April 2020 Hatch-A-Long! All are welcome!

[FortCluck]

I've often thought about the Jersey Giants, but also heard about their bone-heavy frames and that from a feed conversion standpoint they're not efficient as meat birds. For some reason I thought the deathlayers had vulnerable combs--single or maybe double... I must have been mixing them up with some others. I'll have to keep an eye out for some. The new roosters are really beautiful! Congrats! I really hope they'll work out well for you.

Squatch is a year old now and still doesn't have much meat on him... He eats like a pig too

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Squatch is a year old now and still doesn't have much meat on him... He eats like a pig too

Have you checked for parasites, had a fecal sample read?

 

[FortCluck]

I know he was special to you it cannot be easy to rehome a special bird!

We have a SLW rooster that I raised, but he is kind of turning out to be a total hole. I'm torn on what I should do because we have a toddler running around and I don't want him to get hurt. The rooster is young enough that he doesnt even have his spurs yet, but if he did he would surely use them! I'm hoping it's just because spring has sprung and he will calm back down. He does a great job alerting my hens to danger, and has only mated one of them too much. I feel like his offspring will make better meat birds than my frizzle's offspring, so I'd like to keep him around for that. But if he keeps being a jerk he just might turn into pot pie.

I hope these Deathlayers make lots of pretty babies for you! And that your flock feels more at ease even though you will miss Squatch ❤.

I'm sure Ozzy & Dio will suit our flocks needs.

I will miss him, but I also know you can't keep every bird especially roosters. I wish he was a pullet because then there would be no issue.

I'll always have pics to remember him and his hole brother

 

[FortCluck]

Have you checked for parasites, had a fecal sample read?

Yeah he's fine. He's a big rooster about 10 lbs he eats double of a normal standard chicken. It's all normal for a jersey giant.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Yeah he's fine. He's a big rooster about 10 lbs he eats double of a normal standard chicken. It's all normal for a jersey giant.

I just wondered since you said he didn't have much meat on him.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Thank you ❤. Luckily I love learning, so all the watching and note taking doesn't bother me so much. It's crazy how much I've learned already in just 3 hatches, and I'm learning more all the time! At this point, I think eggstopsies and assisting when possible will be more beneficial for me for the learning aspect.

I don't know the terms for all the malpos and I totally spaced on taking a picture, but this one had its head tucked in towards its body so it was stuffed between its body and the yolk instead of having it positioned under the wing. This particular egg also had a terrible air cell, which I had noted in my hatching notes. It was saddled pretty much all the way up the side of the egg. Its bad aircell and lack of movement is what made me choose it to poke around in first.

So far I am liking the turner in the NR360 better than the turner in the Brinsea...the way the turner in the Brinsea is designed, your eggs have to be pretty much the perfect size and shape in order to turn completely. Now that you mention turning, I'm wondering if the shipping process and wonky turning has contributed to spotty success this time around. Next time I have shipped eggs in there I may just turn by hand?

50 + something hatches later with numerous species, I still learn something new in almost every hatch!

That does sound like a malposition from your description.

Shipped ALWAYS contributes to difficulty in hatches. In hatch-a-longs last year I watched shipped eggs in the same incubators show signs of sticky chicks, shrink wrapping, and malpositions all in the same hatches and it just got worse with the heat of the summer. I avoid shipping eggs when I can but when there aren't alternative options I would say at the very least you can't count your hatch rate against you or your incubator because there's just no way to know what they went through during shipping. Jostling, altitude changes, x-rays, etc.

 

[FortCluck]

I just wondered since you said he didn't have much meat on him.

He's a Jersey giant. They build their frame in the first year and they grow meat the second year.

He has a very large frame. It's how giants grow, they're awkward.

He has meat on him now that he's older, but he will get even bigger next year.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

He's a Jersey giant. They build their frame in the first year and they grow meat the second year.

He has a very large frame. It's how giants grow, they're awkward.

He has meat on him now that he's older, but he will get even bigger next year.

I've had White, Blue and Black Jersey Giants. I loved them.

 

[FortCluck]

I've had White, Blue and Black Jersey Giants. I loved them.

He's too big for my flock right now. He is causing a lot of damage to my girls. I'm getting standard size roosters (Deathlayers) to replace him.

 

[livhatcher]

Well, I've been hatching all week and tagging chicks as they turn up. So far, 8 marans or marans/ameraucana mixes, 4 silkies, 3 isbars, 2 cream legbars, 1 black marans, 1 golden spitzhauben, 1 blue laced red wyandotte, 2 swedish flower, and 1 silver laced orp. They are sooo cute!!

Hope everyone is doing well.