So I thought about what I had that would work and I ground the chick starter up in the blender. Worked pretty good as it is already pretty small. But the chicks want it smaller, they have all been looking for the smaller pieces and leaving the larger. I figgure the problem will eventually take care of itself as the chicks get larger.
Again I have to thank people on this forum. I had no idea I was supposed to grind the chick starter finer. I didn't do that on my first hatch and they were fine. These seem to really want the feed to be smaller.
I put the fine blend in and its feeding frenzy time again. Even the little one is eating.
New hatch going on now.
Happy the little one is perking up. That is good news
Oh my .... so cute!!!! I have my own but crave seeing everyone elses!
Rita , chicks will eventually adapt to their food source , but when they are tiny it doesnt hurt a bit to help them out. A blender should work just fine. I use coffee grinders because I have three.. all bought at thrift stores or garage sales... each one has a different purpose.... I even have one for Coffee...LOL!!!
Next hatch I will start them on the finely ground starter for the first week or so. Little guy is sure feeling better. Some of the others pecked at it as usual and it just pecked back LOL! Its feeling fiesty :-))
I don't know how long it will take to be able to tell the boys from the girls. I only wanted afew hens from this batch but I wanted Lavender so don't know what I will do about the blacks. I don't know anything about Black Orps. Its really funny as I had no idea they came in different colors than Buff. I though Buff was part of the breed name and that they were all buff. I knew that lavendars are a color people are working on as its not an accepted color. I never thought about another color.
Geez, what an amazing turnaround. The little one is right in the thick of it doing everything the others are doing and running around like a flash. It is also much more groomed. Being pecked at is no longer a problem, it just pecks right back. None of this pecking seems mean spireted to me, no one runs away. It just seems like normal chicken curiousity to me.
They do all love to come over to the side nearer the biger chicks and peer that way. Seem very curious about the others. Since I made the chick mash finer they are all also eating more instead of just dropping lots of pieces that were rejected.
Mother hood ... isnt it grand!!!! Who would have thought it possible for grown men and women to love a chicken , of all things, the way we do!!
I have been surrogate mom for lots of things during my life. Bottle fed puppies and feed tiny grass finches that the moms hatched and left. But I never thought I would be a chicken mommie.
In my very limited experience I have already come to realise afew things. One, I love doing the hatching myself. I like putting them in the incubator. I don't even want a broody hen to do it for me. I want to just keep right on hatching. I love wating them pip in the incubator and then seeing the chick come out.
Two is that I just love chick TV. I want them here were I can see them, it is so much fun. I wish they would stay small for longer so I could enjoy them at this stange for a longer time.
Have you ever caught yourself just staring at the incubator.... just staring/ knowing that they have at least another 2 weeks before hatching!!! LOL!
I go look in my incubator when there are eggs in there so many times a day it really is funny. There is nothing to see but I still keep looking LOL!
forgot to ask. Can you make Oliver eggs in reverse with Blue Rooster(Araucana LF) and brown hen(Blk Copper Marans)?
Congrats Rita!!! You have 4 beautiful lil lavenders there! The two black ones are called "splits" They are carrying the lavender gene. Here is a breakdown..
Lavender x Black = 100% Split
Lavender x Split= 50% Split, 50% Lavender
Lavender x Lavender= 100% Lavender
Split x Split= 25% Lavender, 50% Split, 25% Black
The splits are valuable too..
Good save on the weak baby.. Always remember they will live off the yolk sac for 24 hours.. Sometimes the "boost" they need is just water. Especially a "sticky" chick.. It may have been slightly dehydrated. You did great!!
Thank you Annie for the kind words, and passing on a tidbit to help.
I'd love to see pics when they are about 5 days old... (especially side views) :) You know me, I love to guess the gender. :)
ZZ- Thanks! The Splits were already out of a split. Plus it was a pen of all lavender hens to a lavender rooster with only the one split hen. So I figgured my chances of getting black chicks was very slim as I only wanted lavenders. But I was unlucky to get the two blacks. As I will not be keeping a rooster and doing any breeding they are just possible egg producers as is the rest of my future flock. Not at all sure if I will be keeping the blacks, even if they are hens. We will see. I guess it depends on what the rest of the hatch turn out to be. And what my older ones turn out to be. I am looking to have a start of girls for my laying flock.
Will take pictures again soon :-))
That egg mash formula and tip saved that little guys life. Of course it very well might be a rooster but since it also might be a girl better to have it live so I have more possible choices.
Well, you see in that formula, the eggs from the split hen only gave you 50% chance to get lavender chicks... You got a great percentage though!
(the percentage is TOTAL eggs from that hen, not just the ones you got) make sense? like if she only lays 2 eggs, that doesn't necessarily mean one split and one lavender..
I'm glad it worked for you.. :) Your babiez are big and healthy lookin! I can't wait for more pics!
See, thats the thing. The auction did say that the one black split hen was in there but all the rest were lavendars. So I figgured I would get all lavenders as it was such a slim chance for getting any black ones. But the luck of the draw. I got two. The seller showed me a picture of her next to last hatch from that pen and they were all lavender, 10-12 of them. Then her last hatch was only three but lots of black ones. Murphy's Law I guess. If I was breeding and putting them in a breeding pen I wouldn't mind the split blacks at all. But I think that with four lavenders my chances of getting at least one hen as a keeper are good. I would like to have two.
Tell me about it! I didn't read the fine print and paid dearly for it. I got what I thought were lavender eggs.. ended up with what I thought was a split and a lavender roo... only to find out my black is not a split!! Her babiez are! Oh man, a whole year and get to start over. The only thing that saved the black hen is her eggs are the prettiest sky blue ever! Collecting her eggs is still a treat, so she stays. :)
If it's any consolation, I got 6 chicks... 4 roos and 2 hens.. in the second go round.. they were worth the wait though.. this group is really nice.
I'm not going to breed lavenders anymore.. I want to concentrate on Seramas..
But then, after all this time, my Seramas are getting better too.. Like a box of chocolates, ya never know whatcha gonna get. LOL They are all sweet though! ;)
Well, at least your going to breed. I am going to get rid of all my Roosters and no breeding here. I will just buy eggs of whatever I want to hatch. Easier than keeping a roo and a roo would be impossible here.
From what I understand it takes awhile to be able to sex the Orps. I am thinking until two months old but not sure about that. I wish I knew for sure the sexes of the three older guys. The one with the big comb must be a roo and I think (hoping) the pea comb is a girl. No idea on the BCM though.
ZZ where did the blue egg gene come from in your black hen? Is she not an Orpington at all?
She is Ameraucana Porkpal.. I'm not that hot on Orpingtons.. I like Ameraucanas much better. Just me.. :)
If you can post some pics, I might be able to help you with that Rita.. it's my favorite thing to do.. it's a gamble, but fun anyway. I kinda figured that BCM was a roo from the start.. I think I was "on the fence" with the others.. can't remember..
Especially if you can post side view of the chicks at around 4 or 5 days.. that's when I'm best at it.. of course, as they grow, they change so much, you'd practically have to band them to remember who is what..
So Ameraucanas come in lavender too?
Rita it sounds like you have raised and sold many animals in your life. So, will you sell the roosters locally or put them in auctions or what?
For some reason the shipping boxes and shipping usually seem to cost $50 to $65 on the chickens I've seen in auctions. Of course, the boxes can sometimes hold two, or maybe three if they are small.
I know they recommend putting chopped up apples, tomatoes and things like that in there to keep them hydrated on their trip.
Hope I'm not being nosey, but I wondered what your plans were on these.
I have told myself I cannot go to Oklahoma to the poultry show, as I cannot afford it. I may go anyway, afford or not afford.
ZZ since you are on this thread I want to ask you a question if you don't mind. I bought a couple of sick chickens months ago, and they had lice and mites. These spread to my new show quality white silkies. It is on the top of the hen's head deep down and looks like scabs.
How do I treat this? and would she be better by Dec 10th to take to the show? :(
I have bought flea tick spray for dogs and put on them, and some poultry powder. Is this difficult to get rid of, because it seems to be.
The honest truth is if I can tell when they are very small I will simply put them down. That is dispatch them myself. If they are older in that someone with a backyard flock might want them locally, I will give them away. I have a connection thru a friend of a friend kind of a deal to a local ethnic community that would raise the roosters if they were near finishing age and then use them as food. So any roosters raised here are destined for a short life. I will not be shipping them and I had not planned to try and sell them, just would be happy to give them away even if its straight into a stew pot.
I would have no moral delemmma or squeemishness killing and eating chickens that I raised myself. But being a city girl I just can't see myself processing chickens and I can't keep roosters long enough to grow them out anyway.
In the future, If I had some extra pullets in that I could pair them up, like 2 hens and a rooster I could give them away to some wanted to start a some flock of there own. Maybe get afew bucks for that. I know I could sell point of lay pullets but I am sure its the roos that I will be looking to move. But I don't know how many times I can do that.
I figgure what with how soft harted you are keeping all your extra roosters this answer might upset you. But you asked so I am telling you the truth.
No I'm not upset at all about it. I wish I could get over the way I feel. I'm not here to tell anyone what to do, but I was curious what your plans were. There may be people on DG that would love to have your little roosters. You have quite an audience now. :)
I know I'm silly to feel the way I do. Maybe it's like giving an injection. Once you do it, it's no big deal. I really suffered with sticking that needle into my dogs and cats. Two years it took me to get the nerve and did the thing you see on television, kept sticking an orange over and over. Finally I did it, and it was no big deal at all. It's like a line in my mind for some reason though. Lines we cross or don't cross.
Honestly Rita, I want to raise chickens for meat, I really do. It is the smart thing to do for our health. I think about this issue often.
I have given hundred of shots to dogs and cats thru the years. Its easy.
There are just so many extra roosters that people are always looking for breeding homes for. I don't think there are enough homes for all these roos. I don't know anything about shipping poulty, I know there are rules and special shipping boxes plus its expensive. They have to be older too.I doubt I would have any roos that were worth the expense. Plus to tell which is the best roo out of a bunch of them, you have to keep them, let them mature some and fill out. That will not be happening here. I can not keep roos. I can not have crowing going on.
For now, I have a wait and see attitude going on. The one from the olive eggs I think is a roo. Well, he is only 3 weeks and it is all part of my learning process so I am in no hurry to try to give him away yet. But he has no real value. He is a straight combed bird so that means he does not carry the olive egg genes. Hes not a BCM even though 3/4 s useless, Anyone would want a pure BCM roo over him.
With these Orps chicks I guess we will see. It all depends on how many I have of each sex. The lavender Orps are so pretty I am sure I could sell a pair or trio locally.
One day at a time. That's all we can do.
I just asked because you seem to enjoy the hatching part so much, I wondered how long you would hatch out chicks.
I'm not sure I really understood what I was doing at first. Here I sit with 11 hens in the backyard, 9 roosters in a horse lot, and a pair of nice show birds in a vacant house. :) It just seems to take on a life of it's own.
I have made some pretty bad mistakes at times too. Like when I bought those sick birds thinking I could get them well. One made it and one didn't. A cat ate two of my first chicks, my dog here has killed and eaten two grown hens and a baby chick. Two chicks died from mites. Oh yes, and the donkey at the horse lot knocked the lock off my chicken coop, let the roosters out and then he and the dog killed four.
It's definitely been an experience.
In spite of all that I can hardly wait for the hen to lay an egg and hatch out some show quality silkie chicks.
We all learn from our mistakes. No cats in my house anymore as I used to have cats for years as pets but my last cat died last summer. I was thinking of getting a small dog for a pet but now I have the chickens so will skip the dog. At least for now.
I do love the hatching. I find it gives me something to fuss over, which I really like. Plus its so much fun to watch them pip and hatch out. Costwise it would have been much cheeper to just buy the chicks but this works much better for me.
My plan so far is too buy small numbers of hatching eggs and not the big numbers like 24 eggs. That would give me too many chicks. I love having the little ones plus I am set up for smaller numbers. Plus I don't want a flock of all the same thing. If they could be sexed early it just would be perfect. I just want to keep right on hatching so we will see how it goes.
I forgot to say that when we get to breeds were there are color differences I want to keep the ones I think are most pretty. Like in easter eggers, they can vary so much in looks and I see some that I think are just so pretty.
So when I set up the aquarium this time I put the horse pellet bedding in and then a puppy pad on top with paper towels on top of that. I figgured it would be the easist and best way. As they started stratching up the paper towels yesterday, I just took them off and the underlay puppy pad too and they are on the bedding. They took to it right away. Thats the way the older ones are, right on the horse pellet bedding. It is fantastic stuff. Only thing I did wrong is with the bigger chicks I put too much bedding so they really make a mess scratching. But their poops just dissapear LOL!
That pelleted bedding also GROWS as it gets wet. If you just leave it in there and stir it to keep it fresh it will quadruple in bulk - at least.
Yes, it does grow. Plus its soft on their feet. I really like it. I will never go to using plain shavings after trying the pelleted horse bedding. I just put to much in their crate. The bigger chicks stir their own bedding, I don't need to do it LOL! They are always sctratching and also dustbathing in there.
Okay Im Not a horse person, so Ive never noticed horse pelleted bedding...where do you buy it.Tractor supply? Sounds like a winner to me!
Well, I am certainly not a horse person either. But you can buy this in 40 pound bags at any feed store. I get mine at Agway. I am sure Tractor Supply would have it also. There are afew different brands. There is also pelletts made to burn in wood stoves. Make sure you get the horse bedding, not the stove pelletts. The horse bedding is not dusty, the stove pellets very dusty.
thank You Rita! I will definitely give this a try!
It also has the benefit of being very inexpensive this way. A bag of the horse pellits cost $5.49 here, much cheeper that buying shavings in a pet store. Lots of people apparently use this as bedding in their chicken coops.
I originally learned about a brand named Gardian Pellet Horse bedding. Not the brand they carried locally, as I got Boreal Horse Pellets.
The Guardian website which gives lots of information and shows how to use it in a horse stall. Could work the same way for chicken coop.
http://www.guardianhorsebedding.com/index.htm
Scroll down about halfway and look on the right. They have some videos that I watched showing how to use the bedding.
Its amazing stuff. Poops just dissapear into the bedding. Its soft on thier feet and has a nice clean smell.
Now this I have to check out! Will go to web site now! Very curious!
Wouldnt you know it... I have to travel 50 miles to get to the closest retailer. Pooh!
I use Sun Coast large flake shaving. It was 5.00 but now has gone to 6.50 but it goes a long way
http://www.suncoastbedding.com/
Eufaula- Call your nearest feed store. They will carry pelleted horse bedding. Ask for pelleted horse bedding and see what brand it is. It doesn't need to be the brand I gave you the website for. Its just that it had lots of info for pelleted bedding. My own feed store here doesn't carry Gardian brand. But I got another brand.
I would say the pellets are much, much better than shavings. Don't know anything about flake bedding.
Yep.. SunCoast I can find! But so far no one has pelleted!! But I will check into this! Sounds like just what I need in the Hen house too! Thank you too Donna!
Thanks for the link! Guardian brand is carried at a feed store not far from here. I wonder if it is too late to use it on the adult chickens, would they try to eat it? They wouldn't eat pettet food, only crumbles, so maybe it would be safe?