WOW! I got an incubator!

[Chicabee19]

I don't know yet... but I don't want to go incubating some eggs then have nowhere for the chickies to live, so probably won't get eggs until very early Spring - maybe end of Feb.

I want to get EE and BO eggs when it is time.

I AM looking for a laying hen to keep at my friend's house until we build a small coop here. We've already got an igloo doghouse and a roll of chicken wire donated, and lots of scrap wood from our 10 yr remodel project.

 

[shangri-lafarms]

Good luck with everything, my DH and I built our coop this past spring, wow it's 8' x 15' and the chickens love it, it really didn't get totally finished until like a month ago LOL.... it had everything except for some of the wire to keep all predators out...It's finally predator proof and seems to be good so far, we had some flooding issue that we had to fix We don't have a chicken run we let them range during the day and coop them up after dinner....They actually put themselves in the coop when it starts to get dark. I hope you have good luck with your incubating this spring, maybe by then I will have some fertie eggs from my RIR ladies. They are 14 weeks old so someday we'll have eggs....

 

[Chicabee19]

thanks shang',

I worry that if I do get a single RIR, it might pick on the others from some of the threads I've been reading.

One thing I want to do before I get eggs is find a place where I can rehome a roo, or a chicken that does not fit in for any reason.

I think our coop is going to be on the small side - with a covered run, a big yard to free-range, and a tractor to move them about the other yards on the property.

I really can't freakin' wait! It's gonna be so hard, but I know it's best to have everything worked out. It would be like waiting until your baby is born, then wondering "where am I gonna put this baby?" Can't very well keep chickens in a bureau drawer!

I think I have all the tools I need, just got to gather them all up, you know?

I have painful Torticollis right now, so can't do much but sit around trying not to fall asleep in my chair.

 

[GopherBoyFarms]

that is WONDERFUL!!! so happy for you.
I am on a mission today....collecting things around here to make my own....well to have DH make it.

 

[shangri-lafarms]

hey chickabee, I like Shang for a nickname..good one... Can't wait to see your coop....Yeah some RIR roo's are suppossed to be big meanies, i have 12 hens, and one roo..I was suppossed to only have ladies, but now with one roo I can replace mine instead of getting shipped eggs, I'm just going to get shipped eggs on the ones I want to get different breeds of. Around here a meanie, or roo goes to the chicken pot, or oven...I have 3 banty's all roo's and there is one that is on it's way to the stew pot, he keeps cock fighting with the others...For now I have to keep him in the chicken tractor

 

[Chicabee19]

I'm hoping I luck out and don't get any roos!

I always make a nickname out of the first part of someone's username... don't know why, just a habit I guess.

Sometimes makes a real funny.

So you think an RIR hen would not be too aggressive with a BO, RS, Sex-link or EE?

 

[shangri-lafarms]

I don't think so, I mean my RIR ladies love me, when I come outside they run up to me and follow me around....I have 3 banty roo's 2 are def. mutt cochins and one is a partridge Brahma very pretty and my RIR ladies are the same size as them and the RIR ladies are afraid of the banty's even my roo RIR is bigger than them and still is afraid...So far my RIR roo at 15 weeks is gentle, I socialize with them everyday and everything....I also have a girlfriend that has a miz of hens 3 RIR's and 4 Americaunas so I think they would be okay, I never heard of diff breed hens not liking each other, if they are different ages I can see that....I guess it depends on the hen

 

[Chicabee19]

I cleaned the incubator today...

Now I can see the removable wire shelves will allow me to use it either standing on end as a cupboard, or sitting on its bottom as a box.

I think I like the box form.

 

[Maryallison77]

I just wanted to write and wish you good luck whenever you decide to get eggs and try to hatch them. I haven't done that yet, but I am sure I eventually will. Have had my hens just 4 months and I am still just waiting to see my 1st egg! Maybe next year I'll be ready for more chicken excitment!

 

[Chicabee19]

thanks so much for all the support!

Maryallison77: hope you can post pics of your hatch

Gopherboy: where'd you get those cool smileys?