Day 8

Officially have 33 eggs left in the incubator. The rest were infertile - so no babies growing in them, except one that had a blood ring which means early death. But it was actually a blood ring by day 5 so really early death.

The rest are growing like crazy and moving around in their eggs. Even Polly and Pocket have each an egg in there that I am beyond curious to see what hatches out.

The chicks in the brooding coop got most of their identifying zip ties off. With their feathers coming in it's easier to tell which chick belongs to who. The only ones that kept their zips were one of Nikki's grey chicks, one white silkie x chick and I believe Amelie's brown chick Brownie. The rest were cut off. When they grow up if they are keepers or broodies or if I need to tell them apart from someone else in the flock I will give them a big zip tie.

Speaking of broodies … mine are not broody this year. I'm pretty sure it's the big coop. It's pretty busy in there. I'm in the middle of cleaning it out. I figure if I do a little bit every day it will eventually get done. We will be putting in new roosts, re-arranging the laying boxes, perhaps insulating the pig side, although … we shall see. I might house my extra roosters over winter with the piggies. I hope I get a broody or two this year, it's so much easier to raise chicks with a hen watching over them.

#seriouslythough

We opened the side of the big barn up so the chickens are encouraged to go behind there and clean up the ticks. The kids like to play there so we shall be feeding the chickens behind the barn for a while.

The rest of May is incredibly busy and packed with things to do. Time till hatch day is going to go quickly.

Also. In bunny news. Buttercup doesn't like me that much. I think he's kind of coming around … but also not. I cleaned his little pen today and he immediately messed it up and pooped everywhere. Bunnies are way more temperamental than chickens. 

Day 5 (ish) and also my birthday!

Today started off pretty good! Got to work with the kids saying happy birthday. I had a good team to work with today. Lisa made me a little adorable cake!

And then barely 90 minutes into work, Amelie comes in and tells me she has a headache. I check her forehead, it's hot. Ah man. So I take her temperature. Fever. Bah. She goes back to class and we get a sub to come in so I can take her home.

Once we are home, I double check with our thermometer. Same. So. What do to?

I settle her on the couch, then go check on my babies! I collect the eggs, let the chickens out that can't fly out. Laugh at the rooster who is SO BIG he can't fly high enough to escape the pig pen.

BAHAHAHAHAH #fatrooster

I spent way too much time watching him. I should have helped  him but I couldn't get in there.

Oh. Because also - Corey cut down the pig's 'door' so I wouldn't stab myself in the groin while trying to get in there but it ALSO was at the right height for them to jump out. Yup.

They jumped out. More than once. So he had to put a big board back up there. They now have outside access but geez … #highmaintenance hahaha.

They also ate all the chicken feed. The chickens aren't happy about it.

Anyways.

After doing all that, poking my head in at the little chickies, I decided to candle the eggs. I set Amelie up at the computer to mark down what I was saying and at LEAST half the eggs are developing. I tossed one out for sure because it had a blood ring. We will re-check the others in a couple days, likely on the weekend. Any blanks will get tossed so they don't explode in there. Yuck man.

I'm mostly excited for the lavender orpingtons and BOTH my little bantam cochins eggs are developing. That's super fun. The kids are excited for the crested polish. Look it up.

#whatdoIdowiththat?

I think I might take a nap. 

Egg turning

It's hard to remember to turn the eggs.

I'm used to just putting them in the incubator and walking away for 5-7 days, casually checking humidity when the alarm on my incubator would scare the beejeebies out of me.

This new incubator has two extra thermometers in it to keep an eye on temperature because it's not the same as what is displayed. Although, I suspect it might be an 'average' temperature that is being taken on the incubator because it varies either way but not too far right now.

The humidity doesn't change even when I add water. That's suspicious but not overly concerning at this stage of the game.

What is concerning is I have 6 eggs that are tiny and NOT on the turners and I need to remember to physically turn them by hand. my other eggs naturally turn every four hours (ish), my previous incubator every two hours - on time. These poor little late additions are going to be lucky if I remember they are even there once a day.

#sorrylittleguys, #Idoloveyou

In other news, the rabbit is very fluffy, but doesn't like to be picked up. I might be doing it wrong. We ordered a bunch of books from the library so we can learn a whole bunch of information.

In other chick news, they are getting so big!!

2 week old silkie (no name yet)

2 week old Brownie 

I am so excited to see their feathers coming in. A few are surprising me, like Brownie and my little 'Sophie', whom I think is actually a boy …

Also. As I was browsing some photos, I came across a photo of a rooster we'd brought into the house this winter to thaw out!

He is still alive and is the rooster we kept! AWWWWWWWW The feels. 

Auction time! Also we bought a rabbit.

I wasn't expecting to actually buy anything at the auction. Maybe some eggs, maybe not.

We got the kids all ready to go, crammed into the van and drove out to the site. After getting there and walking in, we already spotted 3 puppies and 2 Asian geese.

Of course, Nolan wanted a puppy.

Of course, Corey wanted Asian Geese. (eyeroll)

After getting into the arena, we swarmed the tables. We oohed and awed over the animals.

Notably - the one bunny in the sale.
Some adorable baby chicks.
Some turkeys.
And a rooster I wanted to add to my flock as well as a few hens.

We barely bought the bunny. Corey was busy talking and not paying attention. Amelie is thrilled. We've discovered it's a male. He's very, very tame. He has some issues with a bald spot on his bum we aren't sure about but I'll get that looked after shortly. We also underestimated how much care a bunny needs BUT because Buttercup is pretty tame, I'm hoping it will be easy.

#letshope, #hessocute

I did want to purchase some new hens but they went above my price limit. I was disappointed but did come home with some bantam hatching eggs from the same lady I bought my current incubating eggs. She came to chat with me too! I managed to fit these eggs in my incubator, after quickly pulling out the eggs I'd put in from my own flock today. That way they weren't developed yet so I didn't have to feel guilty - and I put the smaller ones along the edge LOL. As time goes on, I'm sure I'll be removing some anyways so they should get onto the turner at some point. I'll have to manually turn those ones in the mean time.

We also came home with two riding helmets and a toy for Missy. Not a bad day after all.

In other news, I discovered that my bantam white cochin lays a normal sized brown egg. Well … what the heck?! That means, she may have been laying this WHOLE TIME and I didn't even know it. Pffffff. I put her egg in the incubator too to see what comes of it.

I will post a chick update tomorrow. They are getting lots of feathers now!

Batch #2

Why am I hatching more eggs?

Alright. It sounds crazy. I love my chickens.

I have chickens though right? Why hatch more than you can keep?

Totally! Especially mixed breeds! I get your skepticism. Here's why :

1. The brown hens I have are not actually mine, Corey brought them over from the neighbor and I want to phase them out. In the fall, I will be replacing them with the ones I've been hatching now. The replacements likely won't be laying eggs yet but seriously, the browns always quit on me during the winter anyways.

#wontbemissinganything

2. The Columbian Rocks (white with back on their necks) are my broodiest hens! The ones that are broody this year will stay again and they will have to get some special treatment because they will be 3 years old I think. I try not to keep my laying hens more than 2 years because I was told it helps to prevent disease so if anyone will want them I will sell them. Or I'll eat them. Either way, they won't be wasted but it's time for them to move on.

#Ididntkeeprecordsbefore, #nowIhaveaspreadsheet

3. It's getting a little too related here. My barred rock rooster is from a different farm (hatched here but the egg is from a friend.) I only have two other barred rock chickens, one is unrelated to him and the other might be his sister. Either way, I have new barred rocks from somewhere else and once I see the quality I will decide which rooster will stay. I may not be hatching eggs from my own farm this year which will spare me my rooster. Most of my chickens are daughters of previous years and the roosters were also chicks born here. We need some fresh blood, at the very least in the rooster section and I don't want jerks. I want sweet and kind roosters, like the ones I have kept.

4. I wanted chickens to keep eggs for my family. I'm not about production, I'm about happy, healthy farm animals. And also pretty. And also tame. And also I like hatching eggs. If at any time someone would like me to hatch them some chicks for their own farm, I am happy to sell you some chicks! NEXT year I will have separate pens for a few purebreds, but this year it's a mix breed style called Barnyard mix. Those are fun. I will sell anything extra that I don't want to keep but those that stay I will be responsible for them.

5. Although I incubate a lot of eggs, this is still a farm and farm life is rough. Our first batch had 18 chicks and I'm down to 16 and maybe 15 (we haven't decided about Nikki's chick yet). Over winter I lost a few as well, not many this year they did surprisingly well, but still lost some. You just never know. In the fall, if I see I have too many I can always send some to be butchered and sell them. They won't be forced into an unhealthy situation. We are currently eyeing up our pig barn to turn it into a better chicken barn.

So. That's why I do it. I know others have programs and ideas and business plans but I don't do it for that. I want happy and healthy and that does need some organization but I'll get there. In the meantime, if you need some eggs, let me know. We are selling our eggs right now. As of today I have 15 dozen in my fridge. 0_0. I need some room to put my groceries.

#eggsanyone? #Ineedtomakemoneytopayforincubator

Batch #2 is 41 eggs of varying breeds of purebreds from another farm and are due the 25th of May. (ish)

Birthday Party #1

Busy last few days!

I decided earlier this week to ACTUALLY allow my kids a birthday party this year. Last year I was still recovering from surgery, back at work  … not in the mood.

#alsolazy, #momoftheyear

Nikki invited her classmates over and they all came (except one who had company I believe). They had a blast! I was pretty worried though. I didn't plan activities, I didn't have cool go-home gifts, I didn't organize anything other than :

Hey guys look at these baby chickens!!!

#winner

They loved just running wild in the yard. One little girl found Polly (our black cochin who is getting very tame at this point) and toted her around most of the day. She was also in love with our chicks, helped me refill the nest boxes with fresh shavings and picked the eggs.

The other kids climbed our monkey bars, jumped on the trampoline and ran around the yard doing … I don't actually know all the things they did.

They ate cake. They had fun. They were a great group of kids.

#goodjobkids

Nikki was a happy little 6 year old.

Only 2 birthday parties left to go. One is a sleepover party and the other one isn't sure yet. 

We are family

Oh man.

We have three birthdays just this week (end) One on the 2nd (today! Happy Birthday William), one on the 4th and one on the 5th. Then it's mine on the 9th. I got my present already, it's currently holding temp at 37.5 and has one egg in it. An egg I wanted to use as a tester.

It's from a black chicken.

I went to the barn today to check my hens and discovered the cats sleeping in the nesting boxes, curled on top of the pigs and squished between some hens. Whatever. Stop eating the eggs cats!!!!

And you dog!

GAH. I only got 4 eggs today.

In chick news, they are getting super tame. Whenever we go inside, they all swivel their little raptor heads towards us and when I sit down and talk to them they all come over and snuggle or peck my boots. Today I brought in my little black cochin hen, she's getting picked on. She got kicked out of the big coop for some reason I can't fathom. She's the SWEETEST thing!

Unfortunately, even the chicks picked on her. I do not approve and spent a lot of time scolding them.

She went back outside but then I regretted it. Tomorrow she will sleep in the chick barn, at the very least she can  hide in the higher nest box. I have the upper level heater on right now so she could still be warm and maybe she'll lay her eggs in there. I might catch the white one two and both bantams can live in there for a while.

Also. None of my broody hens are broody. I think I mentioned this before but I'm not that happy with them. ;)

Raising chicks is SO MUCH easier with a hen to do the hard work.

Also. Nikki's chick will have to be culled. I feel terrible for her but he/she only eats and drinks when we move him/her to the water/food. It can't get around on it's own and it seems to be in more pain. We got it snuggled into a safe, warm spot for the night but tomorrow will be decision day.

ALSO, I will be putting my eggs in this weekend. I had a great plan to put them in on a sunday because then they could hatch all weekend while I was home and it would be awesome but in three weeks … we have Avery's confirmation! OH noes! LOL so now I have to set these guys Saturday morning and hope they only hatch Friday late afternoon and all day Saturday or sunday morning.

#Ilikespreadsheets.

Then I can clean my incubator and prep for one more hatch. There will likely be some chicks for sale because I don't need ALL of these. So if you are interested let me know. I will also be selling my older hens too, but only AFTER I get their leg mites under control. Nobody wants that problem.