****Winter**** Chicken Moma chat thread. Join in the chat!

[3lilbubs]

Well this is just depressing. I candled again tonight because there were a few I just wasn't sure about and sure enough I had to toss 3 more eggs. So I have 8 left from the original 28 I put in there. All 3 looked like early quitters. What I have left -

2 lavender Am's, 1 wheaten Am, 1 grey silkie and 4 mottled Am's. FX they all make it to hatch day, and hatch out without issue. Also hoping I don't get so many boys this time. I'm so bummed!

The friend that I was going to order turkeys with backed out, so I ordered some turkey hatching eggs to arrive in March. Heritage Oregon greys. Depending on how many hens I get from this clutch I might set a few more eggs with the turkeys.

[sarahannecloud9]

No way Liz. That just really bites. How long did it take for the eggs to get to you? You should try a dox of mine just to see if it's the long trip doing it or the eggs? You can always just eat ours since Solomon fathers them all and they will be good sized. Mixes have very light feathering on the legs. You may get a cpl pures though?

[slimy72]

How frustrating!

[Nielsen6]

That sucks Liz, I would totally send you ome of these girls eggs if they would start laying soon! Imagine EE crossed with that BLRW roo! Oh man I can't wait till I can hatch some of my girls eggs too.

[sarahannecloud9]

Sounds kinda cool Fodie!!

I can't wait to see what the brXcochin looks like. I have 3 chicks, just blk so far. FX for some cukoo patterns, lol.

[3lilbubs]

Well if there's any positive, it's that I know it's not my incubator. The first batch I did were eggs from my own flock, so I had day-old, fresh eggs to set. I had one clear egg, no quitters. So it has to be old eggs/shipped egg problems (some did have detached cells) and possibly the cold weather we had that week. If I completely discount the silkie eggs from the equation (because they were doomed from the get-go) then I have about a 50% success rate going right now which is about average for shipped eggs. It's just a bummer because I was hoping to have more to choose from.

This week has just been a lot of frustrating events one after another, sorry if I'm a grouch. LOL Thanks for those that offered to send me eggs, I may do it another time but since I ordered the turkey eggs I'm not sure when those are coming and so I can't guess when the incubator would be free yet.

So I need some opinions, our would-be "keep" baby rooster has started biting us when we pick him up. Cull him? I've never had a chicken bite me before, it's weird. I can only imagine that would translate to more aggressive behavior later though.

[Melmonkey]

Hey ladies.....I need to get active on here........David just told me we need to cull roos and drakes. It makes me sad because I won't have many fowl out there

Sarah: your chickies are beautiful!

[RJ6Mommy]

Hello I should Stop lurking and start talking in here. Today I just brought home 5 blrw. All from breeder stock and all are over 9 months. Wow they are beautiful. Definatley makes my mixed layers dull. I also got 3 day old BLRW bantam chicks 2 of them they are the white version my standards are the blue version. I will have to figure out how to load pictures on here againit has been a few years. I am in search of breederstock brahmas but have had no luck so now I am researching other larger heritage breeds that are on the rare list.

[MrsCrafty]

Well the lady I'm getting my silkies from surprised me and said they'll be ready tomorrow! I'm going to get them Friday since it's a bit of a drive and we'll be that way already on Friday. Suddenly I'm feeling so unprepared!!!! I haven't even bought feed for them yet! Luckily I work Wednesday and Thursday so I'll be by the farm and fleet to get what we need!

[sarahannecloud9]

Originally Posted by 3lilbubs Well if there's any positive, it's that I know it's not my incubator. The first batch I did were eggs from my own flock, so I had day-old, fresh eggs to set. I had one clear egg, no quitters. So it has to be old eggs/shipped egg problems (some did have detached cells) and possibly the cold weather we had that week. If I completely discount the silkie eggs from the equation (because they were doomed from the get-go) then I have about a 50% success rate going right now which is about average for shipped eggs. It's just a bummer because I was hoping to have more to choose from. This week has just been a lot of frustrating events one after another, sorry if I'm a grouch. LOL Thanks for those that offered to send me eggs, I may do it another time but since I ordered the turkey eggs I'm not sure when those are coming and so I can't guess when the incubator would be free yet. So I need some opinions, our would-be "keep" baby rooster has started biting us when we pick him up. Cull him? I've never had a chicken bite me before, it's weird. I can only imagine that would translate to more aggressive behavior later though.

I hate to say it, either handle him daily and see how it goes or cull. It has proven to be a real warning sign for me. I have a black copper maran that nips me. It's terrified and mean to the others. If I can't calm it down by this weekend it's gone. I can't tell if it's aboy though? prob is with this behavior. It's seperated atm.

Originally Posted by Melmonkey Hey ladies.....I need to get active on here........David just told me we need to cull roos and drakes. It makes me sad because I won't have many fowl out there Sarah: your chickies are beautiful!

I'm so sorry sweetie. Hopefully you will get a big batch of girls to hatch.

Thanks! And I'm glad your joining in!

Originally Posted by RJ6Mommy Hello I should Stop lurking and start talking in here. Today I just brought home 5 blrw. All from breeder stock and all are over 9 months. Wow they are beautiful. Definatley makes my mixed layers dull. I also got 3 day old BLRW bantam chicks 2 of them they are the white version my standards are the blue version. I will have to figure out how to load pictures on here againit has been a few years. I am in search of breederstock brahmas but have had no luck so now I am researching other larger heritage breeds that are on the rare list.

Yea, join in!!!! There is a giant world of options! I'm actually doing the same thing. I have several breeds coming later this year.

Originally Posted by mommy2wyatt Well the lady I'm getting my silkies from surprised me and said they'll be ready tomorrow! I'm going to get them Friday since it's a bit of a drive and we'll be that way already on Friday. Suddenly I'm feeling so unprepared!!!! I haven't even bought feed for them yet! Luckily I work Wednesday and Thursday so I'll be by the farm and fleet to get what we need!

Yay! Congrats!! Just keep busy, lol. At least it won't be a 21 day wait.
What colors are ya gettin??!!??



AFM- Today was tough! Painted all day. I touched up the inside of the coop, painted the boxes, started the ramp, then painted almost all of the inside of the double breeder coop! Woooo!