4th Annual BYC NYD Hatch-a-long

[RavenWood]

Okay everyone, I know I should ask this in the Emergency thread, but it takes forever to get answer. When I went out this morning to let everyone out of the coop and feed. I noticed a lot of blood on the ground. (don't know if it was there last night, old man locked up birds and he just isn't observant, I checked every hen out there, especially the ones right over it, no one had blood on them. I thought well maybe they killed a mouse, well while feeding I noticed blood again on the ground. NO ONE acts like they could have lost that much blood without dying. So what could it be and how can I find out who it is, if all are acting normal and upon physical inspection of all birds no blood was seen. What could it be?

I had that happen too, after several days I finally found the chicken who was bleeding ... she had lost a toenail ... tore it off somehow and it just kept bleeding. It did eventually stop.

 

[RavenWood]

What you can enter NOW

SUNNYSIDE UP MICRO FARMS HOLIDAY POULTRY CALENDAR PHOTO CONTEST Open
to all of BYC . Please Post your pictures on the main thread, and the
post number in the comments so we don't miss them. Prize 12 eggs or
big ol bird poultry supplement

SOUTHLAND ORGANIC CUTEST CHICK PIC Open to all of BYC. Please Post
your pictures on the main thread, and the post number in the comments
so we don't miss them. Prize BYC calendar and stickers and big ole
birds Poultry Supplement.

Is it too late for pics for these contests? Here is my picture for the SUNNYSIDE UP MICRO FARMS HOLIDAY POULTRY PHOTO CONTEST.
I'm not sure what this means: "and the post number in the comments so we don't miss them."



This is Henrietta, my silver laced Poland hen, out for a walk in the snow on a mild winter's day!

Edited to say sorry - I read much further down the thread that you didn't want us to post on the main thread. Please let me know where to post this.

 

[RavenWood]

Look what Mother Nature brought us. It was only 4-5 inches so it was very workable, but it sure made everything pretty. It wasn't that cold today either; I think we got into the upper 20s.

We've got about 2 feet now and it warmed up this week so I'm sure we'll get lots more over the next few days. I still have to figure out where to put my hatchlings if I get any!

 

[RavenWood]

I am now going to candle/flashlight my eggs & mark them.
I am going to be very very careful, this is my first time doing this....
woohoo
FeyRaine

So you are candling them before you start ... is this to mark the air cell? This is all new to me so I'm learning. Having trouble keep my hovabator temp steady - it bounces from 97-101 and just won't stay stable - and I have no idea what to put my humidity at. It's cold up here and the average humidity in the room where the bator is going to run is 27%. I've been told by a couple people to keep my humidity at 50-60% for days 1-18, but won't that drown them? Also - I have no idea which trough to use in my bator ... the instructions say the outside trough, but the image doesn't correspond to my trough. Which should I use? I have several groups of eggs to hatch, but I don't think the ones I got from my hens/rooster will have been fertilized. Any help here would be welcomed as I don't want to kill any potential chicks!

 

[RavenWood]

So, if I take my eggs from cold storage in the morning and let them warm to room temp, then set them in the hovabator and plug it in ... will that warm them slowly enough without causing condensation or temp shocks? My hovabator was doing well at holding a fairly consistent temp, but the past few days it suddenly started fluctuating and now I'm afraid it will be too erratic to hatch. I can't seem to get the humidity to be consistent either - and I don't know what it should be set at for the first 18 days - I keep getting mixed info with some saying between 25-35 while others say 50-60 but won't the latter drown them? I know it's cold up here and the humidity is approx. 27% in the room where the bator is being run. My trough doesn't look like the one in my instructions so I'm confused (see above post/image). I'm excited, but I don't want to baked my chicks (if there are any in my eggs). Any advice would be helpful as I've never done this before.

 

[Mahonri]

I can't believe that I'm not setting eggs today. First time in four years.

GOOD LUCK ALL YOU NYD HATCHERS!!!

 

[Mahonri]

Ravenwood.

Do a search here on BYC...

On the first post/page of Mahonri's 3rd Annual Easter Hatch you will see a link to Hatching Tips and Tricks.

Go read that. It's everything you need to know.

Good luck!

 

[msladyhawke]

3am-Step one-Incubator on and warming up!

 

[wolfytm2002]

Hello everyone, just had a quick question about this NYD hatch-a-long. I went ahead and signed up because I am planning to set a few eggs and kinda follow along with all of you, but but then I got to wondering do I really NEED to be signed up if I don't plan on actually playing any of the games? Is it ok to hatch along and not play any of the games? LOL sorry, its redundant but I just don't want to make anyone's job harder than it has to be.

 

[adjduncan]

Up at 4am checking temps trying to get it regulated by tomorrow, well taker today. Ugh! Time is running out, and it was 102.2 in my LG. how many hatches do I have to do to qualify for an upgraded incubator, in DH logic? Hmmmm