More Eggs

Saturday, 26 June the slate turkey didn't come home. Figured she had a nest some where so on Sunday, Frances went out to look. Found it. Out by the barn with 7 eggs in it.
I was prepared to go take her off the nest tonight and carry her to the coop, but she was already in the coop when I got home. So went and collected the eggs. Put them in the incubator. Hatch date 25 July. One week after the geese eggs.

Took all of the babies from the house outside except the red with the gimp hip and the peacock. Decided Drew is right, peacock crap smells worse than turkey or chicken crap, especially when it is in your living room. So the peacock has to go out side. Soon. Then I could be bird free in the house for a while, except Yaco. Lol.

Took the lawn mower to the chicken yard so they will have more room. It is more difficult for me, but starting tomorrow the birds are back in their yard. At least the ones I can make stay in there.

Still need to do a good count of what I actually have. Need to find the real numbers of what I have had and what I've lost this year so I can make some calculations for next year. Mostly need to figure out 3 things.
1. How many turkeys I have.
2. If I increase the number of hens I have, then how many eggs can I expect next year?

3. How many eggs does that work out to for each hen I keep? I'm thinking average of 5 eggs per week, per hen, and so far they have been laying, at least one of them has, for about 12 weeks. Could be a lot of eggs. Or not. And not really a separate item, but what am I going to do with all them birds?

I'll let you know.

When I figure it out.

Summer is here

We had a pair of wild birds decide they were going to build a nest in the rafters on the deck out back. And they decided to build in on the near side instead of the far side. Everytime some one went out on the deck, they would take off and wait for us to leave before they came back. Was afraid the eggs would never hatch. But they did hatch. Never really looked in the nest, just kind of left it alone. Then one day I noticed there were baby chicks in it. I saw at least two. So I stuck my phone up there and took a picture. Went out this morning, watered the plants and figured I'd check again. All the babies are dead. Not sure what happened, if they got abandoned or got tooo hot or what. Looked like there were 4 of them. Need to get rid of them later.

Now that I think about it, even when I discovered them, they didn't look really good. And I never thought about helping them or anything. Oops.

26 June 2010

Not been able to keep up on the blog really well. Not as well as I would like to. I’m hoping in the future at some point I’ll get a steady job with a steady schedule and it will allow me to have more time to do things as routine.

Got sick a few days ago, went to the Doc yesterday and took today off sick. Feeling better now. Been getting hot here, up in the low 90's every day with the heat index over 100. Started having the summer thunderstorms. Funny because one place will get drenched and the other won't. And I can't seem to get any rain in my garden.

Back to the birds. The youngest set of my birds are outside in the little pen during the day and then I put them all in the coop at night. Too many losses to coons if I don’t. And I had too many birds to keep them all in the house for as long as they probably should have been. Next year I’m hoping to be a little more prepared and have a better system designed. I still have another set of birds in the living room, they are a week and a half old or so. The peacock, and some chickens I think. Not even sure if there are any turkeys in it.

Remember the nest the Red was sitting on? Went to check on her the other morning and she wasn’t on her nest, there were only two eggs there, instead of the 6 I left. So I look them and put them in the incubator with the other 6. She was really good about it, never went back to her nest or anything. Spent that night, and every night since in the coop. The eggs were still warm when I took them, so I have every hope they will hatch. Really disappointed as I wanted her to have her own poults to take care of. Just some thing got 4 of those eggs, and with only 2 left, it wasn’t’ worth the risk of loosing her over. Shocked that she made it that long and no one really bothered her. And the coons didn’t get her.

So I looked at the dates I collected the eggs from her, and if that were day 1, they should hatch 2 July. So some time between now and then, should have 8 reds hatch. Then I took 2 slate eggs I got, the last 2 it would seem for this year, and put them in with about 6 geese eggs and they should hatch 18 July. That will be it for hatching eggs I think this year.

The garden is doing alright this year, even though I haven’t had a lot of time to put into it. Moved the tomatoes to a new area and they are growing like crazy. Have lots of large leaf basil and the cilantro is growing good. Just have to keep them from, going to seed. Had a lot of cilantro grow up volunteer from what went to seed last year. Go figure. The Jalapeno plant is producing like crazy. My green beans are growing up the wires, the bush beans are looking good, but no beans yet. The peas are starting to succumb to the heat and not sure I’ll get any more from them. Have pumpkins and watermelon and other vines in and starting to grow. Actually, almost everything in the garden is late this year. Hoping to have a fall garden and get some of the things in that I didn’t this spring. Things like peas, carrots lettuce and such.

I’ve also decided that I am going to move the strawberries over to where the beans were last year. Was reading about them and they should be moved every 3-7 years and I just can’t keep a head of the weeds where they are. So maybe if I move them over and put down a lot of wood chips as mulch, I’ll be able to get a decent crop next year.

Went out and picked the wild black raspberries once, just haven’t gotten back out again. And the real black berries will be coming in soon, will need to pick them too.

I’m doing this from the other computer and it has more pictures on it, so I’ll try to get them all posted and set up right and labeled.

Went out to the coop the other night to check and make sure every one was there, and make sure the little ones were in there. This is what I found. Funny, really.

This is the TOP row of the roosts. Notice how the babies are integrated every othe one. Not sure if it is significant that some are turned the wrong way or not. Even the big birds turn both ways.

This is the middle row almost directly below it. If you look closely you can see the two chickens in both pics.

Then on the bottom row on the far side, there was one lone bird.

Over next to the feeder and small door that leads outside, the little chicks were all settled down for the night. Some are turkeys and some are chickens. Can you tell which are which? And there are 2 or 3 LITTLE chicks there. Same age, just not as big. Not sure what caused that.

Then right behind the door, the three baby geese were bedded down. I had disturbed them coming in and out. Came in once to check, then left to get the camera, came back and pretty much took the pics in this order. And it was pitch black in there, had to just point the camera in the general area and hope. Think they turned out pretty good. Isn't flash great?? Oh, and that is Dad's tail you can see. He showed an early interest in the baby geese, following them and all. Now they are a family of 5 that is together all the time during the day.

This is the other roost, straight ahead as you open the door. And yes, that is dad's head. THis was just a cross your fingers kind of shot, but it did rather well. You can see the black tom, he's been reduced to sleeping on either the floor or the bottom roost there. Above him you can see the red tail feathers of the red tom. The red hen sleeps on the other roost near the slate hen. In the very back you can see the mom goose and the black marking she has on her neck. If any of the babies have black on them, that is where it comes from. And finally, just above the black tom, you can see a couple of the babies that are back in the corner. I had put them back there to start, but one got trampled, so I figured I'd let them decide where to sleep. And on the other side right above dad's beak is another and one on the shelf above that.

The babies were just every where, but what surprised me the most were the ones on the top shelf. Of course, it seems that has happened before, some of the young ones just fit right in.

Pictures

This is the official sign of the town I live in. OK, I don't live in it, it is my mailing address. And yes, I live closest to it.

This is one of the easter egg chickens I hatched. Cute little white fuzz ball.

Baby chicks. I just love the way the white one in the back is looking at the camera. Not sure if this is the same chick as the one above. The 2 in front are Bourbon Red turkey poults.

One of the bourbon red turkey eggs hatching.

Goose just out of the egg. Looks dead, but really isn't. You can see the turkey eggs around it. Slates on the right, Reds on the left.

Baby Goose, You can see the pipped chicken egg in the background nest to the thermometer. The dial in front is a humidity gauge. You can see the hatch date on the end of the egg. 13 June 2010.





















The two goslings. The one on the left has been trying for almost 24 hours to get out, and the one on the right made it in just a few. Go figure. You cans till see the chick in the background. It never made it out of the shell.




























The Drake Goose taking a bath. Being watched by the two toms. The red one I will keep for next year, the black one is going to be smoked for 4th of July.

Goose making sure he gets every feather.



























Garden bounty. Was going to bring them int he house, but didn't have any thing to put them in, and didn't want to keep holding them. So I ate them. Only took a minute, but they were good!
Haven't gotten any more since. But did get a quart of wild black raspberries the other day.





















My effort at energy conservation. This is the day I put it up, and haven't used it again since. Maybe tomorrow.

One of the baby Rhode Island red chicks. NEct to the other big ones, including another Red.

These two hens just love me. Eat out of my hand and virtually crawled up in my lap. Both sat there for almost an hour. Had to chase them off when I got up.

And yes, this is like looking at a picture of my dad. Not sure if that is good or bad. Just an observation.

This is the 42 foot trailer we hauled home with my old F-250 pickup. This is also where it sat for a week, stuck in the soft dirt until it dried out some.

After it dried out, we hauled it up into the yard, blocked it up so Drew could work on it some. He has plans for it and the 46 foot Star trailer in the yard.

Came outside after doing truck one night and the Hardies mext door was on fire. They are saying it was arson. Been really good for our business, but still. Wouldn't wish it on any one.

Spring Hatches

OK, so it has been a while since I've been on here and a lot has been going on.


Made the trip to Texas and got all the stuff. Made it with no Problem. Went by our old house and saw Hicks. He still lives there. Found out where Kirby lived, and went over to see her. She had an Armoir that COnnie had left with her, so got that and brought it back too. Things didn't quite fill up the U-Haul trailer. Great trip, and made sure to eat breaskfast tacos at Taco Cabana!! Awesome!


















Back on the farm, I've been running my incubators full time. Think I've been through about 30 some goose eggs, and of those I've had 5 live hatches. 1 out of 6. But not too bad considerign people told me they couldn't breed till they were 2-3 years old, and these are just now a year old. Or that they had to mate in water. He got pretty good at not falling off her back on the ground. The first picture is of one of the Easter egg chickens, or Aracauna chickens I hatched. Took 7 of them to the auction yesterday and got a whole 50 cents for each one. They were about 4 weeks old I guess. Also took 3 turkey eggs and only got $1.50 for the bunch. Should have kept them. Also took two of my older turkey poults and got $6.50 for them. When it was all said and done and I paid my commission, I got a whopping $14.35 back. Not bad I guess, but need to find a better way to get rid of birds.

















Went to the Auction a month or so ago and got peacock eggs. There was a large group of them this other guy bought and then he slod me 3 for $10.00. Well, this after noon one of them hatched,. The others and some more turkeys will be along shortly I hope. This is what it looks like.



















Ok, I'm not as good at this as some people, so bear with me. And I now find that I have 2 computers, and trying to combine them has been unsuccessful. I love my old laptop and am very familiar with it. It also runs XP, which I hve come to appreciate. Or at least be able to use. The other is mom's old one that runs Vista, and I hate it. But it also has the drive slot for the digital camera, so all the pictures are on it. Right now I am on mine and trying to upload the pics on mine. I've also written some notes over time and this is what they say.

25 April, 2010 Sunday
Today was the expected hatch date for the eggs. 1 goose eggs pipped.

26 April
The gosling finally got out of the egg, doesn’t look like it is doing well. Feeding the gosling with an eye dropper. Got the wild game chick starter.

27 April. Bought 5 Rhode Island Red chicks, 3 hens, 2 roosters to put in with the gosling. Doing much better, up and around, eating on it’s own. The chicks love it, but it was scared at first. They get along well now. It is really cute when it cocks it’s head to look up at you.

29 April. One of the chicks died. Frances found it dead, partially under the waterer. Could have gotten stuck and then suffocated. Not sure.
Took all the eggs that didn’t hatch out on the porch and cracked them open to see how developed they were. 4 goose and 5 turkey eggs. One of the goose eggs didn’t develop much, the other three were more, but difficult to tell when they stopped growing and died. I was putting off doing this but they had started to smell. Cracked open a turkey egg and noticed it was bloody. Cracked open the second turkey egg and it wasn’t as bloody, but they were both developing well. Then I noticed one moved, then both moved. Took the other three eggs back to the incubator. Looked at my dates again and it would seem I made a mistake on the turkey dates. I didn’t write what day I put them in, but there is an entry dated 5 April says I have 4 turkey eggs. So if I put them in that day, the earliest hatch date would be 3 May. And if I remember right I put the 4 in that night and then when I got the 5th one the next day, I put it in also. So I’m looking at 3-5 May as possible hatch dates. Sad about the two I lost and could have had, but excited about the 3 that are still in there. Just goes to show how important records are.

Speaking of which. Need to figure dates, because I have 4 incubators now, that I own and have eggs in three of them. One has turkey and chicken eggs that should hatch 13 May. 12 chicken and about 4 turkey eggs. The second one has turkey eggs that should hatch 25 May, after I come back from Texas. So I need to collect chicken eggs to add to it about 1 May. I had problems with the goose eggs on the auto turners, so did some checking and found out they do better being turned by hand. So the third incubator is full of goose eggs. They are marked on the end with their hatch date, 13 or 24 May. Have to get some kind of shelving to hold the incubators on if I am going to be doing this very much.

Went to the Bolivar auction at 1pm last Saturday only to find out the poultry sells at noon. So planning to go back this weekend and see what is there, how things go and if I can make any money selling my stuff there. Also need to do some research to find out where I can take my turkeys and how much it will cost to have them professionally processed. Get me a big freezer and then I can sell more of them, maybe.

2 May. 2 turkeys hatched, doing good. Noticed a pip before work, Frances said two hatched while I was gone.

3 May. Remaining turkey hatched. So of 5 geese, 1 hatched. Of 5 Turkeys, I opened 2 good eggs, effectively killing them because I miscalculated their hatch date and the other three hatched. I know the mom was the Red based on the eggs, and looks like the dad was the Spanish Black.

Have Turkey and goose eggs and 12 chicken eggs in the incubator to hatch 13 May.
Another batch is due to hatch 24 May. I just put 24 chicken eggs in to hatch with them. Also put in 4 goose and 9 turkey eggs that will hatch a week after that. Been collecting some, and tonight I found a turkey nest in the chicken area, had 6 turkey eggs, 5 Red and 1 Slate and one chicken egg. Also got another goose egg so I put them all in the incubator. All the chicks seems to be doing good. Need to look at the calendar and figure out which dates I’m taking things to the auction. I’ll probably sell the 4 Rhode Island reds, if Jeanne will let me, and the goose. Hesitant to sell the goose until I get more to hatch out.
Have a lady wants me to mail her day old chicks, which I have never done before. Also not sure about the numbers, she only wants 11 and I think the minimum to send is 25 to keep them themselves warm. Have to do some more checking.

On the Spurs Note: They had their opening game with the Phoenix Suns last night and lost. They had a chance, maybe, but didn’t play championship ball for the whole 48 minutes. They allowed the Suns to put them in a hole to start with. They tied in the 4th and actually took a 3 point lead for a few seconds, but that was it. Game 2 is Wednesday night and hopefully they can pull out a win then. GO SPURS!!!!!

10 May. Candled all the eggs, pulled the ones that weren’t developing and placed the ones that hatch Thursday in the new incubator.

11 May 2010. Tuesday. Put one turkey eggs and 3 goose eggs in the incubator. Should hatch 8 June. Will put chicken eggs in next week. Slate hen has been missing the last few nights. She comes back each morning and then leaves. She was here this morning when I le them out, but then left. Pretty sure she has a nest some where. Hope to watch her and follow her to it tomorrow. Still not sure what to do with them if I find them. Will probably collect the eggs and put them in the incubator or put her in the cage again and see what happens.

12 May. Slate didn’t come home. Don’t know where she is or if she is ok. 3 turkeys hatched, 1 red and 2 slates. Then at night another slate hatched, so now I have a total of 7 turkeys, 3 slates and 4 red mixes.
13 May, during the day 7 chickens hatched. The goose has pipped and is working its way out, but the first one took a long time. Not sure if any of the others will hatch or not. The weather has been rough, rain and thunderstorms. Expecting more tonight.

14 May 2010. Looked this morning and a new gosling is all the way out of the shell. The other one was almost out. I have had to help it some, mostly making sure it stayed moist, keep the humidity up. Did crack some of the shell, but was very careful in what I did. One of the chickens pipped almost all the way out and then appears to have died. The others seem to be doing well.

14 May 2010. Late
I have 2 turkey hens, a Bourbon red and a Blue slate that have been laying for a while now. I noticed that they had both been getting out and couldn’t find their eggs. I clipped the wings on them both, and the red started laying in the coop with the chickens. The slate some how managed to keep getting out. Several days ago, she didn’t come home at night. Saw her the next morning, and then she was gone again. Went for almost 3 days with out seeing her and was worried that some thing would get her in the night. We’ve been having a lot of thunder storms and rain, and she still didn’t come home.
Well, this morning we found her, not far out at the edge of the yard under a wild rose bush. Tried to move her nest and she wasn’t having any part of it. There were 11 turkey eggs and 10 chicken eggs. I moved her into a small run I had built out of PVC piping, and put 9 turkey eggs in it. The rest I brought in the house and put in an incubator. Well, 30 minutes later, she hadn’t gotten on the eggs, so I opened the gate and she went back to her nest. Realizing she would stay there, took 7 eggs and put them under her and brought the other two in the house and placed in the incubator. Going to check on her in a while and try to move the cage over to cover her nest. If I can’t move her to the cage, move the cage to her, right? The eggs I have hatched from her this year (she is only a year old) have produced wonderful poults that are active and grow well, so far. So I’m excited about having more, and allowing her to raise them will be special, too.
Figured I would share this with others so they could learn, and maybe some one that has more experience than me can give me some additional advice.
Thanks.
Clay

15 May 2010.
Went to the animal auction on Saturday in Bolivar, and they were selling peafowl eggs again. About 18 of them, some one else bought them and then he sold me 3 for $10. So now I have 3 of them. Plan to put them in with the turkey and goose eggs.

Actually, early morning Sunday, 16 May.
Put 2 goose, 2 red turkey and the three peafowl eggs in the incubator. Estimate hatch date is 14 June. Figure the nest should hatch a day or so before that.
Cleaned out the incubator that had the big hatch in it. It was really starting to stink. Moved the eggs to another incubator and then cleaned it, and put the eggs back in it. Plus the above eggs. Think I cleaned it well enough, with a 10% vinegar solution. Been mixing vinegar in the drinking water jars at the rate of about 1 teaspoon to a quart. Just enough, really makes a difference in the smell of the water after a few hours and it shouldn’t hurt them. Figure it is better for them than bleach.
Slate hen is still on her nest, going to be such a good mom, stayed on the eggs through all those storms. And to think I was considering getting rid of her. Think I am going to limit my breeding flock by the toms. And if there are some I want to separate, I’ll do that early in the fall or winter and give them separate living spaces. Actually, I’d like to have a few runs I could alternate the birds in, whether it was just to rotate spaces or to separate flocks. And the turkeys are pretty much all I am concerned with right now. Chickens and geese don’t really matter and not sure if I’ll even get a breeding pair of peafowl. What I need to do is get others to diversify the genetic pool and then design a breeding program for them. Need to think about how to identify individual birds and associate eggs to birds so I can keep track of lineage.

17 May 2010
Found the first baby goose dead about noon. Cause unknown. Collected 23 chicken eggs and one turkey egg tonight from the coop, so I put the turkey egg in with the ones I put in last night. I have started writing hatch dates on the end of the eggs, with a number on one side and an “X” on the other. That helps when I turn them and the dates help me keep track of which ones are supposed to hatch when. Next year need to have a better system figured out. I have 4 incubators, so I should be able to get some kind of a system going.
I put a bunch of turkey and goose eggs in the incubator last Tuesday, so I have some blue chicken eggs I got today that I will put in tomorrow, that should hatch the same time as the others.
In looking at my brooding system, right now I am using large cardboard boxes laid on their sides and fastened together. Worked good last year and seems to be doing of this year. Not sure what the problem was with the goose and why it died. It grew so much faster and made such a mess, I really should separate them from everything else. Works better when you have more than one gosling at a time, too. Not sure what to do about that. It is looking like at least 2 goose eggs failed to hatch. Today is the 16th and they are dated the 13th. Guess that about tells the story.

Finally making the trip to Texas to get things out of storage. They were put there on 12 December, you ready for this? 12-12-96!! And we have been paying on them ever since. Making the trip down Thursday, pick it up Friday morning and plan to be back Saturday about noon. That is the plan. And the inventory list is really helpful in reminding me what is in it. Connie packed it, so I have little idea. The hall hat tree is in it, and the wind up clock should be in a box. There are some garden tools and a skill saw. 2 desks and 1 desk chair. And box after box of boxes. 1.5 cf box, 4.5 cf box, large flat box. You get the idea. Just boxes that are PBO. That stands for “Packed By Owner”. Taking both seats out of the van, and getting a small U-Haul trailer. That should do it!
And speaking of trailers. Drew has been looking for a way to build his own place here. Found a 12-42 trailer on Craig’s list for $500. He went and looked at it yesterday and paid for it. So when I get back from Texas, we are going out to jack the thing up and see if my truck can haul it. This is a 70’s vintage trailer, with 2 axles, and I think we can do it. We’ll see, at least. My truck is a 1985 F-250 with a 7.5 liter engine and 4-speed, 4WD. Geared pretty low, so I’m thinking it shouldn’t be an issue. It has to go about 10 miles is all, and it isn’t too bad, no major hills or difficult places. We’ll park it out front until we can get some trees cut down and moved over to be the starting point of the garage addition.

18 May 2010. Put 8 chicken eggs in the incubator. They should hatch 8 June. Labeled them A-H and put the date on them. Need to start marking eggs better so I can identify them and when they should hatch. Have so many now in the different incubators it is easy to loose track of them. Like not sure which eggs should have hatched on the 13th and didn’t, except the three goose eggs that developed and didn’t hatch. Could have been anything with them. Could be humidity, was wrong at some point, or there was a temperature fluctuation that got them, not sure. Along the same lines, can’t say why the one egg took over 24 hours to hatch and the other one did it in a few hours. Strange, and not sure I will ever have all the answers. I know I’ve had a problem with temperature fluctuations. Not sure exactly how to control that better. Maybe in a few years I’ll have this down a little better, lol.

Right now, I have 7 turkey poults, 7 chicken chicks and the 2 goslings. That is what is alive that I hatched. Plus the 4 Rhode Island reds we bought.

23 May 2010. Sunday. Woke up to 4 turkey poults. By the end of the day, there were 12 poults. 4 are slates I think and it looks like 2 of the reds also had red as the dad. They have a lot more red in them than the others. One of the Slates was all icky and the fuzz wasn’t standing up, so I washed it first with a warm cloth and when that didn’t work, the next morning I washed it under warm running water, then blow dried it and it seems to be doing good.

24 May. 3 Goose eggs are starting to pip tonight. Moved them to the hatching incubator.

25 May. Only 2 of the geese show pips, but they are still moving and breathing. Not sure about the other egg, and not sure when the chickens are supposed to start hatching.
NOTE: Next year I need to write on the end of the eggs the expected hatch date. When hatching so many it helps a lot.

1 June 2010 Monday.
I’ve lost track of how many birds have been hatching and when. I need to do a better job of identifying which eggs get put in when and what their hatch dates should be. And which one s hatch etc.
Took out 3 poults tonight. They look like reds. Think I took out 3 chickens earlier today. Also a couple of reds before. On Friday, Jeanne bought 5 bourbon reds and 3 Broad Breasted Bronze at the hatchery. Hard to say what some of my birds look like. Think I have close to 30 turkey poults now. A second goose died the other day. Moved them into small swimming pool so they don’t trash the boxes. Think it was something they were eating, papers or something.

4 June
Last week we took out the four Rhode Island Reds and 3 poults. Lost one red, looked like it got suffocated during the night. Lost one of the turkeys during the day. Just wasn’t there to put away at night. But they have been sticking together and the older birds haven’t bothered them too much. So today took the second batch of birds outside, 3 geese and some turkeys and chickens. Put them in the cage instead of running free, and then brought them back inside at night. The red hen is sitting on her nest in the front yard.
5 JuneTook the babies back out and decided to leave them for the night. Not sure how to cover the red hen in the front yard. She is pretty close to the tree and I am already using the other run for the babies.

13 June 2010.
Put all the little chicks outside in the big coop last night. Coons came the other night and killed one of the turkeys and managed to rib the tip off another. I brought it in the house and put ointment on the wing. See what happens, just don’t have the heart to put it down. Also have 2 chicks in the box under a lamp. One of the turkey poults has a foot issue and the foot isn’t folding out flat when it stands up. But it has learned to walk on the knuckle and is eating and drinking. Several days old now and hasn’t died yet, so there is a good chance it will make it. Also have a chick in with it, the only one hatched the same time. So they are keeping company. Will probably take them out and put the peacock in the box. Right now I have 4 sets of boxes with chicks in them. In my bedroom. One set of chickens in the living room in the swimming pool. And all the birds outside. Some where I think I have a good count of the numbers of birds I’ve hatched. Next year, a ledger book to keep track of eggs and birds and feed costs. Plan to build a new coop for turkeys this summer.