3rd Annual New Year's Day Hatch!!

Well it was suppose to be here New Years eve but better late than NEVER! After many a failed incubator attempts..... My little cochin hen Reba hatched this one for me...she still is sitting on 6 more due to hatch in about 10 days..
My first bantam Salmon Faverolle from my Sammy and Faye...

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Sweeet, pun intended!

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Peoples: this is why I smile with my mouth closed when Mahonri comes over. He can't help it. If he saw my chompers, he'd sit on me to hold me down and try to fix them.

You should let him fix them! I'd be embarrassed if Mahonri was my dentist though... I threaten the staff. I had to have my first ever cavity filled last June and I had to go to a second dentist because the first refused to give me anti-anxiety medications. The second dentist prescribed me 10 mg of Valium (diazepam) which still wasn't enough and HE had to threaten to throw ME out if I didn't let him inject me with the Novocaine. I cried throughout the entire procedure.

I'm also embarrassed to say my last tetanus vaccination was through my pediatrician.

Irony: Needles freak me out, so I'm in charge of an IV room.

Oh the irony!

First time I gave blood Mum had to go with me as I had only just turned 16 and she needed to sign the form saying that I had parental permission. They sent her to wait in the little cafe area they have for after you give blood. She was so green they thought she'd given blood and was going to pass out! Poor mum! But gee it's funny in hindsight! She never did go with me again.

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Awwww!!! What a good dog!

Just did a quick, pretend candling (flashlight held to the top of the eggs) of most of my 77 eggs and pulled 7 clears. There are probably more, and I strongly suspect many others which won't hatch, because a whole lot of the eggs are kinda sloshy, even if they are dark. Most of them have air cells too large for lockdown... Bummer.

Real bummer. I'll see if ANY hatch by Saturday - Thursday is supposedly Hatch Day.

My hatching news... this hatches bad luck is still haunting me.

Less than half of my eggs locked down hatched and two chicks that did, died. I think I must have had a temp spike when I pulled the heavily panting chicks out but they'd knocked the thermometer off the eggs and it was face down on the floor. It was reading ok when it stabilized afterwards but chicks in the 'bator don't usually pant like they are being cooked. I'd left the eggs till today but I'm tossing and cleaning this afternoon, the 'bator stinks.

I'd also intended to enter the Most Colorful Roo comp but when I went out to take pics of the one I planned to enter, he was dead! No idea what happened, it was hot but not that hot. I have crazy broodies crammed into nestboxes that were fine so...

The good news is 15 chickies doing well.
In more good news, one of my formerly defective Silkies is finally working properly and has finally gone broody! 'Course she has, I was about to move them out of the breeding pen so I could boot the chicks in the big brooder outside and move the NYD chicks into it.

I need more pens! Current broody count:

1. Who must be near hatching in a breeding pen but I forgot to write down the date she started sitting.

2. Who were supposed to get Christmas chicks but only 3 hatched so I decided to give them NYD chicks instead, still nowhere to put them. Would it be crazy to bring them inside, divide the big brooder and give them the chicks till I build pens for them outside???

4. Who are all trying to share the favorite nest box.

2. I can't get to, so I can't move them

1. Formerly defective Silkie I want to move.

1. I just discovered this morning. She'll have to move as she's sitting without any cover over her, right outside one of the nestboxes they don't like. It's exactly the same as their favorite one.
That's... um... 11 broodies!!!
Methinks I'll be drowning in chicks shortly...

Four out of the seven hatched, as I expected. Got some bulbs for the brooder today and moved the four to the barn--just in time! I got 120 quail eggs waiting to go into the incubator I was using as a makeshift brooder.

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First, I'm not a vegetarian. I hunt. And yes, I've raised animals to slaughter.

The difference is that the ones I butchered weren't pets. I didn't raise them from birth "like a child." They hatched and while I enjoyed their interaction, I don't confuse my meals with my companion animals. My birds give me pleasure, and yes, I care for them, but they aren't close to me the way other animals I have are.

By your comments, I suspect you're a vegetarian. That is your choice to make. I am not a vegetarian and I am not a hypocrite. I am willing to kill what I eat.

I got a quail egg zipping now, and I did a quick check when I went to water Thunderbolt, the chicken, looks like maybe 3 more are in the air cell.
I'm not giving up on them yet!
The egg that's zipping I believe is Spanky's, I should be able to guess who sired the chick once it's out.
This is Spanky.

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First, I'm not a vegetarian. I hunt. And yes, I've raised animals to slaughter.

The difference is that the ones I butchered weren't pets. I didn't raise them from birth "like a child." They hatched and while I enjoyed their interaction, I don't confuse my meals with my companion animals. My birds give me pleasure, and yes, I care for them, but they aren't close to me the way other animals I have are.

By your comments, I suspect you're a vegetarian. That is your choice to make. I am not a vegetarian and I am not a hypocrite. I am willing to kill what I eat.

I'm planning on raising some meat birds this spring, while I do get attached to my birds, I have some roos right now I wouldn't mind sending to freezer camp. I am a self admited wuss in that I can't(dont like to?) kill things. But to eat, things must die. I have good friends who, for a share, will aid in butchering.