Hi Mel!! I just recently had an adult blue/copper shipped to me from Calif and It was about eight days before I got my first egg from her. She was a relatively young and new layer, so I don't know if that made any difference or not. Haystack.
My New Adventure
Did you happen to keep the box?
LOL
Speaking of the box. It was a usps certified box and when I got it the bottom fell out. I got the bird from ZZ's. I would put in an extra layer of cardboard on the bottom if I were going to ship. It was two days in usps care and I was surprised the bottom fell out the way it did. Just a note of caution. Mel !! Catscan and ZZ's have done some shipping if you have questions. Wished I could help more but have never shipped
The count down should be fourteen days now!!! So far very uneventful, which is good. I was just curious. Are you hatching to sell eggs, chickens, or both. I had contacted a guy from the UK and am trying to get a pure white Marans pair from him. I'll keep you posted if I have any success. Haystack
Pure white? Cool! I'd love to see those. I found out my chickens are coming next Wednesday, not next Friday. So 2 days sooner, yippeeeee. The Copper Marans in these photos are beautiful. What fun to get a score like that!
I wanted the BCM's for the eggs for myself, and the people that bought eggs from us preferred the dark eggs... but I'm also one of those people who likes to have what no one else does... and no one around here has them, that's for sure.
If I get some decent hatches out of the babies that I've hatched, I'll probably sell some hatching eggs, otherwise, I plan on playing around with them, a little, taking the best ones and seeing what their babies come out like. I'm really pleased with the ones I hatched, they're very docile and calm, as are my adult trio... the little ones, however, are slowly calming down, but still extremely skittish.
Of my original 7, 4 of them come to the door when I open it and want me to pick them up... I love it... they do this little chortle thing when they're calm, that I've never heard any of my other chickens do... it's pretty cool--they sound almost like a pigeon.
The reason I asked about the box, is the boxes, buying them one at a time are extremely expensive... the cheapest one I've found is 16.95. It's no wonder peeps charge so much for birds.
Melissa, how old were the eggs you put in? You might be pleasantly surprised..:) Be sure to candle at some point just to make sure the air cells are not drying too rapid with the lower humidity.. I'd get it up to the 40's if it were me.. when mine is completely dry it registers in the 30's. (just a thought)
Check with your local feed stores for boxes.. I found one here that sells them for $9.98 for what they call a single stall. 2 smaller birds would fit easy.. Be sure to run tape from one side to the other across the bottom. I saw a shipper at the Post Office and his had duct tape holding the bottom closed.. I thought I didn't need it and Haystack got a surprise! LOL it's from the moisture.. even though it's slight.. it's enough to weaken the cardboard.
Also.. use alfalfa for the bedding if you can.. they will eat it, and it's not slippery like shavings.. include melon, or grapes, or lettuce.. something that has a lot of moisture.
If you have to buy boxes online, I got great service from www.boxesforbirds.com $16.99 shipped anywhere.. (double stall)
My countdown is nearing the home stretch.. I have a broody in the house sittin on Seramas.. :)
ZZ, the Wellsummer eggs were at least 4 weeks old, I'm not figuring on any of them hatching, but thought I'd throw them in there just in case.
Thanks for all the tips!
woohoo, I hope you get a good hatch this time, were they shipped eggs too?
Melissa i like to have the animals that others don't have too. Makes interesting stuff. :) . I like brown eggs too, They are just so much more pretty IMHO :)
I m looking at Buckeyes next spring. In my head at least LOL don't know what the budget will be
my poor chickens are so hot :( they are panting .
good air flow , shade , ice water changed several times a day. Poor things
I want to let them out and they can stay in the woods in the cool shade under tree's but we have so many foxes . i m afraid they might get killed ? what is one to do ???
ZZ what is a Serema ??? sounds interesting
Hey did you all notice that i m up late ??? Haystack did you hear that ??? !!! i m up late !!!! risking my beauty sleep !!! come on pal .
good night
Taynor's are you still up??? Come on it's only 11 P.M. Taynor's your such a milk toast. Get up Taynor's, Taynor's you need to get a life!!! LOL Hay
Buckeye's are very cold hardy and those that have them love, and swear by them. I have never raised them but have friends that love them.
Oh Melissa.. be sure to candle.. AND smell.. that is pretty old.. You can smell them when they are bad, even before they explode.. I had one explode.. that stopped me from taking ANY chances on "iffy" eggs.. it ruined everything in the bator.. I don't think any that I washed off hatched.. I'm not 100% sure about that, I can't remember.. but the mess alone scared me straight for good. That is one reason why I don't incubate TACs or cracked, even if it can be fixed.
I have one young Buckeye.. I think it's a pullet.. It's Catscan's. Can't tell you much about it.. it's quiet.. and hangs around with a Barnevelder roo.. same age.
I'm the same way - want the 'rare' breeds that you don't normally see. Sort of like growing heirloom vegies! I hopefully have a buckeye or two coming later this summer from Meyers. I haven't been able to find a barnevelder yet.
Mel!! I had to smile reading your post. I told my wife about a year ago about when the girls are really contented they will almost Coo like a pigeon. When I sit out on the Park Bench with them and hand feed them fruit and cracked corn they will sit there with me and just make that pigeon sound and you can almost read the delight in their faces. YOU my dear have some happy campers. Makes me smile :o) Haystack
Taynor's ten day's left. Could someone run over there and get her out of bed. Your making progress taynor, I noticed you were up six minutes later than the night before. I have never even heard of people who go to bed before 8:pm. I think you need a drink of fresh water taynor. Your life is so stagnant! In bed at 7 and up at 11...AM that is. Sheeeesh!!! Keep it quiet...Taynor's is sleeping. Taynor's is my typing bothering you!!!
I'm really just sick and hurting right now. We had storms move through last night and it dumped 3" of rain in a span of about 3 hours with winds of 50+ miles per hour.
I had the chicks on my back deck under the awning... protected from weather, and no worry about predators. I had them in 3 different crates two crates like the one in the first picture, and the third is a huge crate that both the green bottomed crates sit on. I had plastic over them to keep them from getting wet, and a blanket over everything.
Well, the wind blew the plastic and blanket off, and one of the crates filled with water. All the chicks in that crate died.... I've lost 12 of my new ones and I am just absolutely sick.
Oh, Melissa, that's horrible. I'm so sorry. That's a terrible loss.
Oh Melissa, how sad. I'm so sorry for your loss. The weather this year is so strange.
I am so sorry Melissa... I know you are hurting. You can only prepare for what you know will happen. An all time record storm dumping 3+" of rain is NOT an everyday storm... Please don't blame yourself.
I'm so sorry for your loss.
Melissa,
I am so sorry to learn about your chickens demise. It sounds like it was a terrible freak storm. You took lots of precautions. It just was an act of Nature.
Brenda
I'm so sorry, Melissa. :-(
So sad and sorry, Melissa. :-(
O that's awful! I'm so sorry. Some of that same line of storms was down here that night. I spent a hour collecting & stuffing chickens in the coop praying we didn't get more rain.
Thanks everyone. I'm still just sick. Those hamster cages were really nice when they were first hatched, but I should have switched to the dog crates, they don't hold water. :(
On a POSITIVE note, the ones I hatched, the roos anyway, are starting to show "copper" colored feathers on their necks. :) Of course most of the ones in the crate were probably pullets. :(
The big ones, Roo is quite assertive with the other roosters, he's not letting them bully him, which is good. Last night, for the first time, all 3 of them went into the coop by themselves, and roosted with the others. The other nights we've had to go out and pick them up and put them in the coop... they were roosting close to where their cages were.
I'm glad you are willing to share your pain. You have made many friends here and we are here for you, to love you and support you. Now it's time to get on with the good things you can control. You will find favor for your loving care, and some lessons come hard. They just do. :o) Haystack
The tuition for certain lessons can be costly, one way or another.
Without a doubt... it's just unfortunate that in this case, my chicks paid the price of my ignorance.
Mel! This was not about ignorance. None of us has the ability to predict the weather, especially this time of the year.
Quit being so hard on yourself. I think I'm going to speak with your DH. Is he home? Let me speak with him. He knows best how to handle you. LOL Be a good girl now or else. Haystack
Haystack, my DH would agree with me that it's all my fault... in fact, that's pretty much what he told me this morning.
Well, mistakes happen, whatever their reason. You sure weren't being negligent!
Not intentionally anyway. I'm better, he's better, he was just so upset, and when he's upset I get the brunt of it regardless of whether or not it was my fault. Haystack, cover your eyes!
(he's a man)
Uncover your eyes haystack~!
I need to go out and take some pictures, they've grown so much! The bald one is feathering out again too. :)
Okay... I vote we have a blame storm.. I blame the storm..
Let ME have a word with your DH.
Did HE build the coop that would withstand an all time record storm?
So when I get ready to build my next coop.. I have to plan for something that has never happened in all of history??? Uh.. okay.. I rest my case.
Being anyone's fault is not going to accomplish anything... chalking it up to a learning experience and moving forward will.
Hope that wasn't too harsh.. LOL I've been known to be rather passionate when it comes to someone's feelings I care about..
I'm with you ZZ. :)
I'm not sure anyone can plan ahead for all the little things the storms crossing thru this area can throw at you. So far this spring we've had 93 mph straight line winds, baseball sized hail & i had 3 ft of water running thru my backyard under my chicken coop. I thanked God for days afterwords that I lost no chickens to that but could i really have designed my coop to account for all of that? no.. its not possible. Can i now change my coop & add too it to account for the things I know now & make it a bit better? yes. Would i have blamed myself if my babies had drowned that morning.. most likely. Which meant i nearly drowned myself trying to get to them & get them to safety for something I never imagined. never in my life has the water run that deep that high into the yard. I myself probably would have done exactly what you did that night with my chicks & would have most likely lost them too. I would never have imagined them drowning bc the bottom of a cage filled with water. I'd been told to never leave a chicken out in teh pouring rain bc they'd drown but never would that have crossed my mind. You did the best you could with the knowledge you had to protect your babies. No blame lays anywhere. Simply file it away to use at a later date when u need to keep the babies safe. Be happy in the knowledge that you took wonderful care of them. They were happy & loved.
:o) i would drill big holes in the sides of the bottoms of the cages so water drains & I could continue to use them later if needed.
Already done GK, one hole in each corner, just in case. :)
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