It’s hatching time again and the first one is out. The cockerels will go in the freezer once grown and the hens on Craigslist in the spring. These are more of our silver laced Wyandotte.
It’s always fun when they begin popping out. These are out of our silver laced Wyandottes .
The girls had so much fun with the ducks in the incubator we did a few chicken eggs.
It’s a BEAUTIFUL cool breezy evening here and the girls are outside watching the chickens forage and playing with the ducklings.
I’ve been letting them out the last three days. Today they’re actually venturing out and doing a little foraging. They’re doing amazing well and getting along with the big chickens.
22 May – added a picture of the pullets taken today.
I spent some time laying in the shade next to our chicken tractor and 19 silver laced Wyandotte chicks today trying to encourage them to use their waterer. After tapping the nipple several times and getting drops of water to hang off the end the began to peck at it. Hopefully before long they’ll all be using it and I won’t need to goof with a traditional waterer.
Our incubator just arrived! We won’t be hatching a bunch at one time so we decided on the Brinsea Mini Advanced. It’s automated, self turning and has several other automated features. What I am most excited about is the girls will be able to easily observe the hatching process through the clear plastic cover!
As we get it unpacked and setup I’ll add more pictures.
UPDATE: 5May12 – just put 7 mixed breed duck eggs in the incubator! The other 5 are going in with my moms peacock eggs.
We are adding an additional chicken pen next to the existing pen for the Cornish cross chicks we are getting. These chicks will be kept separate from the other chickens so we can keep them on different feed to get them big and fat for butcher.
The wire and gate were all free and the corner posts were on hand. So far our only expense for this project will be hinges and the spring to keep the gate closed!
I finally got around to actually making the chicken tractor mobile. The wheels came off an old air compressor that no longer worked.
