NDR: Peeps!!

Carl

Carl

Moderator
Staff member
Stuck 11 fertile eggs under my broodie Little Hen on April 22nd.
This last Wednesday evening the first egg started to pip.
Last night we had 5 peeps.
This morning, 10 peeps & the last egg was hatching when I left for work. If the last one survives hatching, that's 11 out of 11! Pretty damn good percentage according to the info on most backyard chicken web sites.
Little Hen is doing great, I put a bunch of chick starter in my hand and put my hand down low in front of her, she called the peeps and they all came & started eating out of my hand.
They are still fearless, they let me pick them up. When I tried to put them down, one jumped back into my hand.

Cute little buggers.

First egg pipped:
[inline Peeps0.jpg ]

First chick peeping out from under Little Hen:
[inline Peeps3.jpg ]

Most of the gang:
[inline Peeps1.jpg ]

First real meal:
[inline Peeps2.jpg ]

View attachment Peeps0.jpg
View attachment Peeps3.jpg
View attachment Peeps1.jpg
View attachment Peeps2.jpg
 
Very cool! Just out of curiosity what was the reasoning behind hatching your own chicks? I'll be closing on my first home soon and project numero uno is a chicken pen. Can't beat fresh eggs
 
Awesome! Do you raise them for meat or just eggs?

I can't wait to get my little farm going. I'm on Zillow every day....
 
Hens for eggs, roosters for meat.
Having chickens is great, eggs are much better than store bought.
 
My Little Hen kept going broodie and we were down to only two hens. So when she went broodie three weeks ago, I decided to let her set fertile eggs to expand the flock.
You cant add peeps to a flock unless one of the hens sets the eggs. And adding grown hens together can be a nerve wracking experience until they establish pecking order. Can get pretty bloody.
So if you have a broodie hen, its just easier (and cooler) to let her set a brood.

Our hens have a small coop (3x3 with an external laying box on the back) and a 6x20 pen. But they also free range the backyard, the Lab guards them.
Not all dog breeds or individual dogs (esp. terriers and daschunds will accept chickens as part of the pack, but mine has. Only took 3 days of supervision & conditioning.
 
That's pretty cool. My mom has kept chickens for years. I usually just get my eggs from her but now my kids want chickens of their own. Almost finished the coop. My mom is raising the peeps for us until I finish the coop. I don't think my lab will be very good with free ranging birds. I'll have to keep them separate. A random pea hen wondered into our yard one day and he caught it mid takeoff with a jumping lunge. He did bring it to hand and let me take it so I guess that was good.
 
eggs are much better than store bought.
Click to expand...

You can say that again. My sister has a bunch of hens that I get eggs from. There is no comparison. It's about like fresh out of the garden tomatoes and store bought.

Nice looking chicks.

Tim
 
I'll 2nd what Tim had to say. Ever since we moved here in 97 we have been buying farm fresh eggs. In fact, it is fun to jump in the Kawasaki Mule and ride over to their farm to pick them up. It is only 2 1/2 miles away. Way to go, Carl.
Al
 
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