Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

I had a sad hatch this morning. One egg due yesterday hadn't completely hatched but was zipped. When I checked it the poor little chick had an open skull and her brains were on the outside. Made me so sad cause she was a perfect little blue partridge in every other aspect. I decided to cull her before it went any further, but it really hurts me to do that. Yay for hatch day Sharol! My incubator is getting very empty these days.
My birds had cucumber as well. I had some that was starting to go soft. No room in the fridge to keep them. So each peafowl pen got a whole cucumber (the long seedless kind) and in the other pens I sliced a slice for each bird. Some made them disappear in an instant. Some of the others haven't tried them.
I was going to finish hooking up the water line in the building a minute ago but it is so hot in there. It can wait until later today. I have 14 more fittings and the bowls to put on before I am done.

 

[sharol]

Quote:
I had one in the last group with intestines outside the body. Sad little thing. Like you said, no other option than to end its suffering. 2 out now, the BBS and a lavender. Hope SHE's a girl.

 

[chicken danz]

Don't you love hatch day? I'm sure if I actually do quit entirely for a while it is going to almost be a let down. Checking the incubator is normal routine for me. Even if I finally get all this chick stuff moved out to the building some day, I'll be just checking the incubator will be enough to make me go out there even when the weather stinks.
I should have delivered some eggs today cause the fridge is overloaded. If DH brings groceries home from town he is going to be disgusted cause there's no room any where.
I got a few more birds sorted out. Some of these birds are just impossible to sex. I guess if they lay or crow I'll know for sure.

 

[sharol]

Quote:
I do love hatch day. I finally got a look at the babies. Each hen has hatched one but they are both under Copper. She will end up doing most of the mothering, too, I suspect. She is really good at it. One of the chicks is much larger than the other, but other than that, she didn't want me messing around under her anymore. She is pretty patient, but she was DONE with me.

 

[sharol]

So far 4 (or maybe 5) have hatched -- 3 (or 4) BBS Orps and one Lavender. These little ones are SO CUTE. I can't wait to see all of them out from under Mom(s). I absolutely love watching babies with their mothers.

 

[chicken danz]

Sharol, You posted as I was asking how many chicks there were this morning.
I'm starting to feel better. I think this viral thing has run most of it's course. I have a little sinus infection now which is pretty chronic so I should be good. I just use salt water to clear those.
Last night, I got out and cleared out a bunch of gravel and hauled a nice big concrete slab over to put in front of the north door of the building. As long as it doesn't get ice covered it should be really nice this winter. I wanted to have the company put a lean to on the north side sometime if they were up working in this area but it's not been in the budget. Not that I need it for shade but I've learned that the one on the south is invaluable. It would be nice to have a little protection from winter weather and ice and a place to park the truck with the feed bin.
I have all the birds shut up. I did it last night when they went to bed. I want to spray them all for mites or whatever and the easiest way to make sure I get them is to contain them. I do wish I had the second coop out there empty. I have partridge brahmas in there. If so, I would just leave them penned so they're relocated. But I guess it can wait for a while.
I like to make sure all of the birds are clear of any maladies before winter. I am trying to make sure every one is in optimal health before it gets cold.

 

[sharol]

Quote:
I hear you about the viruses. At least you are on the mend. As of now, there are 6 out and dry, 1 zipped, 1 pipped (and I got pecked trying to check the other eggs).

 

[chicken danz]

It's hard to just wait isn't it? I get really impatient when the broodies hatch. I guess I do when I hatch as well. I am always checking to see if there are more chicks.
I have two partridge brahmas that insist on being broodie and have been for a long time. They peck at me and they have no eggs under them. I just keep making sure they don't. Crazy birds. If I had room to separate them I'd just give them a couple chicks to co-parent so they'd get over it. The other partridge brahmas are in molt right now so it's like maybe 1 egg a day out there. I need to really get a big enough area done in the building for them and get them moved now while they aren't producing.
I should be out doing work before it gets hot but I'm still dragging this morning. The coffee seems to be taking it's sweet time today to kick in.

 

[RooksMom]

Wow, this thread moves fast, either that or I don't have the time to check it as often as I would like.

Thanks Danz, The temp in the incubator did spike to 103 for most of one night not quite a week ago because someone (a.k.a. my fiance) set his shirt on top of it without thinking about it when he got home from work and covored one of the vents.

Other than that one night the temp has been staying right between 99-101 since i got it set up, I keep the thermometer with me all the time. I have a remote thermometer, one reading is the temp of the room I'm in, and the other is from the reader that is in with the eggs.

One egg hatched this morning, and there are seven more in there, so my fingers are crossed. Still six chicks hatching in a home-made incubator by someone who has the barest idea of what they are doing and has nothing more then some reading to go on. Hopefully more of them will hatch in the next couple of days, today was the day that I marked on the calander that they were supposed to start hatching.

Thanks everyone. I tried to read all the posts between here and my last post, but that was a lot of text and I don't have the time to read all of it.

I have a brooder set up out in the barn, so far the five that hatched a few days ago are doing well, they're running around and scratching at the wood-chips, eating heir food, drinking well.... I have high hopes for them ^_^

 

[chicken danz]

@RooksMom I doubt if many of us read every word. I tend to skim read most of the time trying to pick out key facts and just mentally filling in the blanks. If something in particular interests me I go back and read it again just to be sure I catch the content. Many of us just rattle some times.anyway. Some of us chicken people want to share what we have going on and talk chickens but don't have much of a captive audience in our regular lives.

I was out spraying birds and had to come in to cool off before going to the next pen. It's crazy hot and humid out there. I hope the forecast is correct and tomorrow we'll be experience the beginning of a cool down.
I had one customer come while ago to trade turkeys. She got two girls and wanted a pair. I was glad to trade. I also gifted her a brahma. She had one for several months that she lost for some unapparent reason. They loved her, so I decided I'd let her have another as a gift. That's one less mouth to feed. These people make total pets out of their birds and baby them so I am more than happy to let them have another bird. I love to see my birds go to good homes.