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

[chicken pickin]

I watched the new Hobbit Movie today. There were quite a few posts when I got back.

How is everyone?

How was the movie?

 

[Canieldonrad]

Outside of my New Years hatch I've added in 12 eggs for the 5th of January and just added 27 for the 13th of January. Its going to be a busy year.

 

[ronott1]

I took a couple of pictures if my candling tonight, I cannot see squat in the marans eggs. The 3 trader joes eggs have some dark veining with super hyper babies inside! my blue laced red wyandotte eggs arrived and have 17 resting also can't forget about Uno!!!!

Nice!

How was the movie?

It was good but a lot different from the book. They are trying to make the three Hobbits fit with the Lord of the rings Movies.

 

[SoManyHats]

How was the movie?

I took my kids and fell asleep on and off. Then I woke up to the whole audience groaning as the credits rolled. Apparently it has a bad ending.

 

[ronniewayne]

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?

I have had brown leghorns. great layers flighty . beautiful chickens the only problem I had with them if you raise them with other chicks they will peck them till they bleed and any feathers they can get at.

 

[Pozees]

If it makes you feel better, you can always think that perhaps if they needed help they wouldn't have thrived and lived a full life... just a fall back if it does happen. I'm sure it happens in the wild, right?

Right on. Think of it this way - you are setting parameters for your future flock. You do not want to perpetuate weakness. I will grant there are times one makes exceptions - valuable/rare breed shipped eggs spring to mind - but for the most part, helping a chick hatch simply prolongs the agony of losing it. If the failure to complete hatching is due to the human's mistake (low humidity, temp fluctuations, power failure) - chick pips and then dries out because of lack of humidity - moistening the membrane with a warm q-tip will help, but you should resist the temptation to open the hatcher as much as possible once you've set them to hatch - for me that's usually day 19, for many it's day 18. Humidity will rush out anytime you lift the lid.

Some things to prepare for: Once you see an external pip, don't be surprised if the chick spends the next 12 hours resting up for the zip and push to freedom. It is maddening LOL. Once a chick hatches, while preferable to remove after fluffed (~12-24 hours) the chick can spend as long as 48 hours in the hatcher before moving to the brooder - unless it is smaller than it should be for its breed, or looks thin/weak/dehydrated, in which case I wait no more than 24 hours, and dip its beak in water a couple of times before setting it in a warm spot under the light. If you have a single hatchling and no opportunity to obtain a broodmate, spend a few minutes several times a day making sure the chick knows where the food is and that it is food - if necessary, poke a marble or two into the crumble, and tap at it with your finger for a minute or two until you see it peck at it, and hopefully eat a piece or two.

I know others will chime in with their advice, and all of it is good to store away in case of need - we all run into different challenges and all have had to react on the fly with whatever we had available. One of the nicest things about this type of thread is the sharing of information. Exposure to different ways of thinking about your birds helps you develop your philosophy, which will continuously evolve.

 

[Mypeeps2013]

Oh yes...I'm not having the nightmares like you, but I'm so afraid I did something wrong, since this is my first hatch as well. I had issues with humidity in the beginning, and the air cells are still smaller than they should be (I started my eggs 12/12 at 1:30 p.m.) at this stage. I'm also paranoid that they'll start to hatch while I'm sleeping and one will need help, but I'll be oblivious and it will die.




I am just a paranoid about being asleep when they hatch and they die because I wasnt paying attention! EEK!

Don't worry they make a lot of noise and have enough food to last you sleeping.... I hope.

 

[bantambury]

I took a couple of pictures if my candling tonight, I cannot see squat in the marans eggs. The 3 trader joes eggs have some dark veining with super hyper babies inside! my blue laced red wyandotte eggs arrived and have 17 resting also can't forget about Uno!!!!

look at that veining! who knew the store bought eggs would turn out so great! youll have to let us know what breed youll come out with now!


what day are you on? day 12 for me! tomorrows 13.

 

[carriebain]

look at that veining! who knew the store bought eggs would turn out so great! youll have to let us know what breed youll come out with now!


what day are you on? day 12 for me! tomorrows 13.

Yes, day 12, I set them at 11:00 am dec 11. I'm not very good at quoting everyone, but I'm reading everything! I hope everyone has great hatches!

 

[Blarneyeggs]

 
[COLOR=800080]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. ...[/COLOR]

Same here.

X3