Hatching is it worth the trouble?

There is nothing more exciting than seeing that first chick pip through the shell and start its new life.  A couple of months ago I decided to add a few more Crested Crème Legbars to my backyard flock.  They are one of my favorite breeds. 

Wonderful blue eggs.



and funny little tuffs of feathers on the hen's head like a fancy ladies bonnet.

So I ordered 24 eggs from eBay, picked a very reputable seller and fired up my incubator. 

I usually have pretty good results with my incubator even thought it's a low end foam model from TSC. 

The seller was nice enough to send me plenty of extra eggs and only a few were broken when the box arrived.

Day 21 came and while I was excited to see the first few chicks break out of their shells, I was disappointed that only 5 hatched.

I've had 90% hatch rates in the past and my incubator stayed on temp and I was careful about my humidity so I was hoping for better than 5 out of 30.  But the chicks are doing well and another wonderful thing about Crested Crème Legbars is that you can tell the boys from the girls when they hatch.  The markings are different.  4 girls and 1 boy.  The perfect breeding flock.

This week I'm trying it again with my second favorite breed French Black Copper Marans.  14 in the incubator hoping for 10 or more.  Another few days and I will know.

High hatch rates or low, sometimes you do everything right and it works out great, sometimes not so great. 


But there's nothing greater than hearing that chick peeping inside the shell and knowing in a few hours you will have a new life to take care of.

It's well worth doing even with the disappointments. 

Chick Days

Chicks Chicks everywhere.  I've overdone it again this year ordering too many chicks.  So far I have the following chicks;

• 25 Cornish Rock
• 25 Mixed Brown Egg Layers
• 10 Cuckoo Marans pullets
• 10 Araucanas pullets
• 6 Speckled Susex pullets
• 32 Cream Legbar eggs in the incubator.

Add that to the 8 Red Stars, Creeam Legbar hen, Cream Legbar Rooster, Black Copper Marans hen, 2 Royal Palm turkeys and 3 White Midget turkeys.

Yes I realize it's a bit over board. But they are almost all pullets and they are easy to give away.

The Autumnal Equinox - September 23rd - First Day of Autumn

According to www.weather.com during the autumnal equinox, day and night are balanced to about 12 hours each all over the world. Instead of the Earth tilting away from or toward the sun, its axis of rotation becomes perpendicular to the line connecting the centers of the Earth and the sun.

“This change in the tilt causes the change in seasons with the northern hemisphere moving from the warmth of summer to the chill of winter,” said weather.com digital meteorologist Linda Lam. “This process includes a shift in the overall location of the jet stream which plays an important role in weather conditions.”

From that point on, daylight in the Northern Hemisphere gradually becomes shorter up until the winter solstice. This is the opposite of what occurs in the Southern Hemisphere, where daylight won’t grow any longer.

Here in Kentucky the days will now start getting shorter and it's time to make those last fall planting and anything that may winter over.

                                                                                      

Kentucky State Fair - Eggs, Eggs, Eggs... It's all about the eggs this year.

Not much exciting at the Kentucky State Fair as far as rabbits and chickens go.  I had a few entries (nothing I thought would do well) but I had to work late the day they needed to be taken in so I missed the entry window.

I did however get to enter the egg contest for the first time.  I entered a dozen in the brown egg category and a dozen in the pastel egg category.

Fourth Place in the brown egg category.  Not to bad for first time entering.  Next year I will enter 2 dozen in both the brown and pastel.  I don't have white layers so I can't enter that category.

It would be great to see my eggs in that display case.


The Kentucky State Fair is a great event.  Lots of entertainment, education and interesting things to look at.  From contest exhibits to the animals and of course the midway.

I did spend a lot of time talking to a great couple who raise Nigerian Dwarf goats.  They were very informative and have pushed me even closer to getting a few goats.  Visit their web site to see their goats. www.hilltopfarmsky.com

There was also a Dragon

And Jack climbing his beanstalk

Not much of a harvest so far this year

Tomatoes have been very disappointing this year.  Flowers just didn't seem to get pollinated.  I'm guessing it was all the rain.  Same with green been, cucumbers and peppers.  Just not a lot of fruit on the plants.  Though the plants seem healthy enough.

The one thing that did rather well were the root crops.  Carrots were big and tasty and the Yukon Gold potatoes were great.  Still waiting to pull the sweet potatoes.  The vines are everywhere so hopefully they are doing good as well.

Started a second crop of green beans so hopefully they will do better.  Still plenty of time to get a second round of vegetables in the ground here in Kentucky.