I Killed My Unborn Chicks??.......

[Tinyflame]

No Gloria, but don't be surprised if your Valentine's Babies are pink and red :p:barefoot::), how sweet is that

Must confess i would probably do the same as your son.. :)

 

[CraftyCath]

I think you are so brave to go through so many losses with your chicks as you have Gloria. I would have sobbed my heart out over every single one. when I was ringing birds (putting rings on their legs not wringing their necks - thankfully!) I had one little bird die in my hand. It was one of my favourites, a Lesser Whitethroat Warbler. I could feel it's little heart slowing and I was in group of hard men who never get upset. I had to stop myself crying at the time but I don't think I could do it again. After all the therapy I've had I would just let it all out!

Your chicks are great and I'm loving the story of their progress. I like the King Charles Spaniels too, such beautiful dogs!

 

[Gloria]

Well, it's so silly to get attached to eggs! But they often die because they are not strong enough to peck out of the shell and trying to help them, you will only watch them die because they are not strong enough to breathe.

Junebug, I just thought of something.... food dye???? Pink chicks!!:p Like how cool would that be? I wouldn't do that to them. I just put my older ones into their first aviary. It's quite a large cage and they can jump from one perch to the next and get lots of exercise. Until you have had chickens, you just don't know how interesting they are. I belong to a chicken lover's meetup group. You know they have chicken diapers and there are a lot of people who keep chickens in their house. I know it's weird but I like chickens better than parrots or parakeets because they are so tame.

 

[Lady of Longbourn]

I love this thread. And I love the pictures!

 

[CraftyCath]

How long, on average, do they live for Gloria?

 

[Gloria]

LOL!!! :rolleyes: How long do cats live? I have a 24 year old cat? How long do horses live? My vet says my horse will live to 45. How long do goats live? A lady gave me two old goats and I didn't expect them to live long and that was 7 years ago. I don't know. I think they can live about 15 years. I think they usually live about 7-8 years. My animals live to be very, very old.

 

[Gloria]

Here's the baby pictures. My chicks are one month old today and I'm really, really expecting. What I mean is that some very nice person is mentoring me and sold me 30 eggs for the price of 6 and I have them for a week and candled them. OMG!!!:eek: They all are showing blood vessels so I may have more chicks than I can handle due on Valentine's Day!!! OMG! :p I am so excited and my incubator is working perfectly this time.

Where am I going to put them? My laundry room will be overflowing with chicks until I can build an aviary for them. They can't run free like my other chickens because they are so small that the hawks and the coyotes and stray cats would just around for a free and easy meal because the chickens are so tame and unafraid. So I will build a large aviary with lots of branches and since they are from the tropics, they won't die in the summer from heat stroke like my regular chickens sometimes do.

 

[simplekindofgirl]

Oh my goodness, that is so cute!!!!!I need to move to a (more) rural area- that just sounds like something that I could get totally wrapped up in! Congrats on the new eggs too. Awesome job!

 

[Gloria]

Oh my goodness, that is so cute!!!!!I need to move to a (more) rural area- that just sounds like something that I could get totally wrapped up in! Congrats on the new eggs too. Awesome job!

Actually, the roosters are so tiny that they aren't as noisy as most cockatiels at all. I've kept my tiny roo in my roo at first and his morning crowing didn't even wake me up. They are only six inches tall and from a tropical climate so have to be kept indoors and can live in a small cage. They sell chicken diapers for the chickens but I have heard that some one even house broke their bird. They are called Malaysian Seramas and supposedly become very popular as pets so right now, the adults sell for around $200. Get a chicken! It's just too cool! If you get a hen, she will lay tiny eggs for you and they are edible! Most people don't know that hens don't need a rooster to lay eggs, I prefer hens because they are gentle and sweet. The roos are more colorful and bold.

 

[simplekindofgirl]

Wow. I am just amazed! I totally want to do it, but I have to wait. I am just not in the position to be able to have an animal as it would be unfair with the amount of traveling that I do. I will look into it though, it would be kind of cool to go through the airports with my pet chicken. People will think I am crazy (little do they know that I am :sneaky:) but that would be the only way that I could do it. I will look into it further and see if it is possible and what is required.

It is just too cool.

I did not know that you did not need a rooster to get a hen to lay eggs! I was under the impression that you needed one, not just to fertilize but just to get the hen to lay the eggs. Wow- the things I learn in this forum! :D

 

[Gloria]

Honestly, I spent my summers working on farms in North Dakota. When I was about thirteen (and knew about periods) I asked my parents if chickens laid eggs once a month and was beaten very badly for asking such an obscene question. No, people have roosters because how can you a farm without the cock a doodle do in the morning? It's just one of the mandatory things. But even if the rooster does fertilize the eggs for the chickens, not all chickens are broody (that means they want to stay on their nest for three weeks and hatch their eggs). Some chickens are very broody. Just the other day, one of the full size chickens got her beak into my skin by becking so hard when I gently try to raise her up to get the eggs. Now that's what you call a broody hen. I've noticed that a lot of slang or written language comes from chickens, "Being a chicken" "flying the coop", "brooding over something", "pip squeak" as a chick hatching is a pip and it squeaks. I have mind of full thoroughly useless knowledge!:eek:

 

[Gloria]

I candled all my eggs. I didn't want to be disappointed so I didn't do this before. You see a lot of them won't be fertile. Out of the thirty eggs, I have 16 definitely fertile and some possibles. I underestimated my young rooster because I have been collecting the eggs of the two young hens in the cage with him and it definitely seems that he is going to be a father. That will be the first egg that I have gotten from my own chicken.

I got tiny (and comfortable) little bird bands because the wonderful woman that sold me the eggs labeled each one for color. Unfortunately, all the champion sire eggs appear infertile but I will be getting new colors. I didn't think a tiny white chicken would be pretty but with their tails fanned out and puffy chests, I think they will be very pretty. And they will be born on Valentine's Day. I need to get a spread sheet going and start naming, describing and recording birthdates for my birds if I am going to breed them or show them.