It's spring soon! But I have sick chickens...

[MoonMoon]

Sending eggs by mail is a possibility if you want specific breeds you cant buy where you live. Keep in mind the outcome of mailed hatching eggs can be poor.

Yeah, I heard 90% hatching rate plummeted to 50%, and that’s minimum, so I am a bit tentative of that choice esp since hatching eggs cost quite a bit imo.(1€ per egg is the usual standard price, and that’s cheap)

Still a risk for other diseases than the one or two they are vaccinated for. You cant mix vaccinated with not vaccinated.

This is a good point!

Try to find a hobbyist who has the chickens you would like to have. Ask if he sells hatching eggs (next year/ after your flock healed).

This is at least easy.

Keep in mind that chickens who are cuddly are more vulnerable to get caught by a predator than the ones who are flighty. I would think 2x to keep free range chickens unsupervised who are cuddly (Silkies, Cochins).

Oh yeah. This is something I didn't think about yet so this is a good point! I plan to expand the run and plan to keep the next batch mostly indoor(in a run) anyway, but haven’t saved up for that yet, and the current batch didn’t need bigger run yet but yes, good point. Thanks. The Wyandotte currently is the only indoor-outdoor chicken so the small run fitted her for now.

In keeping my flock healthy I would give my chickens fresh food (vitamins) in winter/ hot summers if there not so much food to scratch for. Be careful with leftovers if you add salt or eat ultra processed food. Don’t use poison in the garden.

Yep! This is something I’ve been watching for. Bean needed to be sprouted, no green fruits, avoid salt and sugar and oil and absolutely no poison in the yard, duh

Fresh food can be something simple like grass. Check the labels on the food bags to be sure the feed you buy is fresh.

Yep! I check expiration date/manufactured date on all of my feed. I try my best to pick grass FROM THE FRONT YARD for the chickens but winter wasn’t so forgiving to even plants. The chickens step on the free range parts too much now the grass is mostly dead

They had mugwort, kohlrabi leaves, cabbage, turnip heads, etc. They’ve stepped my herb patch to mud though and nothing else could grow there. If I had the foresight of better planning I would have not free-range the chickens, yeah, but if I lock them in I worry the fox could get them that way instead(easier to corner) so...yeah. It’s safer that they could fly away prob. The small is secured but the big run is NOT, and the small run cannot fit everyone yet...

 

[FrostRanger]

Yeah, I heard 90% hatching rate plummeted to 50%, and that’s minimum, so I am a bit tentative of that choice esp since hatching eggs cost quite a bit imo.(1€ per egg is the usual standard price, and that’s cheap)

50% isn't bad, hatching eggs are a gamble and shipping isn't easy on them. 90% is very much a far more successful than what one usually has so you got lucky that time. 50% is more along what an average success rate is. If you do hatch I'd keep doing what you're doing as it seems to be working great

 

[MoonMoon]

Was really sayin’, “It hasn’t snow lately, so spring is coming”. Then today we had the thickest amount of snow within the last 3 years. Which still isn’t much but it has been years since I got such a fluffy blanket. Yesterday was so sunny and warm I am lovin’ the snow but the chickens...not so much.

 

[Loving my girls]

Yup, gotta love global warming (sarcasm)

Seriously though, I really like snow. I would've loved it if I don't keep chickens. My birds is prob the only reason why I'd like hot temperature and summer. It's much easier to deal with cooling the coop down, changing bedding and cleaning, and keeping water and feed supplied when it's sweating hot rather than freezing windy. I had an identity crisis after getting chickens because I wasn’t sure if I still love winter or hate winter because it made my birds miserable lol

I would’ve had turken and more thin birds like leghorns and minorca, bresse, welsummer had the weather been different! Lol
(Those breeds was available locally)
Ofc, after owning chickens for a while, I realized I don't want those flighty birds anyway, but I really like their body shape. I may just keep some next batch anyway(and they’re safer to free range, not like the idiots that was my wyandottes), and fortify my coop, but they aren’t super cuddly like I’d like.

I HATE snow, I only have one leg so any snow I stay indoors. This mean hubby does the hens, that in turn means when the snow melts I have one hell of a job waiting for me.
But on the plus side we haven’t had snow settle here for oooh 10 years I think. Winter 2015 I was like a caged tiger and just as grumpy

 

[MoonMoon]

50% isn't bad, hatching eggs are a gamble and shipping isn't easy on them. 90% is very much a far more successful than what one usually has so you got lucky that time. 50% is more along what an average success rate is. If you do hatch I'd keep doing what you're doing as it seems to be working great

Oh no, 90% is what the breeders I checked guarantee their hatch rate is like, when they hatch their own, I haven’t hatched any egg, ever, yet. 50% is what everyone seems to say for shipped eggs hatch rate. I will probably incubate only my own chickens’ eggs for now because it’s free, but I will also watch out for local eggs. I think within 25 km, or even close enough to drive to will be a good choice. Would eggs we drive to pick up count as shipped eggs? I know a breeder who’s just several streets above us, same road. He has beautiful brahma, cochin, sussex and orpington. Selling price much more than some other breeders, though. I think driving there would only be a minute, would that still affect the eggs?

 

[FrostRanger]

Oh no, 90% is what the breeders I checked guarantee their hatch rate is like, when they hatch their own, I haven’t hatched any egg, ever, yet. 50% is what everyone seems to say for shipped eggs hatch rate. I will probably incubate only my own chickens’ eggs for now because it’s free, but I will also watch out for local eggs. I think within 25 km, or even close enough to drive to will be a good choice. Would eggs we drive to pick up count as shipped eggs? I know a breeder who’s just several streets above us, same road. He has beautiful brahma, cochin, sussex and orpington. Selling price much more than some other breeders, though. I think driving there would only be a minute, would that still affect the eggs?

You picking them up would be much easier on them, but I still think they're overpromising with a 90% hatch rate guaranteed. I say keep the 50% expectation and risk being pleasantly surprised if it's higher

 

[BDutch]

absolutely no poison in the yard, duh

I guess you are smart enough to grasp this. But many people really aren’t. I remember someone who bought grass rolls for the chicken run. These come with lots of herbicides and pesticides.

50% is what everyone seems to say for shipped eggs hatch rate.

Varies from about 80% to 0%. Depending on the rooster/egg quality, the way the eggs are packed and shipped, how long/bumpy the road is, and the temperature.

I always pick up hatching eggs, always hatched with broodies, the rates varied from 16% to 85%.
The driving distance was within 15 km most of the time. This is no problem.
The poor outcomes were from: a 100km travel in very warm temps, from a maybe too bumpy bike ride and once it was very early in spring and probably too difficult to keep the eggs warm for my small bantams (should have made a rubber mat underneath).

Not good for the outcome rate is also that my hens make a bit of fuss most times. Other chickens want to lay eggs in the broody nest or want to join the broody (co-brooding). Normal outcome was 25 - 50 % with bought eggs and around 80% with my own eggs with a cockerel.

Hatching eggs cost here €1 - €1,50 if I pick them up.

If you want cuddly or human friendly hens you best use an incubator and a brooder. If you want clever chickens, who learned what to eat and how to survive, broody raised is perfect. It seems broody raised roosters behave better.

 

[MoonMoon]

I’ve been getting lots of small, somewhat mishapen or double yolked eggs lately. And the nests cleanliness goes to heck because the cold weather and rain came back. The yard is SO MUDDY right now. So it’s lucky the eggs here will not be incubated. But I am definitely switching to free feeding and a different brand of feed because I should address this problem as soon as possible.

I ordered an incubator, three thermo-hygrometers and sourced heating elements and chicks feed. It will be ~20 days till everything arrive AND set up. Then I may set eggs middle of Feb. Not sure, we’ll see.

 

[MoonMoon]

I will clean the coop later. After the eggs collecting start lol. The bedding I use for the nest will not be cheap. For now straw and stuff work.

 

[BDutch]

I will clean the coop later. After the eggs collecting start lol. The bedding I use for the nest will not be cheap. For now straw and stuff work.

I bought a paper shredder 2 weeks ago and started to use newspaper bedding since. Also because the price of bedding went 15% up in price bc of the higher tax rate.
It seems the inks the newspaper print uses are soy based nowadays and even edible. Im not sure about glossy’s so I don’t use those. I use the paper strips on the poop trays and in the nest-boxes.

Other free bedding: During the summer in dry periods I collect grass from our lawn and make my own hay. After pruning I shred the thin branches in a wood shredder. I use the wood chips on the poop trays and to enhance the soil in the run.

@gtaus uses paper and cardboard for the deep bedding method and composts the bedding. Bc its very cheap (if you don’t overheat the shredder) and to save paper for landfills. https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...d-as-wood-chips.1503415/page-62#post-28346616