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

[OneMountainAcres]

Lovely pics but no Thank You on the snow. We have 70's on our 10-day forecast.

Sure you don't want to trade? Just for one day?

Beautiful!  I'd love some snow here!


Enjoy!

I'll gladly share the snow! It's still coming down out there :/

 

[NaJoBeLe]

I'll likely be incommunicado after tomorrow morning. 
I'm unplugging for a few days and I'll be back Monday. Not long enough.

Hopefully the snow will be good. Base depth of 50-60 inches where we're going. Wish we were heading to Wolf Creek. The base there is 132"
No new snow predicted through Thursday. First snow will probably be Saturday. Praying for new fresh powder.

Enjoy!

I wasn't too far off on my estimates from yesterday for the display fridge.

45LX55HX28D.

 

[Phage]

Interesting morning - at about 8:15am, I heard a distant "Boom" and the power went out. All is well in my house best I can tell, and when calling the power company, sounds like a transformer blew. I was told that my own electrical issues could not have caused it (I'm going to try to catch the work crew to ask them as well). They said it would be fixed before the electrician got here this afternoon. Given my issues, I'm not willing to leave the house because I want to be here watching when the power comes back on, just in case something blows or sparks.

So, incubator, hatcher, and MHP for the new chicks all plugged into the little generator. (So is the internet router.) Now I need to figure out how to get some stuff done for work that would really be easiest done THERE. Time to start emailing folks. 

(@Phage
  - I saw I got outbid on the Ayam Cemani eggs - I'm taking it as a sign from the universe that I don't need to hatch any more eggs right now. I'll just plan on getting them later, which was the original plan anyhow...)

- Ant Farm 

Ok let me know when and I will send you some.

 

[NaJoBeLe]

Lovely pics but no Thank You on the snow. We have 70's on our 10-day forecast.

Sure you don't want to trade? Just for one day?

Beautiful!  I'd love some snow here!


Enjoy!

I'll gladly share the snow! It's still coming down out there :/

Give me a sec and I will think about it.... Nope I'm good.

 

[kwhites634]

Quote: Long as it stays "out there", the rest will take care of itself

 

[BullChick]

Sure you don't want to trade? Just for one day?
I'll gladly share the snow! It's still coming down out there :/

I think we're getting up to a foot by tomorrow. You?

 

[microchick]

Well, I stopped by our Amish neighbors on the way home from dropping our farm truck off to get new ball joints installed. There's 550$ we'll never see again. Louis sells 50 pounds of black oil sunflower seeds for 18 dollars while everyone else in town sells them for over 20$ and we really enjoy talking to him and his sons. We learn all the local gossip from the Amish POV, like they had a predator hunt last weekend and over a hundred guys managed to eliminate 27 coyotes, one bobcat and 2 red fox from the food chain. His son, knicknamed Ginger is in charge of the farms small animals and I deal with him about eggs. The young man came riding in on a little strawberry roan pony that was just tall enough that his feet didn't drag on the ground. I told him he could almost walk along with the little guy and he proceeded to pitch a sale at me regarding the pony. Broke to drive. Good shoes, gentle, 3-4 yrs old 500 dollars and he'd throw in a harness for him.

I just kept thinking about those blasted 550$ ball joints for the car.

He's going to have eggs for me in about two weeks so that will give me time to get the Brinsea calibrated as far as humidity is concerned-do a final temp check while I'm working with humidity and I'll be good to go.

I also got a freshly dressed rabbit from him for freezer camp. Can't beat that. Bunny went from the pen to a grocery bag in 10 minutes. Dressed out clean as a whistle. Now that's fresh.

 

[DwayneNLiz]

Well, I stopped by our Amish neighbors on the way home from dropping our farm truck off to get new ball joints installed. There's 550$ we'll never see again. Louis sells 50 pounds of black oil sunflower seeds for 18 dollars while everyone else in town sells them for over 20$ and we really enjoy talking to him and his sons. We learn all the local gossip from the Amish POV, like they had a predator hunt last weekend and over a hundred guys managed to eliminate 27 coyotes, one bobcat and 2 red fox from the food chain. His son, knicknamed Ginger is in charge of the farms small animals and I deal with him about eggs. The young man came riding in on a little strawberry roan pony that was just tall enough that his feet didn't drag on the ground. I told him he could almost walk along with the little guy and he proceeded to pitch a sale at me regarding the pony. Broke to drive. Good shoes, gentle, 3-4 yrs old 500 dollars and he'd throw in a harness for him.

I just kept thinking about those blasted 550$ ball joints for the car.

He's going to have eggs for me in about two weeks so that will give me time to get the Brinsea calibrated as far as humidity is concerned-do a final temp check while I'm working with humidity and I'll be good to go.

I also got a freshly dressed rabbit from him for freezer camp. Can't beat that. Bunny went from the pen to a grocery bag in 10 minutes. Dressed out clean as a whistle. Now that's fresh.

thats great!!!

i want the pony

 

[jwlpoultry]

I may or may not have found some Jubilee Orpington's pretty local and not costing an insane amount of money.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Quote:

How many chicks can the mhp handle?

Depends on which one - I have an XL heating pad (the right kind that doesn't have an auto shut off) that is 12" x 24" draped under/bungeed to a welded wire fence scrap frame (with cut hoe pieces to cover the sharp bits), covered in a pillow case and then covered on top with cloth diapers. That will take around 15-20 babies at hatch easily. By about 1-2 weeks they will be outgrowing it (but by then, in they're indoors, they need less heat and some like to sleep halfway out the front or on top) - so I have a second sized one that is TWO 12"x10" heating pads side by side on a welded wire frame. THAT will take a lot of chicks, including up to 20 at 4-5 weeks old (I know this because they used it when I moved them outside and then there was a cold snap - I ensured they were all user and then draped an additional towel over the top to keep them toasty). Right now the 3 week old hooligans (14 of them) have one of the big ones in their 6'x3' brooder. Past a certain age, they will use it as reassurance and a dark place to snuggle together regardless of any heat - I start turning the heat down at 3-4 weeks.

Quote:
MIKE!!!!

Yup - power came back on mid morning. Then the electrician came, dug around and searched, took out some fixtures to look up in the space where the sparks came from. The breaker to the outdoor lights on that corner of the house had flipped and the wires were not hot. He also said there was a black cord up there that almost looked like an extension cord (wouldn't surprise me!) - also dead. Leaving the breakers flipped off, and he said it's all safe and there's nothing there to be concerned about. (He also found a wasps nest in the can light, so that was fun.)

Oh, and the charge? $0.

Quote: Yeah, I took being outbid as a sign from the universe that I already had plenty (too many?) chicks this season to raise and build housing for. So I let it go... One day...

I'll consider that whenever I finally get ducks - thanks for the idea.

All's well electrically, finally, but it's been a stressful day, and I've gotten very little done.

I have figured out a way to beat the doc.. Everytime he tells me I need to cut down a cup of coffee, I get a bigger cup. I am up to a 32 ounce cup now. BUT I never have more than 4 cups a day.

My doc is on to that trick. Right after he said to limit to one cup a day, he made like he was holding a mug and said, "This is not a cup. This is a mug." Then he put his index finger and thumb about 2-3" apart and said, "THIS is a cup. A little demitasse cup. This is enough."

(I'm still not there - but at least I'm only drinking ONE mug a day...

)

Quote: The h___ you will!

I posted a picture of some Ancona pullets on our local chicken meetup group. One of the long time chicken owners asked what breed the black and white spotted roosters were. He couldn't believe they were pullets with the huge combs. Just like most other Mediterranean breeds.
Many Med hens have spurs too.

I posted a picture of one of my Cream Legbar hens once (Paula of blessed memory), and Ralphie was SURE that she couldn't be a legbar because of the big comb and said so. I assured him that he was FLAT WRONG

, and she was, and then the Texas CL owners spoke up about all the big combs in their CLs (boys and girls). May be the heat on top of the strain...

I'll likely be incommunicado after tomorrow morning.
I'm unplugging for a few days and I'll be back Monday. Not long enough.

Hopefully the snow will be good. Base depth of 50-60 inches where we're going. Wish we were heading to Wolf Creek. The base there is 132"
No new snow predicted through Thursday. First snow will probably be Saturday. Praying for new fresh powder.

Quote: Enable much?!

In all seriousness, though, I may take you up on that next year, when things calm down a bit here and I have my project groups settled...

- Ant Farm