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Post by aoconnor on Jun 9, 2015 1:26:42 GMT
Yippee!! I have two Bantam hens that are sitting on their first clutches. One hatched a little white chick, the other a little black chick. I also had a Buff Sebright hatch a chick, but she pecked it before it was out of the shell an edit died. That is the same hen that hatched out 2 beautiful little chicks a few months ago, the next day one was gone, then the other went missing the following day. I don't know if one of my other birds got the first 2, but I know the hen got this one today. Sigh.
I will try to get some pictures up if I can ever figure out how!
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Post by bergere on Jun 9, 2015 10:29:57 GMT
Glad they are starting to hatch. Sorry to hear the Seabright, is eating chicks. Had that happen to me last year, with some Speckled Sussex. So I sold them to someone that just wanted eggs. Won't keep chick killers around. That was an expensive mistake, lost 5 Ameraucana bantam chicks.  I normally post photos to FB or my Blog... then copy the URL, hit the insert image, button and paste in the link to the photo and the photo pops up. |
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Post by Mari-in-IN on Jun 9, 2015 10:57:16 GMT
Feeling the excitement!  Looking forward to pics as well... So sorry in regards to the missing chicks...  Here's hoping all goes well for you! Regards, Mari P.S. I finally have a broody hen this Spring who's been on eggs for a few days. Now I'm going to have to figure out where to put them if they hatch! |
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Post by bergere on Jun 9, 2015 12:19:58 GMT
Oh, way cool Mari! Can't wait to see your little fluff balls, too. I used a giant dog kennel as my brooder. When I need extra room, I use both halves.... and use a window screen to keep them from flying out. LOL  |
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Post by aoconnor on Jun 9, 2015 12:56:08 GMT
Oh, way cool Mari! Can't wait to see your little fluff balls, too. I used a giant dog kennel as my brooder. When I need extra room, I use both halves.... and use a window screen to keep them from flying out. LOL How clever! I just gave one of those away when I sold my goats. Wish I had kept that kennel! I am going to try posting from photo bucket. |
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Post by aoconnor on Jun 9, 2015 13:18:34 GMT
This is an experiment! Lets see if I can post a pic...if I can, it is my grey chick that hatched a couple months ago. It is a rooster, gonna be a big boy!  |
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Post by bergere on Jun 9, 2015 15:09:29 GMT
Beautiful! Love his fuzzy feet!
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Post by Mari-in-IN on Jun 9, 2015 15:55:49 GMT
That little guy is absolutely gorgeous!
Glad you could share...
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Post by aoconnor on Jun 10, 2015 22:59:29 GMT
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Post by bergere on Jun 11, 2015 19:44:45 GMT
Way cool, more adorable chicks! They look like good mothers too. VBG
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Post by aoconnor on Jun 11, 2015 21:18:53 GMT
The white hen, she and her chick got confined today after I found them out of the nest box and the hen trying to murder the other birds on her side of the coop for breathing the same air as her baby:-) The other birds (my 10 week old Guinea keets) were trying to get past the hen and chick to run down the ramp an into the attached play yard, the hen would attack each one as it ran past her. She was standing on the top of the "ladder" they were trying to escape by. She is one tough little hen!!
My black hen now has a total of 5 chicks, all black. She was on the floor of the coop with one chick, the other 4 were still in the box. I picked up the chick and placed him back in the box, and after a few moments of frantic running and calling, the black hen got back in the box and shoved the chicks under her in a huff, then sat on them all and puffed up like a blowfish until I couldn't see any of them any more:-) LOL!
The buff hen, I attempted to move her waterer, she attempted to remove my hand from my body. Sheesh, tough group in that coop!
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Post by bergere on Jun 11, 2015 22:06:51 GMT
Sounds like you need those extra thick gloves they sell to Rose gardeners!
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Post by motdaugrnds on Jun 11, 2015 22:15:48 GMT
ROFL What a hilarious and exciting time you're having with those bantams. Lovely too! I'm curious about your "run". Can you post pics of your set up?
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Post by aoconnor on Jun 11, 2015 22:59:44 GMT
ROFL What a hilarious and exciting time you're having with those bantams. Lovely too! I'm curious about your "run". Can you post pics of your set up? Sure:-) Here are a few of my "hodgepodge" coop! I built one side, the the other:-) From my stoop at the back door, looking down our hill. The coop is tall, two sided, each side is the same size as the other. On the north side, there is a boxed 12'x12' play area totally fenced.  This is inside that north side of coop...(the box on the bottom left corner is an old brooder box that has since been removed.) The wall you see is the back wall, that you could NOT see from my picture above.  This is the interior of the south side of the coop. It is my young bird/brooder side.  This is the run I spoke about, coming from the south side, it goes all the way to the last edge of the play yard on the north side. The little ladder my chickens love running up and down:-)  And this is the play yard close up. It was a rainy day and my Guineas were so mad at me for letting them out...they sat on the top of the play yard all day until the sun peeked out:-) Yes, the play yard has its own tree:-)  |
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Post by aoconnor on Jun 11, 2015 23:01:59 GMT
Sounds like you need those extra thick gloves they sell to Rose gardeners! I just need nicer hens!! LOL! No, really, they are just protecting their babies:-) That a GOOD thing!!! |
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Post by Mari-in-IN on Jun 12, 2015 10:55:25 GMT
aoconnor, Such wonderful pictures...really enjoyed them! It is so much fun seeing other member's setups...
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Post by bergere on Jun 12, 2015 11:22:24 GMT
Looks nice and roomy.... beautiful guineas.. love all the colors!
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Post by aoconnor on Jun 12, 2015 11:35:26 GMT
Mari-in IN and bergere, thank you:-) I love my guineas..
The coop isn't pretty from the outside, but it is very solid and has a ton of space inside for everyone.
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Post by motdaugrnds on Jun 12, 2015 12:31:35 GMT
That is a very workable setup Aoconnor...nice and roomy too. I especially like that ramp and will probably copy it soon, albeit will be a great deal shorter for my purpose. Thanks for sharing those pictures.
I thought I saw a top on that pen; however, with that tree growing inside, my eyes are apparently playing tricks on me...or maybe that was only your run that has the wire top. ??
I notice you have several different colors of guineas. Do you let them free-range; and if so, what has been your experience in their laying of eggs? Don't you just love watching them fly? They fly so high!
I had to laugh at that roof. It looks a little warped, like something I might have constructed. ROFL
Your mention of hens protecting their babies reminded me of a situation that occurred here when Apache Rose (my "mix" shepherd/lab/chow dog) was still alive. I happened to get too close to a mother guinea with her batch of keets and that guinea flew directly toward my head. Apache caught it in mid-air to stop it from hurting me. The hen was not harmed, but she was definately stopped...
Aoconnor what are those thingies with legs in the pic with all the water buckets...nesting places?
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Post by bergere on Jun 12, 2015 12:54:13 GMT
You should of seen the make shift hen house I had in Oregon. We had zero money,, so we made do. Your place looks great!
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Post by aoconnor on Jun 12, 2015 19:40:31 GMT
That is a very workable setup Aoconnor...nice and roomy too. I especially like that ramp and will probably copy it soon, albeit will be a great deal shorter for my purpose. Thanks for sharing those pictures. I thought I saw a top on that pen; however, with that tree growing inside, my eyes are apparently playing tricks on me...or maybe that was only your run that has the wire top. ?? I notice you have several different colors of guineas. Do you let them free-range; and if so, what has been your experience in their laying of eggs? Don't you just love watching them fly? They fly so high! I had to laugh at that roof. It looks a little warped, like something I might have constructed. ROFL Your mention of hens protecting their babies reminded me of a situation that occurred here when Apache Rose (my "mix" shepherd/lab/chow dog) was still alive. I happened to get too close to a mother guinea with her batch of keets and that guinea flew directly toward my head. Apache caught it in mid-air to stop it from hurting me. The hen was not harmed, but she was definately stopped... Aoconnor what are those thingies with legs in the pic with all the water buckets...nesting places? It is very roomy and easy to work in to clean/etc. The play pen does have a wire cover, that way I can let my young Guineas out for their 6 week intro to the outdoors, without any of them flying off:-) When they are grown and out, on of my favorite things is when they come flying in fast and low from my neighbors tree! They are so loud and boisterous, all that silly Guinea bravado stuff:-) I can't say for sure about Guinea color and egg laying...I have one buff Guin and one Violet Purple Guin that laid eggs, or at least that were setting. Both walked off the eggs at 26 days. I could have smacked them...I wasn't able to get to the eggs as they were all under a large pile of scrap metal we had by our shop. Sigh. Those things with legs are nesting boxes. A little tall, but useable. My ranch hand built them...he didn't speak English, I don't speak Spanish:-) I take the hens and chicks out of them when they hatch, put them in a small brooder...my chickens all like to sleep in them though:-) |
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Post by motdaugrnds on Jun 12, 2015 23:16:43 GMT
Great set up. Thanks for sharing.
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Post by aoconnor on Jun 13, 2015 0:16:20 GMT
And...two more little yellow fluffy chicks surprised me today by peeking out from under a couple of hens! I don't know whose they are, there are two hens tight together and have been since day one on the eggs. The chicks were playing in the brooder coop when I Walked in. They dove for cover! Silly birds:-) I am up to 9 chicks in the brooder side of the coop. I have no idea how many more may hatch, but the more the merrier!!!
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Post by aoconnor on Jun 13, 2015 15:53:00 GMT
Ah, sadness. The hen that didn't like her first chicks several months ago was being so diligent and careful with this one tiny one that hatched a few days ago...but this morning I found it dead in the nest, no obvious signs of injury, it just wasn't very healthy from the start. I removed it form the nest, and momma hen went right back on the nest to sit the rest of her eggs. I felt so bad for her.
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Post by Mari-in-IN on Jun 13, 2015 16:36:35 GMT
Oh, so sorry to hear that. These little guys really tug at your heart strings...  And the mommas, too... |
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Post by aoconnor on Jun 13, 2015 17:18:33 GMT
Oh, so sorry to hear that. These little guys really tug at your heart strings... And the mommas, too... Thanks Mari-in-IN, I felt so bad for the hen, she was trying really hard with that chick. But she does have a nest of eggs left, maybe another will hatch. |
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Post by bergere on Jun 13, 2015 20:08:12 GMT
Very sorry to hear that. Hate it when they don't make it. Hope you will have more chicks soon. |
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Post by aoconnor on Jun 14, 2015 14:28:50 GMT
And now I have one more in the coop, looks much like the little one I just lost. It was partially hatched, but I think that's because the egg got stomped by a rooster. I helped him out last night not knowing what the morning would bring, but there he was all fluffed up and sitting under a hen this morning:-) And then...I found 2 MORE chicks in my barn under my two hen that co-sit several eggs. One chick under each hen:-) So sweet! I will move them to the coop this afternoon...don't want to lose any babies to horse feet or predators!
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Post by bergere on Jun 14, 2015 17:18:00 GMT
Wonderful to hear you have a few more chicks!
Horse's hooves can be tough, even when they are trying to be gentle. I would love to let my young bantams out to play, but my "bantam" house is the tack room shed, lets right out into the run in area.
Hope in Fall, to have their own hen house set up with a safe yard.
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Post by aoconnor on Jun 15, 2015 4:32:17 GMT
Most of my horses don't give a wink at the chickens, and they won't watch out for them if they get under foot. But several really do know they are afoot and walk softly. I have one very old mare that has had chickens in her stall roosting and laying/hatching eggs for nearly 2 years off and on, she has only ever stepped on one chick that ran under her foot as it was sharing in her morning grain. Other than that, I have had hens raise 10 chicks successfully in her stall.
So far today, I have a total of 11 chicks. Hoping more will hatch out:-)
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And the mommas, too...