4th Annual BYC NYD Hatch-a-long

[mrheinz77]

What would a NYD be without an BYC Hatch-a-long. This year Mahonri's crew has decided to pass the torch on to someone new. I'm assembleing my team and will post important information soo. Just a note, you may want to start lining up eggs soon. (Does anybody want to send me anything fun to hatch? )

On 11 December 2012, at noon local time (or later if you are not home) a bunch of people will be setting eggs. Most would call them crazy but I like to think that we are planning ahead. Planning ahead? My reasoning:
1. Chicks hatched Jan 1 will begin laying in early summer
2. Extra cockerels will make a great Mother's Day Feast.
3. Its the perfect time to hatch for late summer shows.
4. What else is there to do when it is COLD outside than chat with like minded individuals?
5. There are lots of contests with awesome prizes. (Thanks to the hard work of our AWESOME contest chairwomen we have some really nice prizes starting to come in)

This list could go on and on.

Please join us in the 4th Annual BYC New Years Day Hatch-a-long.

Click on this link to sign up. Sign Up Here


The following link takes you to important information
Important Information Page


Information for the NYD Hatch Egg Swap can be found here. Egg Swap


Click here for the Contest Page

I'd like to give a big THANK YOU to our corporate sponsors. If you get a chance, visit their web sites.

Sunnyside Up Micro Farm

Set Dates are as follows (thanks ColdUpNorth)

Muscovy (35 days) - 11/27/12
Goose (31 days) - 12/1/12
Duck, Turkey, Pheasant (28 days) - 12/4/12
Guinea Fowl (26 days) - 12/6/12
Chicken (21 days) - 12/11/12
Coturnix Quail (18 days) - 12/14/12

To clear up any confusion: Eggs will be set at 12:00 noon LOCAL time. Yes, this does mean that eggs will be set hours apart by different participants. This is why a picture will be needed of a wet chick with an atomic clock in the same picture. Here is a link to a good one.

When you set your eggs, please post a picture of the eggs so that we can verify how many eggs were set. All eggs need to be seen in the picture. Mstricer will copy the pictures and put them on a page for eggs set for the 4th Annual BYC NYD Hatch-a-long.


Guess how many eggs will be set for the NYD Hatch on the appropriate thread]
Nifty said both the thread and spreadsheet will be used.


Post pictures of how many eggs you set HERE



The link is now open to list how many eggs were set. Only post after you have set your last egg. Click HERE

Guess the first 3 chicks to hatch for mrheinz77. From the list below, pick the breed of the first 3 chicks to hatch. Then click here to enter your guesses on the form. For the tie breaker, I set 288 eggs.

Eggs set by mrheinz77
mrheinz77 egg list
Unknown
LF Cochin
Lavender Orpington
Iowa Blue
Bantam Black Wyandotte
Buff Brahma 2 days late
Olandsk Dwarf 2 days late
Bantam Chocolate Orpington 2 days late
BBS LF English Orp 2 days late
Icelandic
Olive Egger
Naked Neck Polish Project
Welsummer
Ameraucana
Bantam Marans Project
Light Sussex x Speckled Sussex
Bantam Langshan
Serama
Rose Comb Rhode Island Red
Naked Neck Welsummer Project
Unknown Bantam
Single Comb Rhode Island Red
Cuckoo Marans
Silver Sussex
English Orpington
Olandsk Dwarf
LF Langshan
Speckled Sussex
Easter Eggers
Light Sussex
Frizzle Bantam Cochin
Swedish Flower Hen Cross
Black Copper Marans
Coturnix Quail 1 day late

 

[FeyRaine]

Hey hatchers,
I'm only 37 pages behind after my Temper Tantrum on Monday. I'm going to try and catch up but does anybody want to give me some cliff notes?

BYC er love the NYD Hatchalong
& Ducks are cute

TONs & TONS of eggs were sett, are gonna be set & might be set
Little Brown Ducks are esp. cute

Some ppl have not yet gotten their MIA egg shippments, this worries us all greatly,
but looking at a cute Call Duck pic. makes us feel some better while waiting for missing eggs

There is some confusion about where to post what, esp. pictures for contests,
But Pictures of adorable Call Ducks are always welcome

BYC NYD Hatchers are all wishing they had set duck eggs, and some may move to the country soon so they can have ducks
Call Ducks hatching eggs are predicted to be in high demand for 2013

I maybe have had the wrong amount of coffee today,
But wow that WAS a cute duck!

mrheinz77 hope that was a helpful summery for you, oh, and we love you (& cute brown duck)

FeyRaine

 

[Coffeemama7]

Congrats to the winners of the posting contests!

I was not home yesterday to post...we had our 4-H kids out Christmas shopping for a family of 4 (ages 8, 9, 10 & 12).
The mother (addict) dropped them off at a family members house with the clothes on their backs and said "I'm DONE!"

The family member asked for help, but their church is too small, too many unemployed, to help.
We heard about the situation, and we took our 14 member group out to get clothing, pj's, toys, and a treat for each child. These kids fund raise and work year after year for their money, and instead of a Christmas party for themselves...they spent $240.00 of their hard earned money on kids they do not know! All they DO know is that now, they are having a better Christmas because of them! I am so blessed by these kids!

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

When receiving shipped eggs during winter (or colder months) we do the following:

• unpack as soon as we pick them up
• place in a holding flat pointy end down
• allow to warm to room temperature - pre heat the bator during this time
• once at room temp place in incubator with the turner OFF for 24 hours
• after 24 hours in the bator with the turner off it is flipped on.
• DONT FORGET if you use a hatcher to pre heat it by day 15 for chickens (day 20 for ducks) (day 25 for geese) so its ready

If any eggs have a wonky air cell they are left not being turned and propped at a 45* angle. We hand turn these 3-5 times a day until the air cell stabilizes.


We have additional steps taken for waterfowl eggs since they have other requirement. Our hatch rates run 98-99% for our own eggs and 89-92% on shipped eggs.

 

[chiqita]

LOCKDOWN!

For those of you that are new, lockdown is when you close the incubator lid turn off the turner and DO NOT TOUCH YOUR EGGS! Its the 3 days of crazy up and down excitement and worry when your eggs start to hatch. Why do you do this? Well for a couple of reasons. You stop turning so the baby chicks can get into position in the egg. You don't open the incubator so the humidity ( turned up) stays stable and no one get stuck in he egg. Once an egg is pipped it relies on the humidity of the air outside it to keep it moist enough to not get stuck in the membranes while they are zipping and escaping the egg.

Once the chicks are out of the egg they will start peeping like mad and "fluff" out over several hours. The question that will be asked several times over the next few days is " should I take this chick out of the incubator?" The answer will depend on many things including how well your incubator holds humidity. If there are pips on the other eggs, leave the chick if you can. If there are no pips then its a different story. If you want more advice on individual chicks, ask, that's what a hatch a long is for!

Once your chicks are out you will be sticking them in a brooder where they will be nice and toasty. You need a heat source that will give your chicks around 95 degrees and a place they can be safe from drafts and get air ( don't want it tightly closed) and something on the bottom that can be changed and is stable for them to walk on ( paper towels, old pillow case, newspaper that is NOT slick) so you can remove poop once they start . Keep an eye out for wobbly feet and pasty butt in your new chicks those are the 2 most common problems. Also, remember baby birds LOVE to drown themselves, so its not a bad idea to put rocks or marbles in their waterer so they don't fall asleep IN it and drown.

If you have a single chick hatch with no friends, you might want to put in a small mirror for them to look in and a stuffed friend for them to cuddle with. Also might want to find a friend for them if you can. Check craigslist ( can also ask on cl sometimes people who do not intend to sell chicks will feel compassion for your lonely baby) your friends, and local feed stores.

I'm sure there will be a lot of advice from our vets thats better then what I'm giving, so keep an eye on the thread. Ill post this again tomorrow at noon when people start moving the eggs. But I thought I'd start now.
Tomorrow the roller coaster starts, is everyone ready???

 

[mattfulleroc]

I don't know what in the world is going on..I was feeling really lousy last night...I had pretty much given up on the remaining eggs and was pleased to have the 2nd egg hatch 24 hours after the first. I went to bed and thought I would wake and they would both be dry. To my surprise tonight I opened the closet and peered into the incubator..It is full of chicks and the remaining eggs are zipping right now as I type this note!!!


So a word of advice to the late hatcher...Don't fret...don't obsess...toss the incubator in the closet and don't even worry about it....Once stopped staring at the darn thing the eggs decided to hatch!!!

 

[NotAFarm]

In my Fermented Feed, I use:

1. scratch grains,
2. Purina Flock Raiser crumbles or Layena pellets (depending on the age of the flock)
3. black oil sunflower seeds with the shell on
4. safflower seed without the shel
5. and sometimes others things (end of the oatmeal, heels of dry bread, veggie scraps, etc)

I started with Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar "with the Mother", about two tablespoons full, in 1 and 1/2 gallons of water straight from the outside hydrant in a three gallon bucket.
I added a large scoop of scratch, one third of a scoop of crumbles (or pellets), quarter of a scoop of black oil sunflower seeds, small handful of safflower seeds. I "swirl" the bucket around, cover with a piece of cardboard large enough to cover the whole top of the bucket.
I kept it in the barn during the fall but it now resides on the laundry room floor.
To feed, I have a plastic colander that put over a second bucket (mine is a horse water bucket that has one flat side intended to hang against a wall). I pour the mix into the colander which holds the grains, seeds and "swollen" crumbles/pellets. It drains while I open the coop doors and check waterers. I then put the mix into various bowls/dishes/troughs around the coop and yard so that everyone gets a fair chance to eat. I use a smaller plastic scoop to serve it up.
I take the liquid left from draining and put it back it the bucket and add water to get it back to 1 and 1/2 gallons and add the grains, seeds and feed. No need to add more ACV.
Great stuff! Finished my Freedom Rangers on it and now my flock all gets it.
I can post pics tomorrow of the buckets and colander if interested but right now it is my bedtime.......

 

[cluck-cluck]

Fermented Feed:

It has several benifits

it creates beneficial flora in the gut
it helps absorb vitamins, minerals, nutriants
the birds eat less
less waste in feed
saves money
helps to repel internal worms

New chicks once established on FF do not have stopped up bumbs
Adult birds have less odor in coops

Didn't know about the worms!

I still dont get what "feed" to use.... I get a premixed mash from the local feed mill.... this is what confuses me : (
I would love to at least do it for the layers and chicks!
AND what about winter freeze? Do you bucket it out to feed them?

Sally, I stopped here, several pages back, to let you know how I do it. I just have one bucket at the moment, I think two buckets would be best because then I could have the feed ferment longer. But as it is, what I do is try to feed everyone last time around noon, then I take my bag of mash, pour a bit more than I think I'll need for the next day into the bucket, add tepid water a couple of inches above the feed after stirring (it sucks up a lot of water) then set it down to ferment until about 9 AM the next day. The original bucket full, I added ACV to get the fermentation started. It smells like beer!

I use a spaghetti spoon to scoop and drain out the feed, then dish it out into bowls for the birds that way. It's easy and I just add feed the next afternoon to feed out the next morning, keeping it in the house at about 60-70 degrees. It may not be as long a fermentation as it should be though. I plan on doing this with two buckets so they get a day and a half to ferment instead. I'm using home depot orange buckets and lids (lids put on loosely to keep interior clean but allow the air to escape (it bubbles). I find this to be the easiest for me, rather than a double bucket system. Also, since I use mash, I think it'd go right through any holes I'd drill at the bottom, also, doesn't feed got through anyway and collect in the bottom bucket? I dunno? But it works for me and the birds like it

These are some gouldian finches I was hand feeding (they are terrible parents).

Deb

Wow, That's so cool! They kind of look like ants!

cool!! do you know if someone has pics of the strainer system you use? Think I should start with the chick starter? and can I do this for the ducklings feed and serama feed too?

You can ferment any mix that you normally use.

 

[Marty1876]

We all incubate (or broody hen) eggs, timed to hatch all the same day! Its way fun.

 

[mbmess2003]

signed up....will be my first hatching experience!