Meet the new chicks..

These are the 3 we hatched from our current flock:

Incubating Eggs

I'm giving it a go at incubating some of my chicken eggs. I'm a little curious/nervous to see what kind of strange chicks will hatch from my mismatched flock.  I'll try to post updates as I see progress.

Chickens hatch in 21 days, so hatch day for me should be around Feb 16 or 17.

Step one: I bought a very simple incubator from Orschelns for $30 and some Manna Pro Egg Cleanser to sanitize the eggs for $10.

 
Step two: I plugged in the incubator and added warm water to the bottom collection slots and waited a few hours to monitor humidity and temp.  55-60% humidity and 99.5 degrees is ideal.

Step three: I collected a days worth of eggs on a semi-warm day (58 degrees) and let them sit in the cleanser solution (1 cap solution per 1/2 gallon warm water) for a few minutes then rinsed and dried. Once dry, I drew an X on each of the eggs so I can keep track of which side they have been on for turning purposes. (They need to be turned 3x a day).

Step four: I put the eggs in the incubator with the "x" side up at 8pm January 27.

Step five: I'll be turning the eggs 3x a day and adding warm

That's all for now...I'll check back in in a week or so :)

Chicken Update!

There has been a few more chicken deaths due to an unknown illness. I have 17 healthy chickens as of this moment and just stuck my first batch of eggs in the incubator.


 Here's the flock as of January 2015:

Regina (Rhode Island Red)

 Natalie (Buff Orpington)

 

Billy (Gold Laced Wyandotte Rooster)

 

Dorothy (Barred Rock)

 

Helen (Black Sex Link)

 

 Ryan (Turken/Naked Neck Rooster)

 

Katniss (Welsummer)

 

Primrose (Easter Egger)

 

Effie (White Crested Black Polish)

 

 

Willow (Black Australorp)

 

 

Clementine (Red Cochin) & Lily (Coronation Sussex)

 

 

Nyx (mutt)

 Apollo (mutt)

 Aphrodite (mutt)

 Blueberry (Blue Silkie Rooster)

 

 Peaches (Partridge Silkie)

RIP Fern

Fern was acting a little groggy for a day or two, so I put her in a tub by herself with some antibiotic water.  I must have not noticed her symptoms soon enough, we found her dead the next morning.  She was going to be a pretty little feather footed girl.

Out with the roosters and in with the hens

I gave away 4 of the roosters today...which was harder than I thought it would be.

Then I had chicken withdrawals so I bought 5 more pullets. They will be know as "the greeks"

 Hera

 Aphrodite

 Nyx

 Leto

 Artemis

Chicken update

I took all of these pictures today (july 8) to get an accurate picture of their age...

The big chicks are 19.5 weeks old.  2 out of the 4 girls are laying so far.

 Dorothy has laid 4 eggs so far and 2 of them were double yolkers!

Helen was the first layer and has laid 8 eggs so far.  (The eggs in the blue carton are Dorothy & Helen's eggs from the past few days)

  Natalie & Regina are going to be the next two girls to lay eggs ...any day now!

 

The Posse: These 3 girls are always attached at the hip. They are 16.5 weeks old and should start laying eggs in the next few weeks.  I've caught Katniss already trying out the nesting box.

The Greenies...these chicks are different ages.  Lily & Lotus are 14 weeks old, Ivy is 13 weeks old, Clover & Willow are 12 weeks old. Out of this group Lily, Clover & Willow are the girls (I think).

The Babies...are also different ages.  Fern is 12 weeks old,  Skittles & Cupcake are 11 weeks old, Clementine & Tater are 9.5 weeks old.

The Silkies are diff ages, but I'm not exactly sure how old they were when I got them. By my estimations... Peaches & Blueberry are 5 weeks old, Kiwi is 8 weeks old.