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

[Pozees]

Make sure you get everyone with injuries onto antibiotics as soon as possuble as well. Infection is the biggest worry as long as they make it past the shock stage. Duramycin-10 powder in the water works well. 1 tsp per gallon mixed fresh daily. I would also suggest vitamins & electrolytes for a week as well. It can go right in the water with the antibiotics & will help speed healing.

Good suggestion, especially with puncture wounds - these are most dangerous of all.

Meant to tell you yesterday, congrats on finding a new place! Hope things go smoothly!

 

[Blarneyeggs]

[COLOR=0000FF]So we locked down tonight, I wonder if anyone can tell me how in the world I'm going to distinguish between the Creole Orpingtons and Rhodebars when they hatch.... REALLY wish I had a basket or something to separate the eggs.[/COLOR]

Tomato Baskets!

Thank you Ron! Somewhere around midnight I remembered a plastic container in the fridge holding grape leaves and put the Creoles in there...(yes my chicks will be true Italians, smelling like Olive Oil).... Then I stressed for a while over the lack of air flow, new plan is to empty the grandsons' strawberries out of their container and switch out...I'll add more water when I have the bator open, it's staying at 37 so I'm going to throw a sanitary napkin in there. C'mon chickies!!!

 

[Pozees]

Judi (Pozees): I like your way of thinking. Personally I don't know if I could take scissors to a chick, I've done the freezer and used an ax on older birds...never easy.

I think as long as you have a method you can manage that is humane, it doesn't matter what it is.

It isn't easy for anyone who is able to imagine the pain or fear of another being. One of the BYCers frequenting another thread counseled this way, to someone having trouble processing her own extra males: They had a great life except the last 10 seconds or so - the birds you buy in the grocery store had a miserable life.

We respect and care for our birds/animals to the best of our abilities, and every year we learn more. If we are not keeping our birds in tiny cages where all they do is eat and defecate, and not keeping them in mob conditions in an artificially lighted environment with no access to sunshine, grass (if you have it), fresh air, and freedom, you are well ahead of most/all commercial growers (I know there are a few trying to provide somewhat better conditions than others). Penny Hen correctly points out the way we have distanced ourselves from our food. The more we permit others (motivated purely by profit) to determine how our food is raised, the less control we have over the quality of our food, and in turn, our health. You can take all the pills you can find, you cannot substitute for properly raised food, whether it is animal or vegetable.

 

[Pozees]

Thank you Ron! Somewhere around midnight I remembered a plastic container in the fridge holding grape leaves and put the Creoles in there...(yes my chicks will be true Italians, smelling like Olive Oil).... Then I stressed for a while over the lack of air flow, new plan is to empty the grandsons' strawberries out of their container and switch out...I'll add more water when I have the bator open, it's staying at 37 so I'm going to throw a sanitary napkin in there.

C'mon chickies!!!

 

[abmaddox1981]

Merry Christmas everyone! Or Happy Holidays! I hope everyone has a great day! Just to let y'all know, my house looks like Christmas threw up and my kids are spazzing out. It is awesome!And we have 7 more days til hatch! Hope everything goes well for everyone!

 

[chicken pickin]

2x

Sadly last yr ppl talked me into believing the vinegar/baking soda was humane, clearly they had never done it & stuck around.
IT WAS NOT HUMANE not at all. I've had to put down animals from llamas, to dogs to newborn kittens, pigs, rabbits, lots of things, & that was the most horrible way to do it!
I will never ever ever do it that way again. Seriously I had nightmares after filled w/ guilt not b/c I had to cull the chick but b/c of that method.
Anything else would be faster/kinder...zip lock & *sharp* scissors would be much much kinder. Others opinions may be different, but that was how it was for me.

Our method we use here(we have only had to do it once) might sound strange to some but we dig a large hole in the ground, after a snuggle and a goodbye put the baby in a brown paper bag and place on the ground, then take a VERY large rock and drop it on top of the bag then put it in the hole and bury. Its quick easy painless.

 

[chicken pickin]

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I think as long as you have a method you can manage that is humane, it doesn't matter what it is.

It isn't easy for anyone who is able to imagine the pain or fear of another being. One of the BYCers frequenting another thread counseled this way, to someone having trouble processing her own extra males: They had a great life except the last 10 seconds or so - the birds you buy in the grocery store had a miserable life.

We respect and care for our birds/animals to the best of our abilities, and every year we learn more. If we are not keeping our birds in tiny cages where all they do is eat and defecate, and not keeping them in mob conditions in an artificially lighted environment with no access to sunshine, grass (if you have it), fresh air, and freedom, you are well ahead of most/all commercial growers (I know there are a few trying to provide somewhat better conditions than others). Penny Hen correctly points out the way we have distanced ourselves from our food. The more we permit others (motivated purely by profit) to determine how our food is raised, the less control we have over the quality of our food, and in turn, our health. You can take all the pills you can find, you cannot substitute for properly raised food, whether it is animal or vegetable.

X2
That's how I always explain it. Hatching or buying straight run and processing extras when grown is better than chicks dying as day olds just because they were boys.
For every backyard or small farm free range hen, there is one less miserable hen in a cage.

 

[Myfourladies]

Just taking a moment to catch up and say MERRY CHRISTMAS to you from me and my 4 ladies!

Hope everyone has a great day!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

This refers to large scale incubation but still an interesting read.

http://www.pasreform.com/academy/fr...-and-how-to-transfer-eggs-to-the-hatcher.html

It will relieve some stress for those that can't lock down at exactly 18 days. They try to do it between 17 days, 12 hours and 18 days, 12 hours but under exceptional circumstances it can be done from 15-19 days. Transferring at 15 days only reduces hatchability by 1%.