whitelop
Morgan
Lisa, you don't sound stupid at all, you sound like me actually! hahah. I am, sadly, a member of a chicken forum. haha. I have asked like a million and one questions about chicks in the winter. In the summer, I don't have too many worries other than predators, but in the winter its a whole new ball game because of the cold.
Yes, the hen spends about 23 and a half hours a day on the nest, she only comes out in the "heat" of the day to get food and water. I saw her today for the first time in like 3 days and she was foraging for food since I forgot to put the feed in the bowl in the coop. I haven't been locking the rooster in because he likes to be free, but I spread some feed out for her and she gladly ate. She sits on the eggs for about 21 days, give or take a day or so. She keeps the eggs 99* for the whole time and she turns them on her own. Because of the heat from her body the humidity stays the right level and they stay moist enough.
She has built a really nice nest, its got high sides of pine bedding, hay and her feathers, with a really nice pocket that the eggs are in.
When they hatch, they'll be up and moving by like day 2 and eating on their own. The hen will teach them how to peck the feed and how to drink water. I have to set up their little waterer and shallow food dish closer to when they're due to hatch.
The hen will also keep them warm by allowing them to sleep under her and under her wings in the nest at night. As for assisting on the hatch, I can't actually help. You're not supposed to interfere, unless their in a incubator. The hen will help them get out of the shell I'm pretty sure. But as for me helping, nope. The hen would attack me if I went anywhere near the nest. You should hear her growl when I walk up to the coop. She's pretty bitchy.
I have to put chicken wire around their chain link dog kennel so the babies can't get through the holes, but chances are I'll be building a new run for them and making a new, more permanent coop set up for them. Because I'll have so many, I'll need a bigger space. The kennel I have now is perfect for the two, but if there are 17 chickens in it, its going to get a cramped and probably cause some pecking order problems.
I'll have to separate the roosters from each other after a few months, because their will be fights between them and probably between the youngin's and their dad. The hens will discover their own pecking order. Then after the roo's are separated from each other, I'll probably have to make them their own separate runs OR sell them. I'm really banking on them being pretty, that way I'll be able to sell them.
THEN if I have mostly hens, I'll be getting a lot of eggs a day and I can start my egg selling business! hahaha. Its what I've always wanted. No really, it is.
Also with my garden being the size its going to be, I might be able to sell some produce this summer. In a few weeks we're going to rent a bobcat and clear out a section of my field for my garden. I can't wait. I'm going to buy some potato seeds, that way, 3 lbs of potato seed makes 50 lbs of potato. Sounds like a great thing to me! haha.
I think this clutch of chickens could put my over into a real farm. I might start legit raising chickens. Maybe I can register them and show them too and then people will want to buy my jersey giant chickens! hahaha.
Here is a little Jersey Giant history. They were 'created' by the Black brothers or something like that, from a black astroplorp chicken and some other large breed. They were originally used as a dual purpose chicken(eggs and meat), but only excelled really well in the egg producing. They take a long time to develop meat-wise. They we're taking too long to process for meat, so they stopped using them and found another breed that was faster growing. So in the UK they almost went extinct and were almost done completely. Until, someone found some of the last ones and started breeding them again to repopulate. Then they brought them to the states. They are the largest breed of chicken in the world. They take about 2 years to completely fill out meat-wise and to stop growing. They put on a lot of bone mass in the first year or so and then put on the real weight. So my rooster reached max height at about 10 months and then from then started putting on the weight. He is now HUGE. The hen is pretty fat too, but they wouldn't be good to eat because they're too old and its taken them so long to put on enough weight to make a good meal. lol There you go, theres your jersey giant history. They come in white, black and now blue. I have blue.
Pictures of the chicks are a MUST I know. They're pretty cute.
As for Ellie, she is amazing. My best friend came over for a bit and she wanted to see Ellie, so she walked in the kitchen and just scooped her right up! I was shocked. Ellie just let her hold her for a few minutes and she seemed pretty content. She sniffed her face and scarf.
She has also figured out the toy I got her. She hasn't poop much more in the kitchen, I think that she's just going through puberty and she's marking her territory. I agree with Jenny, I don't think that she thinks the kitchen is my territory anymore. I think she thinks of it as hers.
She's become a pretty good rabbit and she's pretty smart. She was playing with a pen earlier. She was rolling it around with her nose. I've also heard her playing with different things today, she's so silly.
Tomorrow, I'm starting on the cabinet. I'll post progressive pictures of the work that I've done. I'll also take some pictures of Ellie and post them. I'll been slacking with the pictures. haha.
So, last thing. I've been watching this show Coal on netflix. Its about Coal miners and I love it. Its so crazy to think that we have people still mining coal and its pretty scary to think that there are people down under a mountain, under 8 million pounds of mountain. Its insane. But I love it. Those people are pretty much my hero's in this moment in time. Gotta love West Virginia and Kentucky.
My husband and I are going to eat a late LATE dinner, since its now almost midnight, we'll be eating at like 2 am. I don't think I've eaten a substantial meal since he's been out of town and I feel a little sick. haha.
And now I'm done. This post was like 35 pages long. hahaha.
Yes, the hen spends about 23 and a half hours a day on the nest, she only comes out in the "heat" of the day to get food and water. I saw her today for the first time in like 3 days and she was foraging for food since I forgot to put the feed in the bowl in the coop. I haven't been locking the rooster in because he likes to be free, but I spread some feed out for her and she gladly ate. She sits on the eggs for about 21 days, give or take a day or so. She keeps the eggs 99* for the whole time and she turns them on her own. Because of the heat from her body the humidity stays the right level and they stay moist enough.
She has built a really nice nest, its got high sides of pine bedding, hay and her feathers, with a really nice pocket that the eggs are in.
When they hatch, they'll be up and moving by like day 2 and eating on their own. The hen will teach them how to peck the feed and how to drink water. I have to set up their little waterer and shallow food dish closer to when they're due to hatch.
The hen will also keep them warm by allowing them to sleep under her and under her wings in the nest at night. As for assisting on the hatch, I can't actually help. You're not supposed to interfere, unless their in a incubator. The hen will help them get out of the shell I'm pretty sure. But as for me helping, nope. The hen would attack me if I went anywhere near the nest. You should hear her growl when I walk up to the coop. She's pretty bitchy.
I have to put chicken wire around their chain link dog kennel so the babies can't get through the holes, but chances are I'll be building a new run for them and making a new, more permanent coop set up for them. Because I'll have so many, I'll need a bigger space. The kennel I have now is perfect for the two, but if there are 17 chickens in it, its going to get a cramped and probably cause some pecking order problems.
I'll have to separate the roosters from each other after a few months, because their will be fights between them and probably between the youngin's and their dad. The hens will discover their own pecking order. Then after the roo's are separated from each other, I'll probably have to make them their own separate runs OR sell them. I'm really banking on them being pretty, that way I'll be able to sell them.
THEN if I have mostly hens, I'll be getting a lot of eggs a day and I can start my egg selling business! hahaha. Its what I've always wanted. No really, it is.
Also with my garden being the size its going to be, I might be able to sell some produce this summer. In a few weeks we're going to rent a bobcat and clear out a section of my field for my garden. I can't wait. I'm going to buy some potato seeds, that way, 3 lbs of potato seed makes 50 lbs of potato. Sounds like a great thing to me! haha.
I think this clutch of chickens could put my over into a real farm. I might start legit raising chickens. Maybe I can register them and show them too and then people will want to buy my jersey giant chickens! hahaha.
Here is a little Jersey Giant history. They were 'created' by the Black brothers or something like that, from a black astroplorp chicken and some other large breed. They were originally used as a dual purpose chicken(eggs and meat), but only excelled really well in the egg producing. They take a long time to develop meat-wise. They we're taking too long to process for meat, so they stopped using them and found another breed that was faster growing. So in the UK they almost went extinct and were almost done completely. Until, someone found some of the last ones and started breeding them again to repopulate. Then they brought them to the states. They are the largest breed of chicken in the world. They take about 2 years to completely fill out meat-wise and to stop growing. They put on a lot of bone mass in the first year or so and then put on the real weight. So my rooster reached max height at about 10 months and then from then started putting on the weight. He is now HUGE. The hen is pretty fat too, but they wouldn't be good to eat because they're too old and its taken them so long to put on enough weight to make a good meal. lol There you go, theres your jersey giant history. They come in white, black and now blue. I have blue.
Pictures of the chicks are a MUST I know. They're pretty cute.
As for Ellie, she is amazing. My best friend came over for a bit and she wanted to see Ellie, so she walked in the kitchen and just scooped her right up! I was shocked. Ellie just let her hold her for a few minutes and she seemed pretty content. She sniffed her face and scarf.
She has also figured out the toy I got her. She hasn't poop much more in the kitchen, I think that she's just going through puberty and she's marking her territory. I agree with Jenny, I don't think that she thinks the kitchen is my territory anymore. I think she thinks of it as hers.
She's become a pretty good rabbit and she's pretty smart. She was playing with a pen earlier. She was rolling it around with her nose. I've also heard her playing with different things today, she's so silly.
Tomorrow, I'm starting on the cabinet. I'll post progressive pictures of the work that I've done. I'll also take some pictures of Ellie and post them. I'll been slacking with the pictures. haha.
So, last thing. I've been watching this show Coal on netflix. Its about Coal miners and I love it. Its so crazy to think that we have people still mining coal and its pretty scary to think that there are people down under a mountain, under 8 million pounds of mountain. Its insane. But I love it. Those people are pretty much my hero's in this moment in time. Gotta love West Virginia and Kentucky.
My husband and I are going to eat a late LATE dinner, since its now almost midnight, we'll be eating at like 2 am. I don't think I've eaten a substantial meal since he's been out of town and I feel a little sick. haha.
And now I'm done. This post was like 35 pages long. hahaha.
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