forsure. I read all of the post on byc of how tricky and brutal coon, weasels, fox's etc are. Such a battle. I think it is awesome that they have worked perfectly well. (Touch wood ♡)

Wow, how fortunate you are not to have predators!!! Dogs can be really bad though and enough people here have gotten fined that they are all kept up. I have two but they know to leave my ducks alone or I will be having Hotdogs for dinner! lol

 

[ChicksnMore]

That sounds absolutely awesome! Love the girl time and glad you have a reliable person to man the home front. Big relief.

Do you have a cabinet incubator? If so, what brand? I picked up a used one and have not fired it up yet as I wanted to make a whole station. Anywho, looking to glean info.

Actually I'm hiring a neighbor to come take care of most things Hubby's got 2 years to retirement ands gone most of the day. I don't want him hating our girl time so don't want him having to take care of the animals and garden while we're gone. By the end of three weeks he'd be exhausted, stressed and some of my plants would probably be dead. He'd do fine with the animals..but he'd still be exhausted and stressed. He's very routine oriented!

I wish I had a cabinet incubator! I have two rcoms. They hold 14 pea eggs each with the dividers removed and the auto turning still works that way. I usually use the dividers though and often have a mix of different eggs with different hatch times in them. I love them for ease of use...I only have to keep the water reservoir topped off, candle the eggs and move them to the hatching box as needed. My daughter bought a wine cooler/cabinet that she wants to turn into a cabinet incubator for me as a future gift. She's really good at that kind of stuff. But I have no idea when she'll get to it as she's always so busy. She bought it when my old incubator that she'd made me broke. But then a new breeding season came and it wasn't done yet...so I bought an rcom on sale. Then they came out with a new version and the one I already had went on an even better sale...so I bought a second If I'd just waited...she probably would have finished it pretty quick! Now she's in no hurry...lol.

I'd luv to see your cabinet! What an exciting find you got!

I forget, where are you in the world? Is it Idaho? Sorry if I got that wrong.

I'm in Arizona...wish it was Idaho

 

[TropicalBabies]

I must have the same or similar rcom. I got the pro 20 though... I am positive I paid too much. I love your daughters idea! My goodness your daughters are cool! So, I got the Pro20 so I would not over think and worry but wish I got the 50. The cabinet I got from the 1 breeder I used. He got out of the biz and was happy to sell to me as I often rented racks from him. When it cools I'm hoping to get back after the years of disaster called "the shop" and carve myself some room with the space I find from cleaning and organizing right?! Anywho, I love it as I will be able to stager my hatches and not be married to a 20+ day cycle. I'm pretty sure I paid too much for that one too as the battery backup that I was excited about did not work and well, that was a big part of the deal. It's OK. He's a friend and I'm sure appreciated the $ and the no complaints. I still got a kind of deal. wish my daughter wanted to build me one... gunna haft do that myself I guess lol

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

Hi. I’m new to this thread. Today was clean up day after some brutal T-storms. The entire run was soaked from sideways rain but the coop was dry so chickies stayed dry, too. My flock (17wk olds and 6week olds) did well with the storms, meaning no one died of freight and they seemed pretty normal in behavior today. No one seemed overly stressed or plucked by an unnerved roost neighbor.
I did some electric fence repairs and scrubbed out feeders from damp feed.
My sunflower garden got flattened with the wind so chickens got a special treat of broken sunflowers..I was growing for them anyway so winner winner, chickens dinner.
By late afternoon the wind was calm so I took the flock for their daily walk where they suddenly become brave foragers and fill up on tasty flying pests.
The whole flock (littles too) put themselves to bed at dusk without me bribing them.. count it as Day 1 and hope that becomes a trend. GN all!

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

Welcome @NorthwoodsChick to the thread!!! Glad tstorms weren't too bad.

 

[ChicksnMore]

I must have the same or similar rcom. I got the pro 20 though... I am positive I paid too much. I love your daughters idea! My goodness your daughters are cool! So, I got the Pro20 so I would not over think and worry but wish I got the 50. The cabinet I got from the 1 breeder I used. He got out of the biz and was happy to sell to me as I often rented racks from him. When it cools I'm hoping to get back after the years of disaster called "the shop" and carve myself some room with the space I find from cleaning and organizing right?! Anywho, I love it as I will be able to stager my hatches and not be married to a 20+ day cycle. I'm pretty sure I paid too much for that one too as the battery backup that I was excited about did not work and well, that was a big part of the deal. It's OK. He's a friend and I'm sure appreciated the $ and the no complaints. I still got a kind of deal. wish my daughter wanted to build me one... gunna haft do that myself I guess lol

Well...she hasn't actually built it yet...lol.

That's a good looking machine there! Does it have a hatching area at the base?

Mine are rcom 20's too... can't remember if it's the pro. Mine has the universal rack rather then the rack with presized holes at any rate. I also wish I'd gotten the 50. Instead I ended up with 2 20's for probably more then 1 50 cost. But I paid for the second with the money I got this year from selling peas and ducks...so that's the bright spot in it...lol. And I got them on sale..but sale doesn't necessarily mean a good deal

That sucks on the battery back up. I have one Kimi's boss gave me and I love it. No idea what they cost or whats available in them though. We get a lot of power outages where we live. We have a generator but we use it mainly for the fridges and freezer.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Hi. I’m new to this thread. Today was clean up day after some brutal T-storms. The entire run was soaked from sideways rain but the coop was dry so chickies stayed dry, too. My flock (17wk olds and 6week olds) did well with the storms, meaning no one died of freight and they seemed pretty normal in behavior today. No one seemed overly stressed or plucked by an unnerved roost neighbor.
I did some electric fence repairs and scrubbed out feeders from damp feed.
My sunflower garden got flattened with the wind so chickens got a special treat of broken sunflowers..I was growing for them anyway so winner winner, chickens dinner.
By late afternoon the wind was calm so I took the flock for their daily walk where they suddenly become brave foragers and fill up on tasty flying pests.
The whole flock (littles too) put themselves to bed at dusk without me bribing them.. count it as Day 1 and hope that becomes a trend. GN all!

Welcome! Daily walks sounds delightful!

 

[pennyJo1960]

Hey all was out most the day lot's happening here more is with the heat wave gone, birds are happier so are we..
The first two the new coop is happening 10 x 20 foot.

 

[kurby22]

Hi. I’m new to this thread. Today was clean up day after some brutal T-storms. The entire run was soaked from sideways rain but the coop was dry so chickies stayed dry, too. My flock (17wk olds and 6week olds) did well with the storms, meaning no one died of freight and they seemed pretty normal in behavior today. No one seemed overly stressed or plucked by an unnerved roost neighbor.
I did some electric fence repairs and scrubbed out feeders from damp feed.
My sunflower garden got flattened with the wind so chickens got a special treat of broken sunflowers..I was growing for them anyway so winner winner, chickens dinner.
By late afternoon the wind was calm so I took the flock for their daily walk where they suddenly become brave foragers and fill up on tasty flying pests.
The whole flock (littles too) put themselves to bed at dusk without me bribing them.. count it as Day 1 and hope that becomes a trend. GN all!

Welcome! Glad all your babies survived the storms! I’d be pretty excited for sunflowers too! Lucky birds!

 

[kurby22]

Thanks ladies for the encouragement and support! It always helps knowing I can vent to people who understand!

Today added new fun to my chicken flock’s day…I was sitting thru some boring meeting and brought my d’Uccle Lily in to keep me company and she pooped on me and it was almost ALL roundworms SO, after my meetings….everyone got wormer meds, we cleaned out the coops, and added vitamins to their water. SO disgusting My Fitbit said I burned 600 calories in one hour tonight, we were all exhausted . We wormed 30 chickens, I gave Betty White a bath, cleaned out four coops and added fresh bedding, poured lime and fresh straw in the runs, fed all the chickens and quail, collected eggs, and refilled all the waters. Soo much work!

On a positive note, Axel progressed a bunch today!! He’s not been outside in over three weeks, and he was going crazy trying to clean and itch. So I brought him outside while we did all the chicken chores and I set him in a small garden box without plants and poured dirt on him and worked it around in his feathers and then left him to enjoy the fresh air and dirt…and when I looked down at my feet he was walking very wobbly to me! Full on walking! He hasn’t walked in almost a month I was so proud of him and soooo relieved that the vitamins I’ve been shoving down him every day are paying off and that’s what he needed. Here he’s standing fully upright all on his own! He also ravaged three scrambled eggs tonight. Yay!

The “wedgie twins” as we now lovingly call them, are doing alright today. They are happy in their little kennel for now and I think I will keep them there till they’re too big to fit back there anymore! @TropicalBabies I’m sure you’re right that they got spooked by some ridiculous thing like being looked at funny by another chicken…

@ChicksnMore your just girls trip sounds awesome!! We are going on a nice long road trip tomorrow! Up to Idaho to see my family and friends and The Chicks in concert. I don’t expect any spectacular views like @TropicalBabies has in her backyard, but seeing family and being home always feels good. @Luv Ducks i too hate going very long without seeing my family, and hate living so far away. I’m envious that you are so close to yours! I was only going to get my “start” in California and then move home to Idaho…and then I met my husband and now I’m stuck here till we retire! Axel is coming on the trip with us so he can keep getting treatment, so that should be an adventure haha.

And just for giggles…here’s Chloe being Chloe