Chicken Moma chat thread. Share, Q&A, all things chicken!

[sarahannecloud9]

Welcome

I'm sure it was blood. The poopoos I found were just 90% blood, fresh and others dry. The egg was light brown, small, and bright blood starting to dry. I took a pic. Will post soon. Yesterday we got an egg that looked like it had gotten stuck. Must have been a new girl holding it in. I'm pretty sure it was a cochin egg. It had rings of builtup shell. I took a pic of that one too. In some places it looked 4X thick. No chick could have gotten through this thing! I'm getting lots of spotted eggs. I love that!

[aumismommy]

We are so loving this batch of babies Dh and I each snuggle a few each night and they fall asleep on our chests.
I've learned a bit about sexing the babies though it is very iffy thought I'd share...I'm sure you chicken mamas know this but anyway...
I do think one of the three marabs is a potential roo based on what I've read online...we shall see but they are saying that (if they are cuckoo marans and not black copper then they are like any other barred bird in sexing) a symmetrical yellow spot on the head is usually a female, splotchy spot is male. And late tail feathers are a trait of a make. Well two have perfect spots and tail feathers popping up and one has a mis-shaped splotch and no feathers. I am making sure to hold that one a lot.,in case it's a roo and we keep it which is up in the air.
The Cochins and the Brahma look to be females- supposedly their wing feathers tend to be longer and more pronounced than the boys who have shorter stubbier wing feathers. The 3 Cochins and one brahma have long wing feathers.
The barred rock has a distinct circular spot on its head and long feathers. Supposedly female traits.
The three EE I'm not getting convincing info for sexing...one is bigger than the other two and stands very erect and chirps very loud when I walk away...this is the chipmunk one. The other two have redder markings and look similar...not sure what any of this means for this breed

Fingers crossed for pullets!

[sarahannecloud9]

I can tell you with the br, nothings for sure, haha. The roos will have yellower legs without much grey streaking, their colors will be muted and greyish, the white bars are bigger, there is more white on them. This is when they get bigger. They are kinda hard to tell. I just found one of mine to be a roo and they are around 5 months. Australorps are supposed to be the easiest based on feather growth. Not for me. One of mine looked like an osterage, tell tale sigh of a pos roo! She's now laying eggs. Sl glad we kept her!!!!

I know this egg will need help and I have done HOURS of research and vidio watching, but..... We have confirmed twins! It's from an australorp. Double yolker and is developeing wonderfully. Have to do lots of praying for these lo's! Not many, esp both, make it. They will not be able to pip on their own. I'm doing daily monitoring now. here are 2 pics. My cam refuses to focus without the day flash, sorry.Liz, here's the one with blood:

[aumismommy]

Originally Posted by sarahannecloud9 I can tell you with the br, nothings for sure, haha. The roos will have yellower legs without much grey streaking, their colors will be muted and greyish, the white bars are bigger, there is more white on them. This is when they get bigger. They are kinda hard to tell. I just found one of mine to be a roo and they are around 5 months. Australorps are supposed to be the easiest based on feather growth. Not for me. One of mine looked like an osterage, tell tale sigh of a pos roo! She's now laying eggs. Sl glad we kept her!!!! I know this egg will need help and I have done HOURS of research and vidio watching, but..... We have confirmed twins! It's from an australorp. Double yolker and is developeing wonderfully. Have to do lots of praying for these lo's! Not many, esp both, make it. They will not be able to pip on their own. I'm doing daily monitoring now. here are 2 pics. My cam refuses to focus without the day flash, sorry.Liz, here's the one with blood:

I know most of it is just guessing which is fine and fun that one maran jumps up out of the box when I put the perch in there. That one is very curious. And that little chipmunk ee is hilarious. I go over there and love on them make sure to snuggle that one because it's such a love, put it down walk away and it just chirps non stop so loud. Sweet little lovey.

About your twins- I've had double yolks in eggs to eat...never thought about how two would hatch - what are your odds? What do you have to do for them?

[sarahannecloud9]

Odds arn't very good. The thing is they run out of air around hatch day. You have to try to find the beak area of each, normally the ends, and pip it. Then if there is bleading, you put it back in the bator to let it naturally dry up and give them more time to get ready. Check the next day and pull a bit more shell back, leaving the membrain alone minus the one air hole. Stop when you hit any fresh blood. Wrap in wet papertowel and put back for another day. The membrain has to be kept moist to prevent it from shrinkwraping. Remove again till you can safely remove enough shell to let the shicks wiggle out. There is a great utube vid from a moma that was successfull on byc. She did an excelent job! She did the other egg and the one chick was malformed, the other was just fine. So she calls them triplets! Another moma on there refused to assist in hatching, but the air sac isn't big enough for 2. so both dies in the egg. They litterally can't pip on their own because they run out of air around day 21. You have to keep checking for them to peep so you know when they are ready. I'm a nervious wreck. All the other eggs are doing great! One has a bacterial ring in it I believe? I wanna give it another day or 2 to be sure though. I don't wanna have it explode in the bator, but the chick is developing well and I just feel I should be sure before I toss it. I'm new to this but have done LOADS of reading and vid watching. I feel like I'm getting a degree in chickens! I'm gonna keep a pic journal of the twins. It's like expecting, hehe. So excited! This is my first hatch. Cayden was extatic to see them candled this am! Are you gonna someday do some?!? So exciteing to watch them develop and care for them. It's that mothering, nurtureing feeling. I'm so jellious of your chickies!

[3lilbubs]

Fascinating Sarah! I'll be for this ride.. I'm not ready for more lil peeps yet. LOL Hoping you learn enough to help me thru my first hatch in a year or so. Oh and what kind of incubator did you get? I think I've got my heart set on the brinsea 20.

[waterisntsomething]

Yay! I am loving the pics, and thanks to the OP I now know my red is a New Hampshire not a Rhode Island. I got some good pics recently I'll post soon.

[sarahannecloud9]

Originally Posted by 3lilbubs Fascinating Sarah! I'll be for this ride.. I'm not ready for more lil peeps yet. LOL Hoping you learn enough to help me thru my first hatch in a year or so. Oh and what kind of incubator did you get? I think I've got my heart set on the brinsea 20.

I have no clue, haha! I traded with that guy and the chickens. It has a nice turner, but my eggs are too big when fully loaded and won't go so I'm hand turning. I'm actually likeing the hand turning better. I know it's beling done right and no worries. So the $50 turner is just sitting there. The bator was prob only used the once. It's great. Works well, and keeps a great temp! So happy. Here is a pic. I counted and there are 31 eggs. 2 or 3 I'm not sure are fertile, and there is the one that has a possible bacterial ring that I'm praying will disapear.

Originally Posted by waterisntsomething Yay! I am loving the pics, and thanks to the OP I now know my red is a New Hampshire not a Rhode Island. I got some good pics recently I'll post soon.

Glad we are actually learning, . I wanna see some pics!!!! Pretty please!

[sarahannecloud9]

AHHHHH! Liz-that thing is ROCKIN!!!!! Wow!! I had no clue they even made them like that, hehe.


I REALLY want to turn a huge cooler into one. Like a 120 qt! Dreams right!
Like this:


Really loveing this though, haha! I could make some great changes to it. Aw, I like the cooler better. The long, huge one would have plenty of room as a brooder temp too!

[3lilbubs]

You're braver than I. I get really scared reading those threads, all the things that can go wrong Looks kinda looks like a hovabator? (sp?) That's a popular one. Seems like it should still turn tho. Have you tried contacting the company about it? I researched incubators a bit and decided that after adding on all the extras everyone recommends that I might as well just spring for a good one from the get-go. I will be getting the ECO not the fully auto one. From what I read, unless you're not able to be home (obviously I am being a SAHM) turning isn't a big deal and the nice thing about this one is that it being suspended up on a stand you just rock the thing from one side to another to turn the eggs, you don't have to open it. I really want that chick warmer too!

Ok ... so fill us in. How many eggs have you got in there cuz it looks really loaded RFLOL. What breeds do they have the potential to be and so you only have one potential quitter and a two for one? Oh my goodness. And girl, where are you going to put those chickens? I can't remember how many your coop will hold but doesn't that incubator hold like 50 eggs? It looks reaalllly stuffed! You are so funny!

ETA: Oh ok I see where you said 31 with a couple possible quitters. So given how many cochins you have will most be cochin or a cross?