California - Northern

[Meg2000000]

Oops.

Sorry for loading up the thread guys!

 

[ronott1]

Ron - I only took the top half of the egg off. Two of them have two chicks with heads and necks exposed. Should I take the rest of the egg shell off?

Wrap the bottom half with a wet paper towel. It is best for them to get out on their own--allows any yolk that has not absorbed to absorb and the moisture will often loosen them up. You may need to replace the towel in several hours. IF they do not get out of the shell by tonight then slowly work on getting it off of them.

You are doing great with them too!

 

[Ali707]

Good morning everyone!

How is everyone holding up in the heat? Our chickens would have had plenty of shade, if the neighbors hadn't cut down the shade tree last week

hubby put up some emergency shade until we can get something permanent up.

I love seeing all the chicks, and am so jealous! I wish we could have more chickens.
Great coops! I may have to have hubby start a new one!

I need to rant for a moment.
My hubby is a carpenter. In January we made the very hard decision to have his rotator cuff repaired. He was in pain all the time, and it needed to be done.
His boss said it was a great time, as things were slowing down through the winter. Todd (hubby) told him he would be back in 5-6 months. No problem.

Now, his boss is a very good friend of ours. I have known him since my teens. He is like family to me. My husband has worked for him for 13 years.
We have talked to him at social functions, and kept in touch during Todd's rehab. Not one word was ever said about the lack of work or being laid off. Todd tries to call him 2 weeks ago to let him know that as of the 1st of May he is cleared to go back to work.. His boss never called back. Todd called again yesterday. His boss said there is no work right now.

In 13 years this would be only the 2nd time he has been laid off temporarily. I am just a little frustrated that he could have let us know sooner so we could prepare, and try to line some things up.

I don't know what we are going to do. Can you go from disability to unemployment? I am just in tears. Being on disability has been a financial struggle, to say the least, If he goes on unemployment? I don't want to even think about it.

Thanks for listening.....Now back to your regularly scheduled program.

Hmmmm I am not certain about going from disability to unemployment, but if it was a leave of absence and he fully expected to be going back to work......I would apply anyway and tell them the situation and see what they do. All they can say is no, but if you explain it exactly that way it may work. He is able to work but there is no work at his place of employment so essentially he is laid off.

 

[chickee]

My experience with shipped eggs is that the ones that come from healthy parent stock give me a better hatch rate. There are so many variables, such as the age of the eggs (older eggs held during collection loose more moisture than the last eggs collected and that is why some eggs in the same batch hatch better than others) how the eggs are stored while being held during collection (being turned, kept cool at 55-65 degree temps and 40% humidity or more the longer the eggs are stored) how they are packaged for shipping, and of course the dreaded post office and how they handle the package during transit. And lastly, using a good quality incubator. I have found that I have gotten better hatches from eggs sent from certain states. The best have come from California, Georgia, Idaho and Michigan and surprisingly the worst from Oregon and Washington

I got a 100% hatch of EE eggs from Georgia and the d'Anver eggs I have in the incubator now came from Georgia and 9 of the 12 (3 were clears all from the same pen so probably not fertile) are going strong. 8 out of 10 eggs hatched from both the eggs sent from Michigan and Idaho.

Really, if you think about it, it is amazing that eggs sent through the mail hatch at all!

 

[zooweemama]

Megan it is ok! It is tedious but happens.

When they say opening up the incubator too much they do not mean opening it once to take out chicks. In reality, shrink wrap and stuck chicks happens because of things during the first 18 days. Usually it is temperature related, too much humidity(remember, first 18 days) and shipping stress.

They get stuck because they did not absorb the yolk completely. When they get stuck and can't finish zipping then the membrane dries out. That is going to happen if you open the incubator or not! It is not humidity specific.

Watch the ones you helped--they will probably get pasty butt. I would get them vitamin water, Plain yogurt and give them some chick grit(not parrot grit and nothing with calcium). Yes I know the grit is not necessary to digest the food but it does help get the chicks digestion going.

I use a Q tip and warm water to get the poo off of the chicks vent. You need to be careful that you do not hurt the chicks vent getting the poo off. My last hatch was shipped eggs, both from the same State, shipped on the same day and with the same breed but from two different breeders. The nicely packed eggs hatched 6 of 8 with no problems at all. The poorly shipped package had 1 of 7 make it to lockdown. It zipped and did not get out so I had to help it. Today it had a bad case of sticky butt. There were 6 bantam eggs in the same package and of the 4 that made it to lockdown, 2 hatched fine but one pipped and had amber goo come out and by the time I tried to clear the pip, the chick had drowned. All of these eggs were incubated and hatched together.

Happy to hear that. I had to open up periodically to snatch a hatchling, or move an egg (a soccer player flipped one under the turner), one baby got stuck under the turner...I was like geeze I was told not to open. It took almost 4 days for all the ducks to hatch. I was feeling really guilty.

 

[zooweemama]

Wrap the bottom half with a wet paper towel. It is best for them to get out on their own--allows any yolk that has not absorbed to absorb and the moisture will often loosen them up. You may need to replace the towel in several hours. IF they do not get out of the shell by tonight then slowly work on getting it off of them.

You are doing great with them too!

Yay! I did this with one of the duck eggs...it had pipped and there was a hole but it couldn't get out- the sac was drying around it. It had been two days...the membrane had pulled away from the shell too. So I pulled half the egg shell off, left the membrane intact and just covered with a warm damp paper towel. He finished the job after a couple hours. Whew! Glad to know I didn't totally bomb it!

 

[zooweemama]

All 3 frankenchicken eggs I set - hatched without aide. Whew! They are really cute- mutt or not. At least I know who the mom and dad are. No need for Maury on this one.

Betty has 3 eggs that go into lockdown Wednesday (well I have her eggs lol). I am loving the pretty all black, loosely and softly feathered offspring she and Gary (my fbcm) have created so far. Hope these guys look just like them!

Her pullets from the last hatch.



Her son...he's a big boy for 10 weeks too. All black and so so soft.



eta: not trying to win awards or anything. for the first time i am truly enjoying what i am doing and not stressed out by sop since these are only for me, for my backyard, for my eye, my table and my basket.

 

[zooweemama]

Confession....I recently realized I do not like to eat chicken eggs. Not the store ones, not mine. I do like duck eggs however (the chewier texture does not gag me lol). I have also learned my family mostly prefer duck eggs. So we have chickens...mostly because we want them I guess at this point haha! How weird are we? We just enjoy their presence, I sell off their eggs and buy more feed. haha!

 

[fatcatx]

LOL - not too wierd. We are just beginning to get into chickens - hubby building coop right now. Have always wanted some even though we hardly eat eggs. Country girl stuck in the city. Once all is said and done, these will be the most expensive "pets" we ever get!

 

[chiqita]

Confession....I recently realized I do not like to eat chicken eggs. Not the store ones, not mine. I do like duck eggs however (the chewier texture does not gag me lol). I have also learned my family mostly prefer duck eggs. So we have chickens...mostly because we want them I guess at this point haha! How weird are we? We just enjoy their presence, I sell off their eggs and buy more feed. haha!

Well, I didn't like duck eggs! I didn't eat eggs before we had chicken, only bought them for baking. I eat them because we have them. And sometimes I regret not incubation them....the only thing I eat without guilt are the icelandics!