Colorado

[P-Funk]

I think it's a tiny egg sometimes laid by a hen who's just starting to lay

Huh. I thought those were from wild birds sneaking into the barn to eat the scratch grains. Sometimes their little bird brains can't find a way out.

 

[FrogEggs]

I have a chick who may be in trouble.

My 4 day old chick is having trouble this morning.... she keeps her head off to the left, and stumbles a bit. She also tips over when drinking water (loses her balance when she tries to tip her beak to the ceiling to swallow). She's still active, and feisty.... and I can find no obvious injury.... but it's like she slept on it funny or something?? Worse?

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BxLjvjJ9F6tMWHRwVHlSTXZVZG8/edit?usp=sharing

 

[ScottLovelandCO]

Does anyone know if the probe from an IncubatorWarehouse incubator thermometer can be rinsed? We left ours in during the last hatch and it got pretty nasty from the chicks crawling all over it. I am worried about it's accuracy and would like to run it under warm water.

 

[jgurshtein]

So there's a re-store habitat for humanity store here in the springs. Probably have them all over. I go there from time to time to look for odds and ends. I picked up a bunch of screws that have rubber washers attached. They're great for using to secure the panels to wood. If you buy them at home depot they're kind of expensive, but you can probably just make your own by going to the screw isle and looking for rubber washers and metal ones to back them up. Should work as well - they'll prevent water from getting through the holes. If I recall I pre-drilled all the holes through the panels. Not sure if that's necessary or not.

I was wondering about water leaking through the holes! The rubber washers sounds great. I was thinking about pre-drilling as well but everything I've read about these panels say you have to be SUPER careful not to crack them while drilling. So there are suggestions to tape the area you're drilling through, special drill bits.... tons of suggestions and I'm trying to figure out how much of this I need to be worried about!

 

[wsmith]

I have a chick who may be in trouble.

My 4 day old chick is having trouble this morning.... she keeps her head off to the left, and stumbles a bit. She also tips over when drinking water (loses her balance when she tries to tip her beak to the ceiling to swallow). She's still active, and feisty.... and I can find no obvious injury.... but it's like she slept on it funny or something?? Worse?

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BxLjvjJ9F6tMWHRwVHlSTXZVZG8/edit?usp=sharing

Answered on the FB page. This could be an illness or a result of an injury. Either way it may not go well for the chick I'm afraid. Watch to see if the other chicks start to harass it by pecking. They are in tune with the health of each other and will pick on the weakest one. If that happens, you may need to either segregate it, or deal with it. Sad, but it happens. If it was injured by one of the visiting kids, it may pull out of it. Watch it and act accordingly.

 

[wsmith]

Does anyone know if the probe from an IncubatorWarehouse incubator thermometer can be rinsed? We left ours in during the last hatch and it got pretty nasty from the chicks crawling all over it. I am worried about it's accuracy and would like to run it under warm water.

Is it a probe like on a digital meat thermometer? If it is, you can wash it. Soak it in wamr water and wipe it clean. Don't get the other end wet.....

We use a digital meat thermometer in our brooding coops. When they get dirty we rinse them off and continue on.

 

[wsmith]

Huh. I thought those were from wild birds sneaking into the barn to eat the scratch grains. Sometimes their little bird brains can't find a way out.

That's what we considered a couple of weeks ago when we got our first one. Then I had the girls do some research on the local wild bird population. None of them lay a nice evenly colored brown egg. The local ones are either various shades of blue of tan with speckles. So, we figured it had to come from one of our hens. Probably Patty McFatty. She started late, is too fat for, and is an inconsistent layer at best. Good body shape though......

 

[Kitty990]

i love the snow,

now i wish i was home to take some picture of our flock playing in it.

 

[Chesterchook]

That's what we considered a couple of weeks ago when we got our first one. Then I had the girls do some research on the local wild bird population. None of them lay a nice evenly colored brown egg. The local ones are either various shades of blue of tan with speckles. So, we figured it had to come from one of our hens. Probably Patty McFatty. She started late, is too fat for, and is an inconsistent layer at best. Good body shape though......

We've had two in the last few weeks - most of our pullets that we got in September are just starting up. So in addition to the double egg, April has been a month for odd eggs in our coop lol.
Glad to hear your latest hatch is looking better, do you plan to give Abe's eggs another shot next?

 

[ScottLovelandCO]

Is it a probe like on a digital meat thermometer? If it is, you can wash it. Soak it in wamr water and wipe it clean. Don't get the other end wet.....

We use a digital meat thermometer in our brooding coops. When they get dirty we rinse them off and continue on.

Unfortunately it's not that style. This has a "bulb" on the end that appears to have cloth on it. It's a digital thermometer/hygrometer.