Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[RoostersCrow HensDeliver!]

One chick I hatched (and culled) had crooked beak and was missing one eye. So they can be born without eyes. All its other siblings were normal.
Years ago, I had a black sex link chick from a hatchery that only had one eye, the eyeless side of her face was flatter than the normal side. She lived a completely normal life, layed eggs...we fondly called her "crazy b****" after the song, she was a little nutty

 

[mindylee]

Years ago, I had a black sex link chick from a hatchery that only had one eye, the eyeless side of her face was flatter than the normal side. She lived a completely normal life, layed eggs...we fondly called her "crazy b****" after the song, she was a little nutty [/quote]

Lol

 

[naglady]

fuzzy - yes your temp should be up in a still air incubator.. if you had a fan in your bator then 98-99 would work.. when temp is lower your chicks may be on the smaller side and not hatch ontime. maybe give them till day 25..

 

[fuzzybutt love]

Incubator issues likely.....i hope mine isn't deformed! These crazy weather fluctuations are terrible with this bator.

 

[Candy442]

Aww, liked the goat pictures! Here is today's picture of Oliver.

So Oliver's ears are ok from the frostbite?

 

[naglady]

Fuzzy - well its all a learning curve, figuring out what works for your incubator..trick is keeping the temp steady without touching the knob.. and around day 14 your temp will spike thats when i start taking out red plugs, and sometimes take towel off. works great. good luck

 

[jerabu]

Aww, liked the goat pictures! Here is today's picture of Oliver.

My turkeys finally started laying! Woot! Spring is here!!!

Tapped one of our Maple trees today for the first time. Hope its not too late in the year.

Tapped it at 10 am this morning, and by 6 pm, got about 1.5 gal.

I will be happy just to get a quart of syrup or a bit less. Just trying out a little bit at a time, if it goes well this year, then next spring I will do a bit more.

Maple sap coming out of a tree is very dilute, and will need to be boiled down to evaporate the excess water. Typically, the sap you get from your tree will only be 1-2% sugar, and will need a lot of reduction to turn it into syrup. One gallon of syrup typically requires 50-90 gallons of sap, depending on sugar content in the sap.

The sap flows best when the nights are below freezing, and the daytime temps are above freezing. So now should be a good time to tap.

 

[jerabu]

Does anyone use a thermostat on their incubators?

With my reptile hobby, I have to keep many of my snakes hot and/or humid - not unlike an incubator.

I prefer Radiant Heat panels for my larger cage. When run on a thermostat, they maintain a perfect temperature for my tropical pythons. They tolerate humid conditions, and surface temps are not hot enough to cause burn damage.

I used to use something called a ceramic heat emitter - and they will heat an enclosure, but the surface temps on them can get over 500 degrees.

 

[naglady]

I just have a still air, no thermastat

 

[tori8780]

I have 3 white Chantecler chicks if anyone is interested. I am in GR.