Arizona Chickens

[gckiddhouse]

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Wow! So sorry to hear.

So glad all that was finally discovered and can now be dealt with. Hang in there.

 

[joel david]

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I hate it! I cross the rez every day on my commute to work and right now my choices are either get on the 202 to the 101 and deal with the on ramp and then the 2 bottle necks or to get on the 202 and then right back off at Alma School.

On another note having never done this before I am amazed at how fast these little buggers progress. My chicks have a ton of shoulder feathers already and a little clup of tail feathers and there wings are feathered out quite a bit.

 

[joel david]

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Whoa, NO fun, get well soon.

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

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I'm sorry to hear your husband has been sick for so long, but am glad to hear that he is on the road to recovery.

 

[LarryPQ]

AZKAT- I hope your husband feels better soon. I am sorry you have had a rought couple of weeks.


I have 8 eggs due today, but no movement from them yet. I am a little worried. When Tofu was here yesterday, we spotted crystalization/leakage on one of the dark eggs from onthespot. We did a super-fast extraction, (the egg was huge and an expolision would have been catastrophic). I hope the little eggies are ok.

 

[gckiddhouse]

Laree - hoping so, too!!

I am confused about when I go into lock down. And I want to take my kids skiing on Wed. but am worried that we can't because of the eggs.

Do I put them into lock down at the beginning of day 18 or the end of day 18? I thought it was just the last 3 days that they had to be in lock down.

I put them in on a Friday evening, so the end of day one is Saturday evening, right? That makes Tuesday my day 18. So lock down on Monday evening?? or Tuesday evening?

Skiing would be all day Wednesday. I don't know that I can leave them unsupervised all day. And with humidity going up, I don't know how much fussing it will take to keep conditions stable.

I can't go skiing, can I?

 

[LarryPQ]

An extra day without turning wont be an issue. If you need to put them in lockdown a bit early, it shouldn't be a problem. I wouldn't worry too much about humidity fluctuations, you just want it more humid than it was during the rest (beginnging) of incubation. Once they start hatching, humidity will spike in there anyway.

 

[tofuranch]

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They will be ok...just wait for it...I can't wait to see what you get. I often don't see the movement part.

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

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I also set mine on a Friday evening (around 8 pm). I candled them and put them in lockdown between 12-2 pm on Tuesday (day 18). The first one hatched Thursday evening around 7 pm, the 2nd one didn't hatch till 12 hours later. I'm not sure when exactly lockdown should occur, but the 18th day worked well for us - we have 16 chicks from the 18 eggs that went into lockdown.

I wouldn't have been able to leave on Thursday, because I have a dimmer switch to control my heat and needed to monitor the temps. I had to slightly adjust it with a higher humidity and then again when I took chicks out (the amount of chicks/eggs in there makes a difference in the heat). I was using 2 room humidifiers in my bedroom, which is where the bator was, for those few days so that the humidity inside the bator didn't take a nose dive when I needed to open it.

If you are using a themostat, you can play it by ear. Put your eggs into lockdown on Tuesday and then you will have all Tuesday & Wednesday to make sure that your incubator is stable. If it stays stable, then you go get to go ski - if not,

If you have a dimmer switch, then you need to stay home - you may have chicks hatching on day 20.



Laree - I hope your eggs are okay too - I think they should be since you removed the other one in time - thank goodness you discovered it before it did blow.

 

[LarryPQ]

I forgot to tell everyone: the DH was taking care of the chooks this weekend, and when he refilled the broody OEGB's water, he moved the brick in front of her screen so she could get out, but not get back in. I went out there yesterday, and she had been locked out of her nesting box: so all the eggs were cold.

I tossed them all, but not to worry. She and her sis have already started new nests. If they are still determined when I go out there today, we'll give it another whirl.