Leap Day In The Aviary - Probiotic

Periodically, I like to give my birds pro-biotics. This Avi-tech product contains the five types of avian-specific Lactobacillus. The next day the birds look like they have had a face lift!

To celebrate Leap Day, it was pro-biotic all around!

Egg Shell Trick - Did It Work?

First Stafford Hen 2012

Stafford Mate Older Male Not Color Fed

Good Looking Fellow!

After a few days she built her nest.

Oh no!! Bad Egg. Removed the egg and save for photos. Started her on the calcium, D3, and magnesium Avi-tech supplement.

Next day she laid a perfect egg! The first egg will be tossed.



The four good eggs were set under the hen and at last the bad egg is tossed!

Preliminary Results Hen Vent Temperature

My husband is a big fan of his infrared surface temperature thermometer. By pulling the trigger he can instantly know the surface temperature of oil or whatever he is cooking. Watching him, I wondered what this could tell me about hen readiness, which would surely correlate with higher vent temperature.

This hen has been laying and will be set on Tuesday. Her vent temperature was 94.1 F. Checking my skin temperature,it was a degree lower than the expected temperature inside my mouth. I expected the the incubation temperature to be 95 to 99 degrees F.

This hen was paired with a male but was not building her nest, vent temperature 88.4 F.

This hen was busy nestling down in the seed cup making me think she was ready to be set but vent temperature was 86.6 F, she was only fooling me!

Improving Egg Shells At The Last Minute - Egg Shell Trick

The Orlux Ferti-vit is feed in the water to hens until she lays her first egg. On that day switch her to Cal-D-Solve in the water for three days. She will continue to lay but the improvement in the quality of her egg shells will amaze you!

What's Wrong - Deep Nest

"What's Wrong?" ask this puzzled German Roller hen.

Yes she did most everything right, mating with "handsome dude" at least five days before laying her first egg this morning but when I took her fresh egg out, the nest was far too deep!

Deep nest make egg incubation difficult as it is so deep her abdomen may not even touch the eggs, often resulting in chicks dying in the shell during incubation.

I could either put a bunch more nesting on top or remake it and put enough in the bottom to raise the hole. Either way, I will not put the plastic egg in her nest till she fixes her nest. After laying her first egg, most will not carry nesting material to the nest but most will fix it just a bit! I like her to smooth it out so that eggs will turn easily and not be stuck in nesting material ridges on the bottom.

Tomorrow, I hope she passes inspection, if not I will re-make it for her and hold off on the plastic egg till after she lays her third egg.

Docile Hen Saga - Sweetheart Dance Today

This is the German Roller Hen whose vent was developing rapidly but was setting and setting on her perch and showing no signs of frantic flying and other pre-breeding activity. After a dose of iodine she started moving some but continues to develop anatomically without appropriate breeding behavior.

Beautiful German Roller male, from German Stock, was given to me by David Bopp at the National Cage Bird Show last November. Not only is a good looker but he also scored a 16 in hollow roll under the judge Steve Billmire!

Is he not a handsome dude?

This beautiful German Roller hen, from German Stock, was a gift last year from Almin Omic and has brothers on his winning team last year.

So far, he has fed her in the divided cage but when put together, they both have no interest in the other. I have four breeding ready cocks in a nearby cage singing the breeding song to her and have moved him to a ready hen who he mated with. If she would squat when she he hears them sing, he could do the mating!

Perhaps on Valentine's Day, after a nice nestling food dinner and dance the romance will take off.

Update Feb 15:

The most that happened was she carried some nesting material, that was it! She did not even put it in the nest.

Treat to Encourage Boys to Be Boys

Today I made up a special treat for the guys in the aviary. It is equal parts of wheat germ (had Kershmeier toasted wheat germ on hand) and brewer's yeast (had Lewis Lab brand Brewer's Yeast Flakes).

This will bring the males on a gentle bit but do not feed the hens unless they are already ready, mating and getting ready to lay as it will push them to lay whether they are ready or not.