The 5th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!

[chicken pickin]

Only me. Only me, I swear. This could ONLY happen to me.

There I am at the Pub, secure in the knowledge I will be picking up some chicken breed eggs tomorrow I don't have in my flock. One of the other regular Pub customers is a beekeeper and a regular handyman who has, in the past, raised chickens, ducklings and doves, even says he has an old incubator in storage... We frequently chat about silkies being broody, how much easier it is when hens hatch eggs, etc.. He isn't present; this is just the backstory to this tale. He knows I am setting eggs under a silkie hen for an Easter HAL.

One of the owners of the Pub - Ian - lives next to my Thistle Dew Ranch property. The beekeeper lives on Ian's property in a fifth wheel trailer. Another regular arrives, announcing Ian has hit and killed a wild turkey on the road, Ian and the beekeeper are considering cleaning the wild turkey carcass to cook it. A third regular hears this news and decides he will go get his knives from home and go over there to assist them (so the process is handled "right"). Laughing, he departs.

A short time later, the phone rings; the server answers it, listens, says,"Yes, she's here," then brings the phone to me. It is Ian.

The deceased turkey is a Jenny and she had an egg inside her. The beekeeper has told Ian it is hard-shelled enough to be a viable hatching candidate and urges him to ask ME to come rescue it, because I have a broody silkie.

Ian feels this is an opportune time to have me visit his property, have a glass of wine with the three of them, and salvage the turkey egg so his tenant doesn't get his tender heart broken. (I am paraphrasing much of what these three men said in this tale...)

The Jenny carcass is destined for a version of Coq au Vin. The guy with the knives opined frying would be the most appropriate cooking method. Ian and I, plus his lady friend who happened to call during the evisceration process agreed Coq Au Vin would be best. Ian will bring a small portion for me on Sunday evening, the Pub's Trivia Night (which I seldom miss).

Meanwhile, the not-laid egg was being kept warm inside the beekeeper's jacket next to his body; he put the precious thing in an empty coffee can half full of turkey down before handing it over to me.

And Sparkle has accepted the wild turkey egg. I may move it to a different broody hen when the planned-for Easter Hatch BCM eggs begin to hatch in three weeks....

This is a great story! I hope it works out well for you? What are your plans if the wild poult hatches?

 

[chicken pickin]

It's Friday ... It's Friday ... It's Friday. !!!! Good morning everybody !!!!! Happy Friday !!!!

LOL Good Morning! And Happy Friday to you!

 

[MontanaDolphin]

Okay random question!!! Where in your house do you all run your incubators?

I am trying to figure out which room to do. With 3 kids I can't have grabby hands that are in reach of it. My older two know better but my youngest would yank it down and throw eggs at the dog or something. I was thinking about keeping it in our bedroom on the dresser. Our room stays pretty constant. However, I am imagining that on hatch day(s) everyone will want to be gathered around... AND I am thinking the peeping will keep us awake those last days?? Hmmm just not sure and was curious where everyone else's was

That is exactly where I keep mine. Then, when I hear the first peep, I carefully move the incubator to my dining room table so there is enough room for everyone to gather 'round to watch the hatching (there's 6 people in my house...myself, hubby, two young boys, my mom and stepdad). This is what I did for the NYD hatchalong and it worked out perfectly!

 

[Gardeningmama]

Yesterday was hectic... I am not very outgoing on these threads because, well, I am just a recluse. I am going to break that pattern tonight.
I knew my turkey poults were coming in sometime in the AM yesterday. I was expecting a 6am call. I didn't get it. The night before my mother called to tell me my great grandfather wasn't doing well on Tuesday. He couldn't stand up without getting dizzy and weak. I was at his place at 8am to help him get his breakfast and pills. I stuck around and visited until almost 10:30. My great grandfather is going to be 95 in July. My great grandmother died almost 10 years ago. This man has had a stroke, heart attack two open heart surgeries, has diabetes, broke his ankle at 91 doing something with the tractor he wasn't supposed to and just finished radiation for prostate cancer. He lives alone and when he was able (up until last year) he tended a 1 acre garden, canned/froze the veges off it for himself, his youngest daughter and her daughter, he has always had at least 30 laying hens he sold eggs from, he cut, split, hauled and carried his own firewood and in his free time, he loves to bake. I mean, banana cream pie, cookies, cherry cheese cakes... really good stuff. Point is, his health is going down hill now and he hasn't been himself lately.

My mom called me to let me know my OH was calling her telling her my poults were in. I finally got out of great grandpap's (he talks your ear off) and got home to my husband telling me that the mail carrier had my poults and was delivering them. I freaked out. Um... Window down for three hours?! Who wasn't using their brains? I said I would be over for them. I told the PO the day before. I told the OH to tell them I was on my way... Well, they were all live when the mail guy picked them up. One was dead when they got here and 3 not far behind it. I lost four poults. They were so cold. I put them in the pen and tried dunking their beaks but everyone was more worried about the heat lamp - rightfully so. I think if I could have gotten 2 of the 4 to drink they would have made it. I went out an hour later and they still would not drink. Another two hours after that I finally got them to get drinks! It was a crazy poult marathon! They would run back and forth from me to the water and back!







Photo Bomb!


Another Photo Bomb!


That 'bomb' was my daughter's hand.



On top of the disappointing turkey losses (Meyer refunded me, though), I got a disappointing egg package today. I had to run to the bank and PO for boxes - then to pap's to check on him. When I got back, mail ran already. I opened the new Garmin (we are behind the times - this is our first GPS), I got myself a digital scale to weigh my egg shipments now and the quail eggs. I got these off eBay. I picked the box up and heard them rattling around. My heart sank. I unpacked the box to find the eggs flopping around freely in quail egg cartons (the plastic ones). I found 7 visibly broke and wrote her about my displeasure.

This is her reply back:
Quote:

I told her I would candle to see how many more were cracked that I could visibly see. I have a grand total of 15 damaged eggs and she is STILL insisting her packing methods are fine. Instead of rethinking her packing, she is going to get denser foam to wrap the plastic cartons in! -headdesk-


Otherwise, my day has been pretty boring. How are all of you doing?

I loved the story about your Great Gramps...

... Sorry about your poult loss. but glad some made it too. About the shipping, I'd be mad but knowing me I wouldn't say anything...I'm Miss Meek, lol!

I got my first pheasant egg! Just in time for the hatch-a-long! I'm hoping she lays another one tomorrow so I can set two. This is from a Lady Amherst female crossed with a Red Golden male. They take about 22 days to hatch so I will be setting it tomorrow a day prior to my chicken eggs.

JEALOUS!!! Congrats!

Only me. Only me, I swear. This could ONLY happen to me.

There I am at the Pub, secure in the knowledge I will be picking up some chicken breed eggs tomorrow I don't have in my flock. One of the other regular Pub customers is a beekeeper and a regular handyman who has, in the past, raised chickens, ducklings and doves, even says he has an old incubator in storage... We frequently chat about silkies being broody, how much easier it is when hens hatch eggs, etc.. He isn't present; this is just the backstory to this tale. He knows I am setting eggs under a silkie hen for an Easter HAL.

One of the owners of the Pub - Ian - lives next to my Thistle Dew Ranch property. The beekeeper lives on Ian's property in a fifth wheel trailer. Another regular arrives, announcing Ian has hit and killed a wild turkey on the road, Ian and the beekeeper are considering cleaning the wild turkey carcass to cook it. A third regular hears this news and decides he will go get his knives from home and go over there to assist them (so the process is handled "right"). Laughing, he departs.

A short time later, the phone rings; the server answers it, listens, says,"Yes, she's here," then brings the phone to me. It is Ian.

The deceased turkey is a Jenny and she had an egg inside her. The beekeeper has told Ian it is hard-shelled enough to be a viable hatching candidate and urges him to ask ME to come rescue it, because I have a broody silkie.

Ian feels this is an opportune time to have me visit his property, have a glass of wine with the three of them, and salvage the turkey egg so his tenant doesn't get his tender heart broken. (I am paraphrasing much of what these three men said in this tale...)

The Jenny carcass is destined for a version of Coq au Vin. The guy with the knives opined frying would be the most appropriate cooking method. Ian and I, plus his lady friend who happened to call during the evisceration process agreed Coq Au Vin would be best. Ian will bring a small portion for me on Sunday evening, the Pub's Trivia Night (which I seldom miss).

Meanwhile, the not-laid egg was being kept warm inside the beekeeper's jacket next to his body; he put the precious thing in an empty coffee can half full of turkey down before handing it over to me.

And Sparkle has accepted the wild turkey egg. I may move it to a different broody hen when the planned-for Easter Hatch BCM eggs begin to hatch in three weeks....

You had me laughing soo hard...sounds like a blast, and I want to go to a pub for trivia night. I hope the little egg makes it, it has to with such a story attached to it!

Quote:

And that's all I have to say about that!

It's Friday ... It's Friday ... It's Friday. !!!! Good morning everybody !!!!! Happy Friday !!!!

I Know, Right!!! Woot, Woot!!

 

[SilkieSensation]

Broke Down and fired up the second cabinet incubator and it is holding a nice steady temperature Woo Hoo Just couldnt fit all the eggs in one and decided it wasn't worth trying to crowd them all in to one. So I have two going plus to styros that are holding lock down eggs now and one Janoel48 that has quail and muskovy eggs in it. Muskovys will hatch for the easter hatchalong.

Now you have room for Rainbow Layers.

Ty
Quote: See below.

Anybody up? I'm freaking out right now. I set my eggs tonight. After my incubator held a steady 99.5 all day, I put the eggs in and it dropped to 90. Stupid me I put them in at 9:45pm, and I've been trying to get the temp up after it only got up to 93 in two hours. How long does it take for the temp to adjust after putting eggs in?? I'm scared to go to bed and have the temp spike high while I'm sleeping.

It will be fine by morning.

Quote: Don't use the water wells in the bottom of the bator. If humidity is off it's too hard to fix without tearing the whole thing apart. Use pint jars or small 1/2 cup storage containers for water. Being in WV, 1 container should do well until lockdown, then add 2 more. (I'm in Ohio, so similar weather.) All I ever use is still air styros, so very familiar with your setup. I run mine with temps as close to 102F at the top of the eggs as I can get. If your humidity runs above 30% without water, then don't add any until lockdown. Still air can get away with hatching at a bit lower humidity as well. Aim for 50-60% for lockdown. It will jump higher once babies begin zipping & hatching.

Two silkies might have jumped in my shopping cart at TSC yesterday. Don't tell my kids...they already think I'm crazy. I put the new babies in with my 3 day olds I just hatched. The biggest BCM pecked the smallest silkie and it turned around and pecked back pretty hard. The BCM took off and hid behind the rest! She really put him in his place and now everyone piles together to sleep.

Ummmm, yup! Silkies may be small but they can hold their own...lol

 

[sasimpson77]

Now you have room for Rainbow Layers.

See below.

It will be fine by morning.

Don't use the water wells in the bottom of the bator. If humidity is off it's too hard to fix without tearing the whole thing apart. Use pint jars or small 1/2 cup storage containers for water. Being in WV, 1 container should do well until lockdown, then add 2 more. (I'm in Ohio, so similar weather.) All I ever use is still air styros, so very familiar with your setup. I run mine with temps as close to 102F at the top of the eggs as I can get. If your humidity runs above 30% without water, then don't add any until lockdown. Still air can get away with hatching at a bit lower humidity as well. Aim for 50-60% for lockdown. It will jump higher once babies begin zipping & hatching.


Ummmm, yup! Silkies may be small but they can hold their own...lol

LOL room in the bator but where am I going to put the resulting hatch kind of worried have 73 chicks in brooders right now thankfully 3 more leaving this weekend and an order for 7 more next weekend but I really only want to keep about 20 chicks so what will I do when I had the 400+ eggs in the incubators hatch at least half of one batch will be going back to my client but still makes me wonder, good thing they were sold out of chicks at farm and fleet lol I was eyeballing the empty chick tanks lol.

 

[mairead]

Okay i am a little confused the first post says to set chicken eggs on Saturday March 29th? today is Saturday 28th should i be setting them on Sunday the 29th? Just want to be clear so i don't miss setting my eggs! Thank you

 

[chickenlisa]

Okay i am a little confused the first post says to set chicken eggs on Saturday March 29th? today is Saturday 28th should i be setting them on Sunday the 29th? Just want to be clear so i don't miss setting my eggs! Thank you

Today is Friday the 28th...So glad it is Friday too! They can be set today or tomorrow- the rules say +/- 2 days, so it should be fine...
Lisa

 

[MontanaDolphin]

Mornin' ya'll...hoping someone's up who can help me.

I posted yesterday about some eggs I picked up locally (a dozen LF mixed eggs, 18 bantam mixed eggs). This is the first time I've ever bought eggs from anyone, but I have shipped eggs once (MarineCorpFarmer's eggbomb). I was particular when I chose which eggs I was going to send him...I only chose the cleanest eggs, chose eggs that were the right shape (you know, with a definite "egg shape" too them) and the right size (my flock is LF so I only chose the large eggs, not any small ones), and candled each one to make sure they had good air cell. My point is, I made sure they were good eggs.

Well, when I got home yesterday, I candled the eggs I picked up and started tracing air cells, as well as labeling each egg with either a number or a letter (to record which egg came from who, what possible breed it was, etc.). I was halfway through candling the LF mixed eggs when I discovered something floating around inside...and I realized it was a cluster of tiny bubbles. My mind started working in overdrive, thinking "how in the world did air bubbles get in there?" and then coming up with the answer "because there has to be a breach in the shell...it's the only way air can get in there like that". So I turned the light on (I was in the windowless bathroom with a flashlight) and looked over the egg. This is what I found (look at the tip of my fingernail in the first pic) :




Then, when I candled the bantam eggs, I noticed two of the silkie eggs had huge air cells, much bigger than the other tiny eggs (the two top left eggs...compare their air cells to the rest of the air cells I traced on the other eggs) :


So, I checked over both of those eggs in the light and found both have hairline fractures:






I sent messages to both people I got the eggs from. The woman who sold me the LF eggs replied right away and met me at the end of my road, bringing me two eggs to replace the one that was cracked. She was very apologetic...she told me she ALWAYS candles them before letting them go, but was in a rush that morning and totally forgot to. The other woman said she'd replace the two that have the hairline fractures, but I'll have to drive the 30 minutes to her house to pick them up.

So...here's my question. Can I repair the fractures in the two silkie eggs? I thought I read somewhere on this forum that people sometimes seal cracks with nail polish or super glue or wax. Can I do this with the silkie eggs? Or, because the air cells are so big, is it too late to save them?

 

[Anikaanimalgirl]

Oomoo, weighed 14 ounces when he hatched, now he is 23 OUNCES! this dude is growing FAST!!! btw I think the second emu is a girl.

that's really awesome!