California - Northern

[PetRock]

Well...they should! If not they should just not give any advice at all. I'd rather have no info than wrong info.

My Red Sex Link that I am contemplating processing was sold to me as a Buff Orphington by a feed Store employee. I was looking specifically for that breed because I had red they, in general, were quieter. I did get some later and found out they were no quieter than any other, but still.....

Feed stores should hand out a chick care flyer with every chick that they sell and it should definitely have a link for BYC on it!

 

[PetRock]

I'm sorry that you are feeling bad. Your mom is wonderful and you are so lucky to have such a close relationship with her.

I can't find it now, but you mentioned having a fresh chicken dinner on Sunday. To avoid tough meat, you need to age chicken (similar to hanging beef). Here are Gina Bisco's recommendations:

"After processing, for best meat texture, chickens should be chilled and aged before cooking. Most sources recommend chilling and aging chickens for 24 hours, and up to 3 days before freezing. I think aging at least 24 hours improves the texture, and that older chickens are better with longer aging, up to perhaps 5 days in the refrigerator for fowl. The properly aged bird should retain a very fresh clean smell with no hint of taint. I've read that chickens that are to be frozen need not be aged first if they will remain at least a month in the freezer. However, that advice may have been based on industrial meat lines, butchered very young. For historic breed chickens butchered at 12 weeks or older, freezer aging may not be enough. If a chicken was not aged in the fridge for at least 24 hours before freezing, then after thawing I usually will allow it another day or more to age in the fridge, before cooking."

I use an ice chest, packed with ice, to age multiple chickens, for 1 to 3 days.

Good quote, Kim! I also leave mine in the refrigerator for 1-3 days before cooking or freezing. My farm friend has an extra frig in the garage that she uses for this. I just have to make sure my frig is cleaned out and has room.

 

[CackleJoy]

Well there are 3 exactly in the same pip position as they were yesterday AM. 2 of them have the beaks out and are no longer moving. I think they may have died.

I was watching one last night, it had zipped and was half out. It has the top off of it's head but appears stuck in its shell. Yet another was upside down with its belly stuck to the shell.. It was just flopping and flopping. At that time there were 14 pipped so I didn't dare open the bator. I finally went to bed and hoped it would be out by morning. It wasn't out and appears to by dying.

I had my daughter hold a hot pad by the opening and quickly reached in and turned the upside down one right side up, I took the shell and all and turned it the right way. If it gets out, then great. If not, I guess it will die too

I feel bad because I have 2 pipped chicks I didn't help and I'm sure they died. But with 4 children, I don't have the time for CICU. I'd rather have them die after the pip then help them out and have to cull them! I am concerned though because the eggs DO NOT move in the cartons. There are 3 pipping on the bottom side of the egg.

I doubt the weakness and inability to get out of the shell has to do with the bleach. I'm thinking if the bleach had any bad effects, it would be all the quitters around day 16/17 that didn't even pip into the air sack. I do think the low room temperature may have lowered the incubation temps enough to cause more of this stuck chick effect. Interesting. I set 63 eggs. Ended up with 5 that never developed. (Found a light bulb I'd missed the first time around AND a cracked one). Then a bunch of quitters, mostly in late stage. It will be a horrible hatch but I guess I'm still learning something.

And, as soon as they are done messing around with this hatch, I have another bunch of eggs waiting to be set.

 

[PetRock]

Well there are 3 exactly in the same pip position as they were yesterday AM. 2 of them have the beaks out and are no longer moving. I think they may have died.

I was watching one last night, it had zipped and was half out. It has the top off of it's head but appears stuck in its shell. Yet another was upside down with its belly stuck to the shell.. It was just flopping and flopping. At that time there were 14 pipped so I didn't dare open the bator. I finally went to bed and hoped it would be out by morning. It wasn't out and appears to by dying.

I had my daughter hold a hot pad by the opening and quickly reached in and turned the upside down one right side up, I took the shell and all and turned it the right way. If it gets out, then great. If not, I guess it will die too

I feel bad because I have 2 pipped chicks I didn't help and I'm sure they died. But with 4 children, I don't have the time for CICU. I'd rather have them die after the pip then help them out and have to cull them! I am concerned though because the eggs DO NOT move in the cartons. There are 3 pipping on the bottom side of the egg.

I doubt the weakness and inability to get out of the shell has to do with the bleach. I'm thinking if the bleach had any bad effects, it would be all the quitters around day 16/17 that didn't even pip into the air sack. I do think the low room temperature may have lowered the incubation temps enough to cause more of this stuck chick effect. Interesting. I set 63 eggs. Ended up with 5 that never developed. (Found a light bulb I'd missed the first time around AND a cracked one). Then a bunch of quitters, mostly in late stage. It will be a horrible hatch but I guess I'm still learning something.

And, as soon as they are done messing around with this hatch, I have another bunch of eggs waiting to be set.

Those late quitters and fully developed ones that don't hatch get to me, too. I had 2 in my last hatch. One had even partially zipped but died. I am committed to keeping hands off as much as possible with my hatches this year and they are going much better than last year's. My first 10 eggs from my new Langshan trio went into lock down last night. Let's see if I can stand by and watch them without intervening!

 

[capayvalleychick]

Do any of you watch the tv show Elementary? It's a modern day Sherlock Holmes, usually an interesting show. There has been a silly subplot with chickens for the past two episodes. The stupid part is that Sherlock rescued two game birds from a fighting operation, in order to see if he can rehabilitate them. I was wondering if anyone had seen it and knew what breed of chickens they are using? It bugs me that they didn't bother to use a game breed. That would have been fun to watch. I'm guessing that they are Copper Marans? The other stupid part is that he successfully taught these two males to get along with each other, and now they live in the house. Watson (Lucy Liu) complains about having to feed them, but there's never any mention of the fact that they would be pooping all over the place. I can just see people who see that and think it's so cute and want to run out and get a pet chicken for the house. My friend with a feed store said a lady came in, yesterday, and wanted to buy a chick as a pet for her apartment.
Anyway, the parts that I find so amusing are when Sherlock keeps trying to get Watson to refer to them as cocks. At one point, she said, "I'm not 12 years old. You aren't going to get me to call them that." It reminded me of some of the comments on this thread.

 

[tommysgirl]

I'm sorry that you are feeling bad. Your mom is wonderful and you are so lucky to have such a close relationship with her.

I can't find it now, but you mentioned having a fresh chicken dinner on Sunday. To avoid tough meat, you need to age chicken (similar to hanging beef). Here are Gina Bisco's recommendations:

"After processing, for best meat texture, chickens should be chilled and aged before cooking. Most sources recommend chilling and aging chickens for 24 hours, and up to 3 days before freezing. I think aging at least 24 hours improves the texture, and that older chickens are better with longer aging, up to perhaps 5 days in the refrigerator for fowl. The properly aged bird should retain a very fresh clean smell with no hint of taint. I've read that chickens that are to be frozen need not be aged first if they will remain at least a month in the freezer. However, that advice may have been based on industrial meat lines, butchered very young. For historic breed chickens butchered at 12 weeks or older, freezer aging may not be enough. If a chicken was not aged in the fridge for at least 24 hours before freezing, then after thawing I usually will allow it another day or more to age in the fridge, before cooking."

I use an ice chest, packed with ice, to age multiple chickens, for 1 to 3 days.

Kim you are so sweet. Thank you. I am so appreciative of the aging advice too. Do you pop yours into the ice chest right after they are processed or do you wait until they cool down? Should I go to Safeway and get 3 of those big plastic bags they use for fish?

Feed stores should hand out a chick care flyer with every chick that they sell and it should definitely have a link for BYC on it!

This is a great idea. Don't know if TSC does this but they do have chick care info on their website

Well there are 3 exactly in the same pip position as they were yesterday AM. 2 of them have the beaks out and are no longer moving. I think they may have died.

I was watching one last night, it had zipped and was half out. It has the top off of it's head but appears stuck in its shell. Yet another was upside down with its belly stuck to the shell.. It was just flopping and flopping. At that time there were 14 pipped so I didn't dare open the bator. I finally went to bed and hoped it would be out by morning. It wasn't out and appears to by dying.

I had my daughter hold a hot pad by the opening and quickly reached in and turned the upside down one right side up, I took the shell and all and turned it the right way. If it gets out, then great. If not, I guess it will die too

I feel bad because I have 2 pipped chicks I didn't help and I'm sure they died. But with 4 children, I don't have the time for CICU. I'd rather have them die after the pip then help them out and have to cull them! I am concerned though because the eggs DO NOT move in the cartons. There are 3 pipping on the bottom side of the egg.

I doubt the weakness and inability to get out of the shell has to do with the bleach. I'm thinking if the bleach had any bad effects, it would be all the quitters around day 16/17 that didn't even pip into the air sack. I do think the low room temperature may have lowered the incubation temps enough to cause more of this stuck chick effect. Interesting. I set 63 eggs. Ended up with 5 that never developed. (Found a light bulb I'd missed the first time around AND a cracked one). Then a bunch of quitters, mostly in late stage. It will be a horrible hatch but I guess I'm still learning something.

And, as soon as they are done messing around with this hatch, I have another bunch of eggs waiting to be set.

I am sorry that your hatch is less successful than you hoped. How many are out?? It is all live and learn but it is tough when the little ones die like that.

I also struggle with the ones that are fully formed and even internally pipped that never get further. This has happened with my broody hatches as well.

 

[tommysgirl]

I found this poor thing in the bator this morning, just like that, with her foot sticking out. I helped her out, but boy was she mad. No wonder she couldn't get out.

lizanne how is this little one doing?

 

[PetRock]

Do any of you watch the tv show Elementary? It's a modern day Sherlock Holmes, usually an interesting show. There has been a silly subplot with chickens for the past two episodes. The stupid part is that Sherlock rescued two game birds from a fighting operation, in order to see if he can rehabilitate them. I was wondering if anyone had seen it and knew what breed of chickens they are using? It bugs me that they didn't bother to use a game breed. That would have been fun to watch. I'm guessing that they are Copper Marans? The other stupid part is that he successfully taught these two males to get along with each other, and now they live in the house. Watson (Lucy Liu) complains about having to feed them, but there's never any mention of the fact that they would be pooping all over the place. I can just see people who see that and think it's so cute and want to run out and get a pet chicken for the house. My friend with a feed store said a lady came in, yesterday, and wanted to buy a chick as a pet for her apartment.
Anyway, the parts that I find so amusing are when Sherlock keeps trying to get Watson to refer to them as cocks. At one point, she said, "I'm not 12 years old. You aren't going to get me to call them that." It reminded me of some of the comments on this thread.

I like that show but it is on too late for me! I fall asleep when I try to watch TV past 10 PM. I'm getting old, I guess, or up too early for chicken chores! I'll have to watch those episodes online!

 

[capayvalleychick]

do think the low room temperature may have lowered the incubation temps enough to cause more of this stuck chick effect. Interesting. I set 63 eggs. Ended up with 5 that never developed. (Found a light bulb I'd missed the first time around AND a cracked one). Then a bunch of quitters, mostly in late stage

I know late quitters are so awful. I had a lot last year and am still trying to figure out why.

When you stored the eggs before hatching, what position were they in and did you turn them during storage?

What position were they in, in the incubator?

What level of calcium is in the feed that you give your breeders?

 

[Audio51]

Someone on the FB group I'm on is asking about how long the broody cares for the chicks after hatch. I have had a couple of clutches but never really paid attention to that. Does anyone know the approximate time to "wean"? I am guessing there is some variation but around 4-6 weeks?