Who's Incubating in Nov. 2011 ?

[silky ma]

OOOOOHHHHH! Babies are sooooo cute!! Hatching silkies due to start nov 29th. Out of 12 eggs 7 were viable. Cant wait!!

 

[EM Squared Farms]

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Well, thanks for telling us what they are. Not so good at chickie identification yet. Look forward to seeing what they grow up to look like as chickens !

Will you post pics again in a week or so ?

I'm a little bummed out. My son's egg was supposed to hatch today, but yesterday I checked it and there was some dried on oozy stuff. Usually those are bad eggs that we pitch (never fertilized ?). Oh well, hopefully the other ones are fertile. Next day to watch for chickies hatching is Dec. 7th. You can usually hear them chirping inside the egg before they pip. No chirping (and usually we expect them to hatch a day or two earlier).

Oh well. Time to wait again.

 

[EM Squared Farms]

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Great ! We'll check back on your silkies in about 2 weeks for chickies ?

What color silkies are you hatching ?

 

[EM Squared Farms]

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Hope you track down the parent pics ! Would love to see them.

I have 2 boys and 5 girls (maybe - they are still small) and they seem to chase them around so much trying to mate with them that they like to hang out inside the house.

Silkies are very good moms. Ours was good and sat on the eggs very well until the chickies hatched and the ants got them. And it didn't help that my son "helped" out a couple. But after 7 dead chickies (and no more "helping" the chickies out, we got an incubator - it even seemed like a hen helped one out too early too !) So, the incubator has worked pretty good for us (except for unfertilized eggs/eggs that never hatch - that 25%).

About half of your dozen eggs should be silkie pullets ! Then what to do with all those cockerels ?

 

[EM Squared Farms]

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What kind of chickens are you hatching ? (you set them on my son's b-day !)

We still love it in FL ! Went fishing today, loving our fall/winter garden....

Mountains are good if you're not sensitive to high altitudes ! (they give me a headache/earaches - not for me !)

We are still collecting eggs. Trying to get enough chickens for our fundraise local swap & sale for our children's 4H club (target date = March, anytime after the Fair and before Easter).

Did you move your chickens with you from FL to the Smokey Mts. ?

 

[EM Squared Farms]

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What kind of "light" do you use to candle the Marans eggs ? All the dark ones (Ameraucana/Marans) were difficult to see through. Even the silkie eggs. The only ones that we could seem to candle were white eggs (ie. our BB Red OEG bantams), so basically, we don't candle them.

 

[EM Squared Farms]

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Be patient !! Sometimes it takes a whole day !

When you see more pecks (in a line), you're getting closer. The poor chickie has to peck a whole line about half way around, and then will push the egg open.

I let them dry a little in the incubator too before taking them out to the bin under the heat lamp.

They are so cute after they are dried off (after a day) !

Look forward to your pics !

Maybe you'll have a Thanksgiving chickie.....

Then again, do you celebrate Thanksgiving in Australia ? Probably not.

Ooops, sorry ! Tomorrow is Turkey Day, and a day to be thankful.

 

[dandydoodle]

Okay I have two now.

One blue and one splash EE.

Unfortunately though my broody has decided she is done sitting on the other eggs and I didn't know what else to do so I put them in the incubator. They weren't due until sometime within the next week. I put them in the incubator a couple of hours ago. They were cold when I found them down at the coop with out their mommy. I think I saw one of the eggs rock a few minutes ago. I don't know when to go into lockdown, what do ya'll think?

 

[EM Squared Farms]

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Aw, so nice to hear from you DandyDoodle !! Can't wait to see your chickie pics ! Is this your second batch since last time I talked to you ? I think you had another hatch going then. Skooter really grew up to be a handsome rooster.

We were supposed to be having one hatch today, but we think it's not fertile and will get pitched. Now our next target date to watch for new chickies is Dec. 7th (right before our little anniversary vacation).

We just started taking eggs from the 1st pair of Ameraucanas Korbin wanted to breed (non-standard colors).

We've been getting on egg a day. We'll be done collecting eggs in a just a 2 weeks if she keeps laying at that rate ! He only wants 10 from this pair (so we'll collect 15 eggs).

Then it will be time to move out the pair and pair up 2 more (hopefully standard colored Ameraucanas).

He's working on creating new Ameraucana colors to get one into the standard someday ! Glad to see he still sticks to his goals.

Again, so great to see you on here !

 

[EM Squared Farms]

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I'm not surprised with all the animals you have !! (LOTS of other birds beside chickens ! Do you have one incubator for each kind of bird or do you mix your eggs ? one for chickens, one for peafowl, one for ducks ? etc. )

What color Silkies are you hatching ?

Is that a sheep in your profile pic ? Those are some horns ! My Nigerian Dwarf Goats are polled or disbudded. We are expecting our first goat babies by Christmas ! My 4 does are showing udders already.

Do you sell any wool ?