Setting Eggs

Getting Ready to Incubate

Well I have been collecting eggs for a week so now they are going to go into the incubator.

On the left, 11 Muscovy duck eggs. In the middle carton towards the back are 4 eggs from a show quality standard bred Buff Orpington named Henrietta.The bluer eggs in that carton are from a purebred blue Ameraucana pullet bred to my pretty Easter Egger roo Earl. The greenish eggs are from Earl and his half sister. And finally on the right, 14 Black Copper Marans. In real life these are about half a shade darker, the flash washed them out a bit. If you have the egg color card from the Marans club, these are all about a #4. If you don't know, that is the lightest color they are supposed to have. They can get much much darker, but it takes a lot of breeding and culling to get there. These will be my first generation of my own breeding so I have a long way to go.

Oops forgot to mention those two little eggs in the middle carton, two silkies, just for fun. Twenty nine chicken eggs and 11 duck eggs. The chickens will be due February 27 but the Muscovy take 33-35 days so they won't hatch until around March 13.

Harvest Monday

Duck egg at 6 days of incubation

Welcome to Harvest Monday, sponsored by Daphne's Dandelions, this is a great blog hop to share you garden with others from around the world.

This week has been all about eggs. I have some duck and chicken eggs in the incubator and Friday was day 6 for them. The duck eggs are big and white and easy to see into when you candle them. Here you can see the red blob that is the embryo, with the spiderweb of veins that supports it.

Chicken and duck eggs from 2/22/13

I have several breeds and mixed breeds of chickens which are beginning to lay now. The big white eggs are from the Muscovy ducks and the slightly smaller ones are from the Welsh Harlequin. The green and blue ones from the Easter Egger chickens, the brown ones from my Buff Orpingtons, Welsummer and Welsummer crosses.

eggs from 2/23/13

On Saturday my third Easter Egger started laying, a tiny bluish egg, there in the center. The Muscovy girl seems to have rolled her egg through the mud.

eggs from 2/24/13

Today another new girl started laying; a mix between a Cochin and a Rhode Island Red. That tiny egg at the top center is her first one. I am really excited to have such fun eggs! I'll be selling chicks pretty soon and I'll have eggs to sell at the farmer's market this summer.

Snow!

The weather has been really crazy this week. It snowed on Wednesday. Then yesterday it was so warm I was working outside in a t-shirt and this morning it snowed again!

As you can see not much going on in the garden outside right now!

The Muscovy Ducks

Drake #1

Remember back  a couple months ago, I bought some Muscovy ducks? Well here are a few of them, the ones I am probably going to keep. It looks like I may have 5 ducks (girls) and 6 drakes (boys). Muscovy ducks are from South America and the drakes get very large. They are fast growing and good for meat. I'm not sure what these different colors and patterns are called yet, I'm still figuring that out.

The drakes are still growing in their wing feathers. Some of them look a bit ratty because some of the ducks were pulling the drakes feathers, even to the point of blood. (I thought they were small mean drakes doing it, but they look more like ducks...go figure)

Drake #2

 From some of my research, this pattern of dark black/blue/green with white on the wings resembles the wild coloring.

Drake #2 is actually the biggest of all. I have no idea how much he weighs, my little kitchen scale is of no use here!

Drake #3

I don't know what they call this color, fawn, buff, something else.

Duck #1

Duck #2

These first two ducks are very similar. There are a couple of drakes with the same coloring, but they have what is called 'angel wing', a condition I don't know much about, which might be hereditary or environmental. Since I have plenty of drakes to choose from, the angel wingers are destined to become dinner.

Duck #2

Duck #3

Ducks #2 & 3 match Drake #3

Duck #5

Duck #5 has the same patterning on her breast as drake #1.











Next spring I will probably breed ducks 2&3 to drake #3, breed duck #5 to drake #1 and ducks 1&2 to drake #2, at least on the first go round. (Muscovy hens may hatch as many as 3 broods a year). I think I would like to keep all of the first hatches for awhile, at least until I can see the sex and color they will be. Then I'll probably sell some and eat some. Later hatches I'll probably sell them all, unless I switch the drakes around; then I'll have to keep some more ;-)

Muscovy ducks are very quiet, they do not quack like other ducks. These make a soft whirring sound that I can't imitate or describe.  They are also not as excitable as the other ducks I have. When I come in the gate they just waddle over and stand in front of me, wagging their tails and waiting for treats.

When I figure out the names of the colors/patterns I'll come back and add them into this post.

Mobile Chicken Coop

My new coop is finished except for a couple of minor things like finding my tin snips so I can fit the metal on the roof to the edges better and nail it down all the way around and putting actual roosts inside.

It is now installed in the new pen and the older chickens have been moved in. I've also moved a couple of 'meaners' ducks in with them. These are some Muscovy's that are pulling feathers and are generally being mean to the other ducks.

This coop is inside an enclosure of 6' chicken wire with two strands of electric fence for predator prevention.

Once I moved out the big chickens and the meaner ducks I was able to open up the baby pen and let out the little ducklings. I think I might have a pair of pure Welsh Harlequins, while the other three look like crosses with some Harlequin markings, runner duck bodies and one with a crest on its head.

As soon as the weather cools off a bit more I will be having some duck dinners as most of the 11 Muscovys that I bought appear to be drakes.

Population Explosion

3 older hens and a couple of pullets in

 Well there has been a population explosion around here! Back in March I picked up 4 pullets coming into lay, 3 barred rock banties and a full size Buff Orpington, along with a young BO rooster. Then in April I picked up 4 Buff Orpington pullet chicks. That brought the total up to 9 chickens\

crossbred ducks

Then in June I was gifted  with some baby ducks.

Welsummer poult

And 4 young Welsummers. (For those who are not 'into' chickens, Welsummers are a breed from the Netherlands and lay dark brown eggs). They _could_ be crossed with Dorking, but we probably won't know for sure until they grow their adult feathers. Also it will be a bit before we know the sex) This brings us up to 13 chickens and 5 ducks.

Some of the Muscovies, with a sneaky Welsummer poult 

helping itself to the feed

Then in July I found a source for Muscovy Ducks, a breed I have been looking for. I bought 11 young ducklings, 6-7 weeks old. I got a nice variety of colors and patterns. I will probably end up with too many drakes, but we shall see. Muscovy meat is less fatty than regular ducks and they do not quack. These guys make a soft whirring sound that is really different. And that brings us up to 16 ducks and 13 chickens.

chicks hatched 7-20-12

Then one of my barred rock banties went broody and I set 9 eggs under her. Some of them had been in the fridge, so I took a chance on them. On Thurs/Fri 5 eggs hatched, tho one chick didn't make it.

I have no idea which hens are the mothers but they are all the barred rock crossed with the Buff Orpington rooster. (pure BO chicks would be solid yellow) Three are mostly dark and will probably mostly look like the their mommas. But as you can see one has a light silvery color.

little brown faced chick

And then there is this one with a red/brown face. I'm hoping it's not a roo because I think it's going to be really pretty.

So that brings the chicken count to 17 + the 16 ducks = 33 birds! Whew! I really hadn't intended to grow the flock quite so fast! Of course if any of the new chicks or the Welsummer poults are male, they will be going to the freezer. If there are really way too many Muscovy drakes then some of them will also become dinner, although I"m reading up on the breeds color and pattern standards and I might keep some extras if they look like they might approach the show standard, to help keep my gene pool reasonably diverse.

Now it's just a waiting game for all the youngsters to start paying their way! The Buff Orpington pullets should begin laying sometimes in September or so. The Welsummer poults, provided some are female, may not begin to lay until spring. Probably the same for all the ducks.

Garden & Poultry Tour

Eggplant

Well tons of stuff going on around here. We've had a slight break in the heat with some humidity and some rain so things are really taking off. I swear some things like squash vines grow a foot overnight.

I'm going to link up with Oregon Cottage's Garden party, go check out all the pretty gardens!

Lots of new stuff coming along too. Another eggplant, more a pinky lavender color which is really pretty. I think this is eggplant #8, I'll have to check.

Black Tail Mountain Watermelon

The Black Tail Mountain melons are setting fruit.

King of the Garden Lima

The King of the Garden Lima beans are running up the trellis. These are giant limas, speckled maroon. Peter Henderson Co. sold them at the turn of the century, another name for them is Leviathan. These are big plants, too. Last time they went 14 feet tall.

Green house bed

I'm kind of a lazy gardener in some ways. If things sprout in the compost and aren't too much in the way, I tend to leave them. Here is the bed in the greenhouse, you can see a cantaloupe, an onion going to seed, some nasturtiums and a tomato. The feathery leaves in front are sweet alyssum.

Hale's Best Jumbo

Further down the bed is the first melon to set on these plants and what a whopper it is! I've never seen one so big; I just hope it tastes good!

Tromboncinno

The tromboncinno vines have run more than 10 feet long along the house and are now putting out a lot of side branches. Tons of male flowers every day.

baby squash

And now finally, what looks like the first female blossoms coming on. Sure hope they start setting fruit!

ducklings

Now onto the poultry tour! Two months ago I had 9 chickens. Today I have 16 ducks and 13 chickens, with possibly more on the way. (I have a broody hen that should hatch eggs by Friday).

There are 5 baby ducklings in the house. They started close to the same size but now two are much larger than the other three. Either pure Harlequin or Harlequin x Runner.

It maybe a couple more months before we can determine sex on these. But all the boys will be named Dinner.

Muscovies

Yesterday I went and picked up some Muscovies. I have been looking for this breed of duck for awhile. They are not related to other ducks, but can breed with them, although the babies are mules. They say the meat is much leaner and tastes different from other duck meat. I got quite a variety of colors and patterns, can't wait to see them all grown up. I don't expect they will lay until spring though.

Welsummer or Welsummer X Dorking

Still not sure if the four poults I got from a friend are pure Welsummer or crossed with Dorking. They are just beginning to get their combs and so far everyone looks about the same, so it will be a while yet before I know if there are any roosters. If so, their name is Dinner.



Bringing in the Muscovies caused quite a ruckus in the yard. I blocked off the baby pen where my Buff Orpington pullets had been living, so I could put the ducks in there until they get used to their new home. The pullets are getting big enough and have been running around with the big chickens for awhile now, but they keep trying to get back in their baby house..