Hi All,
I'm new to the forum, but I've been reading your postings for the past year, since I got my first chicks from the feedstore. You guys are amazing with all of your knowledge and advice!!! I never dreamed having chickens could be so addictive, but it's nice to know it's not just me!!!
I have 3 Buff Orps, 1 Black Australorp, 1 Silver-Laced Wyandotte, and 2 Ameraucana hens and one very ornery, but very beautiful Ameracauna rooster. The entire flock roams around our property eating bugs and weeds, etc during the day, and they roost in their coop at night, where they are locked in due to a multitude of predators around our place (mountain lion, bobcats, coyotes, raccoons, dogs, cats, wild boar, hawks, eagles, etc. . . .)
I have a Buff Orp that is sitting on 18 eggs. I have candled (at 7 and 14 days) and it appears that all of them are doing well, except for the Ameracaunas, which I can't see through!!
My biggest problem right now is what to do with the newly hatched chicks while momma is still sitting on eggs? I think that there will be a spread of a few days (maybe more) in the hatching since I let her and the other hens do things their own way and not all of the eggs started incubating at the same time. OOPS!!! I'll never do that again!
I really want Twinkie to raise these babies instead of putting them in a huge box in the house like I did with the chicks I bought last year.
Right now she is sitting on the eggs in one of the nesting boxes in the chicken coop. The first chicks should be hatching in about 4-5 days. I know I'll have to move them because the nesting box is about 4 feet off the ground and I don't want them to do any cliff-diving!
Can anyone give me some direction here?
I'm new to the forum, but I've been reading your postings for the past year, since I got my first chicks from the feedstore. You guys are amazing with all of your knowledge and advice!!! I never dreamed having chickens could be so addictive, but it's nice to know it's not just me!!!
I have 3 Buff Orps, 1 Black Australorp, 1 Silver-Laced Wyandotte, and 2 Ameraucana hens and one very ornery, but very beautiful Ameracauna rooster. The entire flock roams around our property eating bugs and weeds, etc during the day, and they roost in their coop at night, where they are locked in due to a multitude of predators around our place (mountain lion, bobcats, coyotes, raccoons, dogs, cats, wild boar, hawks, eagles, etc. . . .)
I have a Buff Orp that is sitting on 18 eggs. I have candled (at 7 and 14 days) and it appears that all of them are doing well, except for the Ameracaunas, which I can't see through!!
My biggest problem right now is what to do with the newly hatched chicks while momma is still sitting on eggs? I think that there will be a spread of a few days (maybe more) in the hatching since I let her and the other hens do things their own way and not all of the eggs started incubating at the same time. OOPS!!! I'll never do that again!
I really want Twinkie to raise these babies instead of putting them in a huge box in the house like I did with the chicks I bought last year.
Right now she is sitting on the eggs in one of the nesting boxes in the chicken coop. The first chicks should be hatching in about 4-5 days. I know I'll have to move them because the nesting box is about 4 feet off the ground and I don't want them to do any cliff-diving!
Can anyone give me some direction here?