August Hatch-A-Long

[CluckNDoodle]

We like to eat the extera roosters, it's nice to know that we handled them humanely and what they were fed. My family needs to eat and No One will thank me for having 40 roosters.

I just need a tough friend that can process them for me because I'm the girl that cries when she kills snakes.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I just need a tough friend that can process them for me because I'm the girl that cries when she kills snakes.

Well, I’m the tree hugger vegetarian who doesn’t kill snakes or anything else, and I’m trying to get set up to butcher these five, 3 mo old cockerels that we bred. It’s something that DD and I have talked a lot about. While I don’t eat meat, my family does, and I’ve reached a similar decsision as dougieee, in thinking that these cockerels have had a much better life than most grocery store broilers but should be used for some purpose...

 

[igorsMistress]

I never wander far and as most of my customers at work know I Love to talk chicken.... you are always welcome to send me a message if you like. Most of my knowledge has come from trial and error and reading folks here on BYC

Trial and error are often the best teachers. That's a nice looking couple you shared a pic of too!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Well, I’m the tree hugger vegetarian who doesn’t kill snakes or anything else, and I’m trying to get set up to butcher these five, 3 mo old cockerels that we bred. It’s something that DD and I have talked a lot about. While I don’t eat meat, my family does, and I’ve reached a similar decsision as dougieee, in thinking that these cockerels have had a much better life than most grocery store broilers but should be used for some purpose...

Good luck! I hope it's not too traumatizing for you! I'm much like you and live a primarily vegetarian lifestyle bordering on vegan but I will occasionally eat humanely treated animal products from local sources that I know are genuine and not just a label. Like my chicken eggs for example. Primarily for health reasons but also because it just feels better to eat something that I know was given a good life before being food.
Anywho, not processing my own chickens is 100% because I'm a wuss.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I'm officially having a hissy fit. My eggs don't appear to be arriving today either! Yep, I should have sucked it up and just driven. This is what I get for trying to save time.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Oops, wrong picture. It was supposed to be this one. ETA... Monday.

 

[Rockporters]

I woke to pips in 2 of the B/S Silkie eggs. Hatching today will hopefully be 4 Buff, and 5 B/S Silkies. These were incubated in the Brinsea, and moved over to the GQF cabinet for hatch. 5 Serama eggs are in there as well, but I don’t expect anything from those until tomorrow at the earliest.

 

[Compost King]

In Lockdown, waiting for hatch day then I noticed my Thermostat was at 96 degrees. First time I checked it in 2 days... yep I am slack'n again. Better too low than too high. It was a 98 or 99 when I went into lock down so maybe the lower temp is due to everything being at a lower elevation. I turned the Wafer thermostat slightly towards increase not sure how much to turn it to bump it up 2 or 3 degrees so I will just slightly turn it up every 2 hours until I get a feel for it. I honestly have not had to tinker with that for about 6 straight hatches. Anyways thats the only excitement in this boring hatch so far... went in to lock down, had to tinker with Thermostat. I love boring hatches.. it means I haven't had any major problems. I did have a bunch of infertile eggs I caught around day 8 9 or 10. But I also need a smaller hatch so I can catch up on coop building. Its Nursery work season and I need a bit of a break from chicken work so less brooder birds will buy me enough time to take cuttings for the rest of summer. Ok I am just rambling because I need an excuse to stay in the Air Conditioning, when I am done with BYC I have to go back out in the heat.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I woke to pips in 2 of the B/S Silkie eggs. Hatching today will hopefully be 4 Buff, and 5 B/S Silkies. These were incubated in the Brinsea, and moved over to the GQF cabinet for hatch. 5 Serama eggs are in there as well, but I don’t expect anything from those until tomorrow at the earliest.

Yay! You never know, the serama eggs are so tiny that they may start hatching early. I can't wait to see the bitty babies!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

In Lockdown, waiting for hatch day then I noticed my Thermostat was at 96 degrees. First time I checked it in 2 days... yep I am slack'n again. Better too low than too high. It was a 98 or 99 when I went into lock down so maybe the lower temp is due to everything being at a lower elevation. I turned the Wafer thermostat slightly towards increase not sure how much to turn it to bump it up 2 or 3 degrees so I will just slightly turn it up every 2 hours until I get a feel for it. I honestly have not had to tinker with that for about 6 straight hatches. Anyways thats the only excitement in this boring hatch so far... went in to lock down, had to tinker with Thermostat. I love boring hatches.. it means I haven't had any major problems. I did have a bunch of infertile eggs I caught around day 8 9 or 10. But I also need a smaller hatch so I can catch up on coop building. Its Nursery work season and I need a bit of a break from chicken work so less brooder birds will buy me enough time to take cuttings for the rest of summer. Ok I am just rambling because I need an excuse to stay in the Air Conditioning, when I am done with BYC I have to go back out in the heat.

That's odd that the temp changed randomly after so many straight hatches without changing anything. Do you have more than one thermometer in there reading the same? I only ask because I've had more thermometers go bad than anything else.