EDUCATIONAL INCUBATION & HATCHING CHAT THREAD, w/ Sally Sunshine Shipped Eggs

[Pensmaster]

Chrissy's leg is cold and stiff, and she was partially scalped. I am trying to save her.

I have brought her indoors and don't know what I should do next. That leg is worrying me very much.... I don't think it's broken, but I don't know what is the matter.

@casportpony

This just has to be a bad dream.

Awful. Hope you got the critter.

 

[Chaos18]

No, no, no, no, no. This isn't real. It CAN'T be.

I went out to check on my chickens and Tucson and Heather were dead. They had their throats cut and mangled. Chrissy is badly hurt but alive. One BSL hen dead, and Emma has injured toes.

Just.... Dead. My babies.

I can't take this.

I flushed that beast out of his lair with boiling water and ether before removing his head with a shovel. Call me cruel if you wish, but I don't regret it.

Sorry to hear that.

 

[BunnynChicks]

Quote:

No, no, no, no, no. This isn't real. It CAN'T be.

I went out to check on my chickens and Tucson and Heather were dead. They had their throats cut and mangled. Chrissy is badly hurt but alive. One BSL hen dead, and Emma has injured toes.

Just.... Dead. My babies.

I can't take this.

I flushed that beast out of his lair with boiling water and ether before removing his head with a shovel. Call me cruel if you wish, but I don't regret it.

 

[meltel]

What was it Banty??? I am so sorry

 

[BantyChooks]

I'm really sorry What was it!

Weasel? Some little beast with sharp teeth.

 

[BantyChooks]

I am soo soo sorry Banti.

Sorry Banti.        Any ideas on what happened, I thought this hatch was going well. 

Congratulations!

Hello Chaos!

Good luck!

Hi Heather!

Hello MC!

Good luck!

Never had it happen too me, but I would incubate air cell up.

I'm so sorry Banti! What did this?

I thought it was too, but there were a lot of day 4-5 quitters. Bad luck comes in threes, I guess.

 

[meltel]

Weasel? Some little beast with sharp teeth.

I found a possum in my duck coop one day-just sleeping..... Bang!!!!! Plenty of other places to sleep buddy! I'm glad you got it but I know that doesn't replace your babies

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I don't know what make mine is, but it's anything but new. I had it suspended in the adult run for a while, but it kept genning knocked around, so I went back to the Fortex pan. Now I hang it in the juvie run; works like a champ. The screw-on bottom stays put once it's in place, but getting it there can be a challenge. I've developed a knack for flipping it over that usually keeps me dry. I pick it up by the bottom, set it on the edge of the utility sink I fill it in, get a good hold on the bail, & let centrifugal force take over. Very rarely do I get splashed.

The one we're talking about is so flimsy. Extremely thin plastic and the tabs that hold the top to the bottom are undersized that it comes apart without water in it let alone 3 gallons.
Quote:

I have just had it come apart even after test pulling on it as I flip it over. It really should have the fill hole in the top and be a heavier plastic like he said. I much prefer my bucket with horizontal nipples and the submersible heater.

I think the latter is the way to go for most people.

Thanks! I don't sell eggs, so I have some leeway for error (meaning that I don't have customers to worry abut, just me).

Almost anything by Thermoworks is great - and that one is on sale, too!


Maybe someone else covered this, but humidity isn't a number, it's a tool to get your air cells to be there right size - even with an accurate hygrometer, different eggs will lose moisture at different rates. So if you trace the air cells at day zero and then track their size, with some attention, you can get by with a less accurate hygrometer (as long as you adjust for what your eggs need). It's more important to have an accurate thermometer, because there's not really anything you can observe to tell if the temperature is too high or low (other than failed hatches). Which is just as well - it's easier/cheaper to find a good accurate thermometer than a good accurate hygrometer (at least in my experience). The hygrometer in my Brinsea was way off, but I was tracking air cells and could tell they were too big and got good advice to crank the humidity in the remaining days to avoid further moisture loss, and the hatch went fine (not all hatched, but they were also shipped eggs that had been very roughly handled by the USPS).

IKR? SO slow...

I had a bit of a rotten day at work - just a bunch of irritating and frustrating issues coming from all sides.

I was quite cranky by the end of the day (you know, like when you realize you should stop interacting with people for their own good).

So I'm here to read about chickens!!! Or anything! WAKE UP, EVERYONE!!!!

- Ant Farm

As to humidity and moisture loss, you are right in all that you write on the subject but I have a few comments.

If one hatches a few white or average brown eggs and enjoys candling, marking the air cells may be a good plan but is very inaccurate and If hatching green or extremely dark eggs, it just doesn't work. If one hatches lots of eggs, it isn't a good idea either. Commercial hatcheries don't do that because they don't have the manpower or time.
Weighing eggs is much more precise. It is easy to weigh a whole tray of eggs and get a weight loss of the lot which is much simpler.
They should lose approximately 0.65% of weight per day. It is day 9 here and I just weighed, they should have lost 5.85% by today. The majority have lost about 6+% but a couple are spot on. So I'll add a bit of water. The regular candling requires too much handling that can introduce bacteria and possibly dropping eggs.
Even at this point, my eggs are too dark to see an air cell.
Usually when candling, all I do is look for a dark mass growing. That's about it so candling for me is virtually worthless. I just remove leakers or stinkers.

If one hatches a variety of breeds, given that they all may lose weight at different rates, what do you do with humidity if there are large disparities in air cell size?

You may appreciate a present my wife's friend gave her for Christmas. It was a towel emblazoned with the phrase - "I'm afraid if I give up wine, I'll have to replace it with murder".

We're terrible enablers, nobody ever joins in Dec with a resolution to not set eggs til spring and actually follows thru.

I wasn't planning on hatching, mostly because usable buildings are full now.
I read last week that it was set day for NYD HAL. I had a few nice eggs collecting so I decided to set them. Out of 15, I think only about 6 are developing. I really can't see into them.

Well, I've finally managed to reach a landmark in my 52 year bowling career.

I've finally managed to drop my average below 100

Oh, and while I was at it, I managed, all by myself, to cost my team the 1st half win!

I feel your pain. I was never a good bowler but my roommate was a professional bowler with a bunch of 300 rings. My coworkers coaxed me to join their bowling league. We worked nights starting at 5 so the league was on Monday afternoons. I hated it, mostly because I was bad, the season was so long and a half year of eating up my Mondays meant if I went camping or fishing I'd have to come home on Sunday rather than Monday, so it really dug into my outdoors time.
I think I started the league with an average of 112. In spite of my roommate's coaching, by the time the season was over, it was down to 93.

I felt the same about costing my team wins in pool this season, but it wasn't a single handed failure. We won the league last season and are in last place this season. Pretty much the whole team sucked. I've gone 4-0 a couple nights and 0-3 a couple times.

Super - it's a date!!!! I'll be setting and then not checking again until 10 days because I'm traveling - my chicken sitter will be here, but I'm not going to ask her candle or fiddle with anything. So I'll just have to follow your progress vicariously until then!

Since I won't be checking air cells on day 7, I'm thinking I'll start at a calibrated 35% humidity rather than 30% - I can drop it when I get back if I need to. Thoughts? Opinions? (The main/important ones in this group are the regular light browns, no blue eggs in this batch.)

- Ant Farm

I think that's a good plan.

For all the horse lovers in here,
See the Gypsy horse at 2:24

I ran across this video after watching that.

And this one sans power tools. I would think you'd cool that shoe down first.

Banti that looks like a spider in your egg

@kwhites634 Bummer. I hope it gets better again next week.

@Fire Ant Farm I hope you have a great day today since yesterday was rough.

@ChickenCanoe Penn (your cock named after Penn Jillette sp? so I can pray for him.)was fine last night. My young but very big blue Ameraucana will rule the roost till he moves to his own coop in late March. I just hope he keeps his good attitude. I really like his demeanor.

He lived in a coop with 9 hens and another rooster that was more dominant so he learned how to keep his distance but when I butchered his big brother, he took over as flock protector. For awhile they had 19 chicks in with them.

Good morning Abi.

There was enough moon light to do my chores by this morning before work. It was beautiful, but a bit cold

That's great.

 

[BantyChooks]

Someone, can you walk me through supportive care for injured birds, please?? I can not think in the slightest right now. I am sorry.

 

[dan26552]

Sorry Banti.        Any ideas on what happened, I thought this hatch was going well. 

Congratulations!

Hello Chaos!

Good luck!

Hi Heather!

Hello MC!

Good luck!

Never had it happen too me, but I would incubate air cell up.

I'm so sorry Banti! What did this?

Thanks.

Weasel? Some little beast with sharp teeth.

Ah. Never dealt with a weasel before.