Maine

[ashandvine]

Feather leg could be a light brahma. Let's see the face. Any muffs?
I am nearly ready to stop hatching chickens. I got a goose egg yesterday, unbroken this time, and I have more than enough chicks going on. I am selling hatching eggs and chicks if anyone wants blue egg layers or green egg layers. I also have a couple blue/gold Hedemora that I think are cockerels. I will have pure eggs too but they aren't cheap and folks tend to want the cheap chicks.
We're boiling down sap and getting seeds started. Spring cleaning is just begging to be done. After all the work to keep warm this winter my body says 'rest' but of course there isn't going to be any of that till MAYBE summer hammock days.

 

[Widget]

Tomorrow is my last scheduled morning at the airport. Glad the season is over so I can have two days off a week once again. But at the same time I will miss it, It is so rare to have a job you mostly look forward to going to even if it means getting up at 330. And as much as I look forward to it starting up again in the fall that also means that winter will soon be here again.

So next weekend I know more snow will be gone, there will be plenty of mud and just plain soft ground and I will be able to see what needs to be done around the place. Will I end up accomplishing anything? Probably not. I think having one weekend where I can just relax is in order. Well I can not say that it will be completely relaxing since Bennett is scheduled to meet and leave with his new family at some point.

Best news so far is that the water tank is finally melting so the horses can drink from that now. No more lugging out buckets of water every day. Plus with the garden hose uncovered and with the daily temperatures often well above freezing I can fill the tank with the hose.

 

[lazy gardener]

Hooray for warm weather!!!! My girls have been out to play in the yard every day. I had one shrink wrapped chick that I had to peel out of the shell. 2 more that might need help, one more looks ok for now, 5 more unpipped. will candle them tonight and see if they need more time or intervention. 6 chicks have gone to new homes.

7 y.o. has the stomach flu, and the house has been like grand central all day with people coming and going. I'm looking forward to bed time tonight!!

 

[Jazor]

It could be a light brahma, it just doesn't look like the others that were there...can't rule it out either way. I like feathered-foot critters though, it's fine with me.

The light brahmas had grey on them, much like the buggers in this video from Murray McMurray's YouTube channel.

 

[mckenney]

Aw, shucks. Do you think it was an incubator issue? I'm just starting to learn about hatching eggs, and it seems like there are a lot of variables involved.

Congratulations on your two!

I think humidity was too high- it was hard to regulate and by the time I figured out how to stabilize it, I think it was too late. So I'm on day 24 and I see one egg slightly moving still... tempted to get into the air cell and remove it... thoughts? The first egg (smaller than the rest) hatched on day 21- the second started zipping on 21... got stuck and I helped it on day 23. Any thoughts anyone? Everything seems to tell me to leave it alone, but I feel like it might be malpositioned. It is a marans egg, so I can't see in.

 

[lazy gardener]

McKenney: we're a bit of in the same boat... swinging by the seat of our pants and battling humidity issues. I let my hatch run in the 15 - 30 range, and increased to 40 - 45% during the last day or so of lock down. The first flush of chicks out did real well, but the late arrivals have been dry, some of them being among the first few to pip. I peeled one out down to the lower third of the shell, then put her back with a bit of membrane still sticking to her neck, immobilizing one wing, and across one flank and leg. She finally kicked free of the shell, and looked like her left leg was deformed, screwed on backwards. I left her alone for about 4 hours. she looked absolutely pathetic, so I finally took her into the steamy bathroom, filled the sink with tepid water, and went at her with q-tips. She loosened up in the water, and the leg moved into the correct position. She's now sprawled on her back in the incubator... in the "Help, I've fallen and can't get up!" position, and shivering. If she survives, we'll call her Phoenix. She's a nice sized little girl. The last few hatchlings appear to have a few problems. The other female looks like she has a hernia. I'll get a closer look when she moves to the brooder. My humidity is way too high... I overcompensated when the last few eggs went dry. There are 5 un-pipped eggs. Hope to be able to clean out the extra moisture and candle the remaining eggs tonight. See if there's anything to salvage.

 

[lazy gardener]

McKenney: we're a bit of in the same boat... swinging by the seat of our pants and battling humidity issues. I let my hatch run in the 15 - 30 range, and increased to 40 - 45% during the last day or so of lock down. The first flush of chicks out did real well, but the late arrivals have been dry, some of them being among the first few to pip. I peeled one out down to the lower third of the shell, then put her back with a bit of membrane still sticking to her neck, immobilizing one wing, and across one flank and leg. She finally kicked free of the shell, and looked like her left leg was deformed, screwed on backwards. I left her alone for about 4 hours. she looked absolutely pathetic, so I finally took her into the steamy bathroom, filled the sink with tepid water, and went at her with q-tips. She loosened up in the water, and the leg moved into the correct position. She's now sprawled on her back in the incubator... in the "Help, I've fallen and can't get up!" position, and shivering. If she survives, we'll call her Phoenix. She's a nice sized little girl. The last few hatchlings appear to have a few problems. The other female looks like she has a hernia. I'll get a closer look when she moves to the brooder. of course the boys are fine... My humidity is way too high... I overcompensated when the last few eggs went dry. There are 5 un-pipped eggs. Hope to be able to clean out the extra moisture and candle the remaining eggs tonight. See if there's anything to salvage.

 

[mckenney]

Gave my stuck chick a bath today too. She looks much better. I think I'll wait and let the remaining eggs do their thing....

 

[quailtrail]

I just got the ok to breed, grow and whatever needs to be next.....seriously... ok so need to move forward...I am in Maine. ... thoughts or ideas??? I want to bring hard to find breeds back to Maine

 

[buckabucka]

mckenny, or anyone else who is hatching, if you need to assist a chick out of the egg, I bookmarked this post. It was helpful to me.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching

I've run out of space under the lights for seedlings. Normally, the onions would be headed out in a couple of weeks, but there's still 3 feet of snow on the garden. I can see the snow gradually retreating. It will be interesting to see when I can actually start digging this year.