Friday, May 15, 2009

Ollie's Setting!

The nice lady who was going to send me 6 eggs for Ollie sent me an email today saying she was reluctant to do so because she thinks her flock had a virus this spring. She didn't want to take the chance of sending it to me and infecting my flock. I was grateful she informed me of this and thanked her for her offer. I told her I would look locally for a flock with fertile eggs. Well as luck would have it, there's a lady just down the road who has a flock with a rooster. She also has a sign in her front yard that says "Eggs $1.75". I looked in my purse. I had 2 bucks in it. Hurray! Off I went to buy some fertile eggs for Ollie.

When I arrived I could see their gorgeous rooster. He looked like a brown leghorn except that he had a pea comb. I will have to research what he could be unless you fellow chicken owners would like to make a suggestion. He looked like this rooster but with a pea comb. I saw 4 barred rock hens, a few black australorps and what looked like red stars or red sex-linked hens. I imagine that's where the two ginormous eggs came from.

The eggs were laid today and were taken right from the nest boxes. I paid a dollar for them. I think I got two barred rock eggs. They were speckled and much smaller, just like my barred rocks' eggs. I also got one that reminded me of Violet's eggs. She's an australorp that lays an almost pinkish-violet egg. We're certainly going to have quite a variety of shapes and colors! I marked the ends of each egg with a big cross so that there will be no confusion about which eggs are Ollie's. I marked the calendar with a hatch date of June 6 which, concidentally, is the same day Macaroni's clutch is due to hatch! Daisy is due two days before. Oy! We are gonna have baby birds all over the place that weekend! Derek put one egg at a time in the corner of the nest box and gave Ollie the chance to tuck it underneath her.






















She clucked with delight as she carefully nudged each egg beneath her warm rump. We wished her good luck and left the coop to give her time by herself. Gosh it's a warm fuzzy feeling knowing that big Ollie has a clutch of eggs beneath her and she is content to incubate them. Keep your fingers crossed that we have a good hatch.

13 comments:

  1. Good fortune to you with the egg hatching! That is so egg-citing!

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  2. How exciting for Ollie, too! I bet she's thrilled to pieces! She gets to be a mommy.

    No clue on the roo. Maybe he's a mixed one, too.

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  3. Ollie is looking and wondering about those large X's on the eggs.

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  4. Classy, thanks! I know, the waiting is going to drive me crazy.

    Susan, Ollie is pleased as punch and we are all excited about the impending arrival of the peeps.

    Joanna, LOL Believe me, if I don't make it REAL obvious which eggs are Ollie's they'll end up in the carton in the fridge!

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  5. Yay! I can't wait to see the babies.

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  6. Tee,hee! You sound like a nervous "mom". Looks like Ollie has every thing in hand, or, in nest, and she will probably do very well! How exciting for you!

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  7. Yay for Ollie. I'm sure she will make a great mommy! Jess

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  8. I am thinking of getting chickens - I will be following your blog to watch and learn!!! :>)

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  9. Amy, I must say after visiting your blog that we must have been cut from the same cloth. I, like you, am crazy for chickens. I recently hatched 16 (out of 24 eggs)chicks via an incubater. They are fascinating little creatures-Aren't they?

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  10. Semi educated guess on the roosters identity without a picture makes me want to lean toward a hatchery produced Ameraucana of sorts. They can be splendid looking roosters that resemble other breed varieties because of the mix that they come from. Hatchery chickens are not necessarily good specimens of their supposed breed and variety, as my daughter found out when she began her career in showing chickens twenty years ago. So it could easily be something like a poorly colored Partridge Wyandotte. Leg color, ear color, silhouette and size as well as color and comb really help in identifying what they are. You should get your hands on a APA Book of Standards, I think you would love it!

    I am so glad that you found some local fertile eggs for sweet Ollie. Funny, we have been scrambling in the reverse, looking for some broody hens for our eggs because the incubator is full up! Have fun.

    Love the no NAIS button by the way! Hope it goes away but "they" sure like to meddle, they are "experts" you know. And their scare tactics seem to have some folks convinced it is necessary.

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  11. Good luck to Ollie... I hope she has a sucessful hatching!

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  12. That is so neat. Good for Ollie. I can't wait to receive my baby chicks in June. Maybe a rooster down the road. Becca

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  13. Awwww! Broody hens are just so sweet! I want to get some 'good' eggs under my Japanese Silky as she is constantly broody. I want to make sure they aren't mixed breed, though. I'd like to have her breed with the Silky roo, but I never seem him with her.

    ~Lisa

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