Consolidated Kansas

[tntblake]

Congrats on the pup Ivy! Have you started thinking of names yet?

Here's a question for you folks in the Wichita area. Although we are doing a lot of the moving ourselves, we plan to get movers to do the big stuff on the actual moving day. I went to look at the white pages and realized: they are all just names. How can I possibly separate those that will do a good job from those that won't, just by looking at their names? So I'm hoping someone on here can give me either a recommendation, or tell me if they had a bad experience with a particular company so I'll know to avoid them. (You can PM me if you don't feel comfortable giving out a name publicly).

My family has always used mighty movers. They do a great job and are friendly and reasonably priced.

 

[Trish44]

KarenS, I have read about everywhere to let the eggs rest 24 hours before putting them in the incubator so that if there is any detachment of the air cell that it can heal some. You won't see anything in the eggs at this point unless there is a loose air cell. I would just put them in an egg carton & let them sit on the counter until tomorrow & then put them in. They get pretty shaken around in the shipping. I have some Swedish Flower Hen eggs coming Thurs, I'm excited about those! The gal is shipping them overnight by Fed Ex from North Carolina, she is someone on BYC. Then I'm getting Cream Legbar eggs shipped May 29th, I'm really, really excited about those! I was going to wait & get chicks, but I found these eggs & he ships a lot of them, so I'm going to give it a try. It looks like people have been having pretty good luck with his eggs, he's also on BYC.

I candled the eggs again that came from the guy north of Wichita & it looks like 4 out of the 10 are not fertile, they were clear, just nothing. So the remaining 6 look like there is growth, but I'm kind of questioning one of them as to whether it will develop or not. So if they go ahead & grow I may have 50% of them hatch maybe, that's not even as good as the ones I had shipped in. What's up with that? I figured it would be a better deal to just drive up there & pick them up rather than have them shipped, but that may not turn out to be the case. I'm really excited to get the first batch of turkey eggs in the hatcher Thurs. They will be going in with a whole bunch of chicken eggs, there will be more eggs in there this time than ever before.

Gosh, my DH has been grouchy since he came back from his marathon, I think this one was harder on him than he wants to admit. It does me no good to say anything to him, he's going to have to get to the point of being in so much pain he can't do it any more before he will give it up. The more I say about it the more determined he gets to do it, so I just have to clamp my mouth shut. I don't have a lot of sympathy though for someone who goes & does that kind of thing to their body on purpose. He can whine all he wants, but he did it to himself. He's no spring chicken any more, so he needs to learn that he can't do what a 20 year old does any more. His body is trying to tell him, but he will have to listen eventually. I don't mind that he runs, but full marathons are extremely hard on your body & eventually your knees are going to give out like his is starting to. All of that pounding on them just wears them out even more than usual. You can't tell me that pounding on hard surfaces doesn't wear out your cartilage faster than usual.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Hey guys, some quick little questions, please. I got some hatching eggs today and they are "resting". How long should they "rest"? Is "rest" really necessary? Also, can you tell by candling right away if they got scrambled in the mail? Or do you always have to wait to know? I candled mine as I put them in the tray and they look like eggs to me, other than that I have no clue.

Thanks!

I just got some silkie eggs shipped to me last Saturday. I let them set for 2 days. I think you could get away with one, but I wanted to be SURE. You don't want them to start to develop before the air is able to rise to the top again. I did candle them when I got them and many of them no longer had air sacs and all of them are loose-- the ones that were there. I let them sit for 2 days and then candled them again and they ALL had air back up at the top again!! YAY! So definitely DO let them rest and try to get their air sacs back to the top. Make sure when you put them in the carton to rest, that the big end is up so the air can settle correctly, and handle them gently. (unlike me who likes to drop them)

 

[HEChicken]

Hey guys, some quick little questions, please. I got some hatching eggs today and they are "resting". How long should they "rest"? Is "rest" really necessary? Also, can you tell by candling right away if they got scrambled in the mail? Or do you always have to wait to know? I candled mine as I put them in the tray and they look like eggs to me, other than that I have no clue.

I think usually it is suggested to let them rest 24 hours to let the air cell settle. At extreme times of the year you also want to have them settle to room temperature before setting them but that's not such a worry at this time of the year. So what are you incubating this time?

My family has always used mighty movers. They do a great job and are friendly and reasonably priced.

Thanks Tonya - I will look into them!

I'm really excited to get the first batch of turkey eggs in the hatcher Thurs. They will be going in with a whole bunch of chicken eggs, there will be more eggs in there this time than ever before.

I'm excited for you! I can't wait to hear how they do and see pics of the little poults that hatch!

I just got some silkie eggs shipped to me last Saturday. .....(unlike me who likes to drop them)

I suppose it is too early to see how the candled waxed egg is doing? How is your other chick progressing that pipped this afternoon?

 

[Ivywoods]

I finally found the egg that was stinkin' up my incubator! It evidently had incubated long enough it had started to "ooze" through the crack I didn't see, so it was easy to spot this time. Thank goodness it is gone!

I put a BUNCH more eggs in and moved some to the hatcher. My incubator is FULL. I think I will have to slow down after this or I will have more chicks than I know what to do with.

I still have chicks with my two broody hens. I sold 4 of the chicks....well they were part of the trade for my DH's quail chicks They still have 4 chicks left, and I am amazed that they haven't lost any of them.

We moved DH's quail out to the new pens today. They are running around and happy in there. I think they will do well.

 

[Hawkeye95]

I think usually it is suggested to let them rest 24 hours to let the air cell settle. At extreme times of the year you also want to have them settle to room temperature before setting them but that's not such a worry at this time of the year. So what are you incubating this time?

Thanks Tonya - I will look into them!

I'm excited for you! I can't wait to hear how they do and see pics of the little poults that hatch!

I suppose it is too early to see how the candled waxed egg is doing? How is your other chick progressing that pipped this afternoon?

Yeah, I haven't opened the incubator! Maybe when I get out these chicks (if and when they hatch), I'll check the new eggs that shipped. But probably I won't yet... I think they need another day or two before I check them to see if they are developing. I want to check that wax egg soon though-- I don't want a stinky incubator if it's not going to work!!

This chick all of a sudden started screeching-- I ran over and looked in thinking it must have zipped and was fighting out. NOPE. Just cheeping in it's shell with it's beak out. Sigh. HURRY!!!

 

[JosieChick]

Ivy- Most of our clients kept their havanese in puppy cuts. About 1/2 inch all over and left their tails long. It is a very cute and manageable look. I usually tried to talk folks out of growing them out into full coats. It is a ton of maintenance and they are very sensitive skinned creatures that don't tolerate lots of tugging. Yuck to stinky eggs in the bator, I had one a few days ago that exploded in the hatcher. I couldn't tell if it was all the way developed at lockdown so I stuck it in "just in case" Well it wasn't and it was rotten.

Karen S- before you set your eggs candle them and make sure the air cell is attached, it shouldn't "slide" around as you turn the egg upside down. If it does be sure to incubate with air cells up so the chick forms right. I had a batch of cochins that had detached air cells a few weeks ago and I set them under a broody without candling the air cells. Long story short I ended up with a chick that pipped at the wrong end of the egg and couldn't zip because it was too narrow! Picked the little one out and it was fine but I kicked myself for not checking that before I set them!

So the puppy has apparently reached her terrible twos. She is looking for all sorts of trouble including escaping her pen yesterday!! Ivy, do you like your royal palms better than the blue slates? I was thinking about getting some RP poults but have four bronze poults from the feed store that were supposed to eventually get butchered but I am too attached to them!!! DH is not real happy that I have grown so attached to his planned Thanksgiving dinner...

 

[HEChicken]

Yeah, I haven't opened the incubator! Maybe when I get out these chicks (if and when they hatch), I'll check the new eggs that shipped. But probably I won't yet... I think they need another day or two before I check them to see if they are developing. I want to check that wax egg soon though-- I don't want a stinky incubator if it's not going to work!!

LOL - you are a model of self-restraint. My first time incubating, I was so good. Didn't candle until the 10-day mark. The next time I didn't candle at all because they were BCM eggs and I couldn't see into them very well anyway. And when I did the Coturnix, they were impossible to see into so again I didn't bother. With the RP eggs I have in the incubator now, I was very good and waited until the 7-day mark to do the first candling and I was so thrilled to see some of them looking good that now I want to candle again and its only day 8 so they won't look that different. I'm making myself wait until day 14 but its not easy. I don't know how I survived those other incubations when I didn't check at all.....

 

[Ivywoods]

Ivy- Most of our clients kept their havanese in puppy cuts. About 1/2 inch all over and left their tails long. It is a very cute and manageable look. I usually tried to talk folks out of growing them out into full coats. It is a ton of maintenance and they are very sensitive skinned creatures that don't tolerate lots of tugging. Yuck to stinky eggs in the bator, I had one a few days ago that exploded in the hatcher. I couldn't tell if it was all the way developed at lockdown so I stuck it in "just in case" Well it wasn't and it was rotten.

Karen S- before you set your eggs candle them and make sure the air cell is attached, it shouldn't "slide" around as you turn the egg upside down. If it does be sure to incubate with air cells up so the chick forms right. I had a batch of cochins that had detached air cells a few weeks ago and I set them under a broody without candling the air cells. Long story short I ended up with a chick that pipped at the wrong end of the egg and couldn't zip because it was too narrow! Picked the little one out and it was fine but I kicked myself for not checking that before I set them!

So the puppy has apparently reached her terrible twos. She is looking for all sorts of trouble including escaping her pen yesterday!! Ivy, do you like your royal palms better than the blue slates? I was thinking about getting some RP poults but have four bronze poults from the feed store that were supposed to eventually get butchered but I am too attached to them!!! DH is not real happy that I have grown so attached to his planned Thanksgiving dinner...

Yes, I do like my RP's better than the blue slate. At least with the ones I have, the RP's are much more talkative, and I love that. The toms also strut more than the blue tom, and I think the RP's are prettier. The RP's are a little smaller, so if you want a BIG turkey, they probably wouldn't be your first choice. The blue slates are definitely bigger birds. The RP's are big enough for me, however.

The pup I am getting is called a black parti belton color. The undercoat is mostly black, so if you trim off all of the outer coat more of the black shows through. Since we are out int he country and I will take it outside with me, I do expect it to get grass, mud, weeds, etc mixed up in it's coat. I imagine I will have to keep it trimmed. I am trainable, however, and I believe I can do the grooming myself. I'm sure it won't look like a professional job, but hopefully I will improve my skills as time goes along.

I put about 8 guinea eggs in the incubator a while back. So far only 2 have hatched. I'm not surprised, however. We found this clutch of guinea eggs and really had no idea how old any of them were at the time. It looks like I've got one lavender and one pearl.

 

[chicken danz]

Hawkeye you're so funny. You would go insane if you shuffled as many eggs in and out of incubators as I do. I just moved about another 40 duck eggs into the hatcher before I sat down here. All four of the GQFs are full right now. Now that the pheasant, guineas, and ducks are cranking out eggs it's hard to find room. I have several hens sitting on piles of eggs right now or I'd have even more to hatch. If they hatch chicks for me they might get to stay around longer when I start selling off young pullets and hens.
We went and picked up the metal to put on my new building. It is used, but it is top quality heavy stuff. One of my neighbors just built a huge building using it and what we took was some cut off ends from it. I'm guessing the originals must have been at least 35 feet long. It's not perfect but it will look nicer than just cheap galvanized tin that you buy. Especially if we can paint it a nice color some day. At any rate I'm saving some money using it.
I picked up four bails of straw while we were at it and got some in the houses for the birds to lay in. My Eastern turkeys were in a mud pit and they freaked out when I carried the straw in for them. I ended up splattered from head to toe with mud from them. I went ahead an took an old bale of hay and threw it in the bottom of their pen hopefully to get them out of some of that mud. I really need the buildings finished so I can move those poor things.
Hopefully tomorrow I can get the Serama and bantam polish houses cleaned out and get fresh straw in there. It's weird for the bantams the straw works best but for the big girls only shavings or pellets work.
Well Ivy maybe you could teach me what you do to hatch turkey. Or maybe my bad experience has been shipped eggs. The guy I got my midgets eggs from says he has trouble hatching turkey too. When I hatched my Eastern turkeys they all hatched like a dream and I did them the same way I do chickens. I guess if these eggs develop then I'll see how I do with local eggs. You know it really hurts me to admit when I have trouble hatching since I am very proud of how good most of my hatches are.

It also makes me sad that I might have killed something.