First Annual Cinco de Mayo Turkey Hatchathon- Join us! Set Day: Easter - Page 196

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Originally Posted by Arielle 

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Originally Posted by Wisher1000 

Poults need warmth longer. My hens didn't start laying until the first week after we started the hatch a thon. Can you incubate now??? 

 

I could incubate now.... if I had some eggs........you offering? 

I just put 8 BR in the incubator an hour ago. Do you want some?? Just let me know!  

A lady I know mentioned that there is a farm not far from here that raises turkeys and I think I will try her when I'm ready to try again.  I have little confidence since losing the two I bought last April.  I really hope it was not some disease that claimed them.  Of course, that means I killed them (and I can't feel good about that.) 

SCG-- funny how determined a hen can be, I have had several this year, and I just take the eggs away. Eventually the marans gave up. I have a pretty half bred that pecks my hand to death to get the eggs out from under her broodiness. I wonder if I should give her some duck eggs!  5/6? THat was a good hatch rate!!

Sorry the tool did not work so well on the duck. It is a duck thing--all the extra oils. My first shot at dressing a bird was 6 geese. WHat was I thinking? Oh, right, I wasn't! Actually despite a boat load of researching how to dress a duck/goose, it was much harder than people say it is. Or I'm really bad at it! LOL 

I was trying to teach my kids molecules this morning! We used clay to make the nucleus and rings for the electrons to sit on. THen we hooked arms to show how molecules connect to each other but can still break away! Biochem is very interesting. Toughest class in college, but still the most interesting chemistry wise. Hoping one of my kids will become a pharmacist.

dsqard---I only have a few ducks. ANy that hatch will be sold or eaten. I do find my adults in the horse troughs. THey get emptied every day anyway--the horses drink a lot. ANd I have 2 childen sand boxes for the ducks and chickens--easy to flip over and empty. I leave one to dry and kill the algae, then refill the next day.  So I'm not well set up for ducks  either. THough my muscovy sure love digging around in the leave litter and in the runoff brooks.

Maybe for the TUrkey Hatch a thon we can start a little later; or do you want to keep to Cinquo de Mayo?  Or maybe allow setting to be over a few weeks?  I've not had good luck with shipped turkey eggs.  At 1 out of 18 developing. Not good numbers. 

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Originally Posted by Arielle 

 

Maybe for the TUrkey Hatch a thon we can start a little later; or do you want to keep to Cinquo de Mayo?  Or maybe allow setting to be over a few weeks?  I've not had good luck with shipped turkey eggs.  At 1 out of 18 developing. Not good numbers. 

 
I do like it early so the babies will hopefully be big enough to eat by Thanksgiving. Last year I hatched in June and they were pretty small still. I butchered 4 and they were tasty, just not as developed as I thought they could be.  The 2 older toms were quite big since they had hatched the year before. So maybe we SHOULD hatch this fall so the Holiday birds will be a year old! Maybe a Labor Day hatch????

karen, love your idea!!! 

 I  just put eggs in with the idea of growing out next years breeders.  And Porters is having a sale AND they accept paypal!!!

I'm trying to figure out which are meatier and have easy temperaments.

I love spreading the turken love! You're on! They'll do great in your heat!

Arielle, I almost cried when I found out how many feathers the ducks had. We had already done 6 or 7 roosters that day, it was hot (well, for Maine), I was sunburnt, and I decided to do a duck. It was Kowalski, so I was sad about it, but he was causing a lot of problems for another duck that I had (only one female means the males start to pair off together - and one male was the center of attention for both Kowalski and another unnamed pekin, and that male was not returning the affection. Unfortunately getting Kowalski out of the way means the other pekin is just zeroed in on this male... ah, the problems of life on a small farm). Anyway, I digress. We only did one (mostly for time and effort but just in case we didn't like the way it tasted as we never had duck). Unfortunately we loved the way it tasted. Next time I'm going to have to do the other pekin male. Maybe we'll try skinning it this time but the skin was sooo delicious.

I just hope your kids are happy in what they do and it pays the bills - I love anything science/math related so being a pharmacist works for me. I wanted to be a park ranger, but it is only a seasonal job and wouldn't pay enough so I'm glad I went into pharmacy. I was miserable in retail pharmacy, but hospital worked well for me. Unfortunately I spent a large amount of money getting my Pharm.D. degree, and now I'm a manager! Such is life.

SCG,  I don't have experience with this, but a local neighbor told me that if you butcher ducks after a couple of hard frosts, they will have fewer pin feathers.  She won't butcher her muscovies until November at the earliest.  Maybe your timing was just off.  Another tip....put Dawn dish washing liquied in the scald water to break down the oils on the duck feathers.  I've never done this......mind you..........I took mine to the processor and had them done for $5 each......  still had a few pins that I had to remove but all-in-all well worth the $5.

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Originally Posted by NotAFarm 

SCG,  I don't have experience with this, but a local neighbor told me that if you butcher ducks after a couple of hard frosts, they will have fewer pin feathers.  She won't butcher her muscovies until November at the earliest.  Maybe your timing was just off.  Another tip....put Dawn dish washing liquied in the scald water to break down the oils on the duck feathers.  I've never done this......mind you..........I took mine to the processor and had them done for $5 each......  still had a few pins that I had to remove but all-in-all well worth the $5.

Oh I used a ton of dishwashing liquid. We use some fragrance and dye free natural stuff, seems to get the dishes clean (pretty much everything gives me a rash) but maybe Dawn is the answer. We should be getting a frost any time now, too! LOL.

Quote:

Originally Posted by superchemicalgirl 

I love spreading the turken love! You're on! They'll do great in your heat!

 

Arielle, I almost cried when I found out how many feathers the ducks had. We had already done 6 or 7 roosters that day, it was hot (well, for Maine), I was sunburnt, and I decided to do a duck. It was Kowalski, so I was sad about it, but he was causing a lot of problems for another duck that I had (only one female means the males start to pair off together - and one male was the center of attention for both Kowalski and another unnamed pekin, and that male was not returning the affection. Unfortunately getting Kowalski out of the way means the other pekin is just zeroed in on this male... ah, the problems of life on a small farm). Anyway, I digress. We only did one (mostly for time and effort but just in case we didn't like the way it tasted as we never had duck). Unfortunately we loved the way it tasted. Next time I'm going to have to do the other pekin male. Maybe we'll try skinning it this time but the skin was sooo delicious.

 

I just hope your kids are happy in what they do and it pays the bills - I love anything science/math related so being a pharmacist works for me. I wanted to be a park ranger, but it is only a seasonal job and wouldn't pay enough so I'm glad I went into pharmacy. I was miserable in retail pharmacy, but hospital worked well for me. Unfortunately I spent a large amount of money getting my Pharm.D. degree, and now I'm a manager! Such is life.

As you found out, removing one changes the dynamics, and not always the way we expect. I had a full experience with a house full of cats--25--when one left, the relationships changed in totally unexpected ways. Go figure!

My brother had a working wife when he changed from a full boat PhD to pharmacology with no funding. He liked the years in retail, he got to talk to a lot of people he knew growing up. HE's back at the hopital now, to rest his feet.  I'm not sure our kids will get to do what they love--they need to be able to pay the bill. DH is a park ranger (managemnt) and he will be at work tomorrow by 5am. He loves what he does, but  . . .

Quote:

Originally Posted by NotAFarm 

SCG,  I don't have experience with this, but a local neighbor told me that if you butcher ducks after a couple of hard frosts, they will have fewer pin feathers.  She won't butcher her muscovies until November at the earliest.  Maybe your timing was just off.  Another tip....put Dawn dish washing liquied in the scald water to break down the oils on the duck feathers.  I've never done this......mind you..........I took mine to the processor and had them done for $5 each......  still had a few pins that I had to remove but all-in-all well worth the $5.

I did my geese in Feb with a LOT of dawn, I'll pay $5 for a bird next time!!!! LOL

This is my Royal Palm

You can see the markings are starting to come in.

Hopefully he/she can't hear me...................when I picked it up to take the photo, this is one meaty feeling bird!  Maybe it will make the cut to stay as a breeder.  I have poults coming from Porter's a week from Monday.

Deb

Hey Deb,

I was thinking of ordering from Porters too. Just so many to select from. I wanted info beyond color; I would buy one of everythng just for the colors! Hard to find info on temperament, hardiness,etc. ANy thoughts?