I had 64 eggs in an incubator when our power went out.
The power was out for around 16 hours (and over night)…..
Those eggs incubation day 7 this morning. (After power outage).
My gut says don’t get your hopes up, because we have a long way to go to a successful hatch, with healthy chicks.
However I have spent a lot of time with my flocks, and I’ve watched many hen raise chicks. I have had silkies so broody that they abandon their nest if they even hear an egg land in a outer, so they can go sit on that one to.
I’ve had nest ransacked (no idea what happened because my coop cam failed me), sit for an entire day in the cold, only to have a silkie hen come and gather the nest that had sat cold for an entire day, and hatch out the eggs. (Only about half hatched)
So here’s to hoping! We are going to keep incubating these eggs. I have seen hens hatch out healthy, awesome birds, under similar circumstances. So maybe!
I get this question a lot. So I’ll answer it here. I seperate broody mamas in my coops, I don’t leave them in the normal nest box. (Mainly bc mine aren’t on the ground). I also have silkies that are obsessively broody and nest hop, if they aren’t isolated). Everyone learns there own methods and ways of doing things. Some flocks aren’t welcoming to chicks in their coop and will try to attack them, even with mama defending them.
My laying flock is used to chicks and they don’t even notice anymore, but you do need to know that many chickens will see , even a tiny chick as a threat in their coop and run, and some don’t like it at first. Always remember, try to think like a chicken, when caring for your chickens. 😉🐣
Incubating day 3 heartbeat.
(Ameracauna egg)
This is exactly why I use pete moss in my dust baths. Check out her after photo in comments 😂
Proof that the Pete moss cleans all those hard to reach places.
Phyllis is our frizzle polish. I purchased hatching eggs and hatche her myself. The entire hatch went horribly. The majority of the people gets either didn’t hatch, or hatched with horribly Crooked ties and feet, and even splay legs.
At that time I assumed it was an incubator issue. Later down the road I hatched a few eggs from Phyllis at about three weeks old one of her chicks had leg issues. It could have been a vitamin issue, however having hatched her here in my farm and knowing the history, I decided there was a strong chance of bad breeding in her lines.
For this reason she remain part of my personal laying flock. We never hatch eggs from her, but she is such a fun little bird to have around, and she is very consistent in the nest box.
While I don’t trust her genes to hatch eggs from her, I do recommend the Polish as a breed if you want a white layer that does pretty well in confinement.
I have heard people say that Polish don’t do well in a mixed flock, that hasn’t been true for us. However I also choose breeds that get along well with others so that probably helps.
Believe it or not my most “assertive” hens, have proven to be Orpingtons. I may try the breed again (with different lines) but I won’t do lavenders again) I think they are the “weird” ones if the breed. 🤷🏻♀️
Banjo had an unexpected opportunity to get to know our Sebastopol geese today.
If you have never meet a goose before, it can be a little intimidating.
I took the opportunity to do some training through the encounter. I turned off the video and I gave treats and the verbal “leave the bird” as he was totally non reactive and calm. I want this to be his normal behavior around my flocks.
So it was greatly rewarded and praised.
Good boy Banjo!
Babies everywhere.
We have multiple mama hens raising them together.
“Hi, I’m new here.”
Faverolles hatching now!
These will be grow outs for our own breeding stock. Some grow outs will be available, as we start making selections for our breeders, at about 3 months.
Welcome to the Garden!
Our first runner ducks are already stealing our hearts.
You can already tell what fast foragers they are!
The cutest bug control a girl could ask for😍
If you look closely you can see that the two runner ducks stand straight up, unlike the buff, who’s doing the classic duck walk here😉
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