Bay Area BYCers!

[Wishing4Wings]

I would like to share a of photos of my NH., pullets. They are Walt Leonard, birds. I love these sensible, gentle, Firebirds : )

Lual, all your birds are beautiful, but the NH are stunning. A breed favorite of mine, though, so bias included.

But still, WOW.

 

[dldolan]

I would like to share a of photos of my NH., pullets. They are Walt Leonard, birds. I love these sensible, gentle, Firebirds : )

Wow, they are lovely girls! The Jubilee Orps are just gorgeous as well!

 

[lualshannon]

I would like to share a of photos of my NH., pullets. They are Walt Leonard, birds. I love these sensible, gentle, Firebirds : )

Lual, all your birds are beautiful, but the NH are stunning. A breed favorite of mine, though, so bias included. But still, WOW.

Thank you for your kind words!! It is truly a joy to live with these birds. The pullets in the photo just turned 7 mos. and fill my arms when I hold them. When I go into their place to feed, each one goes to a favorite spot, and wait for their own portion to be served individually. Orpingtons and others eat from the community feeders, but not the mature NH hens. They want to be served separately at the high up spot of their own choosing. Also, they are the only ones who hardly loose feathers on their backs, because the cock birds can romance them only if they are allowed. I have several NH cockerels who have recently discovered that they are boys, and regularly make the mistake of courting the adult hens. Well, lucky for them that they are able to run really fast. It is just funny, and adorable to see them run for their life on those tall legs, and huge feet

Lual

 

[lualshannon]

I would like to share a of photos of my NH., pullets. They are Walt Leonard, birds. I love these sensible, gentle, Firebirds : )

Wow, they are lovely girls! The Jubilee Orps are just gorgeous as well!

Thank you, Dawn! I love all my birds, and they add endless joy to my life. Jubilees are stunning in person, but, oh so difficult to breed those colors and patterns. If one is not careful, it is very easy to loose quality, and since I do very small amount of breeding, they are quite a bit of challenge for me. I have some True Blacks as well. Come to think of it, almost all my birds are either black, or red

I just noticed the mistake on my above post. When I use the IPad, whenever I forget to do proof reading, it changes what I typed, and makes decisions on it's own...embarrassing.. Lual

 

[dldolan]

Jeremy, as you just bought the same incubator as I did, I have a question for you: the top thermostat says 100* and 51% humidity, and the (extra) hygrometer I bought, which is next to the egg turner mechanism, so above water channel 1, says 97.9*F and 55% humidity. Seems like that would be normal for the 4" difference between the top of the incubator and the lower/middle? Should I make any adjustments as for having the egg turner in? There are no eggs in there yet! Just trying to get ready...

 

[jeremy]

Dawn, there's always been some variance when I've used styro bators in the past, I think your readings are probably accurate and shouldn't affect incubation very much. I haven't even taken mine out of the box yet, I'll have to let you know what my readings say when I get it set up.

That said... I used to OBSESS over incubating & would have like 4 thermometers/hygrometers in each bator... then I realized the eggs were either gonna hatch, or they weren't, and making myself stressed out over minute adjustments to temp/humidity wasn't really doing any good. & here I am about to start hatching again after 3 (ish) years? Hopefully I don't loose all of my hair in 3 weeks.

What are you hatching this time around?

 

[chiqita]

Jeremy, as you just bought the same incubator as I did, I have a question for you: the top thermostat says 100* and 51% humidity, and the (extra) hygrometer I bought, which is next to the egg turner mechanism, so above water channel 1, says 97.9*F and 55% humidity. Seems like that would be normal for the 4" difference between the top of the incubator and the lower/middle? Should I make any adjustments as for having the egg turner in? There are no eggs in there yet! Just trying to get ready...

Dont worry about minor humidity variations, no hydrometers we get are truely accurate, so as long as its in the right ballpark, you are good. Id calibrate them usuing the salt method to make sure they are not completly out of whack, however.

Id calibrate the thermometers, since accuracy there is more important, but thats a normal variation.

 

[jeremy]

I've almost got 2 dozen saved for my first test batch from my Chocolate/Black bantam Orpingtons... a few more days & these are going in the bator.

 

[dldolan]

Lovely!

 

[jeremy]

I'm so excited to see what hatches Dawn! It's like hatching for the very first time all over again.