4th Annual BYC NYD Hatch-a-long

[Shelshanam]

Thank you
That would be a humane society egg and the other was a breeder egg.
Me too
WHAT!!!! Aren't you cold
Turkeys are still laying in Ohio, I thought turkeys only laid in the spring. I lost a couple turkeys my first year raising them, they were about 4 weeks and I had them outside in a hoop house and didn't think anything about the ground being wet and the got sick and died, lesson learned, this time out of 5 turkeys I manged to get 3 to survive, one of those were invited to Thanksgiving dinner and the others roam the yard.
My turkey boy sleeps in the tree's, everyone else gets locked up.

I thought the same thing, but looks like their turkeys are in a barn (maybe heated) and I just got my eggs today which are nice and large! I've got them settling in my spare room which has the heat turned off and is sitting at a nice cool 58 degrees.

And I've been planing out my turkey housing situation and wondering the same thing on how to make them a nice healthy pen. I'm actually thinking of trucking in a bed full of sand for their pen, and using a lot of pallets for roost housing (plus covering their pen to keep predators out). I never had any problems till recently I've lost 4 hens and 1 banty rooster who was street smart so something really dangerous/smart had to get him. My livestock guardian dog is currently a solo protector and he can't be everywhere at the same time and he is very bonded to my female goats who he lives with.

So while I would love my turkeys free roaming and greeting guests by jumping on their cars I think I'm going to have to pen them till I figure out what is my chicken stealer.

Anyways here is a picture of my Ohio turkey eggs!


I have to give kudos to the seller! He really had those eggs packed well, and each egg was individually wrapped in bubble wrap (with tons of layers of shredded paper, bubble wrap, and a flat carton on bottom.. And still the Post Office managed to break one! Thankfully they added extras.

 

[mommaclucker]

I did it on three hatches because I was new...it didn't end well. I'm sure there are ways of doing it successfully, but I ended up having to get another bator for my "hatch out area". The three I did, the first to hatch out did marvelously well (of course, since the temp and humidity were correct). However, the second set didn't have a good hatch rate (30%) and the third didn't hatch at all. I finally figured out that by the time it was the third set's time to hatch, they'd already been sitting in 70% humidity for about 10 days (half!) of their little lives (4 days from first set, 3 days from second set and 3 from their own lockdown). I'm pretty sure I drowned a lot of those chicks due to all the condensation build-up inside the air cell of the eggshell. I just hatch all our chicks out in a separate bator now (a very cheap one, no frills, no fans, no turners etc).

my inexperience had me rushing out to buy a cheap little giant still air for lockdown thankfully I read enough on here that I figured out I couldnt have the humidity that high for that long as I had silkie eggs set on one day rir set about 7 days later then some barn yard mixes set a couple of days after the rir. Im not sure i have the skills to do a staggered hatch in the same incubator I fiddle way to much with things already Im hopeing I can sit on my hands and leave my NYD batch alone

 

[cochins1088]

Is it at all possible to do a staggered hatch in 1 incubator?

It's very posible, I have done it a few times and even ended up with a 95% hatch rate once. The key is humidity, pay close attention to air cell development. If the second or third set has air sacs underdeveloped because of a previous humidity increase, than simply lower the humidity even more. As long as air cells are properly developed, the chicks won't have a problem hatching.

The other thing to remember is that they make a mess when they hatch, so you may want to add a basket of some sort lined with paper towels so that the other eggs and the incubator stay clean. Good Luck!

 

[Shelshanam]

Hey guys!

How long does it take for chickens to begin laying again with added light to legthen their days. It's getting absolutely rediculous... 20 hens and I honestly haven't seen an egg in 4 weeks. One is molting and one is coming out of a molt but the other 18 have no excuse. So, if I added light just temporarily, like for the next 2 weeks, would they begin laying eggs in time for the hatch along? I know every chicken is different, but just a ball park guess would be nice because I won't do it unless I will most likely get eggs for the hatch along.

Thanks!

I'm having a horrible time as well with my hens, I've added protein, pumpkin, BOSS, and still maybe an egg every 2 days out of 9 hens (was 13 until a recent predator hit me). So one of the 9 hens was left for dead and thankfully she was only mildly shook up and in shock. I put her in a emergency room cage in my garage and left the heat lamp and the lights on in the garage. She popped out a egg (it was a soft shell probably from stress and the new extra light) about 8pm my time (which is about 3 extra hours of light). The next night after she had come around more she laid again (about 10pm).

So my limited experience says the light trick should work pretty quick if it's enough light. Or maybe the added heat from the lamp helped in her production. Or maybe it was the nutri-drench I was hitting her with to boost her up as I thought she was going to die when I first found her. Since I've moved her back in with the rest of the chickens she hasn't laid anything (easy to tell as I've not had any eggs!).

Hope that helps and good luck!

 

[cochins1088]

I'm having a horrible time as well with my hens, I've added protein, pumpkin, BOSS, and still maybe an egg every 2 days out of 9 hens (was 13 until a recent predator hit me). So one of the 9 hens was left for dead and thankfully she was only mildly shook up and in shock. I put her in a emergency room cage in my garage and left the heat lamp and the lights on in the garage. She popped out a egg (it was a soft shell probably from stress and the new extra light) about 8pm my time (which is about 3 extra hours of light). The next night after she had come around more she laid again (about 10pm).

So my limited experience says the light trick should work pretty quick if it's enough light. Or maybe the added heat from the lamp helped in her production. Or maybe it was the nutri-drench I was hitting her with to boost her up as I thought she was going to die when I first found her. Since I've moved her back in with the rest of the chickens she hasn't laid anything (easy to tell as I've not had any eggs!).

Hope that helps and good luck!

Thanks, maybe I'll try it then. I really wish they'd get laying, I'd be happy with just one egg a day. I miss those big beautiful brown eggs, we have been buying store eggs for the past 4 weeks.

 

[mommaclucker]

I thought the same thing, but looks like their turkeys are in a barn (maybe heated) and I just got my eggs today which are nice and large! I've got them settling in my spare room which has the heat turned off and is sitting at a nice cool 58 degrees.

And I've been planing out my turkey housing situation and wondering the same thing on how to make them a nice healthy pen. I'm actually thinking of trucking in a bed full of sand for their pen, and using a lot of pallets for roost housing (plus covering their pen to keep predators out). I never had any problems till recently I've lost 4 hens and 1 banty rooster who was street smart so something really dangerous/smart had to get him. My livestock guardian dog is currently a solo protector and he can't be everywhere at the same time and he is very bonded to my female goats who he lives with.

So while I would love my turkeys free roaming and greeting guests by jumping on their cars I think I'm going to have to pen them till I figure out what is my chicken stealer.

Anyways here is a picture of my Ohio turkey eggs!


I have to give kudos to the seller! He really had those eggs packed well, and each egg was individually wrapped in bubble wrap (with tons of layers of shredded paper, bubble wrap, and a flat carton on bottom.. And still the Post Office managed to break one! Thankfully they added extras.

I have egg envy lol I would love to try my hand at turkey eggs but my hubby hasnt come around to my way of thinking on the turkeys or goats he doesnt pay a lot of attention to my eggs or what I have in the brooder maybe I could get a little sneaky and slip a turkey past him for a few months till warmer weather arrives hmm maybe it could just be an exotic chicken breed that looks like a turkey

 

[cochins1088]

I have egg envy lol I would love to try my hand at turkey eggs but my hubby hasnt come around to my way of thinking on the turkeys or goats he doesnt pay a lot of attention to my eggs or what I have in the brooder maybe I could get a little sneaky and slip a turkey past him for a few months till warmer weather arrives hmm maybe it could just be an exotic chicken breed that looks like a turkey

hahaha, I really want a few different types birds around here. All we have are chickens and I see all these ducks, geese, turkeys, quail, peafowl, and such and all I can do is sit in envy. I'd never get away with ordering eggs like this, but maybe if I find someone local? hahaha. like you said, they would be exotic chickens! I noticed the prize for one of the contests was 2 goose eggs, I looked up the breed and they are gorgeous, it would be ok if I happened to win them right? hahaha.

 

[Shelshanam]

I have egg envy lol I would love to try my hand at turkey eggs but my hubby hasnt come around to my way of thinking on the turkeys or goats he doesnt pay a lot of attention to my eggs or what I have in the brooder maybe I could get a little sneaky and slip a turkey past him for a few months till warmer weather arrives hmm maybe it could just be an exotic chicken breed that looks like a turkey

LOL I bet you could get away for at least 2.5 months before the "exotic chicken" finally gave up the goods and gave away it's true breed! GOBBLE

Then act all surprised and say "oh my how did that happen"

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Evening all, spent the day driving to TSC to get cattle panels, then to lowes for my field fencing (gotta love a military discount there) and unails and oh my the list was long. Gotta get to building the hoop coops though with all of this hatching we have ahead.

Muscovy eggs are growing, goose eggs are set. Collecting duck eggs daily to set this week and lined up a ton of our own eggs and shipped eggs for chickens.

Sounds like you had a busy day, Shellie. : )

~ Aspen

 

[Mahonri]

Well, looks like everyone is getting their eggs rounded up etc...

Dec. 11th at local time right?

The only reason my wife is missing the NYD hatch is because I have to keep the house warmer for the incubators.

At present we keep the house at about 65 at night. Great sleeping weather.

Good luck all you NYD hatchers!!!