sydalicious, you really MUST turn the eggs at LEAST two times a day during the hatch. Three is best, but no less than two for sure. Otherwise you just aren't going to have a successful hatch--the turning keeps the developing chick from sticking to the inside of the shell and dying. You don't want to go to all the effort and then have nearly fully developed chicks that die in the shell just short of hatch, do you? Of course not. Just turn the eggs before and after school. It only takes a minute. :) I personally don't candle my eggs, because my hens lay eggs with darker shells that are impossible to see through--also, I am concerned about handling the eggs too much and either dropping them or letting them get too chilled. So I just wait and see what comes out on hatch day. :) I figure if I'm already doing everything I can, and correctly, me candling isn't going to do me any good since I can't see through the shells. But if you get some light-colored eggs and want to candle, by all means try it--here is a site with candling info and great pics: http://pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/pubcd/b1166-w.html I use great big cardboard boxes for brooder boxes, and just throw them away when I'm done with them. I've got info and pics on my site about how I do my brooder box setups. I just use a large piece of chicken wire for a top (unless you have small children, cats or dogs that might get to the chicks, then use something sturdier) that I can lift on and off. I also like to cut a window in the side of the box and hot glue a piece of hardware cloth over it so the chicks can see out--being n a box for weeks without being able to see out is BORING! And overcrowding and boredom in chicks can lead to pecking, which is a bad thing. Basic brooder box setup: I use a couple of bricks to elevate my food and water containers, it keeps them cleaner by helping keep shavings out of them. Using either a quail waterer (see it in the pics, it has a smaller drinking ring area--or adding marbles to a chick waterer is a MUST--chicks can and do easily drown in water dishes. For heat I use a gooseneck desk lamp with a 75 watt bulb in it, and just adjust the head of the lamp up or down--if the chicks are huddled under it and peeping, they are too cold, if they are avoiding it in a big circle and gasping, they are too hot. In action! :) Here it is from the outside, Millie my Belgian d'Uccle is visiting the chicks: You can easily use wire to partition off a large box: In this case I had three 3 week old chicks and was going to add newly hatched chicks. Velvet ~:>

I ordered my chicks back in the first week of February. Ordered from McMurray...20 Americauna hens, 3 Americauna Roos, a Black Cochin Roo and a Partridge Cochin Roo. The Cochins were ordered strictly as pets. There was one extra chick in the box. 10 chicks arrived dead in the box and one died the next day. Our weather had been very mild, but McMurrays said their weather was bad when the chicks shipped out. However, they attributed the loss to "rough handling" by the postal service. I was credited for the dead birds. The chicks were raised in a big round livestock tank in my heatd garage until age 5 weeks, when they were turned out to the hen house. They had a heat lamp until age 7 weeks, then they no longer required one due to mild weather. They were first turned out into the chicken coop at 6 weeks. They could go back in under the light whenever they felt chilly. Talk about a bunch of happy birds! As it turns out, I have one Americauna Roo, 2 Black Cochin Roos, (the extra chick was a black cochin, as one of the dead chicks was (sadly) the patridge cochin) and the rest are Americauan hens. I also already had one Blue Cochin Bantam Roo left over from my previous flock, who is a very happy guy these days! I'm thinking I will start having a few eggs sometime in June...can't wait! I think next time I order I will try Ideal, although this was the only time I had bad luck with McMurrays. ~Jan~

A recent update from the person who received the yucca is that it is green and doing well. The transplanted cholla are doing well, of course, but it will be a while before I know if any sacaton survived. We have been making progress but not as quickly as we hoped. (No surprise there! ;-) ) We have the foundation blocks for the outside beds in place up to ground level and filled with dirt. Pavers have been placed, but not yet leveled, between the existing shed and the north edge of the foundation. We have the water and electrical stubbed in. We have the SHCS tubes in place for the outside beds of the east greenhouse and hope to start filling that section soon with the removed dirt. We have removed all planned use of poured concrete from our plans and have made this planned structure possible to remove easily while still unlikely to be blown away. (Mostly due to bolting the foundation via J-bolts to rebar under bond beam cement blocks.) DH will be checking to see what type of permits/inspections we will need for electrical, water, and structures. I suspect that it will be just water and electric. We won't fill in any more until we find out. It is getting hot already so we will be putting in the outside structure and shade cloth before the central shed and greenhouses. That way we can work in the shade. :-)

What a TREAT! Thank you, Caroline. And thanks to Jemdandy for the hatching info. Amazing that the birds *know* which is the very best gourd! And that they put up defenses as needed (mud dams). I hope those paint chips are not from lead-based paint. Do you have a good population of bugs to keep these guys fed? We are on our second batch of Cardinal matings here 30 miles north of Chicago. DH says he heard an owl two nights ago. I hope the owl sticks around -- something is making 2" diameter holes in my lawn, and it must be nocturnal because I only see chipmunks during the day.