She said/He said Who's right? Who's wrong? No one!

[AmyLynn2374]

Well, by now most anyone who has been on BYC for any amount of time has it figured out that people do things differently. People have different philosophies. And though we may disagree with someone else's methods, that does not mean their method is WRONG. If a method is working and a person is happy with their results, then that's what they should be doing. As long as it's good for the hatcher and the chicks that's what counts.

Some of us acknowledge that there are different ways to do things and we encourage others by showing BOTH sides to what we do and don't do so that the new hatcher can find their comfort zone and not be scared to experience things for THEMSELVES.

So, for a little fun and to show differences in hatch techniques, philosophies and even equiptment, @scflock and I have decided to start a thread and are in preparation in the next two - three weeks (hopefully) to have a hatching match. We are almost as different as night and day in our hatching, yet we have similar results. So we thought we'd have a little fun with it and go head to head in the thread. We'd also like to hear other's inputs on what they find works/doesn't work for them. This thread is meant to be an entertaining mesh of philosophies and practices not a place to argue and get personal, so if you can keep it light and fun, please join us for our "differences match". Now it's time to meet the oppponents:

In the "blue corner" we have sc "set em and forget em" flock. Armed with his Brinsea, SC has a conservative hatching view. No touchy after lockdown and keep that bator closed. No, he will not aid in the hatch of a chick (unless under rare circumstances) and those babies aren't getting out of there for a couple days after hatch! Sorry guys, make yourself comfortable, you're there for a while.

In the "red corner" we have Amy, "The Humidity Queen". Struggling with her ancient little giant 9200 (fan forced at least) she has a more liberal outlook on hatching. (Maybe it's because she is usually sleep deprivated during hatch from the constant monitoring of that LG incubator she is using.) Whatever the reason, lockdown is as normal a time to do "last" candle and marking eggs, take out the turner- if she is using it, lay those babies down and step back. But hands off?? Oh no, The Humidity Queen could also be called "The masked meddler". This hatcher is not hands off. Humidity is up and she is ready to remove chicks as they hatch and get them in the brooder. Grab out those shells and flip that pipper over! If there's trouble in the air, don't worry, she's there to aid the little guy that's stuck.

This should be an eventful match (once we get it off the ground.) The red contestant just needs a couple weeks to get oragnized and for her newly housed pullets to get organized and back on the laying consistantly plus a couple more weeks of size consistancy wouldn't hurt either, so meanwhile, join the discussion and tell us what you've found that works for you.

 

[BYC910]

Originally Posted by BYC910


.you all have heard me say my son has autism he's 22 and looks just like his uncle Ron my brother that died double heart break there any way last week he said mommy for the first time. that was a great day . Ben is for the most part nonverbal but has a laugh that lights up the world . he' the main reason I have stayed self employed . when things are going wrong with work I don't get upset because everything I run into can be fixed with time and money . while one part of my life is very hard .that part makes the rest seem so easy. enjoy Friday and all that comes with it we have sunshine today

BYC: My hubby says, "Everybody has a story to tell." Thank you so very much for telling a bit of your story. When we share our stories, it puts the trivial every day stuff into perspective. Because, when it gets right down to it, what's more important than people? I bet Ben does have a wonderful laugh, because it's a universal language that is understood by everybody. His next word will be Daddy!

Ben has always said daddy I'm his favorite person in the world if my truck starts he is supposed to be in it. daddy and daddy's boy when he was little he would say daddy byby see ya horsee tractor allie which was for Alex his older brother and big bird by three years old he had lost it all but daddy and allie and every once in a while he comes out with random words if you can make them out he's my buddy he goes almost every where I go except work and sometimes even there. depends If its safe or not for him. he's a hand full took five of us to give him a TV test on Monday. if he goes somewhere once he remembers it if he goes back and what happened to him there. doctors office is the worst . I would not give my son up for any reason . only death will take me away from him.

 

[AmyPaperlady]

Life story, huh? C'mon, all I said in Oz's thread was how I found it (not exactly relevent here) and stuff that I'd said here, just more spread out.

But hey, I'll give you my life story. Sit back, and prepare to be BORED...

Now, I don't see much point in telling stuff that happened before I was old enough to remember, 'cept that Mom and Dad divorced when I was still in diapers, early-mid Seventies. My first actual memory has been dated for me as the day before Mom married my stepdad, Daddy Bob--a month before my 3rd birthday. Now, who here remembers Wonder Horses? For those that don't (and for dan, who I'd be surprised if he's seen a *real* one unless it was at a second-hand store or in an attic somewhere) they were plastic horses held in a metal framework with springs, that you rode by bouncing. The one I had was a bit big for me--the only way I could get off by myself was by sliding over the tail. Well, this day, my timing was evidently off, and my right upper incisor met the crest of the tail. The tail won. Now, the part that probably isn't a real first-hand memory, but simply ingrained by hearing the story so often--since I was bleeding, I insisted on Bactine and a bandaid. Got quite upset when my demands weren't met, I'm sure. My aunt tells me that, for the next few years, she was asked if I was a little slow. Understandable--a bright 3/4/5-year-old is a bit smaller and less advanced than you expect a child who is missing an upper incisor to be.

My Dad remarried when I was around 4, I think. All I really remember of the wedding was that it was an outdoor wedding at Grandma and Grandpa Hopper's house, it rained, and my soon-to-be-and-now-ex stepsisters and I were all wearing the same dress, a red calico sleeveless sundress. Whether we were part of the wedding party or not, I have no idea, though, if I was 4, then the others were 6 and 2, maybe not. In hindsight, I know I was fortunate--my parents got along with each other and with their ex's spouses, and my stepparents also got along. If not, they did a pretty darn good job of simulating it for over a decade, so that's good enough for me.

My half-brother was born 2 weeks after my 5th birthday. We later learned that there were excessive amounts of manganese in the water where we lived when Mom was pregnant with him, and up until he was 2. This caused physical brain damage in Toby. We also learned that the developers knew of the manganese. I'm not going to go any further with that now, because I'll get all ranty and totally derailed from my life story, and I haven't even hit 2 digits yet.

All through school, I was convinced I was ugly. In fact, almost the only long-running argument I had with Mom is that she tried to convince me I was not. But thick glasses since 2nd grade and an overbite severe enough that I could fit my thumb in sideways between the back of my top front teeth and the front of my bottom teeth (I wasn't a thumb-sucker, this was just done for measurement purposes--actual measurement at age 14 was 14mm) conspired against her. Even now, well past orthdontics and with contacts (or glasses not from the early '80s) I have to be in the right frame of mind to really see myself as attractive. Probably one reason I have trouble seeing it when people say my older daughter looks just like me--we're going to be beating boys off with sticks here pretty darn soon.

We moved a lot when I was a kid--I went to 3 different schools in 3rd grade--yet I wasn't a military brat (usually the first question asked when I mention the lots-of-moving). I'm guessing that more outgoing people would learn to make friends quickly under such circumstances. I went the opposite direction--why bother when I'd be leaving them behind forever anyway? Oh, don't get me wrong--I had friends, just not lots, and not generally close. Granted, part of that was due to being the non-disabled sibling, but most was due to shyness (huge shocker there, I know). Just about all my birthdays were family-only--since my birthday is 3 days after Christmas, I was generally hundreds of miles away from home with the other side of the family.

Baba (my maternal grandfather) lost the battle with lung cancer when I was in 7th or 8th grade.

At the end of 8th grade, we moved from Salem, Oregon (yes, I need to specify which Salem--I can think of at least 4 in the US ) to Crescent City, California, thus enabling me to say that I remember a lot of businesses that haven't been around for decades, and making me one of those annoying people that can give directions by saying stuff like, "Turn at where thus-and-such used to be." Took me ages to call Ocean World, Ocean World, instead of the old name, though I still think of it mostly by the old name. I'm still not sure what is where The Tired Chicken used to be--it's either an insurance office or a barber shop--I'm not often at that particular part of town, and it's changed so often.

The end of that summer, it was decided that I'd switch to living with Dad so I could get my overbite taken care of. My stepmom worked for the state of Oregon, and her health insurance would cover me if I was living with them. So I moved, and instead of living with Mom and Daddy Bob and Toby and visiting Dad, Wendy, Connie, and Tammy for summers and such (and weekends when we weren't hundreds of miles away), 'twas the other way 'round. Fortunately, at that time, Greyhound still actually came to Crescent City.

I lived with Dad, Wendy, and the girls the first two years of highschool, then Dad and Wendy got divorced towards the end of my sophomore year. I finished out the school year at Stayton Union, then moved back with Dad after my summer visit to Mom and them (Dad had moved out before the end of the school year and moved to Salem). Finished highschool at Sprague in Salem as part of the 20th graduating class in 1992. I didn't really do much in highschool--I was the teen that avoided the crowds in the lunchroom by reading in the library and then eating a huge lunch once I got home from school. Didn't do much homework--I did really well in classes that had tests weighted heavily, and less well in classes that had outside work. I still remember that in Genetics, the teacher changed the weighting of a project I never got around to doing, and lowered the importance of the tests we'd been taking all along--my grade went from an A to a C. Whoops...

After highschool, I bounced between my Grandma's and my Dad's for almost a year (with the summer and Christmas down at Mom's) for almost a year, then I moved back in with Mom. I was finally able to get a job at the video department of a local grocery store, which lasted until the video department closed about 9 months later (there were 8 video rental places within 2 square miles). During that time, on a family trip, I had a full-blown seizure in the back seat of the car. We happened to be going by a town with a hospital right then, so I was taken into the ER (by that time, I was conscious, but still a little fuzzy). They did a CAT scan and couldn't find anything. Nothing unusual, that is

They did give me some antibiotics for a sinus infection they saw forming that hadn't manifested yet, so I suppose the time wasn't completely wasted... Now, since my freshman year at highschool, I'd been found collapsed in the hallway after PE (I still say I'd just passed out from low blood sugar--I hadn't eaten that morning, and that day we did these horrible circuit things that wiped me out even when I'd eaten a lot beforehand--and the "convulsions" were probably me trying to get up after becoming semi-conscious), this was technically my second seizure... Anyway, a week or two after the car trip--just enough time for my bitten tongue to be almost finished healing--I was called in to work on my day off. I told the manager I wasn't feeling well, but there was no one else available, and I was told I could just sit and man the video register--I didn't have to do any of the other stuff I'd normally be doing. So I went in, and a little while later, I was coming to behind the counter with the manager standing over me. Evidently, I'd disappeared, and was found when she'd come over to page me. If I remember right no seizure activity was witnessed, but since I'd bitten my tongue in the exact same spot, I probably had had another seizure. Since I had two seizures in less than two weeks, it was off to a neurologist for me. I was still on my dad's insurance, so I needed to go up to Salem. Even if I'd gotten around to getting my driver's license by this point, I wouldn't've driven myself--a 6 hour drive by myself when I'd been having seizures would've been just plain stupid. No reason was found for my seizures after MRIs and EEGs and blood tests, so I was just told that I had epilepsy and was given an anticonvulsant--which worked great for me with no side effects, and all my monitoring blood tests while I was on it came back with no problems, so yay.

After the video department at ShopSmart closed, I did some jobhunting, but wasn't particularly successful. So I started classes at CR, the local community college. There, I met the man that was to become my husband.

Oo, and I get to tell the story the long way, and nobody can stop me. Mwahahahahaha!

So, I was going to CR, and it turned out that the group in charge of Earth Day activities at the college was meeting in one of my classrooms just before my class. I figured I'd go ahead and get to campus about half an hour early on meeting days and help figure out what we were going to do. We ended up organizing a poetry reading in the library. After lots of organizing, the day came. Since I'd helped with the set up, I figured I might as well stay for the reading, even though I've never really been a fan of poetry. Being there early meant that I was able to snag a seat on one of the couches instead of one of the folding chairs, though the couches were along the wall, and so one needed to sit a little sideways to see the speaker. I was sitting on the side of the couch closer to the front. This young, skinny guy came along later and sat next to me. I was slouched a little forward, and saw him out of the corner of my eye bend a bit forward, too. I started kind of shifting back and forth, watching to see if he did, too. by the end of the event, I wasn't sure if he had been looking at me or trying to see around me. Found out later that he was just trying to see... Anyway, a few weeks later was a school picnic (small community college) with a talent show. I managed to slip a note to the guy, who happened to win a couple of movie passes in the talent show later. We went out. After we'd been going out for a couple of weeks, I found out that I was 4 years older than Tom. I was 21. Therefore, I was paranoid until his birthday 6 months later (which he still thinks is ridiculous--technically, though, I could've been in trouble...) Shortly after his birthday, Tom proposed. I said yes. We were engaged for about a year and a half, and got married after getting our Associate degrees. My dad died a couple weeks before the wedding--he'd had MS that had taken forever and multiple biopsies to diagnose after it suddenly manifested. He was 49.

We'd planned to go to Victoria, British Columbia for our honeymoon. Unfortunately, I lost my wallet about 5 days before the wedding. So we went to the San Juan Islands, instead. On a whale-watching trip, we ended up in Canadian waters anyway--the only time I've been out of the US. After the honeymoon, we started the school year at HSU, down in Arcata.

OK, so I've only gotten to age 23 (1997), so this isn't my whole life story, but I'm already almost 700 posts from when I decided to do this so I'll just write a quick summary of the important stuff so I can be done!

Graduated HSU December 1999, with a BA in Studio Arts. Haven't done real art since. Moved to Redding.

April of 2000, Mom died of brain cancer, which presented itself quite quickly. 9 months from a clear MRI after sudden seizures to an MRI showing a tumor that looked like someone poured tar into her brain, filling convolutions. Inoperable. Some ugly stuff surrounding. So I was an orphan at 26. Mom was 52.

April 2001, moved to Sacramento because I got a job with the State Treasurer's Office.

July of 2001, I found a website that I'm still part of, h2g2. The chicken articles I've written, both the big ol' overview one and the personal account one, are both posted to there. Thanks to h2g2, I have friends on every continent except South America and Antarctica, though most are in the UK.

Late July/early August 2002, first ever flight to meet some folks from h2g2. First time on the East Coast (landed in NY, meet-up in Lancaster, PA). Went to Hershey Park, found out why everyone told me I was crazy for going to Pennsylvania for an outdoor activity in August. Was assured by locals it was less humid than usual, due to drought...

July 2003, on the anniversary of my joining h2g2, no less, Faith was born. Online, she is also known as PaperKid (originally PaperBaby). She's starting a blog right now--the first post isn't written yet, but she is getting the About Me bit written (nice and anonymous).

March 2004, lost Daddy Bob. He was 74. No one had expected him to outlive Mom.

March 2005, lost Grandma.

December 2005, moved to Klamath.

May 2006, moved to Crescent City.

September 2006, started working for the school district as an IA (temporary until January 2007, permanent since.)

Summer 2007 started househunting.

February 2009, Kenna Grace (goes by Grace--Kenna is for my dad, Kenneth, who went by his middle name, Edmund--could not think of a not-ugly way to feminize Edmund) is born. Known as Notepad online.

April 2012, finally got the keys to the house we'd finally found that we could actually get a large enough loan for.

Summer 2013--Tom mentions maybe getting chickens. I start researching, then converting an outbuilding...

October 2013, get our first hens.

2014-2015 school year, 4 different teachers. Not a fun school year.

September 14, 2015, Frieda lays first post-broody egg!

 

[Kraftcrazychick]

You think you're confused now, just wait until you get to the last few pages

 

[scflock]

Ok, yesterday's wrap up:

Amylynn learned it takes a village, Ruby and ross have expensive pairs, WV is experimenting with a gateway drug, Walnut went to the fair and got hungry, silkie can't buy tribbles so Friday is going to sell her some beachfront property, William Shatner played Riker in OZ, silkie finally called me dad, don't take AmyLynn's red marker, public schools turn you into scflock, BR hates doctors, M Night Shamalamadingdong writes bad movies, BYC is the head of the TN militia, Ruby and silkie are commoners,Walnut and mixedupturk are stealing Brinseas, rats are better al dente, BYC ordered a bride, my mind is a silly place, paper elevators ruin movies, BR's dogs herd cats, Ravyn is a monsterbator, ross thinks guy's nipples are ok, gachooks is a silly English K-N-I-G-H-T, parrots are funnier than Spam, sideWing is an enabler, BCM roos are goofy, AmyLynn can't loose, AmyP only speaks when spoken to, BYC loves Nawleans, and I just work for Vizzini to pay the bills, there's not a lot of money in revenge

 

[Ravynscroft]

As this is my 5000th post, I gotta dedicate it...

So I dedicate this post to...

SC!!!

Everyone, meet SC the BCM...

He earned the name since every time I looked in the bator he was sitting in the corner screaming his head off...

 

[AmyLynn2374]

 

[scflock]

If anyone is meeting us for the first time, don't think we are fighting. I have an abrasive sense of humor, and Amy takes it well, so I give her a lot of grief. She also knows that even though I pick on her habitual meddling and microwave of an incubator, I respect her techniques and results. I think anyone hatching in styrofoam should talk to Amy before their first hatch. Those things are very touchy, and the manuals that come with them are horrible, but Amy has come up with a lot of ways to overcome those issues.
Anyone using a Brinsea doesn't really need to talk to me because, well, it's a Brinsea. As long as you plugged it in, 90% of your eggs will hatch.
I don't really pick on Amy because of her equipment. I actually think it's more impressive to hatch 90% in an LG than it is in a Brinsea. There are also many more people using styrofoam and home made incubators than there are using the more expensive ones. I think the main reason we wanted to do this thread was to show the differences in our techniques during lockdown. There are always threads on here about "should I help", or "It pipped an hour ago and still hasn't hatched!". Amy helps, I don't, and we both have our reasons for why we do things. We wanted this thread to be a place where we could show 2 vastly different techniques that both get good results. In the end, what works for you is what works for you. If you are currently hatching, or plan on setting soon, go ahead and jump into the thread. I'm not sure when Amy will be setting again, and I'm hatching next week, so no need to wait for us.
I think this will be a fun and informative thread, full of these:

 

[AmyPaperlady]

Sheesh, guys, I'm gone for nearly 3 days, and I'm only behind 700-some posts (granted, nearly 800 by the time I caught up)? Did someone steal your internet?

Took my older daughter with me to the women's retreat with our old church Thursday--thought I'd share a pic

 

[BYC910]

I really feel bad about my post about someone's gender, I really wish I hadn't...but at the same time, there's really something to be said about revealing who is of what gender...I know I will be surprised, and I think it could really be empowering. Ok, so we all think Amy is F, and SC is M...and I'm clearly a dumb M...and Ruby is clearly an amazing F...but their are lots of others who haven't wanted to state. I get that, not trying to get anyone date requests from guys with useless flocks.

I really didn't intend to bring up the gender issue, but its clear I screwed up, and if you don't state your gender but state what you've experienced, is there an opportunity here to give more insight into who farms? Or should I let my paux faux lie on the ground??

Not a problem at all I would think .everyone who post on here seems to be supper nice and really in to there chickens .always ready to jump in and help with whatever. If you read from the beginning when SC had everyone trying figure out who we all were like you wouldn't have been able to stop laughing. I'm either John boy's daddy or uncle Jessie from the Dukes of Hazard. My wife says maybe John Boy's daddy but not uncle Jessie .this is just a really good thread where you can say and ask almost anything , someone has it covered .we know everything just ask us we'll tell you and what we don't know well we'll find someone else who will know so you fit right in. my wife tells me all the time I'm not normal so I feel right at home here.