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

[Fire Ant Farm]

Oh no! So sorry, Kirsten

I remember him as a little one....

I hate seeing posts like this...

I hope he is ok.... He is a good looking bird! I hope you have a great hatch

So sorry to hear this

You look after your animals with such great care and give them a good life. You could not hope to do more. They may still be Ok

, and if not you did everything for them.
It does not take away the pain, but I think we all know how it feels.

Best of luck with Goodwin's eggs

Thanks so much, all - yes, he's the one who got pecked as a chick by some mean CL boys and spent time with me watching Star Wars.






We didn't cuddle after he grew up, but he was good/even tempered and looked after his girls. So even though he wasn't part of any specific breeding plans, he looked after my layer girls. If he doesn't make it, I may need to introduce those girls to Monkey (and hope he steps up to the challenge).

It's going to be hard to sleep tonight...

- Ant Farm

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Guess what, y'all
Bubbles' changed her avatar...AGAIN

193!!!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Quote: chit1
[CHit]

NOUN

1. a short official note, memorandum, or voucher, typically recording a sum owed.

 

[BantyChooks]

Guess what, y'all
Bubbles' changed her avatar...[COLOR=FF0000]AGAIN  [/COLOR]  

And you are surprised at this?

193!!!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

I pretty much just use 100 X and leave it there. Eggs and cocci are very easy to see at that range. I would love to have one with the video screen, that would relieve a lot of eye strain. It just depends on how many fecals you plan to be looking at, I generally do two to four per week but when you first start out you will be spending lots of time looking at ****.

Thank and

Quote:

LOL hey Kat, if I get a scope for looking at poop to check for cocci any cheap suggestions? I want it for pups, dogs and chickens etc. I havent a clue as to what I need to look for!

BENNY you have suggestions as well?

@Sally Sunshine
I dont think you need an expensive one for looking at poop. Also second hand has to be the way to go for good value. Schools and colleges (and biotech) are ALWAYS replacing microscopes, so the market is awash with good second hand models. You can get more microscope than you can ever use from the UCSD surplus sales for $50 -$75. Only issue is that you need to be sure that they are in working order. They come from labs closing due to lack of research funding so usually work perfectly.

The other place to look is ebay. They have cheaper, lower end, though perfectly usable scopes for shockingly little $$

Thank you!!

YAY!!!

Jasper will be 6 mos on the first!

I can't believe it.

awwwww I know pups are already five weeks!!!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Quote:
Hi Mel! I am glad you had gotten help! how are you healing? when do you go in to doc again?

Just got home - haven't read back yet. Today (the last day!) Goodwin and two of his girls got out, and the sitter couldn't find them this evening at bedtime. I got the text while in the cab on the way back from the airport. I sent her home (telling her it wasn't her fault) and resumed the search in the dark. I found a trail of Goodwin's feathers in the waaaaaay back of the yard - enough to show he was clearly chased and attacked by something. One large pile of under-feathers in a nook under some brush (like he was cornered there). But not QUITE enough to make me sure he's gone, and no blood or body (though his body could have been dragged into a den or something - that's a very overgrown part of the yard, and it was dark). Dumbledore lost many more feathers and lived. No feathers that I could see for either pullet (blue copper marans and cream legbar). No evidence that anything could have gotten in with them in their coop/ paddock, so I suspect they flew out, and were attacked then (they've done it multiple times - I suppose there's a twisted Darwin award thing going on here, except I bet he was protecting the stupid girls). It's unsettling thinking of them out there hiding (with Goodwin injured if alive). Yes, I eat my birds on occasion (usually the boys). But I also consider myself their protector and caregiver, so I can't help but be worried about them. He's just a relatively young cockerel, no spurs, not that large.

This is him when he was still only 16 weeks old, pretty boy:




Hating this....

So, to take my mind off of it, I'm going to candle early (tomorrow is day 10). As it so happens, on a lark, I threw in 6 marans eggs in there as well - all from Goodwin's coop (the eggs have been fertile). Hoping I'll get some babies from them (hard to see into the shells, but I'll try). Then, I'm going to read back and hope that you guys have been really funny in the last 300+ posts...

- Ant Farm

awwww Kristin, so sorry.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

OK, I haven't read back yet, but I did by candling and weighing (Day 9), and I have a weight loss/air cell question. Humidity while I was gone was set at ~32-33%, and I have no reason to think that anything happened.

Of the 12 Tank x GNH eggs (normal brown pullet eggs), 10 with veins, 2 clears.

Most are pretty good with weight loss (a few a little more loss than expected on day 9, a few a little less, but nothing way off.

Of the 6 Marans eggs - I couldn't candle them well when I set them, but used two strong flashlights this time and could just see for most (though not all) - they are very dark, and spotted as well, so a bit of a nightmare to candle. I have at least one outright wiggler/dancer - and guess what? It's the oldest one I pulled out of the fridge at the last minute!!!! I also have another two with what I think are veins, and a third I'm not sure about. The other two are just too dark to see anything.

Here's the problem - the Marans eggs have lost a lot more % weight (I thought it would be less - why did I think that?) - perhaps those girls' egg shells are less strong or something. Anyhow, eggs were set 7PM on December 21, which makes this Day 9 by my calculations, and expected weight loss for Day 9 is 5.85%. While the TankXGNH eggs are hovering around that, with 5-6% loss, roughly (ranging from 4.84 to 6.50% weight loss), the Marans are ranging from 8.5 to a whopping 14.3%. The 14.3% is in one of the eggs with definite veins, and the dancer/wiggler has lost 9.2%.

I've rearranged them in the incubator - the Marans eggs were lined up along one outer row (I was thinking they would lose LESS moisture) - putting those that need less moisture loss in the center, and moving the few of the regular brown with weight loss on the low end to the edges. I also upped the humidity a couple points (I need to wait to see what it settles out at, but aiming for roughly 38%ish).

I realize the hazards of incubating different types of eggs - I put the marans eggs in for a lark. If I had to choose one set of eggs over another, I would choose the TankGNH eggs, which are part of a project of mine (and also have more in the way of confirmed viable chicks developing) - despite Goodwin being missing presumed dead, he is not essential to any specific breeding plans of mine. All that being said - anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?

- Ant Farm

 

[BullChick]

What are they waiting for?

 

[Sally Sunshine]

@BantyChooks I read about Chrissy! Glad she is moving & eating more! (even if it involves you finger

) I had a sick cat once and the vet gave him an appetite stimulant.. I wonder if they could do the same for her???

Quote:

Quote: 193 times?

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Quote: 193 times?

If you go to someones profile, and then click on their avatar, you can see the entire history of every single photo they have used as an avatar. And there's a number at the top. Bubbles Banti has changed hers 193 times.