I thought I would post some pictures of the chickens that we hatched from eggs. They are about 6 weeks old now.
My chicks are growing up!
And ANOTHER
And my divider to keep the bigins from getting to them.
Pics for Tamara
another
And this is how the divider holds to the wall when it is installed. The door section is hinged, and folds closed flat against the wall when not in use. :)
Mel, is it okay to wash the eggs I am going to incubate (water only)? Some of them are pretty nasty and I don't want to contaminate the others.
Thanks.
If you have really bad ones i would either not use them to incubate, or just brush them off with a toothbrush etc. Even just water can wash of the protective layer.
seems simple enough, and brilliant, Melissa, thanks!
tf
Well, just put 28 eggs in the incubator. Wish me luck. Don't really know what I'm doing, but with all the help I have gotten here, I might just be able to hatch a few.
be ready to candle in seven days. check the thread for "need help candling" all kinds of grea answer and links in there. also the book A Guid eto Better Hatching" by Janet Stromberg, maybe they will have it at your libary?
start a new thread, so we can se what breeds you are hatching, etc///
Yeah! i had to promice not to bring home anymore chicks. We still have the dozen broilers in the garage pen, and 5 more RIR chicks in the living room in addition to these guys. Poor Bob is affraid of these chicks even though they are so much smaller them him. He just needs to learn to get along, because he needs to move out of the house!
poor little Bob!
TF, I only am hatching BAs, and RIR/BA cross. Don't know if I will get any RIR/BA crosses, as Rocky is going on four years old and how fertile he is, is ???? Hope to get some from him. If I do, I will keep those to get a better line for dual purpose without having to buy more.
Hey Mel....that one chicken looks an awful lot like a DUCK! ;o)
It surely do...must be in costume. (He don't know we don't eat chicken or duck at Easter).
hey you 2! be nice to Bob! He is trying to adjust to life out of doors, he grew up thinking he was an indoor kitty-cat...
poor confused little kitty, er i mean chickie, ...NO..., duck!
edited for punctuation!
This message was edited Mar 12, 2008 11:01 AM
NOduck? what is that? A new kind of bird? :o))
Granny! I am so glad you set some eggs! I hope your
weather has turned for you, or will soon. Good luck with
your hatch!
Mel, don't listen to them, tell Bob not to, either. He can
be whatever he wants to be, that's what his mommy told
him!:oP
may princess kathy know we are thinking of her.
Truest, I'm still having trouble with the RH in the bator, tho, so this is going on a wing and a prayer. Figured that if it didn't work, I could always buy some locally now that I know TSC is gonna carry them.
Mel, what is the ideal RH for the bator? I have finally gotten it up to where I can regulate it properly. (I think). But it has taken a bit of fiddling to do that, so I need to know the optimum RH.
Thanks.
for now 55 to 65 is fine. i think truest posted that, somewhere... i recall printing it out and posting it by my bators. 70 is wehn you fill ALL the trays and don't open it for the last three days...
Ok, thanks. Now we're cooking (oops, don't want to cook them, granny). Will write that down and post it in the shower. (That's where we have the bator..in DHs shower. I told him he could use mine for now.)
Haha, poor DH, and what a great guy to give up his shower!
The RH should be 60 for the incubation, and 70 for the
hatch. You can fudge the RH some during, it becomes
more important the bigger the chicks are in the egg.
You can wash the eggs (I know- they are already in)
as long as the water is not hot, and it is a bit warmer than the
eggs. So, if the eggs were room temp, tepid water would be
fine. Cold water forces bacteria deeper into the egg. I did
rinse mine, and they turned out fine. I have read that you can
use fine sand paper to clean them. Brushing works, too.
I thought one day after I put mine in "Now they're cooking!"
oh! I had to retract my thought! :oP
(may princess tammy enjoy her new chicks! she is, cuz she
got some of her own, recently!)
Your chicks are getting so big, Mel. I just moved half
of mine to the hog pen, temporarily. No hogs in it, it's
just built like fort knox. I moved these, because they were
almost fully feathered, and the weather is cooperating.
They were also getting crowded, and fussing a lot. They have
a nice elevated box with hay for warmth, but last night, their
first, they all fell asleep at the front by the door- instead of
inside where it's warm. DH and I went out well after dark,
and moved them. DH also shot a racoon that had come up
and disturbed Davey the roo early in the evening. Good
timing. :oP I don't think it could have gotten in the hog pen,
but it sure could climb the tree where Davey likes to roost!
may princess kathy have no! racoons.
Well, truest, I got my first varmint of the year yesterday. Heard Bruno raising all sorts of alarms, looked out and viola, there was a medium sized possum sitting in the middle of the pathway to the chicken coop. Haven't seen any of them in four years. So, I made it my first trophy of 2008!!
Good for you, Granny, bad for the possum!
We trapped and shot a half-grown possum the day before.
It had been sleeping under the house, and coming out to
get chicken pellets we had out for the free range birds.
Looks to be shaping up to be a trophy year. :oP
may princess kathy have all the possum she wants-I'll send
her some.
Sorry I hadn't been following along! I have been busy, and just got back in town. Poor Bob is having a hard time adjusting to those young chickens, but he did spend the last 48 hours living with them without me...and he seems to be ok. He does want to come back in the house though.
he will ALWAYS want to come back in the house LOL, wouldn't you? how about finding him some duckie friends?
glad you're back!
Hi Mel,
Glad you're back. I bet it was hard leaving your chicks for
2 days. I was gone for several hours yesterday, and couldn't
wait to get back to check on the chicks I moved outside.
I'll go get a picture, and post it. They are in their interim
home, I modified the goats pen temporarily. We get our
post holes dug for the chicken house on Wednesday.
Davey, our roo, is already protecting the new outside chicks.
He hangs out at the pen, and so far has jumped both dogs
and our Unachi kitty for getting too close. Good Roo!
Love to Miss Beckie, all hail Princess Kathy.
Here's a pic of the babies first dust bath. They are so happy.
Love to Miss Cathy and green cheers to Princess Kathy.
HEY!!! It's a party and I didn't get invited!!!!
You silly, you are always invited, Aunt Cookie! I will send out
you invy ASAP! Just so you can show it at the door! LOL
Love to Miss Robbi and party invite to Princess Kathy, too!
They look like they are having fun! I have been out to check on Bob every few minutes since we got home last night. Poor Bob...I miss hearing his coos in the living room. But it smells SO much better in here now! Plus after the rooster is gone we can let him and the chicks join the ladies and free range each day. Bob flys around a lot these days, and just learned that there is electric fence for the horses. Poor guy flew right into it the other day when he was coming in too low for a landing.
ohhhh!
Ouch...
ZZZZZZZap! Poor Bob! I bet he and the others will be
much happier when they free range. What kind of duck
is Bob? How do you feel about him flying around more?
Does he have water to play in, like he had in the tub inside?
My chicks are already anxious to get out. 2 escaped when I
opened the pen to bring food. Once they were out, it was
"Where's the door? Where's the door!?!"
Lots of love to Miss Beckie and Miss Robbi and Miss Traci
and Miss Tammy and Miss Rachael and Miss Cathy.
May princess kathy never fly into the hot wire!
Hahaha...yeah. He has a swimming pool out there, and eventually we will put in a nice pond for him. He is a muscovy, and I dont worry about him flying more. He has always come home, so I know he knows where we live...and if he doesn't someday then I would just assume he met someone...although there are no other ducks of his breed for miles and miles. They are not native here, and even rarely kept as pets.
I dont think he actually got zapped as much as it caught his wing and probably hurt more then anything. I am going to check on his now...then going to bed! its been a long time since I got some real sleep!
i'd like to see new pictures! chickens grow up so fast!