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

[ChickenCanoe]

Ahh..thanks for all of this info! I have not been giving my new chicks probiotics. Just may have to give it a try.

Has anyone tried doing the fodder for the winter..for those that don't have a blade of green going on in their yard? Thought I had a photo..but I don't.

I thought someone on this thread posted about fodder.

For chicks raised with healthy broody hens, they get beneficial gut bacteria from eating some of the hens' feces. For those raised in a brooder, there is none available so other pathogens and coccidia have a chance to flourish.

 

[chicken farmer]

One of my silkie eggs started hatching yesterday afternoon and hasn't made any progress in hatching at all I'm getting worried

 

[ChickenCanoe]

A lot of people on the FF thread use scratch grains.
I can't speak to the protein content of FF.
I do know that protein(and vitamin content) is increased in sprouted grains as they get to the root stage and then protein slacks off again when they get to the leaf stage.

oh okay that's interesting to know. thanks again!

I wanted to add that fermenting can consume some of the protein. One of the links I posted earlier suggested adding protein prior to feeding. After fermenting, I add fishmeal to the mix.

One of my silkie eggs started hatching yesterday afternoon and hasn't made any progress in hatching at all I'm getting worried

Sometimes it taes about 24 hours since they are so tired.
Hopefully it isn't shrinkwrapped due to pulling it from the incubator at that delicate moment. It's happened to me.

 

[KimberlyK0509]

9 days left for me...... sat eggs 12/10 at 9 pm. of the 3 Tolbunt Polish, culled one-blood ring. 2 SFH's going strong. 2 Jubilee Orpingtons, 1 is for sure a light bulb, culling tonight, other is a maybe.
My first hatch every. I have hand raised all 14 of my current flock and have not had a loss yet. KNOCK ON WOOD. Preparing myself that the hatch maybe difficult. Had a nightmare last night that my incubator went wonky and temperature raised to 200 degrees. eggs cracked and cooked inside the incubator. HORRIBLE DREAM! The anxiety and anticipation is clearly getting to me. anyone else?

 

[chickengirl1193]

I wanted to add that fermenting can consume some of the protein. One of the links I posted earlier suggested adding protein prior to feeding. After fermenting, I add fishmeal to the mix.

Sometimes it taes about 24 hours since they are so tired.
Hopefully it isn't shrinkwrapped due to pulling it from the incubator at that delicate moment. It's happened to me.

Okay that's agood point. If your feeding a 18% FF to laying birds would it be necessary to add the protein if they are fully grown?

 

[JLaw]

I washed them with Dial antibacterial soap. I let them soak for about 30 secs in 99-100 degree water. I washed them with my hands. Just made sure all the poo was gone. I have to keep track of the cost of food to make sure that no one is upset that I am spending money instead of making it lol. Most of my customers said they would pay double for the eggs but I'm afraid they will not buy as much.

Come summer and spring I plan on hatching and selling eggs at the local farmers market also. If I sell there I can ask more per dozen.

I thought about trying to ferment my feed. I did feed fodder for a while until I just got too busy to wash and rinse everyday as I didn't have room to put in a flood a drain system in the house. This is next on my list. To build an indoor system so that I water and rinse the top fodder tray and it drains down through to the next, then the next and so on until it drains out a window. Into the yard. With a complete fodder system in would cut cost by more than half. I plan on hatching lots of chicks for Easter as TSC will only sell chickens at 6 or more per transaction. That is the only place to get chicks here and I seen many people going in and asking for just one or two chicks.

I use 4 buckets for my feed 3 to rotate what days I'm on and the 4th to hold a colander that I pour the water through to strain it some. I noticed when I fist started the amount they ate slowed down. I'm about to start my 300 lbs set up to see how long it lasts.

I've never set a limit on how many chicks I sell but everyone that has bought from me has bought 12+ I think. I've never had someone ask for 1-2. lowest I will go would probably be 3-4 unless I know they are just looking for a buddy for lonely hatched chick.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Okay that's agood point. If your feeding a 18% FF to laying birds would it be necessary to add the protein if they are fully grown?

I doubt it would be necessary to add more protein to that for layers unless the egg production drops.

... lowest I will go would probably be 3-4 unless I know they are just looking for a buddy for lonely hatched chick.

good point

 

[bantambury]

One of my silkie eggs started hatching yesterday afternoon and hasn't made any progress in hatching at all I'm getting worried

this egg of mine the mama hen crushed the pip into.

took him all night to hatch. like 12 hours>



I think your fine. just let it be, and it should be good. just make sure there is enough humidity.

 

[MontanaDolphin]

9 days left for me...... sat eggs 12/10 at 9 pm. of the 3 Tolbunt Polish, culled one-blood ring. 2 SFH's going strong. 2 Jubilee Orpingtons, 1 is for sure a light bulb, culling tonight, other is a maybe.
My first hatch every. I have hand raised all 14 of my current flock and have not had a loss yet. KNOCK ON WOOD. Preparing myself that the hatch maybe difficult. Had a nightmare last night that my incubator went wonky and temperature raised to 200 degrees. eggs cracked and cooked inside the incubator. HORRIBLE DREAM! The anxiety and anticipation is clearly getting to me. anyone else?

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.

 

[JLaw]

That happened to me once which is why I built in redundant thermostats and heat sources. Still I was worried about lamps burning out so after seeing how many times they cycled on and off a day, I rewired the whole thing. I put the light sockets on a switch and only use them for illumination and put metallic heat elements on the thermostats.
I feel better.
I'm sure your eggs will be OK. This will make you feel better.
http://www.brinsea.com/customerservice/poweroff.html


That's why when I drink beer it's in 24 ounce cans. That way I can say I only had 2 beers.

How many chicks will they brood? Are they real energy efficient?

Has anyone here used a contact incubator? I think it has an inflatable bladder type thing that lays across the eggs like a broody hen.

Excellent tip.

And they taste just like chicken, even the ones that aren't good enough to go breeder pens. They still get to spend 3-5 months running around foraging and playing with their chicken buddies.


I was watching the Rams beat TB. As good as the Rams are, they're not going anywhere, unfortunate to be in the powerful NFC west.

It's a hobby that keeps me off the streets for sure.
Thanks for sharing your cleaning method.

I've been fermenting feed for all the birds for a few weeks. I kick myself for not keeping track of how much feed I've used since I started but it is noticeably less. It seems like it grows every day. I like it enough that I'm going to build some dedicated trough feeders. The dog bowls don't work very well.
I would still encourage people to get at least 2 since they need friends.
Another thing you could do is rent-a-chick till they get tired of them and then rescue them later.


I split them up into small groups so when the city asks how many chickens I have, instead of blurting out "seventy", I say I don't have more than 10 in any flock and most are just 2 or 3 birds.
And sorry to say, in the city, roosters count.

For my fermented feed I was using putty troughs. I bought the plastic ones from home depot for like 3 dollars then screwed them to the wall with a 3/4 screw and fender washer. I have since stopped using them and I am now using rubber made Tupperware thing it's 2.5 gallon. I started using this because I couldn't bring in the troughs if there was left over and with the cold it was freezing. I also wanted to move the food out of the coop. I heard of people using heated water dog bowls. I use those for water and thought of using one for my FF.