Well, it’s been a while since I wrote, so let me update a few things. Redd is still sitting on the eggs in the bushes and last I checked she was doing good. She has too many eggs for me to count without making a big scene, so I’m just leaving them alone. The other two nests have been destroyed. Something started eating the eggs, and I took most of them out and put in the incubator.
The Narragansett sitting on eggs in the front yard managed to hatch about 7 of them. Bear got one of them, so there are only 6 left. She was leading them around the yard and into the woods and such, so we took them and put them in the large cage I built a couple of years ago. Put it out in the field.
The Narragansett hen in the peacock cage was laying eggs and pushing Edith off the nest. Well and first there were 2 nests, as I’d planned. But then she started jumping nests and pushing Edith off, and leaving eggs uncovered. So I took her out one night and gave her 4 chicks that had just hatched. At first I put her in the cage with the other hen, but they fought, too. So I let her out. I was checking to see if she would abandon the babies, since they were kind of foster kids. She took off for a few minutes and then came back. So I just let her run with her babies. I tried to pen her in, but the wires let the babies thru but not mom. And these babies have no intention of sticking near to mom. Tried putting her in the chicken yard, but she managed to get out. So just left well enough alone. She started with 4 chicks and is now down to just 2. Not sure what happened to the others, think they wandered away to check things out, and they got separated.
Edith had 5 eggs under her and one of them hatched this weekend. So she has 1 chick, and 4 eggs. Not sure how long to wait on the other eggs, and I’m not sure if they will hatch either. And I’m not sure what to do with them, because the peacocks don’t seem to like the babies, and don’t think that she could protect the babies from the peacocks. I’m thinking about taking the chick and putting it with the ones from the incubator and seeing if the eggs are dead. Archie and Edith need to stay in the peacock cage. The big chickens will not accept them, especially the roosters. So they are destined to be confined with the peacocks. Not sure why the peacocks have accepted them other than they grew up together.
And these are the problems we’ve had with getting hens to sit on eggs. Had it with the geese to an extent. First, where do you put the hen to sit on the eggs so the others won’t bother her or try to lay eggs in her nest or force her off the eggs? And it isn’t that easy do control. I didn’t try moving a hen this year, but last year it was all but impossible to move them. One of the things I did was allow them to sit on the eggs in the trees or in the front yard. It also helps that we have dogs we can let run every night. Until we get them trained better just leaving them with the birds all the time is out of the question.
So even after you get them to sit on the eggs, the next question is what do you do with them after they hatch? Where do you put mom and babies so that she can raise them? The other requirements are that the babies get feed and water. That isn’t the same as getting it for mom. And if you are setting out chick starter for the babies, you have to keep everyone else out of it. Not concerned if mom eats it, she probably needs it after setting for so long. For the geese, we just left them in the coop. But the geese are bigger and a lot more aggressive and I worried less about others bullying them. For the turkeys, the one in the front yard I let wander until she started going into the woods a lot. Guess I should have expected that, and it is natural, but we just are not prepared to allow her to just wander around in the woods. Getting fences around the perimeter should help in that. But still, mom can fly over just about any fence I put up. The problem comes when the babies can’t follow, or don’t follow.
So end result is I have one hen caged, and she has 6 chicks. One keeps getting out and I have to put it back. Not sure where it gets out either. She lost 1 chick, to the pups. I have the other hen running free, and she has 2 of 4 chicks left.
This year I have tried to use the “Dry Incubation” method, but the hatch rates have been really bad. Not sure what the problems are. I do know that I have issues with temperature control. To start with, I’m not sure I trust my thermometers. They are digital and seems to be a difference in them some times. Not sure how much of it is that temps vary by height in the still air incubators. But then again I haven’t had really great hatch rates from the forced air incubator either. Not sure how to calibrate the thermometers, or if I should have a thermometer in each incubator or just use one and move it from one to the next. Also, next year plan to use incubator #2 as the hatcher. It has a plastic tray on the bottom and about twice as much head room for the chicks. So will be better. Also, Next year I plan to put eggs in the incubators twice a week instead of just once. I have noticed that the eggs that are hatching the most are those put in the incubator within a day or two of being laid. So I’ll try that. They other thing I could do is find a better way to store the eggs between the time they are laid and the time they go in the incubator. Some place cooler than the house. My closet has the incubators in it, so that isn’t good. Not sure if Gavin’s closet would be any cooler. I’d like to put them under the house if I could figure out a way to accomplish that.
There are a few eggs in the incubator need to throw out, and then 2 more incubators full of eggs. Then that will be the end of the hatching season for this year.
In the garden, things are doing good. A week or so ago I planted a lot of corn. Sweet corn in the garden and field corn out by the birds. The field corn isn’t fenced in so not sure how well it will do, but figured it was worth trying. I’ll let it dry and then use it to feed to the birds. May have to pick it to protect from the deer and the raccoons and finish drying it inside, but we’ll see. Yesterday I planted watermelon and pumpkins. Need to plant more cantaloupes and such. Have lots of tomatoes planted, and herbs. Lots of basil, 2 different types; oregano; tarragon and rose mary. Saw some spicy basil and Thai basil at Wal-Mart the other day that I think I’d like to try. I also put out a cabbage plants I’d started, and some plants I had at school. Also have several beds of potatoes. Squash is also doing good. Have several Zucchini and at least one Acorn squash.
The Narragansett sitting on eggs in the front yard managed to hatch about 7 of them. Bear got one of them, so there are only 6 left. She was leading them around the yard and into the woods and such, so we took them and put them in the large cage I built a couple of years ago. Put it out in the field.
The Narragansett hen in the peacock cage was laying eggs and pushing Edith off the nest. Well and first there were 2 nests, as I’d planned. But then she started jumping nests and pushing Edith off, and leaving eggs uncovered. So I took her out one night and gave her 4 chicks that had just hatched. At first I put her in the cage with the other hen, but they fought, too. So I let her out. I was checking to see if she would abandon the babies, since they were kind of foster kids. She took off for a few minutes and then came back. So I just let her run with her babies. I tried to pen her in, but the wires let the babies thru but not mom. And these babies have no intention of sticking near to mom. Tried putting her in the chicken yard, but she managed to get out. So just left well enough alone. She started with 4 chicks and is now down to just 2. Not sure what happened to the others, think they wandered away to check things out, and they got separated.
Edith had 5 eggs under her and one of them hatched this weekend. So she has 1 chick, and 4 eggs. Not sure how long to wait on the other eggs, and I’m not sure if they will hatch either. And I’m not sure what to do with them, because the peacocks don’t seem to like the babies, and don’t think that she could protect the babies from the peacocks. I’m thinking about taking the chick and putting it with the ones from the incubator and seeing if the eggs are dead. Archie and Edith need to stay in the peacock cage. The big chickens will not accept them, especially the roosters. So they are destined to be confined with the peacocks. Not sure why the peacocks have accepted them other than they grew up together.
And these are the problems we’ve had with getting hens to sit on eggs. Had it with the geese to an extent. First, where do you put the hen to sit on the eggs so the others won’t bother her or try to lay eggs in her nest or force her off the eggs? And it isn’t that easy do control. I didn’t try moving a hen this year, but last year it was all but impossible to move them. One of the things I did was allow them to sit on the eggs in the trees or in the front yard. It also helps that we have dogs we can let run every night. Until we get them trained better just leaving them with the birds all the time is out of the question.
So even after you get them to sit on the eggs, the next question is what do you do with them after they hatch? Where do you put mom and babies so that she can raise them? The other requirements are that the babies get feed and water. That isn’t the same as getting it for mom. And if you are setting out chick starter for the babies, you have to keep everyone else out of it. Not concerned if mom eats it, she probably needs it after setting for so long. For the geese, we just left them in the coop. But the geese are bigger and a lot more aggressive and I worried less about others bullying them. For the turkeys, the one in the front yard I let wander until she started going into the woods a lot. Guess I should have expected that, and it is natural, but we just are not prepared to allow her to just wander around in the woods. Getting fences around the perimeter should help in that. But still, mom can fly over just about any fence I put up. The problem comes when the babies can’t follow, or don’t follow.
So end result is I have one hen caged, and she has 6 chicks. One keeps getting out and I have to put it back. Not sure where it gets out either. She lost 1 chick, to the pups. I have the other hen running free, and she has 2 of 4 chicks left.
This year I have tried to use the “Dry Incubation” method, but the hatch rates have been really bad. Not sure what the problems are. I do know that I have issues with temperature control. To start with, I’m not sure I trust my thermometers. They are digital and seems to be a difference in them some times. Not sure how much of it is that temps vary by height in the still air incubators. But then again I haven’t had really great hatch rates from the forced air incubator either. Not sure how to calibrate the thermometers, or if I should have a thermometer in each incubator or just use one and move it from one to the next. Also, next year plan to use incubator #2 as the hatcher. It has a plastic tray on the bottom and about twice as much head room for the chicks. So will be better. Also, Next year I plan to put eggs in the incubators twice a week instead of just once. I have noticed that the eggs that are hatching the most are those put in the incubator within a day or two of being laid. So I’ll try that. They other thing I could do is find a better way to store the eggs between the time they are laid and the time they go in the incubator. Some place cooler than the house. My closet has the incubators in it, so that isn’t good. Not sure if Gavin’s closet would be any cooler. I’d like to put them under the house if I could figure out a way to accomplish that.
There are a few eggs in the incubator need to throw out, and then 2 more incubators full of eggs. Then that will be the end of the hatching season for this year.
In the garden, things are doing good. A week or so ago I planted a lot of corn. Sweet corn in the garden and field corn out by the birds. The field corn isn’t fenced in so not sure how well it will do, but figured it was worth trying. I’ll let it dry and then use it to feed to the birds. May have to pick it to protect from the deer and the raccoons and finish drying it inside, but we’ll see. Yesterday I planted watermelon and pumpkins. Need to plant more cantaloupes and such. Have lots of tomatoes planted, and herbs. Lots of basil, 2 different types; oregano; tarragon and rose mary. Saw some spicy basil and Thai basil at Wal-Mart the other day that I think I’d like to try. I also put out a cabbage plants I’d started, and some plants I had at school. Also have several beds of potatoes. Squash is also doing good. Have several Zucchini and at least one Acorn squash.
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