Daisychick's *Journal* New Baby and it Moos!!!!

[77Herford]

I have heard that turkey eggs are hard to incubate so I have been worried since this is my first time trying it. I candled the eggs last night and I had growth and wiggling little embryos in 7 out of 9 eggs!!! The neighbor brought me over 7 more eggs and I am going to stick them under a big huge Marans hen that is sooooo grouchy and broody she needs something to do. She bites me every time I try to get eggs and if I take her off the nest she seriously attacks my pant legs like a dog!!!!

Yay, your becoming a Master Brooder. I've heard that Goose eggs are very hard to incubate. I've never done Turkey eggs.

 

[autumnprairie]

good luck

 

[elevan]

 

[daisychick]

Mother's day weekend is always the "last frost date" for us in Colorado. Well I have lots of stuff already growing in my garden and I was looking forward to planting the rest this weekend. Guess what the weather is going to be like??? Highs of 40's and lows of 34 degrees. I still might plant but I will really watch the temperature and go throw plastic over everything.....ugh!!! My new square foot garden area looks so nice. I will try to get pictures this weekend. I had a fabulous idea of making an arbor out of one of my trellises and when the pole beans and snap peas grow they can fill in the arbor!! I really hope it works because in my head it looked really cool. I will take pics of that too and try to keep up with the progress of it if it really works.

In other news, Luna is due to kid in 26 days! I will also try to get her on the milk stand and take some preggers pictures of her and the others that are due shortly after her.

 

[daisychick]

It rained all night and is cloudy and cold this morning, looks like more rain. I always, and I mean always plant flowers and finish up the garden planting on Mother's day weekend. It is my present to myself because it is my most favorite thing to do. I am NOT going to let this rainy weekend stop me! I will be planting in the rain if I have too. I will put on my ladybug gardening mud shoes and go for it. I am sure my family will be looking out the back window shaking their heads but a girl has to do what a girl has to do.

 

[SmallFarmGirl]

Do what you have to do!

 

[daisychick]

No pictures from the weekend, too much rain to take my camera outside. I did get seeds planted and I made a huge "self watering planter" for an experiment in growing sweet corn. DH let me build it in his shed and he helped and it was fun. We even filled it with dirt in the rain and I will let the dirt soak it up before I stick seeds in there. WE had huge hail go through and I was a crazy girl covering up my tomatoes etc. with cut off milk cartons as fast as I could. Good thing I saved a whole bunch of cartons in the shed for a "rainy day", they really were a life saver. Nothing got damaged and everything sure got a good watering from all the rain. We have to take it when we can get it here because as soon as July hits it will most certainly be a drought. We always have at least one really hot and long dry spell during Summer around here. Then the mountains start catching on fire with wildfires and it gets hazy and yuck here until Fall.

I had a fabulous Mother's day and ate way too much high calorie food, but it was all delicious and worth it.

Luna is due in about 24 days!

 

[daisychick]

Sooooo I would love to let a broody hen raise a batch of turkey chicks but it seems I have a bunch of airhead broody hens. So I had a mean broody hen that had been sitting on the nest for like 20 days, I thought to myself, ok this one might be good to sit on turkey eggs. I gave her 6 turkey eggs and she hunkered down and sat like a champ, wouldn't let anyone tough her and never left the nest. I go in there yesterday, which would of been day 5 on the eggs and she was in another nest sitting on air, no eggs. The eggs in the nest were cold and it felt like she had left them all night without cover. Sooooo I took the eggs away and put them in the incubator. I hate doing a staggered hatch, I already have turkey eggs in there that are on day 16. I will candle the day 5 eggs tonight and see if any of them made it through the cold. This morning the broody was sitting on a different nest with a few gathered chicken eggs under her!! She can't be trusted with eggs because she plays musical nest boxes too much! This happens to me everytime I try to give a broody a chance, even if I give them a separate place they seem to give up on the nest in a week.

 

[Four Winds Ranch]

What time of the day do you move your broody hens off by them self?
I always move mine by them selves, but for mine anyway, I found the trick to getting them to stay on their eggs until they hatch is to move them only in the dark, after they have been asleep for a few hours! I move them into a enclosed (brooding box) that is about 2'x 2' or 2' x 3', and I keep it semi dark until the chicks hatch.
I hope you can figure out the trick to yours!
Good luck!

 

[Mamaboid]

I also move mine at night. I pick them up with their heads under my arm and carry them to the new place. Right now, I have 3 and they are sitting tight. 18 eggs total so we will see how we make out. I have two 'brooding spaces' that I move them into, provide water and feed. They are inside a window, can see out, but get shade and they seem to thrive. I started doing this because of the very problem you talk about. Stupid birds would go back to the wrong nest.