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

[chickengirl1193]

Marek's is the bane of my existence.  I lost an entire shipment of beautiful Speckled Sussex chicks to Marek's.  It has multiple forms, and once a bird becomes symptomatic it is almost always fatal (the percentage of those surviving it is fractional, and most of those birds are compromised for life).  Vaccinating all birds will not eliminate it eventually, as it is carried by wild birds.  Chicks must be vaccinated in the first 48 (? might be 72, I could have mis-remembered this) hours of life, the vaccine is only good for 48 hours once mixed with the diluent, and the vaccine is live vaccine, meaning vaccinated birds shed the virus for life, exposing all other birds to it.  There are many schools of thought on this disease, but after consulting breeders with decades of experience I opted not to vaccinate chicks.  My thought was that if there are birds who are naturally resistant and birds who are not, I will never know which are resistant if I vaccinate; if I do not, the birds that live and thrive past 6 months of age are resistant and should pass that resistance on to their offspring.

I had decided not to vaccinate my chicks but my older birds were vaccinated at the hatchery and I got them as POL. could they give my chicks mareks? I have two coops so they can be separate flocks but I did want to breed my roos to my older hens

 

[JDchicks]

My guess would be either that one of your breeder Silkies are not a pure color. Meaning that at some point maybe another color could have been introduced. Or your 2 breeders are different colors producing odd color chicks. I saw your pic of your roo, im not sure that is partridge or another color. What color is your hen? Can you post a pic of both hen and roo?

They have dropped dark ones like the roo before, but never had one have grey/white feathers. Maybe a blue partridge?

Wrath (Roo)
Wrath 2 days old (Roo)


Lust (Hen)
Lust 2 days old (Hen )

 

[ronott1]

It looks like I have 4 French black copper marans and one blue! I can't tell the black ones apart! Here are my pictures! and the 3 TJ leghorns

Very nice!

So I am watching the game.. Kid asked to show the broody hen chick to his friends ,, I said no ,,not right now,, After the game..Well 1 1/2hr later,, neighbor kid comes up say Mr Jimmy,,There are two dead chicks,, So I go check the barn,, Its cold .they had left the door open or been in out several times,, I did not put a extra heat as it been warm out and i had just checked ,every one was fine..Oh,,I had a few beers ..lost my temper,,yelled @ my son and neighbor kids... Oh mans i feel so bad ,, Its not there fault.. i should have went and shown them or put extra heat in there,, >..I feel so dang stupid,, I got go apologize to the neighbor kids>>>>>>>>>,,AGAIN,, Peace,,

Do not feel too bad. It was a good lesson they learned too. Kids need no know stuff like this can happen. It will make them better Adults than most are not.

 

[ronott1]

im pming you a bit more,,,,,so we don't take up too much here

It is too late to vaccinate your current hatch.

 

[itsbob]

Ducks go into lock down tomorrow at noon.. looks like 7/12 of them are going to make it to lockdown anyways.

From the first candle. None of the 5 in the LG made it, all 7 from the Brinsea at least made it to lickdown.

 

[ronniewayne]

wow finally caught up 300 post later my hatch finished at 9 pm ..set 17 ..had 3 clears ,,1 quitter,, 13 to lockdown hatched 12..one never piped or tried fully developed not sure..someone in this thread asked about wood heat with the bator going . I had my wood heater fired up part of the time although I just use it as supplemental to my electric heat pump. I did a dry incubation with humidity ranging from 15 % to 25 % for the first 16 days. I did mist the eggs twice daily with a spray bottle of water kept in the bator so It was the same temp . then on day 16 I filled the water pan and had humidity readings of 45% - 50% then on lockdown I added two sponges and raised the humidity to 70%. this worked better for me than keeping the humidity up all the way as I have done in the past. I will note here humidity is relative (pun intended ) to where you live , the humidity in your home , the humidity outside your home, and the temps of both. what works well here might not work well at a different location. thank Ron for keeping up with this thread great job. thanks to all the great participants and posters with tips and advise and stories about our lives and how our hobby affects it . I wish everyone the best with their new knowledge and

new chicks

 

[ronott1]

wow finally caught up 300 post later my hatch finished at 9 pm ..set 17 ..had 3 clears ,,1 quitter,, 13 to lockdown hatched 12..one never piped or tried fully developed not sure..someone in this thread asked about wood heat with the bator going . I had my wood heater fired up part of the time although I just use it as supplemental to my electric heat pump. I did a dry incubation with humidity ranging from 15 % to 25 % for the first 16 days. I did mist the eggs twice daily with a spray bottle of water kept in the bator so It was the same temp . then on day 16 I filled the water pan and had humidity readings of 45% - 50% then on lockdown I added two sponges and raised the humidity to 70%. this worked better for me than keeping the humidity up all the way as I have done in the past. I will note here humidity is relative (pun intended ) to where you live , the humidity in your home , the humidity outside your home, and the temps of both. what works well here might not work well at a different location. thank Ron for keeping up with this thread great job. thanks to all the great participants and posters with tips and advise and stories about our lives and how our hobby affects it . I wish everyone the best with their new knowledge and

new chicks

You had a great hatch rate!

 

[Cynthia12]

Yes, those are the famous Trader Joes eggs. Can you feather sex leghorns? If so, it looks like 2 Roos and 1 pullet. But, I'm a newbie!

I feather sex mine all the time. I've done pretty good so far! Pretty easy with them.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

I got a chicky!!!!!

She/he was lonely so we gave him/her a friend. She wouldn't stop cheeping until she had her friend.
Now she is with her adoption broody mum. I feather sexed her and from what it looks like is a pullet but I'm not holding my breath.
I have 2 more pipping right now.

 

[JDchicks]

I got a chicky!!!!!

She/he was lonely so we gave him/her a friend. She wouldn't stop cheeping until she had her friend.
Now she is with her adoption broody mum. I feather sexed her and from what it looks like is a pullet but I'm not holding my breath.
I have 2 more pipping right now.

She is so very cute. What is she?

How many do you have in lock down?