4th Annual BYC NYD Hatch-a-long

[SilkieSensation]

As in Burner?

Yup...or Bunson the Muppet

 

[debs_flock]

Quote: x 2

 

[SilkieSensation]

Well, it wasn't a fish tank but I had a incubator malfunction and had to come up with something really quick! So since I had my brooder almost ready for the chicks, the eggs went there. My brooder is a large plastic tote heated by a hanging red heat lamp. I had a HORRID time keeping the temp regulated. I tried covering the container and it heated up way too much. Leaving it open subjected it way too much to drafts and changed in room temps. My temperatures varried from 85 to 105. I only had them in there for about a week, and in the end two out of 5 hatched.

I tried with a 10 gal fish tank over the summer. Hung a lightbulb in it, put a coffee cup full of water under the light & covered the screen lid on top with waxed paper to maintain humidity then tossed a blanket over the whole thing for insulation. The eggs near the bulb were too hot & the ones in the corners of the tank were too cold. It may have worked ok if I had only had a few eggs & could have kept them all in the "ideal zone" where temps were perfect, but it definitely didn't work with 30+ duck eggs that I had to keep rotating through the temp zones.

 

[FeyRaine]

Yup...or Bunson the Muppet

AH, actually he looks more like Beaker, Dr Bunsen Honeydew's assistant!

So Beaker it is!!
Too funny (we love funny animal names here, kinda makes the chores go better esp. on otherwise not great days,
we had a rescue donkey once named HoeDee get it "Donkey-Hoe-D" yah, & a pig got named Irish, & a cat that liked to hang w/her therefore became her drinkin buddy "Scotch", & when I was up to 13 barncats I would call them to eat saying "Hey Many & Various Cats come eat" and one day an unnamed momma cat looked me right in the eyes when I said the "various" part so she is of course my barncat named Various (she is the cat in my Short Story picture of Rooster Popeye in fact).

As for the New Years 2013 chicks, I give you
Beaker & Kandy Kane
my new BYC Avatar , woohoo

 

[TMNfarm]

Caption this... "Whatchyou talkin' bout, Willis??"

 

[SilkieSensation]

AH, actually he looks more like Beaker, Dr Bunsen Honeydew's assistant!

So Beaker it is!!
Too funny (we love funny animal names here, kinda makes the chores go better esp. on otherwise not great days,
we had a rescue donkey once named HoeDee get it "Donkey-Hoe-D" yah, & a pig got named Irish, & a cat that liked to hang w/her therefore became her drinkin buddy "Scotch", & when I was up to 13 barncats I would call them to eat saying "Hey Many & Various Cats come eat" and one day an unnamed momma cat looked me right in the eyes when I said the "various" part so she is of course my barncat named Various (she is the cat in my Short Story picture of Rooster Popeye in fact).

As for the New Years 2013 chicks, I give you
Beaker & Kandy Kane
my new BYC Avatar , woohoo

Love it!

 

[SilkieSensation]

Caption this...


"Whatchyou talkin' bout, Willis??"

"You better come bearing treats or we're gonna have a problem."
or
"I pity the fool who doesn't bring me treats!"

 

[Daloorashens]

Finally ... a photo of my babies in the brooder cabinet! I have to find the right drill bit to make the cord hole in the back, which is why it is coming out the top right now. Other than that it's ready for occupation. Top will be added when I get a round tuit. The top hinges open and there are removable plexi-glass panels inset in the doors to keep drafts out when I open the mudroom door.

Love that brooder!!

After noticing there have been some comments about how the hatch-a-long went... I for one am very grateful to those of you who volunteered to run this hatch-a-long-- what a huge task and I know it is not something I could have done, so THANK YOU for all the time and effort that went into making this a fun hatch-a-long for all....

I suppose those who feel differently could always volunteer to run the next one and see what they could do differently (have to walk a mile in another's shoes to truly be able to critique!!)

 

[RavenWood]

Sad day. Looks like I need to cull my last chick. this one was in pip for more than 36 hours and would not zip. It just peeped, then the peeps were quieter and quieter.. I Used Sally's guide for assisted hatch and was able to get her out of the shell. No blood at all and the yolk was completely absorbed. However, the poor thing is so weak. She cannot walk. She just flops on her belly and cheeps. Her feet look fine and she stands properly when assisted but will not support herself and will not eat. Ive been feeding her water from a dropper and hve kept her in the icubator well away from the fan.

I'm going to run to the store and buy vinegar and soda and put her down. Seems like the most humane thing to do.

8(
So sad.
Leslie

The poor thing probably just needs some uninterrupted rest. If she's that tired I would just let her sleep. I bet she'll be up and about in no time. I had a few that flopped around for quite a while after they hatched, even had one that kept falling backwards and would lay there like a big yellow pear with feet and a beak. They are all fine now.

 

[cluck-cluck]

I love all the captions for that little chick picture!

A couple of my chicks have chicken poo stuck to their butts. Any suggestions on best way to clean without ripping off their fluff?

What I did with my Sultans who got it and also with my little Serama which has / had it last night/today is run the bum under nice temp water and let the water do the work. It was really bad on my Sultans, and after a while, I might use my fingernails to break the stuff up (without pulling, just cracking it up) and the water would get in there better and break it up off of them even better. I then took tiny nail scissors and trimmed the fluff there to help make it easier to clean (didn't do that this time 'cause he's so tiny!)

Before everyone wanders away, I wanted to remind folks that I was hoping we could all stay in touch for a follow up when these NYD Hatchers lay their first eggs!

It would be so very interesting to know esp. which breeds start laying when , a great chance for us all to compare notes on # weeks until first egg, and how the pullet eggs are overall in those first few wks of laying. Anyone like that idea?
I'm pretty sure they will close this thread soon, so do we need someone to set up a new thread "NYDH2013egglayingfollowup" or some such?

That's an excellent idea!

Sad day. Looks like I need to cull my last chick. this one was in pip for more than 36 hours and would not zip. It just peeped, then the peeps were quieter and quieter.. I Used Sally's guide for assisted hatch and was able to get her out of the shell. No blood at all and the yolk was completely absorbed. However, the poor thing is so weak. She cannot walk. She just flops on her belly and cheeps. Her feet look fine and she stands properly when assisted but will not support herself and will not eat. Ive been feeding her water from a dropper and hve kept her in the icubator well away from the fan.

I'm going to run to the store and buy vinegar and soda and put her down. Seems like the most humane thing to do.

8(
So sad.
Leslie

It doesn't sound so bad? It almost sounds normal?! They often are super tired. How long has she been out of the egg? they don't need food or water for at least 2 days, it's usually only the super growers that eat early on, like meaties. Unless she's obviously sick, please give her a little more time!