California - Northern

[juststruttin]

Yuk!

Radom fact: Bluebelly lizards blood carries an enzyme that actually kills the Lyme germ in ticks that feed on the lizards when they are little. Studies are showing in areas with Bluebellys the percentage of ticks carring Lyme is about 5 % of the population; vs. 50%+ in areas without the lizards.

Awesome. We have lots of blue bellies.

 

[CackleJoy]

I wasn't going to say anything, but I'm feeling like I never want to hatch anything ever again. I had eggs in the RCom, eggs in the Genesis, and under 3 broodies. Early on, the Genesis humidity kept fluctuating from 19-69%, so I took those eggs and put them in the RCom. One of the broodies didn't stick, so I lost those eggs.
Then, when I upped the humidity prior to hatch on the RCom, the temperature kept shooting up over 100-102. I unplugged & reset it twice, but it would not stay below 100. So, I put all those eggs under the broody whose eggs had not hatched. The third broody did hatch out 6-8 chicks. I just finished pulling out all the full term dead chicks from under the broody who had the RCom eggs.

In addition, I had 2 chicks and a pig die from the heat. I'm not a happy farmer at the moment. Too much death for me to keep a stiff upper lip.

You don't always have to have a stiff upper lip. I'm so sorry - for some reason farming is dramatic. All highs and lows! Normally I hatch more chicks to recover from a loss. Kind of hard to do if you are having incubator troubles.

Hi, NorCal peeps! Humboldt Co chicken mama here, originally from Modesto!

Hi, I'm originally from Modesto too! Living in Modesto again and raising children and chickens. Welcome to this thread! We are blessed by the people here!

2 pullets. Males are more white and gray.

The first imports were not correctly marked. So they imported the top lines from Rees. These are supposed to be correctly marked

I knew the old line had issues in how they looked but did the sexing part remain true? I have some very nice pullets (old line) and a good cockerel (recently from GFF so possibly a new line?). I've had them reviewed on the FB forum for CLB (the people in the KNOW are on it, as its based across the pond.) I was told that I have a good starting point and the boy is good quality for USA.

Don't totally know what that means but it made me happy anyway.

On another note, I've had no problem selling my babies. Yesterday someone bought a Marans and the Black Tailed Japanese, today someone is going to be buying all 3 Welsummers, and this weekend I have someone buying the rest of the Marans. I also have someone wanting to buy the Tolbunt Polish from me but we haven't set up a date yet.

Now you can buy more eggs.

 

[BCollie]

Okay, Ron, did the float and tap tests and there were no signs of life in the eggs. How do I open them up?

 

[ronott1]

Okay, Ron, did the float and tap tests and there were no signs of life in the eggs. How do I open them up?

Tap a hole in the big end. You can use tweezers. Some will drill a little hole and then start pealing.

Just go slowly and look for the beak out in the air cell.

You likely will not find a live one but I have before.

 

[QueenBubbles]

@capayvalleychick so sorry for all your losses. It really was a brutal heat with that north wind. Condolences

 

[BCollie]

Quote:
Just opened up the Marans egg and it looks like it's somewhat shrinkwrapped. How is that possible if it didn't even pip and all the other eggs hatched just fine? I'll post a picture...

 

[juststruttin]

What are bot flies?

Ron posted that there are human bot flies. I just googled it and yuk. Totally disgusting.


The ones I was referring to are Equine Bot Flies. Apparently, there are different bot flies for different species. The equine fly (only one I am familiar with) looks like little bees but their butts are curled up and they shoot eggs on the the legs and sometimes belly. When the horses scratch with their mouths, the eggs detach and are in jested. They then spread internally.

We always had razor blades in the cross-ties (grooming area) to cut off the bot fly eggs. Back then, the vet would come twice a year to worm the horses. They would put a tube up their nose and into their stomachs and fill them with worm meds. Now (perhaps within 25 years) the industry switched to Oral Paste every 8 weeks.

 

[BCollie]

Never mind it's not shrink wrapped because the membrane in the egg is still on the egg, they just have some kind of weird membrane around them. Do I take them out of the membrane?

 

[caychris]

Never mind it's not shrink wrapped because the membrane in the egg is still on the egg, they just have some kind of weird membrane around them. Do I take them out of the membrane?

Looks like the TJ egg quit a while ago. Not sure about the Marans can you identify if it may have been mal positioned?

 

[juststruttin]

Okay, that was disgusting. I don't think the equine flies burrow, but I might be wrong.