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Redneck DooBwa Chickens


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Beautiful birds! One of these days, one of these days :)

Thanks :D

There's nothing wrong with feed store chicks for pets and eggs, but there is a differece when buying from a breeder.

They also cost 4 times more, and quite often I will recommend feed stores to people just looking for a few layers

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Just for eggs then the feed stores are fine, but if you want good bloodlines from which to raise quality chickens then you have to go to a breeder such as Landfillguy.  They usually require a minimum purchase and won't usually guarantee sex or mix breeds.

 

You have to consider:

 

Cold and Heat Tolerance

How many eggs per year?

Friendliness

Do you want to use them for meat?

Color if it matters

 

You can sex chicks in a couple of ways that don't involve stripping the poop out of their vent first!  Then you don't have to worry about whether you end up with roosters!

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Just for eggs then the feed stores are fine, but if you want good bloodlines from which to raise quality chickens then you have to go to a breeder such as Landfillguy.  They usually require a minimum purchase and won't usually guarantee sex or mix breeds.

 

You have to consider:

 

Cold and Heat Tolerance

How many eggs per year?

Friendliness

Do you want to use them for meat?

Color if it matters

 

You can sex chicks in a couple of ways that don't involve stripping the poop out of their vent first!  Then you don't have to worry about whether you end up with roosters!

I have not figured out the sexing of chicks yet. I have heard and tried several old wives' tales, but none have proven effective. I go by combs and wattles, unless they are peacombed like Ameraucanas or Easter Eggers. Those combs develop so slowly that it's hard to tell. Thankfully with the marans I have a good idea at 2 weeks, and am about 95% certain at 4.

I wouldn't call myself a full fledged breeder yet. I started with good stock, culled to the best of those, then mated what I hoped would produce the best results. You are actually one of the first recipients of what will be considered my line. Marans are notoriously hard to breed to the Standard, and if you are culling for egg color at the same time you will keep about 1 in every 10 chicks hatched. Like I said, for eggs it doesn't matter, but a lot of my customers show. Every chicken has faults, some are more egregious than others, and if you don't cull then those faults are magnified in the offspring. Some faults can actually be combined to reduce other faults, such as too much/too little copper color. A rooster with too much color is a good match for a solid black hen.

Hatcheries don't cull, they can't afford to. Everything that hatches is bred and reproduced, so faults are magnified to the point of being a DQ at show. Again, fine for egg layers, but not for picky customers

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Petee, have you tried candling yet? I peeked at a few of them on day 6, and it looks like I have some swimmers in the medium eggs. I am giving them a few days to develop more, and I'll do a full candle this weekend

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This post is completely in the wrong thread, but I couldn't find the landfill accident thread. I saw an advertisement on channel 6 that they are doing a story on the landfill collapse Tuesday, May 9 on the 6 o'clock news.

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This post is completely in the wrong thread, but I couldn't find the landfill accident thread. I saw an advertisement on channel 6 that they are doing a story on the landfill collapse Tuesday, May 9 on the 6 o'clock news.

I had been told that, but was asked not to post it online until it was made public. I'll bump the thread for you
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Petee, have you tried candling yet? I peeked at a few of them on day 6, and it looks like I have some swimmers in the medium eggs. I am giving them a few days to develop more, and I'll do a full candle this weekend

What is candling?? Holding an egg up in front of a candle to see if a chick has started?

 

When my family raised chickens, we bought them through a magazine, I think it was The Grit. We would pick them up at the PO, & feed, water, & keep them warm.

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Maybe Steve can sort out the chicken stuff and move it to another thread or another one could be started.

 

No, I haven't tried to candle them yet.  I've had a rough couple of last days so all they've gotten is their rolling several times a day.

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What is candling?? Holding an egg up in front of a candle to see if a chick has started?

 

When my family raised chickens, we bought them through a magazine, I think it was The Grit. We would pick them up at the PO, & feed, water, & keep them warm.

Kind of. More like shining a flashlight through one end, but all the light has to be directed into the egg, if light escapes around the sides, you can't see. A candler has a rubber cup to set the egg in. A good, cheap, homemade way is to use a toilet paper roll and flashlight
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Maybe Steve can sort out the chicken stuff and move it to another thread or another one could be started.

 

No, I haven't tried to candle them yet. I've had a rough couple of last days so all they've gotten is their rolling several times a day.

Just did a full candle of the ones I set the same day as you. 16/24 developing, so keep your fingers crossed :D
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I used an LED flashlight last night without much success, but I did find one that had come in the mail with hairline cracks.  I was incubating it anyway but realized that the cracks were widening and a small chunk of the shell had dropped away with a slight leakage of fluid so I circular filed it.  However, I opened it first and there was definitely an embryo so there has been fertilization.  I'm off today to find the brightest flashlight I can find.

 

Today they will each be numbered and photographed so everyone can now keep track of what's going on.  Originally there were 25 eggs so they will be numbered from 1-22.  #1 came broken, #2 broke in the incubator, #3 had the cracks and leakage.  When they hatch I will try to connect the chick with the egg shell.  Unless they sneak out when I'm not watching it should be fun tracking them.

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I used an LED flashlight last night without much success, but I did find one that had come in the mail with hairline cracks. I was incubating it anyway but realized that the cracks were widening and a small chunk of the shell had dropped away with a slight leakage of fluid so I circular filed it. However, I opened it first and there was definitely an embryo so there has been fertilization. I'm off today to find the brightest flashlight I can find.

 

Today they will each be numbered and photographed so everyone can now keep track of what's going on. Originally there were 25 eggs so they will be numbered from 1-22. #1 came broken, #2 broke in the incubator, #3 had the cracks and leakage. When they hatch I will try to connect the chick with the egg shell. Unless they sneak out when I'm not watching it should be fun tracking them.

You're much more hands on than me. When the incubator is full of chicks, I'll take them out.

It's easier to do that on this set. All my eggs are from the young girls in the same pen. If I had eggs from two pens, I would put a divider on lockdown and band the chicks with different colors

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Normally I wouldn't bother but I thought it might be fun for the people on here who have never seen eggs being incubated.

 

I went out today and bought a flashlight that has 700 lumens.  Then I built a "holder" out of a stack of McDonalds cups so the flashlight is standing inside on end with the light up, and there's an opening on which to lay an egg.  My hands are giving me fits so I don't want to risk dropping an egg or making my hands ache.

 

It must be bright enough because I got a ray of light from around the eggs and about blinded myself!  Tonight, after dark, I should be able to take an x-ray of them!

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Normally I wouldn't bother but I thought it might be fun for the people on here who have never seen eggs being incubated.

 

I went out today and bought a flashlight that has 700 lumens. Then I built a "holder" out of a stack of McDonalds cups so the flashlight is standing inside on end with the light up, and there's an opening on which to lay an egg. My hands are giving me fits so I don't want to risk dropping an egg or making my hands ache.

 

It must be bright enough because I got a ray of light from around the eggs and about blinded myself! Tonight, after dark, I should be able to take an x-ray of them!

I think it would be a lot of fun for everyone. I'm hatching every few weeks, but hatch day is always exciting. I think people will learn a lot from your documentary ;)
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I miscounted which I realized today when I weighed them all.  There were originally 24, so I have 21 now.  I fiddled with them too much and am now having a problem getting the temperature regulated so I have to check it every half hour but it's coming along.

 

Each egg is numbered and I will show a list.  Some are a clear beige or brown while others have lots of mottling or freckles which makes it even harder to candle them.  I'll update it about every three days or so.

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Thanks Steve.  I decided that I would weigh my own eggs this morning just for the heck of it and because the scale was still sitting on the counter. One was 84 grams which is off the charts, and that is not the biggest that has been laid from my chickens. The old biddy, who only lays about once a week, lays whoppers! She will be going to a older couple in Troutville just as soon as I can get her processed.  She's definitely slowing down physically and that's an indication that she could be suffering the pains of old age.  I will not put her through the heat of summer or the cold of winter again. She deserves a quick and worthwhile end.  I want to respect each of their needs too.

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Thanks Steve. I decided that I would weigh my own eggs this morning just for the heck of it and because the scale was still sitting on the counter. One was 84 grams which is off the charts, and that is not the biggest that has been laid from my chickens. The old biddy, who only lays about once a week, lays whoppers! She will be going to a older couple in Troutville just as soon as I can get her processed. She's definitely slowing down physically and that's an indication that she could be suffering the pains of old age. I will not put her through the heat of summer or the cold of winter again. She deserves a quick and worthwhile end. I want to respect each of their needs too.

My second year black coppers lay a lot of 80+ gram eggs
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