Quail_Antwerp: Words from the Barnyard...

[MorelCabin]

Oh I sure remember the days when mine were doing stuff like that:>) I don't envy you Quail, but do enjoy them while they are young:>) I didn't take the time to enjoy mine enough...hindsight is always so much clearer than forsight haha!
Have a wonderful evening Quail...get those kids to bed early enough to have some YOU time:>)

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Today started off pretty well!

Last night when we were getting ready for bed, I heard excited cheeping from the incubator....which is in my bedroom....lolol.....so I peeked and the ONLY light brahma egg I had in there had hatched! I was super excited. Told the three babies good night and I would see them in the am.

This morning got up and four more babies had hatched over night!! I had 1 light brahma, 2 Mille Fleurs (who have some feet troubles right now), and 4 silkies!!

I went on about my day washing dishes, nursing my baby, picking up after kids, etc...around 10 am or so peeked in on the 'bators, and a Bantam Salmon Faverolle had popped out of its shell! The other BSF I have is pipped, as well as one of the two standards I have in there.

Then, just a little over an hour ago, another Silkie chick popped out of it's shell! I am thinking the silkie might be done, but not sure. They were actually due to hatch today, but some started early, and no one else is pipping yet out of either the Silkies or the Milles.

Now, I do have two of my bantam blue cochins pipped and I am doing some seriously praying for those! It's a breed I am wanting to seriously put time and energy into building a nice, show quality flock of. I purchased eggs from a private breeder, and a total of 4 made it to the end....now if they'll all just hatch for me! All 4 were rocking today.

This evening I have my first offical "customer" coming. The whole goal and hopes for my "Chicken Farm" is to offer started pullets and/or breeding trios of certain breeds to the locals. I am selling my first two pullets today! It's going to be hard seeing them go, but it is what I have been working towards! It was the whole purpose from the get go! Thankfully she was understanding about why I don't let anyone in my coops, etc. And I have chosen a couple of nice pullets for her.

My 3 month old son decided today that he likes playing with his food...meaning me! Any mom here who's breastfed might understand this. He gets a good suckling going, looks up at me from the corner of his eye, and pulls back. Once he has stretched me like a rubber band, he lets go with a resounding "POP". OMG IT HURTS! I yelled OW when he did this today, and I put him down, refused to pick him back up, and let him cry. After I few minutes I picked him back up to finish his meal, and the little booger did it again!

So I put him down again. I don't know how long it will take me to get him to break that habit, but I am NOT going to let him get away with it. He definitely knows what he is doing, too, because BOTH times he cracked up laughing after I yelled ow, like he had created some really neato game!

 

[Beekissed]

Quail! Congrats on the new babies! Sounds like you're on your way with the chicken business and everything going well. Can't help you on the breastfeeding but my Mom said the first time they use their teeth on you is pretty bad. She said she would give them a quick smack on the leg and it stopped this behavior right away.

Good luck with all your babies!

 

[tfpets]

Hi Quail!
I want to thank you for your Journal entries, I am getting to enjoy your company from a whole new perspective!! You are doing awesome! Keep in touch with me, if you can think of anything I can do, let me know - from the Chicken perspective at least!
Tina/tfpets
(from the BYC and EasyGarden side of things too!)

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Hi Tina! I am so happy to see you here!
Bad news on the Maran eggs, two made it to the hatcher, but didn't hatch. I candled them and saw no movement. One had expired around day 14 or so and the other around day 17 or 18?

I think I want to try again come spring. I know my mom really wants marans, so I am going to do my best to get her some. Wanted to give her some for Christmas, but that didn't work.

I have a total of 30 chicks now. Only two of my blue cochins hatched, but that is better than none. I picked up 3 blue cochin bantam chicks in Millersburg that Harley's Girl had for me from Ideal. So I do have 5 blue cochins.

My only light brahma egg hatched and my only silver pheonix egg also hatched.

All four of my Salmon Faverolles hatched. So excited for that! I ended up with 8 silkies and two special needs milles. Both milles had crooked feet, and the one can't stand at all. Probably would be more humane to put him down, but how does one cull/kill a baby? Especially one with chubby cheeks and such a sweet personality. I have to help him get water and feed, and he is so patient with me. He sits in my hand and dips his head into the waterer or feeder, never fights me either. He seems to know I am assisting him with getting his needs met.

Here's a few pics of the new babies...

Bantam Salmon Faverolle

Silkies

I will get up pics of the other chicks later. I am still not used to this time change thing, so I will be heading off to bed. I have some packages to send out tomorrow and shopping to do, so might not see ya'll until tomorrow evening.

Hugs to ya'll!

 

[tfpets]

Gnight, I'll put you on my list for both the Cuckoos and the Black Coppers if you like! Dont forget the Frizzle Mille Fleur D'Uccles, they might be adorable, I wanna populate the U.S. with them too!

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

I have been a roller coaster of emotions today. Been angry, sad, sick to my stomach...and hope the next two months pass by slooooowly.

All there is to do now is buckle up and sit back for the ride.

I lost a duckling today. And one of my bantam ameracaunas either walked off or got lost out in the pasture field. No big loss, it was just a rooster, but I was hoping to hold onto both of them to sell come spring. Oh well.

Went grocery shopping today. I was surprised to see how empty the shelves were.

Decided today that we might try to dig out a root cellar by hand.

Oh and I put a job application into Walmart. Not sure if they are hiring, but I figured why now? We could use a little extra income right now.

 

[Henrietta23]

I have been a roller coaster of emotions today. Been angry, sad, sick to my stomach...and hope the next two months pass by slooooowly.

All there is to do now is buckle up and sit back for the ride.

I lost a duckling today. And one of my bantam ameracaunas either walked off or got lost out in the pasture field. No big loss, it was just a rooster, but I was hoping to hold onto both of them to sell come spring. Oh well.

Went grocery shopping today. I was surprised to see how empty the shelves were.

Decided today that we might try to dig out a root cellar by hand.

Oh and I put a job application into Walmart. Not sure if they are hiring, but I figured why now? We could use a little extra income right now.

Sorry about your losses.
I would think that Walmart would be hiring for the holidays soon. My neighbor works in the one in town. She got hired one Christmas and never left! She works in the craft department and loves it.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

And I started today with another loss. I found one of my Mille Hens, Anna, for one of my breeding projects beheaded this morning. DH and I worked at finding where the vermin were getting in.....IT WAS A RAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We found the nest, DH did his best to destroy it. I told him i was ready to move my chooks outta there and torch the whole building....burn the vermin out! Ok so that was totally irrational thinking, but I was soooooooooooooooo mad! I mean, why couldn't the stupid thing have ate a rooster?! I have SEVERAL! I only had 4 girls of breeding age. The younger two are just 2 months old!

Other than that, I got nearly all of the kitchen cleaned. We are doing some extra cleaning because we have friends coming out Saturday to go bow hunting for deer and I want the house to be nice and neat. Stupid I know, because they are coming to see ME (OK, he's coming to shoot deer, not to see us LOL) not my house, but it needed a fall cleaning anyhow. Tomorrow we are cleaning and rearranging the livingroom because we had an entertainment stand given to us and a free VCR.

Kids were something else today. I think they were hitting the chocolate or something! HYPER!

Had someone contact me about selling one of my Speckled Sussex roos because they are quiet. I politely refused to because I had specifically chose them for my breeding project. They have asked to get eggs instead! I said that I could do! Not until spring though!

I finally put up the 'bators. I only did 2 hatches since I got them last month. I would have tried hatching all winter, but I don't want chicks in the house all winter long. Spring, I'll fire them up again. Gotta get them hatched out to fill up the feedstore with chicks ya konw.

 

[Henrietta23]

AW, man that stinks! We had rats at one point but they left my big girls alone. There were only 4 and took forever but we trapped them all. Ugly things!