Well I got my 25 chicks plus one on Monday from McMurry. Unfortunately one was dead and the exotic freebee died within the hour. We lost another in about four hours and one died overnight.

This morning a lot of them had poop caked on, so we cleaned that off. Now the rest are looking pretty good and happy. I think they must have had a rough trip from the hatchery.

So that gives me about a 15% loss rate. Considering the time of year and they had to come all the way from Iowa to Washington, I guess that loss rate is acceptable.

They sure are fun to watch. We have spent most of the day preening over them, except for the time our two pigs decided to make a prison break. Ahh the joys of setting up a homestead.

Cliff (Start a revolution, grow a garden)

Thats too bad about them dying. But I agree the loss isn't that bad. I watch my chicks like they're fish in a fish bowl. They are very entertaining! What are you feeding them? The caked poop has me concerned.

All the Best

Patti
www.gardengirltv.com

I agree with Shanny. They may be chilled, and Murray should may give you a refund. What breed birds were these? I think they may have had a rough trip. I have never ordered birds in the winter, and I have never had any losses until the birds were older. The caked poop, could be dietary.

When my birds come I feed the chick feed plus duckweed. Seems to start them off very strong.

Patti

i just got 50 cinnamon queen hens and ten roosters. they are about a month old right now. don't expect any eggs for about3-4 months at the earliest. but i love the sex link type. girls are red boys are white. mega easy.

also just got 5 indian runner baby ducks too. i want some muscovy ducks but haven't found any yet.

put those with my 19 goats 5 horses 1 llama and two dogs and a barn cat, i have quite a menagerie.

still looking into some rabbits for meat and fur. probably go with californians. or new zealands

Does anyone keeps cornish hens?

I have Dark Cornish hens.

Those heirloom breeds are darn expensive. I'm thinking of giving up on purebreeds and just letting my survivors develop an adapted mutt breed here on my place. Seems like the more I invest in the chickens the more likely they are to get killed off or have some other problem....

Most of the hens that I have are Buff Orphingtons though I have a number of mixed breed hens that I bought from an Amish girl and I have traded a neighbor for a few of his mixed breed hens when he was complaining of broodiness.

Right now I have one buff mothering a group of chicks and she is quite protective. A squirle ran across her path the other day and I thought she was going to try to kill that poor SOB. He thought so too and got out of dodge. Luckily she still lets me pick up the chicks and seems to have accepted the goats (with whom she and her chicks are now living).

I was surprised, just a couple of days after the longest day of the year and no one was the least bit broody. I sill have one hen on some eggs but it looks like this may be my last chance for the year. I guess I will need to get an earlier start next year.

I have an Australorp hen who is setting three Royal Palm turkey eggs, which may or may not be fertile. Time will tell! She is a devoted brooder.

Sadly, the surviving Dominique hen seems to be in the woods brooding some eggs which won't be fertile because the Dominique rooster was killed during the storm. I'm not sure if I should try to catch her and keep her in a coop so at least she will be safe and not wasting her time and energy on brooding nothing, or just let her live her own life her way...I didn't even know she was laying. I havn't found the nest, but I can hear little broody noises coming from a brushpile periodically; it's in a dense patch where it's hard to get to.

Any advice? She comes up to the coops once a day to eat and drink.

Cochins are very broody I have found. I also crossed my larger cochin banties with one of my silkie roosters.Out of 10 eggs my two of my hens took turns brooding and I ended up with 8 chicks and also added another 4 that I hatched in one of our incubators.They are extremely protective of all of the chicks.As an aside,I have also found leaving a chicken chick in or two with the pheasant chicks seems to calm the pheasants down.All of my silky/ banty cross hens have turned very broody by the way.I have three generations of them.They are also not spooky at all.The eggs are larger that they lay too.Almost like a small barred rock size egg.I raise barred rocks too and I adore them.I have had leghorns,buffs,RIRs and Arracondas.barred Rocks/Dominickers are the only ones who even as young pullets will put themselves in the coop at night without fail.Way smart for chickens!Wish I could make 'em a little broodier though.Really good egg layers but not terribly broody in my experience.Good thing we can stilll use the incubators.When i can't I hope to have enough banty/silkies to produce replacement and some saleable chicks as well!

Good for you Ludi,

My question is since I would up with only one full blood Sussex rooster and hen after the ice storm, should I put him in the freezer and keep one of their offspring as the new rooster?

The hens and rooster would still be first generation related, is that better than breeding back to the sire even though he is a pretty good specimen ?

They are a fairly rare dual purpose breed advertised as (and it turns out) pretty good setters and moms but I have only found them at McMurray and to get one new rooster would effectively cost me close to $50 once I buy enough to make the minimum shipping amount. There is a chicken trading sale in the spring and I may be able to find another there next year but I am not hopeful.

I would like to get a purebred flock going as they seem to be pretty good farmstead type birds and may be saleable but I don't want to spend that much …

Pops, from what I understand, breeding back to the sire is just fine. I'm certainly not an expert, though! But as far as I can understand, breeding daughter to father is fine, but one should avoid breeding sister to full brother. If your current rooster is a good specimen, I'd keep him. Don't get rid of him until you have a proven replacement. Anyway, that's what I'd do....


This little mother hen is a second generation mutt with a good deal of Dark Cornish in her. She was so determine to set, she sat for at least a week on nothing until I moved her into the chick house and put 13 eggs under her.


I'm puzzling about if I want to expand my egg operation next year. I had such rotten luck last year with the heat wave stressing the chicks and starting a rash of lethal picking. But now the egg sales are going very well, with more customers than eggs. I'll have to build more coops if I expand.

If you want to raise something frustrating try pheasants!I raise Doms,Silkies and more banties than I care to remember.So easy!We also raise Ringnecks,Silvers,Yellow Golds and Lady Amhersts.we have a Reeve pair but the female eats her eggs the minute she lays them.Nasty bitch but the male is gorgeous.Still considering DXing that pair.Baby pheasants,especially ringnecks just DIE.Proper temp,proper food not overcrowded but I pickup 1-3 chicks a day.I really don't care either way for these labor/time intensive creatures but Hubby insists they are "his" project.Uh huh.and I'm a chinese jet pilot.Anyway,chicks are easy.Chickens are easy.they go out all day and pen themselves at night I just close the door.Ducks are easy too.They come when they're called and the big mean Hateful(his name)goose guards them.Banties roost in the barn beams.Yes,occasionally a hawk takes their cut or a wayward dog or cat gets a dirt nap(my cat and dog were taught very young to ignore anything with feathers-even the parrot.Even literally under their nose,Also the rabbits are a big no no)We have around 60 grown pheasants all in separate pens according to breed and breeding requirements.If you want to see birds that eat as much feed and require as much work as three grown horses,raise these damned birds!I don't even like the meat all that much.Sorry for the rant but Hubby's little "hobby" wears on my cookies every Spring when I am hatching out hundreds of birds and he looks at 'em maybe once a week.I love chickens is all I can say!LOL! ps-yes the pheasants sell but many times for not much more than the chickens do-eggs included!

I love my cochins. They're beautiful birds and so comical running around on their little short legs I've had both black cochins and white cochins (and have several cochin mixes running around now) but these days the only purebred cochins we have are black ones. Beautiful birds.

Speaking of babies.... I was out in the barn this morning taking care of the goats and heard a peep peep peep from a spot in one corner. It's a small (unused) entrance area, blocked off from the goats, and there's literally a lot of junk there - boxes, etc., that needed to be hauled off. Well, I guess today we haul stuff off and find out how many chicks are in there. One of the mama's found a good place to hide her eggs .
Kathy

mystiek,
Americauna or Aracauna chickens (not sure I spelled that right) lay blue or green eggs. I have only one full-blooded Aracauna, but I have several half-Aracaunas, and that colored egg trait has been passed to them. Apparently it's a dominant gene

I always love the reaction of my egg customers the first time they see a green egg. It's fun Just tell your husband to think of them as natural Easter eggs . In fact, that breed of chicken is often called the Easter Egger for that very reason.
Kathy