Hatchery directorykinda neat.

I just got this with my on-line MotherEarth news:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Find-Chickens-Poultry-Hatchery.aspx?utm_medium=email&utm_source=iPost

And why on earth would we be looking for a hatchery???? LOL

No.. I'm just in an ornery mood I guess.. givin everyone a bad time!

Great link.. really.. I'll go give it a test drive.. (with my eyes closed)

Sob--Oh ZZ, how can you be so terribly cruel!?:0).

Just because some people have OCD (Obsessive Chicky Desire) is no reason the rest of us shouldn't indulge.

PS: I am candling your eggs as fast as I can......

That is too cool! And extremely dangerous in our hands!

Ooooh...(rubbing hands together gleefully)....the damage I can do with this is startling!!!

By the way, ZZ, your barnevelder eggs are quite possibly the most difficult eggs I ever had to candle, with the possible exception of the penedesenca. I have no idea what is going on inside them. Sigh.

I'm sorry! I expected that from you though! They are dark for sure. I had the same problem with the first few batches.. Now I can spot a vein on day 4 easy! LOL I don't even look anymore.. They are all developing.. I hope the shipped ones do the same.
The first lil girl is starting to show her lacing.. wow.. I gotta get some time for pics.. she is gonna be a knockout. :)

Oh geez....now I gotta live up to the ultimate candler, the great ZZ, who can spot a day 4 vein at 200 yards on a clear, bright day. At night, she's even better. That's right, she doesn't even have to LOOK! She is like, vein empathic or something. She FEELS the presence of the vein.

Bow, bow down to the ultimate candler. Oh please almighty ZZ, tell us your secrets! ;-)

Seriously, what kind of candler are you using. I feel particularly inept all of a sudden.

LMBO
I am not much of a candler.. LOL I have a mag flashlight.. I don't take them out of the bator.. just shine the light on the top, for a "quickie" candling.. my bators are in an area I converted from washer & Dryer to Bators, plants and hatchers.. LOL So it's a closet and very dark in the morning before I turn the plant lights on. if the turner is level, you can spin the egg to the other side.. The veins are not all the way around at the early age.. LOL You crack me up.

Do you like those posters that have the hidden picture? Know how to "relax" your eyes to see the pic? That's kinda how it is looking in dark eggs..

Name that tune?

I can candle that white banty egg in 3 days.. LOL

I have an LED flashlight and it really works quite well for white and light and even some brown eggs, but blue and dark brown...not so much. I do go in the closet sometimes to candle. I will try it again. I will aspire to reach your heights.

But for the record, I never could see anything in those "relax your eyes" pictures.

Hey, but since you are also the goddess of the barnevelders, tell me, do you think this gal has barnevelder in her? She was one of the rescues from the lady with the crazy dogs. I think she sorta kinda maybe looks like she might have barnevelder blood.

What sayeth you, your highness? ;-)

(edited because I got so excited to be talking to the Ultimate Candler that I misspelled barnevelder. Oh the shame...)

This message was edited Mar 6, 2009 5:03 PM

Another....just for kicks.

I think you got me mixed up with the ultimate chicken lady Catscan.. LOL

That's it!!! If you cannot see the hidden pictures, how can you see the inside of an egg??
About your darling hen?
I would guess.. Yes. Cause of the coloring.. The black neck feathers and gray underside.. There may be Barnevelder there...
Here is what throws me off a little..
Barnevelders have a short back.. and the profile from head to tail is quite the U shape.. Your bird has quite a long back.
The comb and Wattles on a Barnevelder are pretty good sized.. Your bird has no wattles.. I can't see the comb too good..
I'm not good at this yet.. but that's my story and I'm sticken to it.
Either way.. that is a beautiful hen and I hope she passes that lacing to her younguns!

She's not laying at the moment (little stinker) but I hope she does soon. Most of the birds I got from that woman never laid until one started about a month ago, and now a second one has started. The longer days and hopefully the warmth will bring more out into the laying phase. I am sure she is a mix of some sort, especially given the wattles/comb thing. I had some frostbitten combs this year, but not on the hens so much as the roos. She does have a bit of a funny shape. She's pretty though, and she likes to follow me, and sometimes she does the football shuffle for me so I can pet her.

Speaking of roos, here is my current fave. He's a Dutch bantam. Catscan had some Dutches too I think. How are they doing, Catscan?

For her to be a sweetie too.. That's a big + in my book.. I like the ones that come up for an occasional snuggle... or even just a visit.. always makes me smile.

Oh he is soooo cute! Don't you love their lil crow!!?? I do. It sounds like a lil baby. LOL
I am really falling in love with the Dutch Bantams.. I have Catscan's Dutch Bantams.. They are so tiny.. and so funny.. they are easy to hatch, easy to keep.. soft on the ears.. LOL And a total crack up!
I've also fallen for Modern Game.. Cody loves them and bugged me to get them.. Now I can't get enough! They are sooooooo cute.

edited to add..

This is a pair of Catscan's Dutch

This message was edited Mar 6, 2009 7:17 PM

Yes, his crow is so quiet. I even had them in the basement for a while when he was crowing and when he first started, I thought it was a bird outside. He's too funny. We called him Sparky. He had 4 girls but now he only has 3. One of them died for no apparent reason. There are two with his coloring and the other gal is greyish brown with a lighter color head.

Catscan's Dutch are adorable! And I see your ground is as muddy as ours!

I am the queen of the Dutch Bantams! Actually, I love them more than anything. I had to divest of some because I hatched 12 (lovely whites and birchens and red pyle and reds) and only two were pullets--ZZ's got four of them now, two pullets and two roos... should have eggs soon. Then I hatched two from garrie (cajunboy), Poppet and Bijoux....light browns. They stick so close when you go outside they are always underfoot--we should have eggs from them too if I don't step on them.

How many do you have now Claire? Were they from Theresa (tbooher1)? She has wonderfully healthy ones.

They were in 3" of water for a week! Good thing their lil coop has a nice high and dry area.. I just put food and water in there and they didn't mind at all. :)
The one I couldn't figure out what color to call it is her's too..

Crossed!

Here is Pearl

That first roo is THE MAN.. He has taken over the coop and is the Big Sugar Daddy of the Millie and Pearl.. Since Milford is so lazy he gets worn out just doing the one legged dance.. going "all the way" is just too much work for him.. He rather sit on the water container

Ah hah! The Queen of Dutch Bantams has arrived! Hooray! Poppet and Bijoux are perfect names for such cute little birds. I haven't named the girls yet. They do tend to get underfoot, but only the roo lets me pick him up easily. They hatched on December 20.

My eggs came from bantybarn on eggbid.com. I had 6 hatch out of 12 and 1 died early and 1 died last week so I have 3 hens and the roo. I would not mind having more though. I'm not sure if I could get some from these when they start to lay. Depends who tries to have their way with the hens. I have an OEG silver duckwing male who might try, or the cochin males.

I have noticed in some of my chicks that hatched in January, some are starting to get these funny little head crests. I've realized they must be the offspring of my Appenzeller or my Creme Brabanter. They don't start out with hats like silkies or Polish. It only begins to appear later.

He's just gorgeous to look at so he probably figures he doesn't need to do anything other than stand around looking handsome.

How cute! I just hatched two Spitz.. I think it's a pair since one is light and one is dark.. wouldn't that be great? They are darling boobooz..

Tbooher is a great one to buy Dutch from.. I just got a 12+ auction from her and she sent 18 and they are ALL developing! LOL After seeing all the darling ones Catscan has/had.. I gotta have some.. and couldn't wait for our own.. How stupid is that?

You two are certifiably evil. I just bid on Tbooher dutch eggs on eggbid. I should never listen to you guys. Geeeez.....this is ALL YOUR FAULT!

Here is my creme brabanter roo with a Thai blue in front. It was a sunny day here so I took some chickie piccies!

Another of my favorites, but she's not a very friendly girl - quite skittish. She also came from the crazy dog lady. Probably another mixed breed. Nice colors though.

Now that looks kinda Wyandotte.. which my explain the comb & wattles thing on the other one? Hummmm this is fun.. :)

This is another of hers, looks like a red sex link of some sort to me.

And yet another, a partridge rock, I think.

My cochin roo who lost his comb points to frostbite... :-(

He's still handsome.

BTW, we also have a pretty comprehensive listing of hatcheries and poultry sources:

http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/advanced.php?category=131&submit=Go&cat[158]=131

If you've ordered from one or more of them, I hope you'll share what you know!

And lastly, my friendliest hen, an Ameraucana or EE. The awful thing, I haven't named her yet!

Thanks Terry - Just left a review for McMurray, whom I just ordered from!

She is beautiful Claire! How many roosters do you have.. and are they all running together.. any troubles?

I had a few rooster troubles early last year, solved them and am scared to have any two together again.. the winter babies are just starting to crow and I am thinking its time to figure out who's who and start to cull.. only because I have nowhere to keep a bunch of roos.

I feel your pain, frans. I just took a red Ameraucana roo to a new home. He is going to have to fight it out with the resident Silkie roo there:0).

If someone can just find a legitimate and humane use for roos....maybe they could be trained to be service chickens? Wear little green vests and pick up things from the floor and guide the blind? My Nankins would be good at the latter--they run along side you talking constantly. Carrier chickens? They could run through the underbrush carrying messages to the troops? Didn't they use pigeons to guide missiles at some point? Not so great for the pigeons....Alarm roos!

Silly Moxon! There is no end to ZZ and my evilness when it comes to acquiring superfluous birds....we are doing penance right now. You should be using us as an object lesson of what not to do, not following in our wayward steps....

Cat, you have some GREAT ideas there.. have you contacted anyone "in the know"?

I remember awhile back they were using geese or was that gooses around a military base somewhere overseas as an early warning system..

Our house chicken (just till spring) cackles when ANYTHING out of the ordinary happens.. which includes the kids laughing too loud, an extra kid coming in from school.. and the alarm clock not going off when it's suppose to and I get up first.. he pecked it this morning wondering why it wasn;t working.. wish I had a video going for that.. then he crowed.. LOL

If she were mine, I'd call her Sketch. She would be a beautiful picture in pencil I think. :) I love her Claire!

There is no such thing as superfluous birds.. don't listen to her Claire..

I've been a total crab this week.. I'm so glad it's FRIDAY... Hopefully I'll get the second coop finished and I will be happy. :) er.. Happier

cool name ZZ

Just wanted to drop in and mention something. When i got NPIP(National Poultry Improvement Plan) tested.My birds all passed by the way. I also had my Incubation and Hatching area examined. I will get my hatching license in the mail soon. Well the Lady told me that my incubator and hatcher/brooder MUST be in a separate room of each other. Which they are, but I wanted to put my incubator in the same room as the hatcher/brooder. I sure wish i had asked the reason. Just thought I would let ya know.

Fran - I have a bunch of roos. I have 2 barred rock full size roos, a Rhode Island Red roo (who lost a couple of toes this winter to frostbite. Some nights he did not come back to the coop), a full size crele roo of some sort, two bantam cochin roos, an Appenzeller Spitzhaben, a Creme Brabanter, an Ameraucana, an OEG, a young black Australorp, and a Dutch Bantam. I also have a silkie roo but he's in the Eglu. So that makes um...12 roosters. They all run around together. The 2 barred rocks and the RIR hang out together. The 2 cochins hang out together. The Appenzeller and the brabanter hang out. The rest seem to stick to themselves. Whenever I have introduced a new roo, there has been a fight, usually involving some quantity of blood from combs and wattles, but it never lasts more than a day. They establish an order, just like the hens, and they are done. Maybe it helps that all my chickens free range all day? The roos share coops at night with other roos and no issues. Really, truly, they all seem to get along. I lost a few roos in December - a Chantecler, another BR, a white leghorn, but they all had gotten along too. It was a virus that got them.

Catscan - great ideas. Have you started a training program? If not, why not?

I can't let them run amoke because while I am in the country I am too close to the "pet cemetery" road.. and we would have chicken feathers abound often..

So they do get to free range but not all the time... maybe I should just trim wings and put them out in the pasture with a coop.

I thought my egg sexing experiment with the 75% inaccuracy rate showed promise...75% is pretty good you know...Now if the ceramic armadillo hatched into a hen...