5th Annual BYC New Year's Day 2014 Hatch-A-Long

[Gardeningmama]

I keep having nightmares.....I had one where my brother threw all eggs down the stairs.

my last hatch attempt was under a broody, and she hurt every chick except for Cadbury. one chick had its entire egg pecked off before it had even pipped. two others had been pecked on the head and bled and my other had its pip crushed in my the hen.


im hoping this hatch will go smoother than I expect......im too paranoid.



im turning 14 in 2 days.....but sill. im a first time hatcher, and these chicks are my very own. my sister has a BYC and doesn't bother with chickens that much. my parents know relly almost nothing about them. everything I have learned are from you all......THANKS!


so.....im on day 9. 7 silkies growing.....6 OEs.....I have 15 still in my bator, but 2 are possible clears. PLEASE PLEASE LET THIS HATCH GO WELL IN 9 DAYS!

Bantambury..I have to give you credit for being so well spoken for your age. You had me fooled, I thought you were much older. Stop worrying, it will not help those eggs one bit and only give you a huge headache. You have beginners luck on your side, and I'll bet (if you can keep your hands off those eggs) they will all hatch, no problem.

You have a whole network of people to help you should the need arise.....Man, I only wish my 13 year old took such an interest in chickens!

 

[FeyRaine]

Multi-quote not working again - see if I can remember what all I was going to rely to...

--
Sprouting Feed -- Yes, I did last winter & am going to set up again shortly as it is almost the time of yr when while we don't get much snow we get ice storms every few days & there is nothing for them to free range on, no bugs & nothing green to nibble so.

I did 2 type last yr
1) Trays of mostly wheat , like traditional wheat grass. These did great the first few weeks, but then I started having 2 related issues. The house got cold enough that it was not growning as fast as was nec. to get ahead of mold, then once I had some mold no amt. of cleaning would fix it so each batch got more mold until I was very concerned (most mold is toxic) and stopped sprouting and tossed the trays I was using to break the cycle.

2)OATs , this has to be done diff. (see sprouting thread for more details) and while many ppl have mold issue w/ oats, they are ready in just 4 days even in my color temp house in 5-6 days w/ the first 48 hrs being totally submerged in bags in water that started out hot, so that helped offset my cold house. & while the wheat was taking 8-10 days (when it should have taken 5-7) & requiring a day or two in south faced window to get green which was pain at my house the oats were find in dark in their burlap bags.

I did love the results of the sprouting -- while my DH freaked at the cost of the bags of wheat & oats, they made huge volumes of food, so really cost effective (they still got dry layer pellets & scratch, just less).

other great results - A)The birds loved having something interesting to do all day (altn days pulling oat sprouts from a hanging swinging burlap bag, then pulling apart a thick mat of wheat sprouts), this made up for days when it was just too nasty & pointless to let them out of their pens, kept them from being bored and picking on each other etc.

B)They picked up laying shortly after I added the fresh greens, the amt of sunlight was not changed (we were in a total overcast dark skys for weeks at that point) I really think the fresh greens triggered them into a spring egg cycle as much as more sunlight would have (some should do a study on that, not it ; ) (C) I felt that the fresh greens also helped their water intake, days when it didn't get above freezing I was less worried that they weren't getting enough liquid, maybe it was all fine for them either way, but I worried less personally.

So overall it was great & I'm doing Oats again for certain. If I can figure out how to fix the mold issue then I'll do trays of wheat also. It really was only 5-10 min per day time to maintain & well worth the results to me.

--
Anyone on here have any of the colored Leghorns? I've got the one MF egg still going, I've been thinking about one of the browns, poss. single comb, anyone ever tried them?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Okay thanks for all these great tips! I'm going to start with getting a pickle bucket from the restaurant my bf works at cuz that's safe to use right? and I'll let you know how it goes!

All my family is in the restaurant business. I think I have about 30 pickle buckets. Some for grain/seed storage, some for extra feed that won't fit into their bins, several for FF, a couple for sprouting. Wow, all of a sudden all my buckets are in use.
When I get a 50 lb. bag of seed or grain, I fill a bucket and seal it. Then I work from the bag till it's gone. Depending on what I'm using it for it will usually hold about 30 lbs.

I put clear packaging tape on the lids and sides, then use a dry erase marker to identify what's in them so I don't have to guess or open each one to find what I'm looking for.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Bantambury..I have to give you credit for being so well spoken for your age. You had me fooled, I thought you were much older. ...

Same here.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

So overall it was great & I'm doing Oats again for certain. If I can figure out how to fix the mold issue then I'll do trays of wheat also. It really was only 5-10 min per day time to maintain & well worth the results to me.

--
Anyone on here have any of the colored Leghorns? I've got the one MF egg still going, I've been thinking about one of the browns, poss. single comb, anyone ever tried them?

I'm getting 50 lbs. of oat groats this week to try sprouting them.
I was sprouting whole oats and it wasn't extremely successful.
I completely cover the seeds for 24 hours and keep them warm then rinse well a couple times a day with a colander. After sprouting starts, I keep them cooler and that keeps mold on hold.

I had single comb Black Leghorns from Sandhill. I really liked them. One hen went broody often and raised several broods for me. Unusual, I know.

 

[chickengirl1193]

Multi-quote not working again - see if I can remember what all I was going to rely to...

--
Sprouting Feed -- Yes, I did last winter & am going to set up again shortly as it is almost the time of yr when while we don't get much snow we get ice storms every few days & there is nothing for them to free range on, no bugs & nothing green to nibble so.

I did 2 type last yr 
1) Trays of mostly wheat , like traditional wheat grass. These did great the first few weeks, but then I started having 2 related issues. The house got cold enough that it was not growning as fast as was nec. to get ahead of mold, then once I had some mold no amt. of cleaning would fix it so each batch got more mold until I was very concerned (most mold is toxic) and stopped sprouting and tossed the trays I was using to break the cycle.

2)OATs , this has to be done diff. (see sprouting thread for more details) and while many ppl have mold issue w/ oats, they are ready in just 4 days even in my color temp house in 5-6 days w/ the first 48 hrs being totally submerged in bags in water that started out hot, so that helped offset my cold house. & while the wheat was taking 8-10 days (when it should have taken 5-7) & requiring a day or two in south faced window to get green which was pain at my house the oats were find in dark in their burlap bags.

I did love the results of the sprouting -- while my DH freaked at the cost of the bags of wheat & oats, they made huge volumes of food, so really cost effective (they still got dry layer pellets & scratch, just less). 

other great results - A)The birds loved having something interesting to do all day (altn days pulling oat sprouts from a hanging swinging burlap bag, then pulling apart a thick mat of wheat sprouts), this made up for days when it was just too nasty & pointless to let them out of their pens, kept them from being bored and picking on each other etc. 

B)They picked up laying shortly after I added the fresh greens, the amt of sunlight was not changed (we were in a total overcast dark skys for weeks at that point) I really think the fresh greens triggered them into a spring egg cycle as much as more sunlight would have (some should do a study on that, not it ; ) (C) I felt that the fresh greens also helped their water intake, days when it didn't get above freezing I was less worried that they weren't getting enough liquid, maybe it was all fine for them either way, but I worried less personally. 

So overall it was great & I'm doing Oats again for certain. If I can figure out how to fix the mold issue then I'll do trays of wheat also. It really was only 5-10 min per day time to maintain & well worth the results to me.

--
Anyone on here have any of the colored Leghorns? I've got the one MF egg still going, I've been thinking about one of the browns, poss. single comb, anyone ever tried them?

these are some great ideas! where did you get the oats and wheat? I could only find rolled oats or bags of scratch with mostly corn. ive had to buy seeds on Amazon and I get organic ones that I sprout for my family and we only eat a bit so the next day it goes to the chickens. and for four of them it's enough

All my family is in the restaurant business. I think I have about 30 pickle buckets. Some for grain/seed storage, some for extra feed that won't fit into their bins, several for FF, a couple for sprouting. Wow, all of a sudden all my buckets are in use.
When I get a 50 lb. bag of seed or grain, I fill a bucket and seal it. Then I work from the bag till it's gone. Depending on what I'm using it for it will usually hold about 30 lbs.

I put clear packaging tape on the lids and sides, then use a dry erase marker to identify what's in them so I don't have to guess or open each one to find what I'm looking for.

that's a good idea, i shoukd get a bunch of the buckets to cuz right now I have 3 metal bins for feed and it's not enough lol. between goat feed hay pellets scratch and layer feed I'm running out of room and im afraid to attract the mice! 4 cats and we have a mouse problem...

 

[Pozees]

ChickenCanoe, you certainly shared a wealth of information about fermenting feed! I was fermenting last year, had to stop in fall due to business trips, but plan to restart as soon as I know whether I will have to travel again Q1. The feed use here has increased quite a bit just recently, so not really related to quitting FF but I bet it would have been a less noticeable increase had they been getting FF. As far as raisign protein levels, what I've read is that fermentation increases the bioavailability of the proteins. The protein in the feed is what it is, fermentation simply makes it more digestible/useable, so effectively you are bumping up the protein in the feed; the question of whether those proteins are then used up by the fermenation process is one I have not studied, so next chance I get I'm reading the links shared. I will say the lack of waste was impressive. Personally, I also think the chickens wind up with a more balanced diet because it's much harder for them to pick through the feed and only eat the bits they want. I wound up ising regular dog dishes, picking them up every night to wash and spray with Oxine so they were ready for the next day. Those using heated dog bowls usually use a liner of sorts, glass bowl or something like it, which can be lifted out and cleaned/refilled without having to pick up the heated bowl - which for me would mean minimizing the chance I will drop it and break it. Already did it with a heated waterer this year. Arrgh.

 

[JLaw]

I'll have to look into this sprouting thing as of now i just started fermenting about 2 months ago. I have to say this first year of chickens is alot of learning. I've hatched, culled chicks, had to make splints for feet, fix spradle leg, take care of bumble foot with cutting it out, build coops and doctor them up, learn about feed. There is just so much to learn. I thought my school days was over. But i love it all and its fun.

 

[Cynthia12]

I had a pleasant surprise from my blue OE today. And she was a good girl and laid it in the nest box. Can't ask for better than that.

 

[ronott1]

I had a pleasant surprise from my blue OE today. And she was a good girl and laid it in the nest box. Can't ask for better than that.

that is a very nice egg!