Summer 2019

Spring of 2019 is nearing its end, although some days have reminded me that it is indeed still spring as the temps have been unseasonably cool. In this post, I am going to share some of my homestead goals for the coming summer months and take a look back at the past three here on CG Heartbeats Farm.

A Look back at Spring 2019

Our Indiana spring produced a lot of rain.  The saturated ground has created a delay in getting crops seeded, including on this homestead. While I have planted some seeds, there are several that still need to be planted.  The big hold up is getting the ground ready as my plan was to have some ground plowed.  There are a couple back up ideas floating around in my head that will be decided on soon.

I am excited about trying a new to me way of planting corn, beans and a third cover plant.  Right now, I am using watermelon and squash, but more on that later this year. For now, here is a picture of what it looked like as of the beginning of June. 

My first 3 Sisters Garden… This picture was taken June 10. Would you believe now, 10 days later, the plants have doubled in size!!

Using wood chips has proved effective in week control in the garlic gardens.  I planted candy onions in between the rows of garlic.  So far it appears to be working well.  The garlic will be harvested in another 3 to 4 weeks.

Sweet Potatoes

9 Sweet Potato plants with 3 more to be added this week.

I used 3 different methods to start sweet potatoes this year. I, spontaneously, tried removing the sprig from the potato and planting it directly in soil.  To my surprise, the little plant thrived. Thus when it was time to plant sweet potatoes in buckets I removed springs from a potato and planted them directly into the soil. They are doing well. Look for more info on this year’s sweet potato crop on this web site after harvest this fall.

Shipping Chicks

Swedish Flower Hen Chicks

I shipped chicks for the first time this year. This is a first for my journey and I look forward to successfully shipping additional chicks in the future.  If you want to pre-order chicks(deposit required) or have your name added to the list(no charge) be sure to send an email.

Shipping Eggs

I have continued shipping eggs and to the credit of the Post Office, the eggs arrived in great condition for every shipment this year.

Broody Hen

I am always happy for a broody Hen, and in this instance a broody Swedish Flower Hen who hatched her own eggs.

A Swedish Flower Hen went broody for her second time.  One of my breeding goals is to increase the number of broody hens in my flock.  As I understand this is a genetic trait.  I intend to keep all pullets from the group of six chicks she hatched to add to my breeding stock.  The first time this pretty hen went broody she was less than a year old and there was no rooster in her pen, yet.  I ended up giving her fertile eggs from another pen.  You can read about how that ended up in the blog post titled: A Broody Swedish Flower Hen    Breeding goals aside, I find the tenderness demonstrated between a momma and her babies endearing and the beauty of it all warms my heart a way nothing else does.

Silver Gray Dorking

Silver Gray Dorkings

I am excited the fertility has improved in the Silver Gray Dorking eggs over earlier this year. It is not as good as last year, unfortunately, but then summer isn’t over.  Due to the eggs not staying viable long enough to hatch, my next step is going to be adjusting the temperature on the incubator slightly.

Lemon Cuckoo Niederrheiner

I am still facing difficulty with fertility in the Lemon Cuckoo Niederrheiners, unfortunately.  I intend to continue to work with this pretty breed.

Grapes

I admit to feeling a bit disappointed to ending up with only an additional 2 grape plants after caring for almost 20 starts over the winter.  I will say I am happy to have 2 more plants in the ground outside.  My latest experiment, if you will, is taking this year’s new growth from a grape plant outside and placing into a jar of water.  My hope is that it will grow roots.  Look for a coming post about the process.

Summer 2019 Thoughts

Finish Planting

For a stretch of several weeks northern Indiana experienced excessive rain.  The first round produced over 5 inches in less than a week.  After the ground was saturated, the rain continued to fall almost daily, or often nightly.  Thankfully, I was able to get some seed in the ground as I mentioned above.  I find I enjoy this venture, planting and learning as I go.  Onion bulb(yellow and white), potatoes, carrots,

Attending local farmer’s markets in Bremen and Culver

One of CG Heartbeats Farm spring market display.

Last year I attended a local farmer’s market for the first time in Bremen, Indiana.  I also attended another on in Nappanee, Indiana on Saturdays.  Over the winter, I found a local indoor market to attend in Culver, Indiana and have continued to attend their outside market.  Their summer market occurs on Sat and Tue. CG Heartbeats Farm plans to have a vendor booth at Culver on Tuesdays (5 pm to 7 pm), Bremen on Wednesday’s (4 pm to 7 pm) and back at Culver on Saturday mornings (9 am to 1 pm).  Products available include seasonal items such as black raspberries, black raspberry plants, mint plants, farm fresh eggs, 4 varieties of garlic, soup beans, decorative and edible popcorn, black walnut tree seedlings, popular tree seedlings,

Maintaining Gardens

Keeping up with weeds and my case, the weeds are actually grass that works hard to take over, seems to be continuous, but using wood chips and chaff, helps to keep them at bay.

Pasture Maintenance

Summer always brings the need for pasture maintenance.  Mowing down weeds (I do not use chemicals on the pastures) and keeping the fence rows cleaned out seem to be 2 jobs that I am always behind on. There are new fences to construct if I am to continue with my plans.  These jobs are a bit tougher for me now as I work to balance my activity level with getting enough rest.

Black Raspberries

I am looking forward to eating these soon! The extras will go to the local farmers markets and my freezer!

This spring I pruned 3 of my 4 Black Raspberry patches.  I am impressed with the berries that are appearing on the pruned plants.  I will also be offering black raspberry plants for sale at the farmers markets I attend.  One of my goals is to also look into shipping plants and selling from this website.

Garlic Scapes

Notice the curl on the top of the garlic plants? These curled tops are the scapes.

As of this week the garlic scapes are almost ready to harvest.  Garlic scapes, you may ask?  These are the top part of a garlic plant that will produce a flower and seed if not removed. The plants energy is directed into producing a larger garlic bulb instead.

Ongoing Projects

There are always chicken pens to clean. I have started a new manure pile leaving the previous one to compost.  I started work on a container garden area, but the progress has slowed in the last 6 weeks. I want to continue working in the beds near the house.  They were intended to be flower beds, but I have been using them for planting vegetables too.  There is an area back of the chicken barn that needs to have old boards removed to the burn pile.  The hold up is I want to remove the hardware on the boards It seems I have accomplished that step, yet.

Personal Goals

One of my personal goals for this year is to spend some time riding again, even if it is only a short jaunt in the round pen or around the pasture. I intend to enjoy these summer months.  A final (personal) goal is to begin playing fiddle again, perhaps practicing on my fiddle again would be more accurate.  What are your summer plans? Leave a comment below to share your plans.

Why Pick Swedish Flower Hens

A conversation with a friend a few years ago had me thinking seriously about owning chickens.  I was looking for ways to use what I had.  On the homestead stood a 30 by 60 chicken barn with a fairly new roof thanks to my spouse.  It served a place to store hay and many other items.  We called it the shop.  I begin looking at chickens online.  I came across a picture of a hen that reminded me of a pet chicken my sister and I had as a child.  We called her Debbie. A bit of research and I learned the breed of the chicken I had seen Swedish Flower Hens.  The practical side of me held back wanting to learn other characteristics of the breed besides being pretty.

What I Learned

Swedish Flower Hens(SFH) came to the United States in 2010 and have been imported at least 4 more times since. This has allowed for a decent size gene pool to work with as a breeder. I have always enjoyed the process of breeding and genetics no matter the species. In the 1970’s SFH’s were found in 3 villages in Sweden.  At that time, they were the only ones in existence in the whole world. They are considered a landrace breed similar to a wild mustang or the Chincoteaque ponies where the breed developed on its own.  A natural selection process in which the healthiest birds survived and the ones who escaped the cook’s pot.  In that manner, humans did intervene to some extent by culling (cooking) the birds of their choice.  That would of course remove a bird from further reproducing of said bird’s genetic makeup.  However, who is to say if that bird had already reproduced and the line carried on?  Swedish Flower Hens developed over years of old from different breeds brought into Sweden.   

This breed has a 20% broody rate among hens according to documents from Sweden, but certain breeders in the United States have seen a larger percentage in their flock.   There is not a Standard of Perfection (SOP) for this breed, as they are a landrace breed.  In the United States, many enjoy showing their chickens.  There are certain traits found undesirable for the show ring that do not affect a chicken’s ability to survive in the wild.  An example would be a sprig on a comb. The breeding goals of those who raise SFH’s are almost as diverse as the bird itself. Some who raise this breed in the United States work to eliminate springs in the gene pool. Why you might ask? Springs are undesirable in the show ring. Others freely breed those birds who demonstrate this trait or the ability to pass on sprigs on combs.  For this reason, I have posted my Swedish Flower Hen breeding goals at CG Heartbeats Farm for this gorgeous breed. 

This breed is known for being an egg laying breed over a meat bird.  They do not carry a heavy muscle compared to the Silver Gray Dorking, for example.  It has been said they are better stew birds.  I have eaten roosters that were harvested at 5 months of age.  The meat was not tough, and had good flavor.  I am certain how it was cooked also played a part.  I read the hens lay through the winter and mine have proven that to be true, even when temps are down around 0 degrees. I have not documented the number of eggs specific hens laid in a year, I have read the numbers are 150 to 200 eggs per year. They do not, of course lay through a molt. 

I read Swedish Flower Hens tend to demonstrate disease resistance, but not a specific disease they were resistant to. They have certainly proved to be a fertile breed. Not only here at CG Heartbeats Farm, but for other breeders as well.

My first Swedish Flower Hen chicks. I drove 3 hours one way to pick them up. Might be I was well on my way to becoming a crazy chicken lady. I was hooked,

The more I read about them, the more I learned, I wanted to purchase this breed!!!  In May of 2016, I  purchased 13 chicks, driving 3 hours to pick up them up(pictured above).  I was well on my way to earning the title of crazy chicken lady. I remember the excitement as I drove home and the feeling of starting a new adventure.  I continue to learn about this breed and chickens in general.  All a part of my homesteading journey, I even took a class to become a NPIP tester in the state of Indiana.

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Colors of Swedish Flower Hens

The beautiful color variation in the SFH breed often draws a person’s attention, as they did me.  The flowery appearance creates a bouquet of beauty in the chicken yard.  I have repeatedly seen questions about the colors of SFH’s.  My goal is to provide picture examples to clarity these different color patterns.  This is not an in-depth article on color genetics, but rather a picture guide.  If you would like your own printable PDF containing more pictures and examples consider signing up for the newsletter.  As a thank you, the PDF on SFH colors is yours to keep. You may unsubscribe at any time.

Black base mille fleur chick

Black, blue and splash make up the 3 base colors of Swedish Flower Hens. The secondary color can present in various ways, but one factor remains the same the tips of the feathers should be white giving these birds an appearance of a flower.  Hence their name. Mille fleur, and snoleopard are secondary colors, if you will. They may present themselves on different base colors such as a black based snow leopard verses a blue based snow leopard. The same is true for all the base colors and secondary colors.  To make it super confusing they don’t always present the exact same way.  Both pictured are snoleopard, but the first is blue base and the second is black base.

I have seen folks new to breed interested in learning the colors.  I am a visual learner and so instead of giving a bunch of genetic info to wade through I want to provide a quick guide. Consider joining the newsletter for CG Heartbeats Farm. The emails will notify you of new blog posts, farm updates. At times, I may make you aware of items that are for sale.

The purchase of Swedish Flower Hen chicks was one of the first steps I took in living a homestead live style. I was already planted on 11 acres with older buildings and a variety of soils. Bloom where you are planted they say…


Why would you pick Swedish Flower Hens? Leave a comment with your answer.


To see the 2019 Breeding pens at CG Heartbeats Farm use the links below.

NOTE: This page or post contains affiliate links. When you click and make a purchase I earn a portion of the money you spend at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for your support.

Read in this blog post about my go to incubator in 2019. I include tips I use with this incubator.

The Janoel 12 incubator with chicks I hatched from Pen # 7.

Click on either picture. Purchase your own.


Winter 2019

A new year has begun.  I for one am excited for the blank slate a new year appears to provide.  I have many ideas that have been floating around in my head for the last few years.  Projects I have started, that I will build upon and a few new ideas for later in the year. I to take time to look back at what I did accomplish in 2018. I also took a not so pleasant look at the challenges and problems that arose, some still in need of resolution and answers.  These are common approaches to a venture such as homesteading and many other walks of life.  One benefits from taking time to reflect and evaluate progress and problems.

Now officially winter, the weather has stayed pleasant.  By pleasant I mean often temps are above 32 during the day.  A warm winter by northern Indiana standards.  I plan to use this time of slow down to work on this website, plant seeds indoors, work in my house, hatch chicks and plan for the coming growing season outdoors.

  Evaluating and planning chicken breeding pens for all breeds

Swedish Flower Hens currently are by far the most prolific of the three breeds.  I am seeing excellent fertility in the eggs I am hatching. I have 2 breeding pairs, 5 breeding pens, and a trio of this breed. My breeding goals continue to be the same as posted.  I have plans to add an additional line to include crested Swedish Flower Hen.  

The Silver Gray Dorkings are fertile, but it does seem to drop off this time of year.  I will continue to hatch as many as I can.  I intend to add a line from another farm this year. 

The Lemon Cuckoo Niederrheiners have proved to be the breed I am struggling with the most.  I really like them, but need to figure out why the fertility has been low.  I intend to add a line from another farm for this breed as well. I like the eggs they lay and the size of the roosters and hens.

Deciding on locations for garlic, garden space, and fruit bearing plants.

I am super excited to have connected with a neighbor who will be able to plow up ground, increasing garden space and breaking up sod in areas where fruit and garlic will be planted. I am going to be in need of a roto-tiller now with all of the added garden space.  I planted around 150 bulbs of garlic this year.  This all fit in approximately 100 sq. feet.  I would like to plant 1/8th of an acre this year if not more.  I intend to plant all the Concord grape plants I can start indoors over the winter.  Right now, I have around 25. 

A few of the potted grape starts to be planted outdoors in the spring.

One of my goals includes growing blue berries, at least for my own enjoyment.  I know the perfect location on this homestead for them to thrive, but right now that ground is a part of a pasture. Fencing changes need to happen in order to proceed.  There are existing apple trees and a pear tree that I need to learn how to manage.  The raspberry plants will need to be pruned in the spring.  I am giving thought how to manage the raspberries in order to make picking a bit easier, without completely moving them. They do well where they are located. I would like to plant strawberry plants this year. I will be researching both what variety and best growing habitat before moving forward.

I intend to plant sweet potatoes in buckets again. I have a small container garden that will provide a place to plant some type of vegetable. I am working on the details of where the main vegetable garden will be located and how large (or small) it will be. I do not have a final list of vegetable to be planted.  These decisions will be made in the coming weeks.

Adding additional farmers markets to this year’s schedule.

Last summer I got my feet wet when it comes to attending a farmer’s market.  I am excited to build on that in 2019.  I would like to include a display on a regular basis to share where the eggs are coming from. This will also raise awareness at a local level that I breed, raise, and sell 3 rare breeds of chickens, hatching eggs and chicks.

One day at a farmer’s Market….

I plan to take many of the same items this year to the market I took last year. I want to plant specific items that may not have been in regular supply at the market last year.  The list of what the farm will produce this year is a work in process. I immensely enjoy attending the farmer’s markets.

Planning this year’s web site goals.

I am super excited to be working on updating the pages that share info about the chickens I am raising.  I am also excited to be finishing the course on hatching eggs in an incubator.  My goal for a release date is the end of Jan or beginning of February. Yes, I am giving myself a bit of wiggle room.  Beyond that I intend to continue to bring you a weekly blog post and perhaps two.

If you would like to join a wait list for this course please click on the following: Hatching Course.

I would love to hear what topics you would like to hear about. Leave a comment or send an email to share your ideas.

Roots and Wings: New Life ~ Chickens

Have you ever reached a point in the journey of your life, stopped for a moment and wondered, How did I get here?  That describes how I have felt these last few weeks as I wrote about my memories of new life and how it pertained to goats and horses.

I turned down the opportunity to foal out mares this year. A difficult decision for me to reach, largely due to my health.  Staying up all hours of the night disrupts the body’s circadian rhythm.  This negatively impacts the adrenals. Since I am working to create an environment for mine to heal, I believe it would be counter productive.  A smaller percentage of the picture is the fact that I have a limited amount of energy and I have chosen to direct it to my current goals of breeding chickens and a homestead lifestyle. I am hopeful that I will discover a way to add foaling mares back into my life in the future.  If that doesn’t happen, I will simply relish the memories of that season. To read my blog on seasons click here.

Swedish Flower Hen chicks hatched at CG Heartbeats Farm

I adore babies of almost any species.  Spring time brings new life in plant and animal form.  I like to see the tiny plants pushing their way up through the soil, but not quit as much as seeing new life appear when a mother gives birth or an egg hatches.

Lemon Cuckoo Niederrheiner chicks

How did I go from foaling out horse to hatching chicks?  I see some humor in the fact that an egg or newly hatched chick is about the size of a foals hoof.  Now that is quite a big difference, going from one to the other.  My health goals have played a part in directing my current path.  It is a simple truth that when making room for change in one’s life certain activities must be let go of to make room for new.  An area I struggle with at times, letting go.  Some days, I actively choose to stay focused on the new adventures.

Silver Gray Dorking and Swedish Flower Hen chicks hatched at CG Heartbeats Farm

Hatching chicks

Hens make hatching chicks easy.  They do the work of an incubator and brooder after the hatch.  One of the Swedish Flower Hens went broody last fall.  Click here to read the story.  The relationship a chick has with a broody hen seems like it would provide an education.  However, the incubated chicks seem to know instinctively to peck at food and drink water.  Again the power of new life is amazing.

Today, as I write, new life abounds around me in the form of hatching chicks.  Yesterday, the little chirps greeted me before I even seen a pip.  Today I have been privileged to watch them pop out of their shells.  Some times I need to work hard to pop out of my shell.  It is tempting to stay where it is safe, comfortable, and truthfully, easy.  Working to get out of a shell takes effort, and then just when I accomplish breaking out, I find myself faced with changes.  Like a chick who suddenly finds space to stretch and learn to walk and balance. Freedom to move is one of those changes.  I mean what chick would want to stay cooped up in a shell.  In reality, a chick dies if they don’t break out in time.  Similarly, we risk a different kind of death( I am not referring to an eternal death here) if we too stay in our comfort zone.

Last year incubating chicks became a new challenge for me. I have used 3 different incubators to hatch chicks in the last year and a half.   The Little Giant, Incuview and Janoel12  produced chicks, but offer different features that seem to influence hatch rates.  The Little Giant, a styrofoam, I used only once when I borrowed from a friend.  I hatched only 2 chicks. Perhaps with time and experience I may have improved the %.  I like the plastic incubators best for the easier clean up after a hatch. Both the Incuview and Janoel12 are constructed of hard plastic.  They clean up nicely.  And oh those newly hatched chicks make a mess.

A dirty incubator after the hatch

They are adorable though once they dry off and the fluffiness appears.

Silver Gray Dorking chicks

A discussion on different incubators would provide enough material for its own blog post.  In the hatching course, I am preparing, I include info on different incubators and a worksheet to help you decide which one suites your financial need and personal preferences.

Swedish Flower Hen chick

Consider joining the wait list while I finish up the e course on hatching chicken eggs.  If you are not needing this type of information, perhaps you know someone to pass this opportunity onto? There are going to be a few bonuses for signing up early.

Using what I Had

2014 found me feeling frustrated and defeated with my present circumstances….

I knew I was not going back to previous jobs(for a long term solution) working as an equine trainer and manager.  My current health would not allow it. Recovering from a tough onset of Mono while dealing with other chronic illness left me floundering. I found some encouragement in 2015 as I participated in the 2015 TCA Thoroughbred Makeover with Navajo Bo.  As 2016 rolled around I was giving serious thought and prayer to what was next. I strongly desired to raise my own food. I had a few ideas rolling around in my head. Chickens for eggs and meat, my own milk, butter and cheese via a cow, a garden, canning, a green house, perhaps a spring house, and a hydroponic system were some of my farming/homesteading ideas. Somewhere in all that I should be able to find a way to earn an income was my thought.

Using what I had….

​I looked around at what buildings were currently standing on the almost 12 acres.  One was a large chicken barn.  The design did not leave room for creating stalls for horses or cattle.  It was however double walled and even had some insulation were it looked like a previous owner had started to make a shop out of it. 

Chickens became the first project to pursue.  With 3 heritage breeds, they are all a developing work in progress.  I like many qualities of Scottish Highland Cattle for milk, butter, cheese and meat.  I do not have them yet and have strongly considered the American Milking Devon.  Truth is, until I actually own them, there is that possibility I will change my mind.

Chicken Project

Thirteen Swedish Flower Hen chicks were my first purchase in May of 2016.

I have since added Swedish Flower Hens from 3 additional farms to create diversity in the breeding stock.  In the fall of 2016 two more breeds caught my eye, Silver Gray Dorking and Lemon Cuckoo Niederrheiner.  Both are rather rare and hard to find I discovered but by mid November 2016 I had chicks from each breed.

Fruits and Vegatables

I planted garlic for the first time in the fall of 2016. I also grew Sweet Potatos in buckets during 2016.  I transplanted wild Black Raspberries to create a row of black raspberries. I started some grapes plants from vine cuttings and will be producing concord grapes in the future.  Did you know that in 1849 Ephraim Wales Bull planted 22,000 seeds before deciding on the what we now call the concord grape?  Amazing!  Has me wondering what variety I could develop.

The spring of 2017 found me foaling out mares for an Arab training barn.

The additional work left no time for me to plant and garden in 2017. The exception being a harvest of garlic in August.

I am always on the look out for ways to accomplish my goals with what I have, be it material possessions or personal skills, and building on that to achieve other dreams I have.

One way I helped to finance my chicken project and this website was through Swagbucks.  In 2017 I earned over $225.00.  While not a huge amount, it all adds up.

What ways have you accomplished goals and seen dreams come true using what you had available?

 

A Broody Swedish Flower Hen

Fact: 20% of Swedish Flower Hens go broody.  Not a high number really considering 50% of my Silver Gray Dorking Hens went broody at under a year.  (3 out of 6)  My first group of 8 hens(SFH) are well over a year old and no broody among them. Out of 18 (SFH) hens this is the first to go broody.  I was trilled to realize that one of the Swedish Flower Hens was indeed broody and at 6 months old.   Hatched on March 9, 2017, she had only started laying the beginning of August.  I have not even placed a rooster in that pen of hens yet.  Her efforts are in vain. There is no way she has fertile eggs.

If you have read any of my September posts, I was having a rough time loosing my horse McCoy, struggling with my own health challenges while attempting to keep up caring for the animals.   “There is nothing new under the sun.”  The truth of Ecclesiastes 1:9 has been a source of comfort to me, knowing others have indeed experienced these trials and lived to see another day.  I chose to see an opportunity for growth.

Catching up on pen cleaning and farm maintenance needed to come first, in my opinion, before giving thought to hatching eggs.  Happy when I received an order for Silver Gray Dorking chicks,  I decided to use the IncuView Incubator.

 

Thursday(yesterday) proved to be a beautiful October fall day.  I did not move quickly for that is not in the best interest of my health, but rather I slowed down, accomplishing needed tasks in a relaxed fashion.  For one who once sported the nickname “energizer bunny” slowing down is an accomplishment in itself.  That, readers, is my sense of humor showing, for the simple truth, presently, I am not physically capable of working as I have in the past.

Feeling confident that I can, once again, care for the animals to meet my standards,  (Clean! Clean! Clean!)  I decided to attempt to give the broody hen eggs to hatch.  After consideration of different options, I brought in a 100 gallon tank and set her up in there.  Bedding and Swedish Flower Hen eggs from a different pen went in first.  I removed her from the eggs she was sitting on, totally changing her environment.  It was a bit of an experiment for me.  I felt hopeful but not sure what to expect.  I chased away the believe that I required a perfect outcome of my choice. It was going to be okay if this didn’t work.  I would learn from this.  I was going to get feed back from my results.

She was drawn to the eggs but was anxious about her new house.  She became occupied with pecking at the hardware cloth top.  I added feed and water after seeing her sit on the eggs.  Oh, but then when I came back she was off them.  I lifted the lid, a quick intent look from her and suddenly she flew out.  I caught her after what felt like several minutes, but did not take me that long at all.  Well, “I will give you 24 hours”, I decided silently.  I told myself I was going to stay away from her to give her time to settle.  NO peeking at her for one hour and I looked at my watch.  In my excitement, I had not realized she was receiving constant checks, like every few minute checks. Silly of me really, but I so badly wanted this to work.

I reduced my checks to periodically throughout the evening.  Before going in for the night she was indeed setting on the eggs.  This morning found her still flattened like a pancake covering all 11 eggs.  Excitement!!

Both, the eggs in incubator and the broody hen should be hatching near the date of October 26th, fulfilling the 21 day incubation period.  Did you know the exact temperature will shorten or lengthen the time it takes for chicks to develop?  Stay connected on social media for up to date reports on the hatches.

 

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