4th Annual BYC NYD Hatch-a-long

[mstricer]

some of my flock has coryza so I dont know if I want to hatch out their eggs. we will see

Hurray! It was sunny and warm today. So we cleaned out the garage and set up the troughs. Tomorrow I'll check all the lights, replace any dead ones, and get the brooders ready for chicks! Found out I need a few new waterers! Kids broke a few, but the feeders are clean and ready for fresh food.
Now I need to figure out how to cover the troughs (cracked 150 gal plastic horse troughs from the pasture. Don't hold water but work really well for brooders!). Any suggestions? The garage is not heated, and for the first few weeks I need to be able to keep the heat in, but still have air circulation.

It is going to be nice here until Wednesday

My dogs LOVE the chicken food... I always thought it was weird... They love the horse grain too!

Mine too and a cat

Anyone have a wafer thermostat that they would sell cheap?

Most hatcheries have them for 10$ you will be able to have them delivered by Wednesday if ordered today.

 

[mstricer]

Holy Moly this thread is BUSY!!! Looks like I might be able to participate afterall, DH gave me the ok to have chicks in the basement for a little while, which means I need to clean it

, lol... Right now all I'll have is some EE eggs to put in, but at least they'll be easy to sell come spring!! wishing my FBCM and Amer pullets would get going and lay some eggs for me before Dec 11th

Are they pullets? It took a long time for my girls to start to lay after the molted. I'm getting a number now.

 

[Aschenfire]

I have three little eggs from my two pullets so far...hoping to have at least a dozen to set on the 11th. I think they should be able to manage that.

 

[mstricer]

I have three little eggs from my two pullets so far...hoping to have at least a dozen to set on the 11th. I think they should be able to manage that.

you should get more then a dozen, my girls are now laying good, I went from 1 egg a day to 5.

 

[Coffeemama7]

Oh my gosh, you started all over again! LOL. My youngest is 11 and I had her when I was 38 years old (yah, I'm 49) I have an age spread too ;P At least when you're an older parent you tend not to over-protect (anymore, LOL) and I kinda think, if the kid survives, they're stronger, like MarineCorpFarmr said

We, too started over! Our first two are about to be 25 & 22, then we have two adopted they are 15 & 14! (YEA I'm almost 49, too) We have raised horses for 12 years, and my kids almost never get sick! I really believe the dirt is good for them! And the work ethic they get from having animals to be responsible for doesn't hurt them either!

 

[Coffeemama7]

you should get more then a dozen, my girls are now laying good, I went from 1 egg a day to 5.

What are you feeding them? Mine have slowed from 10 to 3!

 

[cluck-cluck]

Clucks- you want the surface area for evaporation to increase the humidity. Solid glass imo would be a good thermal mass. Like bricks glass would warm slow but cool slow as well (thermo-conductivity i believe)

I have too much surface area, and to keep it down (there is a slant to the bottom of the cooler) I have to make it so shallow it simply evaporates too fast and I get too much fluctuation in humidity. This way, I've cut down on surface area, and can put enough water in there to be stable in humidity for long periods of time. When humidity must be increased, and this happens at lockdown, so I'm already taking the eggs out to rearrange things, I can just take most of the glass out, increase the surface area of the water, and therefor the humidity. I'm glad the glass will act like bricks, that's great!

We have another question about our project here for all y'all experts

After "lockdown" at 18 days, when/if we are successful and get chicks, aren't they going to get into the water pan and drown or make a mess? We were going to take the water pan out when they started, before we learned from you all how crucial lockdown was. Should we modify our setup somehow?

Thanks!
Sheree

Just wanted to bump this, to make sure you see Lacy Blues' answer. You need hardware cloth over everything, fitting tight as possible to the sides, well, she wrote nicer (quoted below )

Holy Moly this thread is BUSY!!! Looks like I might be able to participate afterall, DH gave me the ok to have chicks in the basement for a little while, which means I need to clean it

, lol... Right now all I'll have is some EE eggs to put in, but at least they'll be easy to sell come spring!! wishing my FBCM and Amer pullets would get going and lay some eggs for me before Dec 11th

Yaaay, congratulations!

I believe that McMurray has them for less than $10, I'm thinking closer to $5
If you have some hardware cloth you can form it to cover your pan and extend down around the sides. That way they can't get in. It won't hurt them to open it quickly and cover the water pan or you can do it before lockdown.

X2

Oh my gosh, you started all over again! LOL. My youngest is 11 and I had her when I was 38 years old (yah, I'm 49) I have an age spread too ;P At least when you're an older parent you tend not to over-protect (anymore, LOL) and I kinda think, if the kid survives, they're stronger, like MarineCorpFarmr said

We, too started over! Our first two are about to be 25 & 22, then we have two adopted they are 15 & 14! (YEA I'm almost 49, too) We have raised horses for 12 years, and my kids almost never get sick! I really believe the dirt is good for them! And the work ethic they get from having animals to be responsible for doesn't hurt them either!

Hee hee hee, so wonderful they get to grow up in such a setting! It's almost sad the way we have to keep horses here (no place to graze or just roll in grass) At least most of our horses have never seen a field of grass in their lives, LOL, so they don't know what to miss!

 

[coldupnorth]

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Today is the day to set your geese eggs (most varieties anyways)!

 

[Talbott Poultry]

Quote: What I did was really simple and you probably have it already.

Take the mesh bag from onions or potatoes cut a piece to the size need including all the way down to the bottom of the sides
and simply wrap some duct tape to hold it in place.

You are still able to fill bit are not limiting the surface area.
The mesh is plenty strong enough to hold the chicks off the water,
and small enough they can not get their heads through it.

BTW: I love your home made bator.

 

[mstricer]

Quote: I feed my girls Laynea Plus, and they free range. The light change is what is probably making them not lay. I was having problems with not getting eggs and figured out they were still in molt. I added a 20 watt bulb, I had 3 orders of eggs that needed to go out, so I added light until I get those orders filled then I will slowly remove the light again. Hopefully the egg production will continue after. I want my Marans to have a slow down time. Their eggs yesterday was a pitifully brown yesterday.