California - Northern

[PetRock]

This is a bad year for Mites and lice. They seem to be coming in off of the wind LOL.

Definitely check to make sure they do not have parasites.

We needed a little of the cold weather that the rest of the country has had. Well maybe not that cold but cold enough to kill the buggies. I bet it is going to be a bad year for fleas and flies, too! I better put my order in for fly predators!

 

[PetRock]

The Pita Pintas hatched well the first time I hatched them--They were the farthest "shipped" eggs that I have hatched too. The Basque eggs hatched better though.

With my first PP eggs, 9 hatched out of 14. They were not shipped so I didn't have that excuse. They were the first hatch using my cabinet hatcher. The eggs that I currently have in my Hovabator Genesis spent the first 8 days in the cabinet and were only gently turned the last few days of that period. I started with 36 eggs (some black Langshan from my breeding trio and the rest from Zoro's mixed group of ladies), 28 made it past the first candling at 10 days, and 25 will be set for hatching tonight. Of the 3 that I removed last night, 2 were early quitters and should have been kicked out at day 10 and the other was a mid-quitter. It will be interesting to see how the hatch goes. I'm so excited to have 10 big eggs from my Langshans in there!

 

[ronott1]

I've also decided that I am not hatching small pullet eggs no matter the breed. It has been my experience that they seem to have a harder time hatching. I have two in my brooder right now and at two weeks they are half the size of the other chicks. I went through and moved all the small pullet eggs from the possible hatch trays to the egg skelter for eating. DH likes to know which eggs he can eat and the skelter is great for that!

Too small and too large are harder to hatch. I read the results of a study an Large eggs, 57G to 64G hatch the best. Hatch rate goes down with eggs not in that range.

 

[SilkiesForEver]

Quote: Sheesh, lice are bad this year! My OEGB pen has them and so do our goats. They drive me crazy!

 

[PetRock]

Ok, tonight my poor broody EE experienced "broody interruptis" lol. Some other chicken got in the nest box with her and broke an egg. The remaining eggs have yolk on them. Not completely covered but it's there. There are 3 at least that are developing. Will they hatch? Should I clean them? Please advise!

How much longer until hatch? Are you going to separate her from the flock before hatch? My head hen has gone broody a few times and no one bothers her or her eggs. But last year, I had a Lavender Ameraucana who is lower in the pecking order go broody. I left her in one of the 6 nest boxes just like I had with my head hen. She would get off the nest anytime another hen wanted to lay in there. I clearly marked the eggs so I could remove the newly laid ones. I mistakenly thought that she would stay on her nest at hatch time and protect the babies. I learned a hard lesson. I had one hatching egg completely disappear and another newly hatched chick that also disappeared. I removed the last chick after hatch and added it with my newly hatched chicks in the brooder. That was the end of Gidget's motherhood and she has not gone broody again since then, thankfully!

 

[capayvalleychick]

vibration during the first 7 is especially hard on hatching eggs.

It's better to have stable temps for the 19-20 days at home. ... it can be near impossible with the heating and cooling being turned off.

One of the reasons that I don't incubate eggs at home is because I don't have climate control and temps fluctuate so much in my house.
So, I drive the eggs to Ron ...down my bumpy gravel road and potholed country streets. I wonder if the jostling is affecting hatch rates?

Either way, I don't have ideal conditions.

I'm wayyy behind on posts here btw

 

[PetRock]

Sheesh, lice are bad this year! My OEGB pen has them and so do our goats. They drive me crazy!

I saw mites climbing up the door to my outdoor brooder to escape the wet from the rain, I guess. I had just put my 5 week old babies in that area a couple days before that. I removed the chicks, totally cleaned it and sprayed for mites then put Sevin Dust around the edges. (I hate using insecticides but I lost a chick to mites a couple years ago.) I haven't seen any evidence of mites on the chicks but I sprayed Scalex Mite & Lice Spray for Birds under each wing and on their vent anyway. Now I am keeping a close watch on them.

 

[ronott1]

I saw mites climbing up the door to my outdoor brooder to escape the wet from the rain, I guess. I had just put my 5 week old babies in that area a couple days before that. I removed the chicks, totally cleaned it and sprayed for mites then put Sevin Dust around the edges. (I hate using insecticides but I lost a chick to mites a couple years ago.) I haven't seen any evidence of mites on the chicks but I sprayed Scalex Mite & Lice Spray for Birds under each wing and on their vent anyway. Now I am keeping a close watch on them.

I know of 3 to 5 Hens that have died form mites this year.

We need to take it seriously and they do come from the environment. You are doing the right thing by treating the coop as well as the chickens.

 

[ronott1]

One of the reasons that I don't incubate eggs at home is because I don't have climate control and temps fluctuate so much in my house.
So, I drive the eggs to Ron ...down my bumpy gravel road and potholed country streets. I wonder if the jostling is affecting hatch rates?

Either way, I don't have ideal conditions.

I'm wayyy behind on posts here btw

I might start treating them like shipped eggs.

I so not think the vibration getting them to my house is too bad. The air cells are never scrambled.

 

[WendyJeepchick]

It's just a bit too far for me--I'm in Crescent City, which is on the coast, only 19 miles from Oregon, and the party's over 8 hours away.

That's understandable. A bit too far to drive; especially with kids.