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

[kajira]

new cat is hiding. LOL so no pictures, yet.

 

[BantyChooks]

new cat is hiding. LOL so no pictures, yet.

Tell kitty to stop hiding coz we want pics

 

[Lucky Lemon]

Morning all

I think I'm in for a long Monday, been up since about 1 am!

Thanks for the coffee, Abi!

6 days!!!!!!

Discovered I have a broody hen under the house this morning. I can't see under there well enough to even know how many eggs she has, but she's definitely got her a nest under there.

 

[kwhites634]

Quote: Okay, but you don't know what you're missing. Green grass all year long, just not much of it Nov-Mar. No hard water in the hose 8-9 months/year. No lugging water to the birds as long as the hose ain't froze.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The experiment is over...

Leaving eggs at day 18 sit outside on top to of incubator, whether on purpose or because of Senioritis, will not affect the hatching ability of the eggs adversely.

Every egg that sat out for 20 hours hatched!!!

That's great news.
If they were in a carton or something else that held them close together, the collective metabolic heat generated kept their mates warm.
It is known that cooling up to an hour each day can improve hatch.
And the last few days of incubation temperature extremes are better handled by the embryos. They can even handle temps as high as 110 for a few hours when continuous temps over 104 will kill embryos during the first week.

She has only been broody for two days, I don't think that's enough time.

I had a seemingly broody hen sitting on eggs all night but in the morning when birds went in to lay eggs, she would come off the nest till that evening.
On the 3rd, I decided to move her into another unit that only had a rooster in it, figuring he wouldn't bother her in the nest. I put her on a dozen fresh eggs. The rooster came outside in the morning and she sat most of the day but she jumped the fence and put herself to bed on the roost with her old flock. I put her back on the eggs that night and am not opening the door. There's food and water for them.
She's flattened herself out on them. Maybe after a couple more days I can open the door again.

All set can I get Whoop! Whoop!

whoop whoop!!!

You know, a lot of times this thread gets so far ahead of me that I unsubscribe for a time....I just can't keep up. Then I decide to pop back in and see what folks are up to and I do well for a while, but get behind again. So I know that somewhere between "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" I've missed something important, and I'm sorry for that.

Whatever is happening, you've always been important to me. Know that you are in my prayers and thoughts!

I can't keep up either but I like it here.

I used 3.5 inch buck knife (none folding). This is going to sound odd but I hold the chicken between my knees softly stretch its neck with one hand and slip the knife in just in front of the neck bone cutting out and away. I have a home made stand that holds 4 orange hi-way cones upside down. After the cut a quick flip upside down into the cone. It works so well I can't see doing it any other way. I slaughtered over 100 this way in a day before with 6 people plucking and gutting. Chopping head tends to make them a little more floppy and bruises meat.

Similar technique here but I made a killing cone that I use.

[I[/I]
some pic of Lidor my freind chikens, I hope to get some hathing eggs from the beutiful SL barnvelder!
this pullet is the daugter of the SLB I raised for him

and some Brhamas

Great looking birds.

 

[BantyChooks]

Okay, but you don't know what you're missing. Green grass all year long, just not much of it Nov-Mar. No hard water in the hose 8-9 months/year. No lugging water to the birds as long as the hose ain't froze.

Ah, but I'll bet you have more than one day a year that you hit 90°F.

.....Andd now Chrissy bird wants to go pack. Says she's tired of me saying her pool is still stuck in a foot of ice and sticking her in the sink for a bath.

Nine months of hose use!? Now you're talking!

 

[kwhites634]

Quote: Thought that last one might get your attention!
Yeah we have too many days above 90*F (one is too many), but that's the secondary use for the hose.

 

[BantyChooks]

Thought that last one might get your attention!
Yeah we have too many days above 90*F (one is too many), but that's the secondary use for the hose.

I think the record high for Fort Chipewyan is 94°F....

Tru dat. How do the chickens take that weather?

 

[daxigait]

Thanks for all the birthday wishes.
@h2oratt congratulations on a wonderful hatch. :yiipchick
@Fire Ant Farm It took six months to integrate two cats at my house. Some early fighting, but not awful fight. Best of luck.
@AnneInTheBurbsAny pips yet? Hang in there. Go chickies

 

[kwhites634]

Quote: Thought that last one might get your attention!
Yeah we have too many days above 90*F (one is too many), but that's the secondary use for the hose.

Quote: The humidity is harder on them than the temp, I believe; the RH frequently is about as high as the temp. That's when you break a sweat just breathing. The birds spend a lot of time with their mouths open when it gets bad, but the run is covered with a reflective tarp that extends about 1/2 way down the sides, so there's shade & ventilation. Factor in the tree cover & ice added to the water a couple times a day, & they don't do bad. PITA in that kind of weather, but better than blowing paths through 2'+ of snow.