help with chickens please (update with Picture)

[Dianne]

Well last night in chat I was all concerned about our incubating eggs because it was day 21 and none had hatched...went downstairs for a smoke about 4am and heard "peeping" :lol: the first one was almost out of the shell and struggling around the incubator..whoohoo!
then during the day 2 more hatched and they are now dried off and in the brooder...one right now has been struggling to get out ALL afternoon and 2 more eggs have teeny outward dent/cracks...
So my question is how long do I keep the eggs around to see if any more will hatch? I tried to see inside them with a penlight to see if they were viable but these eggs have such dark (blue /green] and brown shells I couldnt see a thing even with my glasses on :razz: :lol:
Any hints on how to keep the babies healthy? I made my own brooder out of a plastic tub with a layer of pellets (softened) then some paper towel (as per the book to discourage picking of the bedding) and hung a heat lamp over it ....they have (all 3 ) drank and pecked at the starter food..they are SO adorable and I will post pics when they all hatch!
Update (Sunday) 10 hatched.....6 eggs to go :D
http://pic19.picturetrail.com/VOL1043/4111266/8568047/129954519.jpg

[DebbieS]

I would give those eggs a few more days just in case. I made a brooder house out of an old water trough. The heat lamp will keep them warm. I usually put a piece of peg board or plywood over it too if it's cold where you live. They can't go out in the coop until the have feathers. Then I'd still leave a light on them for awhile.

right now I have a hen that's trying to set. I really don't want babies yet, it's so cold. I had to trick her with some plastic Easter eggs for awhile, because I dont' want her to give up but I take her real eggs away every day (she gets off the nest and waits til everyone lays their egg, then sits on them). I take them away every night. Poor girl!!

Baby chicks are so cute and cuddly!! Good luck with them!!

[CarolU]

Yes, give them a few days...they weren't all laid at the same time.

Be double/triple careful with the heat lamp, they start fires easily.

Oh...little peeps! Too cute.

(and there I was thinking you'd be looking for a soup recipe!) ;-)

[Dianne]

(and there I was thinking you'd be looking for a soup recipe!)
:shock: Carol!! How could you!!! it will be hard enough if some of these are roosters and ........."sniff...I cant talk about it :cry

[CarolU]

Yeah, there's a reason rooster and roaster only have one letter difference. One quick CHOP and rooster = roaster...preferably stuffed. YUM YUM

[Dianne]

pity some men cant be dealt with that way :lol: :lol:

[Edurne]

make the roosters capons and they are good company as well as great roasters

[Barbwire]

:PICS

[CarolU]

chicken soup:

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/dailypix/2003/Jan/29/islandlife5.jpg

[Dianne]

make the roosters capons :shock: Is that like neutering? :lol:
Great picture Carol..looks like good chicky noodle soup to me :D

[Jane Hurl]

Yep, Dianne, that's neutering ... and if you've got the moxy to do it, you've got me beat!

About the heat lamp. Make sure they can also get AWAY from the heat lamp as they can overheat. What I do is make sure their little area is large enough that they can be under the heat lamp at one end, but can move as far away as they need to in order to get the correct temperature.

[Carol Nelson]

And if worst comes to worst, Dianne, you can move your chicks into your KITCHEN! I raised three baby chicks I saved from the fireants in a corner of my kitchen to pullets...but they soon learned to jump out of the slats of the crate. When I found them under the TV in the living room, I said, "I think it's time for the chicks to move outside." :lol:

(Wouldn't you know, all three turned out to be roosters! :roll: ;-) )

[Dianne]

Oh yes..ours are in the laundry room with the door shut as Both Dali (dalmation) and Rosie (JRT) want chickens for lunch! actually I think Dali thinks they are squeeky toys :shock:

[CarolU]

Why didn't you get them in Easter colors? ;-)

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40024000/jpg/_40024545_chicks203ap.jpg

BTW - you better read this story as fair warning.

http://www.homestead.org/SheriDixon/EasterChicksGoneBad.htm

[finolover]

ya know what that black stuff in chicken dookie iz>>>>>>?











MORE chicken DOOKIE :rofl

[Dianne]

BTW - you better read this story as fair warning.

:shock: Wow thats a scary story Carol...dang not sure I will be able to sleep tonight :rofl

Earl....Chicken Dookie?...Hmmmm! :cooldude

[Linda Y]

OMG! That is almost exactly what happened to us and our last chickens.
When I lived in Florida, we went to a feed store that wasn't too far from work. Inside the store were 5 gorgeous little bantam chicks that had been left on their doorstep one rainy night. They were going to send them to chicky heaven...which in retrospect would have been the best thing to do...but we felt sorry for them and took them home. We built them a nice big portable pen so we could move them around on the grass. The rest of the time they spent in a box in the garage. Within days, one escaped and became the hawks dinner. Another left to join a gang in the woods.
So we raised the remainder. Turned out to be one hen and two roosters. Two really MEAN roosters. They attacked me every chance they got. When they finally drew blood, my husband drew down on them. Chickens are hard to shoot!
The hen was cute, but wild as a rat...even though we had hand raised her. We left her with the people that bought our house. Hope they didn't get roosters...

[Barbwire]

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40024000/jpg/_40024545_chicks203ap.jpghttp://www.jammerbabe.com/flotilla/images/smiles/panic.gifhttp://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40024000/jpg/_40024545_chicks203ap.jpg

I'm with Dianne, I'm skeerd!!!

[Dianne]

Sooooo all that cheeping they are doing down there in the laundry room is really planning ? :shock:

They are actually SO funny!!! when they decide its nap time they just kinda collaps and some end up on their sides with their silly feet sticking out :lol: ..they look dead I swear they do!

[Brigitte]

..they look dead I swear they do!
How can you be so sure they're not? :twisted:

Neh just kidding, they're practicing for later on so they can trick you .

[Jasfino]

They are alot smarter than you think. Hubby had one that stayed every nite in our laundry room in a pet taxi. She would come running when we called her from across the yard and jump into our lap. I think she thought she was a dog instead of a chicken. She would take a nap outside with our doberman. Something got her in broad daylight. We think it was a raccoon. :cry: