California - Northern

[CackleJoy]

We have never had mites ( that we know of) but earlier there was mention that de ( which I love and use in and out if the coop weekly) does not work so great- but to let them dust bath in wood ash! So now our cooled ash goes to the coop with the bedding changes .

We've provided wood ash for a while. We dump the cooled ash in their rolling holes in the yard. It got wet in that rain so needs refreshed. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[liz9910]

Yesterday was day 3 on my Serama eggs in the incubator, candled them and saw veins!!! It was sooo cool.

 

[PetRock]

When are they hatching Debi?? And where are you again..East Bay? North Bay? Penninsula? I am down there pretty regularly and my son goes to school at College of San Mateo. Thinking if you have extra blue or splash just kicking around you might want to share

I sold two pullets today so have room for two more. I am cool with mixes too.

I was looking at my Australorps this morning and they are so lovely even if they are hatchery girls. Think I will always have one or two but as i was looking at them I thought about adding Langshans...Blue Langshans seem easier to find than Blue Australorps so it is funny that you said you had a bator full on the same morning I was thinking what a nice addition they would make.

@HappyChooks the chick, LC, is much improved today but it is so active it has loosened its hobbles so I am going to get my friend across the hall to help again.

Do you guys think the broody mama will take this one in this weekend when its legs will hopefully be all straightened out? If not I need to get it a friend ASAP. Anyone driving south on 5 want to stop off at papas poultry and pick me up a couple of his mixed fun frizzle sizzle babies???

I called around to local feed stores and they all have RIR and CornishX...they must all order from the same spot

I'm on the Delta in the East Bay. We are considered East Bay but are really almost halfway between SF and Sac. It's about 45 min to SF and 1 hr to Sac. I just hatched some blue Langshans. There are no guarantees that they are pure Langshan since they came from the field birds at the farm. All of the roos are Langshans but half of the girls are other breeds (silver pencilled rocks, barred rocks, red sex links, and one black mutt chick). At this point, they are looking very Langshan to me but Langshan genes are very strong. I'll have a better idea when they are a few weeks old. Are you looking for older sexed chicks or younger straight run? My next group is due to hatch on March 9. It will be black Langshans, hopefully, and Pita Pinta/Pita Pinta mixes.

Edited to add that I do have some 4 week old chicks that I'm pretty sure on the sex. They are blue Pita Pinta/Langshan mixes and Bresse.

 

[Audio51]

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Whoa! No $400 ones for me! Brinsea is supposed to call me this morning about the foam pads....maybe I will add the high intensity one if it isn't too expensive. Off to research!

Ouch...The high intensity is a little pricey for me too right now....$45. I think I will just let them go and see. I did remove one Marans egg and 4 Mottled AM eggs yesterday. The AM were completley clear and had not even started. The Marans was a very early death. There was blood but the embryo was too small to even see. THey were at 12 days so there should have been much more developement.

So far I am loving the Brinsea! It never varies more than .2 degrees either way from 99.5 (except during the cool-down cycle). The humidity seems much easier to control too.

 

[PetRock]

Yesterday was day 3 on my Serama eggs in the incubator, candled them and saw veins!!! It was sooo cool.

 

[Audio51]

Quote:
Ooooh.....that looks like a very economical answer! I'm sure I even have some of those parts laying around! I'm gonna go find one and try it out tonight. I really want to candle the broody eggs again too and this would be perfect!

 

[CackleJoy]

I bought a candler from McMurrays, but the bulbs are not very bright. I actually get better light from a small LED flashlight, but also get leakage of the light since it is not concave. I think if I can find a rubber gasket the right size to fit on the end it would work very well.

Remember making paper funnels in kindergarten? I made one and taped the big end to the flashlight. The small end I then used on the egg. We are working with a very high powered LED light. It works well on the eggs we have (no Marans YET - but I've been assured that's fixable

). Anyway, funneling the light to avoid leakage solved our problem.

NOW TO SIT ON MY HANDS. I have those gassed eggs from bleach fumes - they are just waiting to be candled to see if they were all killed. Sigh. Today is day 5. I'm really struggling to wait. I said I could do this. JUST LEAVE THE EGGS ALONE!

 

[casportpony]

These pictures were taken using the regular power Brinsea Ova Scope. It's a Muscovy egg at about day 7, I think.

Caution embryo pictures from the above cracked egg! Heart was still beating when I took these.

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-Kathy

 

[EZFarms]

Okay so my first attempt a a hood like falconers use failed lol it works on my RIR (though i think he hates me atm) but my german keeps pulling it off so he might turn into dinner
also chiquitta and i were talking about the way juvi chicjs get shipped my post master says they an be shipped from there to me priority mail even though the box would be bigger then usual. Is he correct or wrong?

 

[Audio51]

Quote:
I remember those days! Fortunately mine are grown and gone. I have 2 Grand-kids and have to bite my tongue when my daughter starts talking about all those old familiar problems. DH is pretty good about helping when I need something that does not require lifting. He had an Aortic Dissection just about a year ago...(March 11, 2013) and nearly died. He had to be Life Flighted to Sutter Memorial and went straight into surgery. They replaced a valve and his ascending aorta. He is doing great but has a 25 lb lifting restriction...which he takes full advantage of. I have to recruit my Son-in-Law if I need any heavy lifting done since I can't really do it either.