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

[ShayBaby]

Chicken math? What is that again? Maybe these two can explain it to us.

Ohh yes, chicken math. Or as I dubbed it in another thread "Arithme-chick" (..Trig-hen-ometry..Cock-ulus..etc etc). The best kind of math!

 

[BoereMeisie]

Chicken math? What is that again? Maybe these two can explain it to us.

That's priceless!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I'm pretty straight forward myself but have a background in teaching & psychology so have had a lot of experience in explaining things very simply so people can understand them. I tend to look at the words themselves and think how I would feel under similar circumstances. Then I give the benefit of the doubt that I may have still misunderstood & ask for clarification if needed. We all just need to remember to ask for more details if something sounds a bit off, then no one gets offended by misunderstandings.
...

Good points. A lot of that time in factories was doing adult education. Probably not the same kind of teaching you did but I understand.
I taught robotics, resistance and projection welding, automation integration, blah, blah, blah. I've been teaching chicken classes at area community colleges for about 3 years.
I was a technical writer too so I'm normally careful about word choice but I've been getting lazy in my old days as well.

 

[brahmabreeder]

QUESTION ABOUT FERTLE EGGS:

so once the rooster mounts on the hen and exchanges his stuff, does his stuff stay in the hen and all eggs she lays are fertile, or does a rooster have to mount everyday, exchanging his stuff, so she has a fertile everyday?

how does this work? is it possible if I separate my roos from my hens, that afterwards my hens still may lay fertile eggs?

Most people say that it 'floats' around in the hen for two weeks but sometimes it can be in there for up to four weeks. Obviously the longer you go the less fertile eggs you will get.

 

[Blarneyeggs]

[COLOR=0000FF]Day 9 for me, candling revealed 18...EIGHTEEN! Clears, boo! Although ALL 5 from MsLadyHawke are viable! And looks like the 6 Creole Orps have something going on, yay! So it will be a very low hatch rate for me, but at least I'm going to get some cool chickens out of this deal, yay![/COLOR]

Oh thank goodness mine are good! Can't wait until your DD finds out!

You're so creative...you should think of a way to tell her. DS was like, oh Mom, can we keep em? Let's ask Her if we can keep em.... I haven't even told them the breed yet...I should really be a tease and remind them what breed these eggs are!

X's 2! My girl that I am waiting on is a very pretty blue girl, with a bit of feathered legs.

heres my OE...we ar incubation 7 of her eggs.......we have a Japanese bantam roo and a silkie roo, so any of thise two could've gotten to her so we have no idea what chicks we will have! she lays a light olive color: here are our roos: (I cant wait for her chicks! it will be so cool!) jap bantam silkie so far our eggs are all relly heavy from her.....we cracked a breakfast egg today and the bullseye was so big and strong it was CRAZY! (I hope she isn't being overmounted along with my silkie hen......we have only 3 hens with 2 roos.....:/ )\ if this is so, what could happen? we are planning to also build a small addition coop for the roos for when all the new hens could have a break

This girl is so pretty! I'm surprised she lays a green egg with those yellow eggs....very interesting. And no, I very much doubt that I can take a pic while candling, sorry, I'm just not that talented (or coordinated) or patient.

 

[Blarneyeggs]

Chicken math? What is that again? Maybe these two can explain it to us.

Ohh yes, chicken math. Or as I dubbed it in another thread "Arithme-chick" (..Trig-hen-ometry..Cock-ulus..etc etc). The best kind of math!

OH MY Goodness!! You two are so silly!!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Well, I put another dozen eggs in the bator. I guess I am doing a staggered hatch. I guess this is how it's going to be from now on. I can't imagine how many I will have in there when the girls are laying in high gear this spring. <chuckle> I may need an intervention.......

Hopefully, I'll be hatching from March through the end of the year. I have 20 laying age hens/pullets, 5 younger pullets and hopefully lots coming from the NYD hatch. Those will be laying by the end of May and their daughters by November. That will allow me to hatch a lot and cull a lot to get these birds on the right track.
I have 13 roosters and cockerels right now. I only want 6 going into the dead of winter so I have to weigh their benefits and take advantage of the warmer weather coming next week. Lots of dinners in my future.

.... I write mine down an never have the computer remember them. Too easy to get hacked. If someone wants my passwords they are going to have to break in past my 5 dogs and steal the notebook from me. ...

~~Where do you keep your notebook?

QUESTION ABOUT FERTLE EGGS:

so once the rooster mounts on the hen and exchanges his stuff, does his stuff stay in the hen and all eggs she lays are fertile, or does a rooster have to mount everyday, exchanging his stuff, so she has a fertile everyday?

how does this work? is it possible if I separate my roos from my hens, that afterwards my hens still may lay fertile eggs?

There are 2 places sperm is stored. Between the shell gland and the vagina there are deep glands lined with elongated cells (columnar epithelium). These are called the sperm host glands because it can be stored there for from 10 days to 2 weeks. Each time an egg is laid, some of the sperm is squeezed out of the glands where it can travel up the approximately 25 inches of oviduct. It is then stored in the infundibulum, just next to the ovary. This is the second reservoir. The ovary is where ovum and developing yolks are held. An hour or more after the last egg was laid, a yolk will be released and spend about 15 minutes in the infundibulum. That is when fertilization takes place. From there it takes another 24 hours or more to work its way through the magnum, isthmus and shell gland. Along the way, it picks up albumen, inner and outer shell membranes, calcium carbonate to form the shell and pigment.
Birds evolved in response to their place in the food chain since everything wants to eat them. In so doing, they have the remarkable ability to store sperm for long periods at body temperature. So, in defending his flock, a rooster can give himself up to a predator and the hens can go off and make more roosters.
In answer to your question, a hen can remain fertile for at least 2 or 3 weeks, depending on the viability of the rooster. I separate the roosters when it gets bitterly cold but still set eggs for the next 2 weeks or so.
Switching between roosters, unless they are quite different in appearance, it's best to wait a month before collecting eggs again or one won't be sure of pedigree.

There is a graphic of the reproductive tract here
http://homesteadbound.hubpages.com/hub/Egg-Inside-an-Egg

So... I have built a lot of things in my life. Houses, barns, cars, furniture, tools, what have you, but tonight I observed (through candling) a cluster of veins developing inside an egg, and I have to say, I am more proud of my homemade incubator than anything else I have ever constructed. LOL what is wrong with me?

Same here. I also usually do overkill. My incubator isn't perfect yet but after each few hatches I tweak it more.
I realized my biggest problems were thermometers and thermostats. I have a digital controller that was working great, but half way through a hatch it went haywire. Now that I have reliable thermometers, I realized the controller was off by 6 degrees. I now have it set at 93.4 and it's holding perfectly at 99.5. I also have a high/low alarm thermometer. It is set to go off if temp is not between 98 and 102. This way I'll know if the controller suddenly decides to change its mind again.
I'll eventually be changing out that controller.

Ohh yes, chicken math. Or as I dubbed it in another thread "Arithme-chick" (..Trig-hen-ometry..Cock-ulus..etc etc). The best kind of math!

I like that. So you spend a lot of time pondering chickens too, I see.

 

[brahmabreeder]

Might have a ring O' death in one egg. All of the eggs showing embryos are from pen one but pen two I'm not seeing anything. I'll give them a few more days and then I also need to go have a chat with my cockerel I have in pen two.

 

[michaelf]

Good morning all! It's Monday :/ it might be another cup of coffee kinda day. Hope all is well with everyone!

 

[msladyhawke]

You're so creative...you should think of a way to tell her. DS was like, oh Mom, can we keep em? Let's ask Her if we can keep em.... I haven't even told them the breed yet...I should really be a tease and remind them what breed these eggs are!

LOL, I was just going to have you tell her on Christmas day. DS wanted to keep them and he didn't even know the breed? Silly boy.