Hear a Cheep!

This used to be the time of year when all I could think about was my garden: cataloging seeds, draw up a detailed maps of where to plant what, ordering seeds and plants if I needed them.  I would comb over my seed catalogs, usually Seed Savers Exchange, Seeds of Change and Burpee.  Don't get me wrong, I still am thinking about my garden and have not thrown away any catalogs, but I am way behind now that I have got the chicken hatchin' fever.

Last year was my first time as an adult at hatching eggs.  I started with a my first batch, a dozen Silkies.
 (see picture to the left), and 3 eggs from my own hens that were crossbreeds (Dark Cornish and Easter Egger), and 10 Cayuga Duck eggs from my neighbor's flock.  This was my test run, and my results were 4 Silkies, 2 ducks and all 3 of my own eggs hatched.  This was SO exciting for me!  Here I am a year and 7 hatches later and I am still just as excited about my eggs and chicks as I was  then.  I feel like a child in the candy store when I start pouring over ads for hatching eggs and chicks and looking on hatchery websites and at their catalogs.  Seriously now, I am a grown woman!  But I see it as a simple joy to help bring something into this world and nurture it along until one day, it provides me with something good to eat, whether it be eggs or their carcass.

I was quite saddened with my first hatch this year though.  I set 34 eggs and ended up with just 1 little White Silkie chick. 1 chick!  That is terrible!!!  But, the eggs had been shipped through the mail which causes some damage to them.  Then I had trouble getting my incubator to hold its temp and humidity.  All in all, though I was disappointed, I was not surprised.  So, I had to get some friends for my lone little chicky, and bought 10 more from a breeder (when I got 4 dozen more eggs to put in the incubator).  However, so far, I have lost 4 of those chicks and I don't know why :(  It makes me so sad to lose them like that and not know why.

But to make myself feel better, I got more eggs!  I must stop after this though, I think I have used up my budget for buying eggs this year.  I have about 60 in right now and it looks like about 50 of those are certainly growing some little wannabe chicks in them.   Since my first batch failed so epically, I had to order more Silkies, and then I found a breed I have been hunting for, Standard Buff Brahmas!!  I thought for sure I would be outbid on the auction, but I got them!  Now to get them to hatch when they get here.  That is the trick, isn't it?

Today when I went out to do chores, I opened the door from the outside of one of the coops to collect eggs, and one of my Easter Egger hens that I hatched from my own flock (one of the 3 in the first batch) was laying her first egg of the spring.  How did I know that it was her first one?  Because I haven't gotten an almost olive green egg yet this year, just bluish green ones.  She was obviously pushing to get that little prize out of her butt, so I gave her a couple of minutes.  Lo and behold, there is came, a perfectly beautiful green egg!  What did I do?  Ran it in the house and stuck it in the incubator, of course!  I want more green egg layers!  My neighbor's friend wants some too, so I might as well hatch away for her too.


So, I hear not only A cheep, but lots of cheeps and will be hearing them more and more and more and more and more.  They should have a hatchers/chickens anonymous, but I would hate to turn myself in because the first thing they would want to do is take away all my incubators and chickens.  I think I will be happy with my addiciton.

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