****Winter**** Chicken Moma chat thread. Join in the chat!

[Nielsen6]

15 days to go, seriously this batch is doing awesome! Off topic a little but I got my Canon Rebel in the mail yesterday, and then realized I forgot to buy the compact flash card. So Saturday I will be photobombing the heck out of this thread.
Sarah, I love that coop. Too bad Adam sucks at building stuff.. I'm more handy than that man...
Congrats to all on their eggs, chicks, coops...etc. I'll catch up sometime.

[3lilbubs]

Originally Posted by sarahannecloud9 Thanks everyone! We had to sell the 4-wheeler to pay for boards, though. I think we have around 80 pressure treated 2X4's in it already. Not even starting the runs yet. Ray refuses to make anything the cheaper route. Makes it impossible to get things done. He is a blessing though. I hit the jackpot. The man can do/fix/build anything on his own. Just a perfectionist, lol. I do love the man. I'm sure you all understand the feeling, all ya'll have manly men hubbys I only manages 18, how many did Liz fit in there, hahaha?????

I'm sorry you had to sell something to do it. I hate that! Hopefully they will generate a good income for you and it's something you love so you can't go wrong there! I married the same kind of man, total opposite of my dad. My dad is a free spirited down to earth outdoor kinda guy(where I got my gardening genes I guess) but he can't do anything like that. He put in a light switch backwards. Joel can fix or make just about anything and while building isn't his strong point, if he's got instructions he can do it. He built our coop without plans, though it's certainly NOT as impressive as that! Give him kudos from us, that's gorgeous! Y'all should take pictures and make it known that he does this kind of work. He may get side jobs for this and sheds and stuff! For the eggs, I ordered the taller 8" large FRB's from USPS.com so I got 30 in there. LOL! Gotta make sure she's got a good shot at it! Shipped eggs are such a gamble.

Originally Posted by mommy2wyatt Oh and today is the day!!!!!!!!!! Cannot wait to see our chicks!!!!

Oh I can't wait for the fluffy cuteness around here! My chicks go into lockdown Sunday and by thurs. we should be seeing some peeps! I hope the silkie hatches.. I've gotten kinda attached to the little loner.

[RJ6Mommy]

How do you ladies post photos on here the easiest? I want to post pics of my BLRW but I forgot how I posted 4 years ago. also im in the process of getting 25 Dorking chicks from one of the largest on the west coast. There are very few left in the us and the breed is on the endangered list.

I am looking at incubators right now. I want something that will do a good job with my chicken eggs and our large quanities or quail eggs. What do you recommend that is not to pricy have six kids and it will have to be put up where my 4 year old will leave it alone.d that is not to pricy but is a good one that does not make me have to watch it much?

[3lilbubs]

Another one of the young roosters crowed this am, the one we were thinking about keeping. Hiliarious! He crows just like a silkie roo, flapping his wings and sounding like he's gobbling. LOL!

Erin I have Picasa on my computer and I sync them to their online web album hosting. I was doing Flickr, but got annoyed with their limitations. I looked at the dorkings, they're supposed to be really good dual purpose birds but they seemed really pricey to me. I will be getting buckeyes for my dp I think. For incubators, I couldn't afford to blow several hundred dollars on a good one either I built mine from a foam food grade shipping box. I have a friend that did weight watchers and that's what they sent her food in. I've been told that pet stores with fish or reptiles may have them that they'd sell you too. Here's the thread I used, I spend just under $30 to make mine. If I wanted, I could probably fit around 3.5-4 dozen eggs in it. Mine is the one with pink plaid tape. I have changed it just a little since then, put hardware cloth sleeve around the light because I didn't want the chicks to touch it when they hatch and I put actual hardware cloth on the floor.

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/85...-bator-updated

[3lilbubs]

Oh and does anyone use the Family Farm brand of chicken feed at Walmart? I'd been using the manna pro chick feed for my youngsters, I didn't realize that this was also distributed by Manna pro till I saw the tag the other day. I bought some to give it a try, I've not been very impressed by the feed store's brand "Kruse feeds". Seems like the hens don't digest it well and there's still some issues with picking going on.

[MrsCrafty]

Just popping on quick on our way home. Kind of disappointing the lady thought I only wanted 3 chicks when our emails we discussed a dozen. So I only got 6, that's all she had ready she said. She only changed me for 3 of them though. Ones much smaller and I'm a bit worried, looks like there's dried poo on its rear. So I need to bathe it right? Ill post more when I get home and get them settled.

[sarahannecloud9]

I'm not sure what others do, but when mine get this it's norm from getting too warm. I take scissors and CAREFULLY trim it away, then trim the bum to prevent more buildup. If you wet it, the other chicks will most likely peck at it instantly.

So sorry for the misunderstanding. Are they younger, or like didn't grow as fast as they should? What the heck happened if the e-mails said a spec #? Doesn't sound on the level in some way to me? It was nice of her to charge less. Are these sexed? I can't remember whta you said? I've been done pretty dirty so tend not to trust people around here. I get roos unloaded on me every time. I garentee they are sexing them before I buy. Just too much to be coincidence, kwim. I bought a bunch of sr bantys from a lady and all but 1 was a roo. Not saying you had something like that happen at all!!!!!! Just sharing my purchase stories. I do all eggs now. I'd rather not purchase from hatcheries, persional reasions now. I'm kinda stuck with the egg route. Did she say when she would/could have more ready? Were they what you asked for?

[MrsCrafty]

Well I cleaned its butt and nobody pecked at it, its the biggest chick. They're all sleeping now.
I don't know what she was thinking. She did say that she had gotten a lot more orders then she anticipated and maybe that's why? I think I got 1 buff, 2 black, and 3 partridge. Her coops seemed really nice, she took me in one but the chicks were in her house and I didn't actually see them, she brought them out to me.

The buff has the crusty butt. After I cleaned it, it pooped a ton. One of the blacks is not good though, seems lethargic. I've been dipping its beak in water, but it could barely walk the rest seem fine, eating and drinking. They're all sleeping together so I'm hoping in the morning my little black one is perked up.

[MrsCrafty]

Oh and she said they hatched Monday.

[3lilbubs]

Oh mama, I'm sorry. I hope they all remain healthy. By chance do you have any of the baby vitamins (poly sol or something like that) in the house? If you do, give the weak chick a drop of that. It could be something as simple as vitamin deficiency. I don't think aside from maybe vent sexing.. that you can sex silkies. They're too small and too hard to tell. I've read even breeders can't be sure until they either lay or crow.

Found out today my turkey eggs aren't shipping until Apr 14, bummer. That means I may or may not have one ready for thanksgiving this year.