Pipd's Peeps!

[2ndTink]

Power was back up at 8pm ish. Hatcher only got down to 97, the incubators that were on day 1 and day 2 where down to 88. I had 3 towls on the Hatcher. Lost one of the brood momas babies to drowning, had to move an outdoor brooder baby to the garage for warmth. The garage holds heat pretty well. Pulled lates from the silkie/brahma/Crevecoeur hatch. Opened them up and one quit before or right at lockdown and the other two quit in or just after as yoke was gone but they didn't look positioned right. So lost two dark brahma and one silkie. The others were from Dustys pen and most didn't make it from the ones that were close to hatch time. Still have 3 in the Hatcher along with the Blue brassyback rosecombs. They are talking up a storm and moving.

You've had a time of it

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Power was back up at 8pm ish. Hatcher only got down to 97, the incubators that were on day 1 and day 2 where down to 88. I had 3 towls on the Hatcher. Lost one of the brood momas babies to drowning, had to move an outdoor brooder baby to the garage for warmth. The garage holds heat pretty well. Pulled lates from the silkie/brahma/Crevecoeur hatch. Opened them up and one quit before or right at lockdown and the other two quit in or just after as yoke was gone but they didn't look positioned right. So lost two dark brahma and one silkie. The others were from Dustys pen and most didn't make it from the ones that were close to hatch time. Still have 3 in the Hatcher along with the Blue brassyback rosecombs. They are talking up a storm and moving.

Ah, man. Sorry to hear about the drowning and the quitters. I think the day 1 and 2 eggs should be all right having only gotten to 88 for a few hours. I don't see you losing too many just from that, anyway.

Fingers crossed for lots of little Rosecombs and those Dusty babies in the hatcher! How are they looking this morning?

 

[NagemTX]

Ah, man. Sorry to hear about the drowning and the quitters. I think the day 1 and 2 eggs should be all right having only gotten to 88 for a few hours. I don't see you losing too many just from that, anyway.

Fingers crossed for lots of little Rosecombs and those Dusty babies in the hatcher! How are they looking this morning?

Today is hatch day on those eggs! Only seven rosecomb eggs to go on hatching. One of the Dusty eggs left to go. I may have a cull in the hatched rosecombs as it seams it cant use its legs very well or at all.

So you know that silver chick I had in the Easter hatch? I've gotten two more just like it from Dusty's eggs.

 

[Eggs_Over_EZ]

You mean the little thermometer/hygrometer that sends the temp and humidity to your phone? I've heard good things about those. Let us know how you like it once you've got it!

Update we used the Govee and it is really nice as you set a temp and humidity range in the app and get notified if they go below or above the range. We had a 69% success with our hatch.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Today is hatch day on those eggs! Only seven rosecomb eggs to go on hatching. One of the Dusty eggs left to go. I may have a cull in the hatched rosecombs as it seams it cant use its legs very well or at all.

So you know that silver chick I had in the Easter hatch? I've gotten two more just like it from Dusty's eggs.

Yay, babies! Any pictures of the little ones yet? Hope the hatch has gone smoothly!

That silver baby was such a cutie, congrats on more of them!

Update we used the Govee and it is really nice as you set a temp and humidity range in the app and get notified if they go below or above the range. We had a 69% success with our hatch.

Very nice! Thanks for checking back in with that!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I've had a wild past day, let me tell y'all.

First of all, yesterday we decided that, after weeks of no change in her condition and then a sudden worsening of how she looked for several days, that it was time to let go of Mavis. She'd been droopy and sort of penguin walking with no further symptoms. Much as I looked her over, I couldn't find anything to even work against. She was a little over 6 years old.

Mavis was such a nosy young lady. Any time we were doing anything outside, it was a guarantee she'd be involved in one way or another. If I brought anything out to the coop, she was first in line to see what it was. Often, I'd have to carry things up out of her reach because she liked to 'look' with her beak first. That would get her into trouble because she also liked to poke and prod with that beak to get my attention. I wouldn't say she liked to be held, but she did enjoy perching next to or on people and being stroked or cuddled. She didn't do a whole lot of that there at the end, sadly. Though I won't necessarily miss her beak, I will miss my nosy, busy-body Marans always getting into my business.

Last night was when things really got wild, though. See, the past several days, maybe a week at most, I have been getting pretty much no eggs out of Buck's pen. Since they went from 4-5 eggs a day to 0, I had just assumed they were eating their eggs, though somehow not leaving a mess in the nest box. Last night, I thought I'd look around and see if they were maybe laying in the back corner or something. Well, what I found instead was a massive hole in the floor, around 3x6 inches in size.

So, APPARENTLY, something has been coming through the floor and stealing my eggs, and Buck and his girls have been vulnerable to whatever it was for as much as a week!

For now, I've taken a piece of cage wire and covered the hole, then weighed it down with a cement block. We'll have to make a trip in to the lumber yard to patch it up properly.

Anyway, so this morning I was juuuust about to open that coop and make sure everyone was okay overnight when I heard this weird grunting noise from nearby. Our old, old, original coop, rotting out and falling apart, is in the woods near the outer coop where Buck and Wyatt's pens are, and inside that old, rotting coop, was a small family of raccoons.

So, the outer coop remains closed this morning, I set them up with food and water inside and made sure that that hole in the floor was still well blocked, and the old, original coop has been torn down to prevent further wildlife sheltering in it. I'm not sure when or if I'll open the outer coop today, I may just leave them inside for the day to be safe. All I know is that my blood pressure is probably at an all-time high today and I'm gonna be stressing until I get that floor properly patched up, if not longer. The pen in which I lost my little Bumblebee to a raccoon is not far from where the outer coop pens are, and I don't want a repeat of that event!!

 

[NagemTX]

I've had a wild past day, let me tell y'all.

First of all, yesterday we decided that, after weeks of no change in her condition and then a sudden worsening of how she looked for several days, that it was time to let go of Mavis. She'd been droopy and sort of penguin walking with no further symptoms. Much as I looked her over, I couldn't find anything to even work against. She was a little over 6 years old.

Mavis was such a nosy young lady. Any time we were doing anything outside, it was a guarantee she'd be involved in one way or another. If I brought anything out to the coop, she was first in line to see what it was. Often, I'd have to carry things up out of her reach because she liked to 'look' with her beak first. That would get her into trouble because she also liked to poke and prod with that beak to get my attention. I wouldn't say she liked to be held, but she did enjoy perching next to or on people and being stroked or cuddled. She didn't do a whole lot of that there at the end, sadly. Though I won't necessarily miss her beak, I will miss my nosy, busy-body Marans always getting into my business.

View attachment 3833650View attachment 3833649


Last night was when things really got wild, though. See, the past several days, maybe a week at most, I have been getting pretty much no eggs out of Buck's pen. Since they went from 4-5 eggs a day to 0, I had just assumed they were eating their eggs, though somehow not leaving a mess in the nest box. Last night, I thought I'd look around and see if they were maybe laying in the back corner or something. Well, what I found instead was a massive hole in the floor, around 3x6 inches in size.

So, APPARENTLY, something has been coming through the floor and stealing my eggs, and Buck and his girls have been vulnerable to whatever it was for as much as a week!

For now, I've taken a piece of cage wire and covered the hole, then weighed it down with a cement block. We'll have to make a trip in to the lumber yard to patch it up properly.

Anyway, so this morning I was juuuust about to open that coop and make sure everyone was okay overnight when I heard this weird grunting noise from nearby. Our old, old, original coop, rotting out and falling apart, is in the woods near the outer coop where Buck and Wyatt's pens are, and inside that old, rotting coop, was a small family of raccoons.

So, the outer coop remains closed this morning, I set them up with food and water inside and made sure that that hole in the floor was still well blocked, and the old, original coop has been torn down to prevent further wildlife sheltering in it. I'm not sure when or if I'll open the outer coop today, I may just leave them inside for the day to be safe. All I know is that my blood pressure is probably at an all-time high today and I'm gonna be stressing until I get that floor properly patched up, if not longer. The pen in which I lost my little Bumblebee to a raccoon is not far from where the outer coop pens are, and I don't want a repeat of that event!!

That stress is what I've had for the last two weeks. And the other night there was a opossum trying to dig into my big over built first pen. The roots from the Ash tree the pen is under kept it out but now theres a cinder on tge partial hole. It was not a healthy specam either. There was skin missing from it's side and it was fighting the pole I used to get it away from the pen.

Ordering more 100ft roles of hardware clothe and some rolls of cage wire. The back of that coop didn't get the skirt because it's about a ft or less from the chain link fence.

 

[NagemTX]

Pictures of the popcorn chicks!

The two with lag issues seam to be getting better in the brooder.

 

[Eggs_Over_EZ]

Here is one of 10 hatchlings from Tuesday. They hatched from Silverudd Blue egg. We have a mix of black/blue and some like this one with a grey cast over the yellow. One has a lot of black on ithe top of its head. I could not catch it to get a picture. They live their brooder heat plate.

 

[2ndTink]

I've had a wild past day, let me tell y'all.

First of all, yesterday we decided that, after weeks of no change in her condition and then a sudden worsening of how she looked for several days, that it was time to let go of Mavis. She'd been droopy and sort of penguin walking with no further symptoms. Much as I looked her over, I couldn't find anything to even work against. She was a little over 6 years old.

Mavis was such a nosy young lady. Any time we were doing anything outside, it was a guarantee she'd be involved in one way or another. If I brought anything out to the coop, she was first in line to see what it was. Often, I'd have to carry things up out of her reach because she liked to 'look' with her beak first. That would get her into trouble because she also liked to poke and prod with that beak to get my attention. I wouldn't say she liked to be held, but she did enjoy perching next to or on people and being stroked or cuddled. She didn't do a whole lot of that there at the end, sadly. Though I won't necessarily miss her beak, I will miss my nosy, busy-body Marans always getting into my business.

View attachment 3833650View attachment 3833649


Last night was when things really got wild, though. See, the past several days, maybe a week at most, I have been getting pretty much no eggs out of Buck's pen. Since they went from 4-5 eggs a day to 0, I had just assumed they were eating their eggs, though somehow not leaving a mess in the nest box. Last night, I thought I'd look around and see if they were maybe laying in the back corner or something. Well, what I found instead was a massive hole in the floor, around 3x6 inches in size.

So, APPARENTLY, something has been coming through the floor and stealing my eggs, and Buck and his girls have been vulnerable to whatever it was for as much as a week!

For now, I've taken a piece of cage wire and covered the hole, then weighed it down with a cement block. We'll have to make a trip in to the lumber yard to patch it up properly.

Anyway, so this morning I was juuuust about to open that coop and make sure everyone was okay overnight when I heard this weird grunting noise from nearby. Our old, old, original coop, rotting out and falling apart, is in the woods near the outer coop where Buck and Wyatt's pens are, and inside that old, rotting coop, was a small family of raccoons.

So, the outer coop remains closed this morning, I set them up with food and water inside and made sure that that hole in the floor was still well blocked, and the old, original coop has been torn down to prevent further wildlife sheltering in it. I'm not sure when or if I'll open the outer coop today, I may just leave them inside for the day to be safe. All I know is that my blood pressure is probably at an all-time high today and I'm gonna be stressing until I get that floor properly patched up, if not longer. The pen in which I lost my little Bumblebee to a raccoon is not far from where the outer coop pens are, and I don't want a repeat of that event!!

Oh my goodness! Maybe it's a good thing they had eggs to take and eat and that kept them from getting hungry and going after the chickens? Yikes so scary!!!

I hope you can get your coop shored up ASAP so you can breathe a little easier! I'm so glad you noticed the hole.