New Chick on the farm (pict heavy)

[canesisters]

More new chicks!!! Here are the 3 new babies from the Gilmanor sale. It was late and they were all trying to sleep....

There's 2 'easter egger' chicks. One blue and one speckled.
I'm not sure about that speckled one... hoping it's not a boy. The lack of wattles starting, having a tail and small joints on it's legs make me hope it's a girl... but that color pattern turns out male about 1/2 the time.


Love the poof on the Polish's head. She should turn out blue/grey with a white topknot.




Gimpy is really, really happy to have a bigger chick to snuggle up to...

 

[Wishin']

Are all the new birds the same age?

 

[canesisters]

No, if I remember right, the EE's are close to 4 weeks and the Polish is around 3 weeks.

 

[StonyGarden]

They are so cute Canesisters!

I had a chick hatch 3 nights ago. Just one out of 16 100% viable eggs. They weren't due to hatch till next week.

I stole the eggs from my broody hen. She was eating the eggs or eating the chicks as they hatched or something so all eggs are in the incubator. The single chick is set up in the brooder.

 

[canesisters]

Wow, a whole weeke early? That's a chick who is eager to get going! If you want a buddy for your baby, Carmen had another hatch last Sat, I'm sure she'd be glad to send a couple your way.
Must be a bad spring for broodies.... How old was yours?

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don't know of a bad year for broodies, but a different year, at least here. I've got 7 hens, 1 rooster, and 21 ten week old chicks. I was getting 6 to 7 eggs a day. Was. Two of them have gone broody. Two more are walking around making that pucking broody sound and kind of fluffed up, but haven't kicked over to full broody mode. I almost never have two broodies at the same time! Now that I'm trying to save eggs for a broody, I'm down to two or three eggs a day. And of course the ones I want to hatch eggs from are not the ones laying.

I'll put one of those broodies in the broody buster this morning, now that the one I want to hatch has spent two consecutive nights on the nest. That's convinced me she's in full broody mode and deserves eggs. I should have enough eggs to start the other broody tomorrow. And I'll just wait and see what those other two do. Expect pictures early June.

 

[canesisters]

Hahahahah Ridge - isn't that just the way it seems to work?! They start laying eggs by the ton so you make plans... then they stop laying just to spite you.
What breeds are you trying to hatch?

 

[Ridgerunner]

No breeds, just my barnyard mix. I want a rooster out of a Speckled Sussex/Black Australorp cross hen to be next year's flock master. I hope to get larger body size out of her son, plus larger eggs and the Australorp talent for laying in the winter once the molt is finished. That hen also has the look I want for the hens, the broad matronly look with pantaloons instead of a sleek gamey look. The others I want eggs from are just hens that will not have black chicks with my rooster. That way I know any black rooster I get will be from that SS/BA cross.

It's not going to happen. I have one egg from the hen I want and not enough eggs from the others I want to get enough eggs to make a clutch.

Yeah, the way I look at it, if you want to make Mother Nature laugh, make plans.

 

[canesisters]

Oh man.. I just made the connection - these are your special speckled, colored egg layer project aren't they? That bites.

 

[StonyGarden]

My little lonely chick is doing great by itself. Looking for everything else to hatch.