Thursday, May 26, 2016

My New Incubator

The outside temp ranged from 77 to 61
And the incubator temp ranged from 100.6 to 95.3 (Which is way too much variation)

So I'm going to bring it inside so that the temp outside the incubator will stay kinda the same so that the incubator will not have much trouble keeping it the same temp.

Anyway, I'll keep experimenting with it to get it to stay the same temperature.

Thanks for reading my blog y'all

Seeya

Bourbon Red Turkeys Week 4

The turkeys are 4 weeks old now.

Seeya

Broody Hen Accepting Hatchery Chicks

So I gave my 6 bantam buff cochins and 1 silkie to my broody hen.

So far she has accepted them and is taking care of them.

Here's the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LybGemQ6Kt8

Seeya

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

May 2016 Update

So, I left Thursday on a trip to visit some friends and I just got back. Anyway, while I was gone my brothers took care of my animals. I forgot to tell them to remove any new eggs under my broody hen and so by the time I got back she had built up a lot more. I think that because she had too many all of them are dead but I will candle them tonight.

Anyway, if they are all dead I will take them out and give her some chicks. I will do a turkey video today and upload it soon.

I have one of the three silkie chicks left. When the first one died I think it was pasty but but the second looked clean. The third has been healthy and vigorous the whole time.

Anyway, they are one month old today (The turkeys and bantams) so soon they will be outside during the day.

Anyway, thank you to anyone and everyone who reads my blog.

Seeya

Sunday, May 15, 2016

Meat Chicken Summary and New Silkie Chicks

We originally got 10 chicks

1 died from the cold

2 died in the chicken death spurt

2 got eaten by the dog

5 are in the freezer

So, yea. Not really a good survival rate but it was our first time with meat chickens. I don't think I am going to do it again this summer. I might sometime but for now I will stick to egg layers.

Anyway, last night I bought 3 3 week old partridge silkie chicks. They are about as big as my 3 week old bantam cochin chicks. This may have been a good investment as they will hatch eggs for me but it also may have been a bad idea as I now want to order 10 more silkies.

Anyway, I will try to upload pics soon.

Seeya

Sunday, May 8, 2016

So, I finally have a broody hen

I have been trying to get my hens to go broody for a long time but just recently one of the remaining light brahmas went broody.

She is setting on 6 eggs and sometimes forgets which of my two nest boxes is hers.

This is kinda funny because you would think she would know but now I have to make sure that I keep the top nest box empty of eggs so that she can remember which one is hers.

This means going down to the chicken coop every several times a day.

Otherwise she may set on the wrong eggs.

Anyway, the turkeys are doing fine and no more chickens died.

I read someplace that if you raise turkeys or chicks in a brooder where you can reach in from the side that they will be more friendly than those raised where you have to reach in from the top.

This makes a little bit of sense because their natural predators attack from above. (Think pouncing foxes, diving hawks, and swooping owls)

Anyway, I might do a little experiment by raising half of the turkeys in the brooder they are in now and the other half in a different brooder that you have to reach in from the side.

We shall see
Seeya

Thursday, May 5, 2016

The Quail Died

Yup,

I but it in a box under the heat lamp in the brooder with the turkeys

I thought that the turkeys couldn't get to it but they were in the small cardboard box with it when I checked on them. They trampled it and killed it.

Anyway, I might try to get some more sometime but for now I am going to just try to keep the animals that I have alive and healthy.

OK, Gotta go

Seeya

Just a short video of hay and rabbits

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cSc9l_TrzA&feature=youtu.be

Bourbon Red Turkeys Week 1

8 days old today
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCKJ2dixDUA
I was sitting here by the computer this morning thinking about different things and I remembered that I had to do a video of the turkeys.I jumped out of my chair, grabbed my camera and went out to their brooder.

I remember thinking "Hurry, before they grow any more!"

Thinking back it sounds silly but nevertheless that is what was going through my head in those few seconds.

That is one of my favorite things about animals

The change

They are always changing them or the thing around them;

The pasture gets short, the young'ns grow up, the coop gets cleaned

OK, well that last one will be me, not the chickens.

Ok I gotta go split firewood for next winter so,

Seeya

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

1 Year 100 posts (+Sick Chickens Update)

Yup, its been exactly one year since I started this blog.

And this is the 100th post

And I have 25 of the 100 subscribers that I am going to try to get by my graduation in 2018.

Anyway, the chickens have been dropping like flies and I thought it might be their crop.

So, I checked it in early morning and I could only feel one and it was sloshy.

So I then went on to the next possible thing: Worms

I got some electrolights to give them some energy and some wormer too.

It's been two days since I put it in their water and no deaths so far.

Before I wormed them one or two a day were dying but since then non have died.

Other than the meat chickens of course. I never seam to count them in anything. Anyway 9 out of 10 survived from when we just got them up until recently. We had one throw up and just lay down on the ground without moving. I massaged his crop like how the internet said and accidentally drowned him. :(

And then another two died: one just dropped and one got caught by predators because a strong wind knocked down the netting. This means that we are down to 6 meat chickens.

The laying hens have been dropping so fast that I have lost count. I will try to count them sometime and update you guys.

Oh and I had one of the remaining light brahmas go brood so I am hoping that she stays that way and hatches out some chicks for me.

Anyway here are some pics from the past 365 days of this blog

Oh and just a heads up. There is a bunch so you don't have to look at them all. ;)









































Alright Y'all
Seeya