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

[ChickenCanoe]

The Short Version that is nowhere near as funny as the real version if I could type more.
The new pullet rooster breed.... My husband coworker is not the sharpest tool in the shed. He recently met a girl "perfect" for him

.
She comes home with chicks from tractor supply unexpectedly. Last night before work Bill gets a text "Why are 3 chicks dead?" Bill asked me to please call him so he didn't have to go back and forth dealing with him all night. I felt like I walked into Jerry Springer episode

I asked what breeds she got "I got the 6 pack"...

" Ok what kind of chicks were in the "6 Pack" and which ones died??? " Ummm 2 yellow fluffy ones, oh and she got a couple ducks and (as they are yelling back and forth at each other) and and some kind of batman chick and this little d*ckh*ad" pullet rooster..... "

" I went over overheating, chill, "batmans" in with chicks and larger ducklings" what kind of housing, heat source & feed.... I gave up when I explained "pasty butt" and he said they didn't have it but then he is yelling at her "Check their a*ses for sh*t"

He concluded with "I think this chicken raising hobby might be too hard for us"

Whew!!!!

Good story. You can't fix stupid.
I love these people that do no research and say, "I have my chicks, now what?"
When I teach chicken classes, I always ask who already has chickens. This past Saturday was the first class the no one had chickens yet. I commended them for getting information before the plunge.

Well, it was polite on both sides. After prayer I went into that meeting having already decided that whatever they did or didn't do I was going to look at my options career-wise. He said that he understood and agreed with my point, and would look into whether they could do anything. He tried to assure me that they do value their employees blah blah blah. I submitted my first application after that meeting and three hours later had a job offer for three and a half dollars more per hour to start with a 50 cent raise after 90 days. Unfortunately, that one is a night position that I really don't want. I could consider it because you can move internally when there is an opening but I am not sure. I do like the fact that it is for 12 hour shifts with three days off. While it is not what I want, it was reassuring.

That job sounds good. 3 days off and working nights will allow you to work your farm during the day.
I didn't like it but I worked nights for about 20 years.
You can't beat making more money either.

New IL state record Black Crappie caught yesterday near Carbondale (not in Rend Lake); 4lb 8oz

I wonder what body of water. I fished a UAW bass tournament at Rend Lake many years ago.

^.^ ***? LOL

My 6 year old knows how to wash a chick's butt for pastey butt, it's not rocket science.

So true.

i treat my post office really well and keep them informed of when i have "stuff" coming. I bring them donuts, pizza, eggs.. to show my appreciation for taking extra care. when my birds arrive they call me immediately even if it is 6am and allow me to come get them. If I can't come immediately, they have my permission to open them and give them water and make sure they are alive. Eggs were lost for a week once. Thy helped me file a claim and I am one of the few people I have heard of getting paid the "insurance". They can't help what happens at other hubs and drivers and such and i know the risk I take with shipped birds and eggs. I open my eggs there and show them the different kinds and air cells and such if they are not busy. It helps them to know why it's important to keep the box right side up and follow the directions as opposed to "just do it that way" and have brought in baby chicks from my hatches to show them. When they see the little fuzzy life that was a product of "good handling" they have reason to take a little extra time and care.

Nice.

Pray tell, just why are you aiming to get Abi to smack you to British Columbia?

What bathroom does a pullet rooster use?

Depends on what state they're in. Some states will look at the birth certificate before they let them pee.
Other states have co-ed bathrooms.

The conference I attended last week was actually at the USPS upper management training and team building facility in Norman, OK.

Quote:

[/COLOR]

Not in the context of a conference, we just used the facility for our conference. I engaged conversation with a few of them over the resident ducks and it transpired into the conversation of shipping eggs and chicks but nothing significant. Most people dont realize the fact that actual hand time on shipped boxes is very minimal. Practically the whole process is mechanized with conveyors and sorting machines.

That is so true. People think that someone touches and drop kicks those boxes all the way across the country. About the only time a person touches them is when they're dropped off at the PO and when they enter the sorting room at their destination. In fact, most of the time, they aren't even flown by the PO but by secondary vendors.
That's why their location doesn't always show up on tracking. Because they're not in the possession of the PO and haven't been scanned. I almost got a job programming those sorting conveyors. If the bin at the end of the conveyor is full, the package drops a short distance. If it is empty, it drops a long way.
I think it's possible now to pay for special handling where the package doesn't go through the automated system and is hand carried much of the way. It is pricey.
When my penedesenca shipment was lost, after a lot of phone calls I ended up talking to the head of the whole express mail system and they put out an APB for them.
I also talked to the guy that supervises the dock at the main distribution center where all the animals pass through.
He went out to the dock and told me all the animals that were out there. There were rats, mice, snakes, frogs, chickens, ducks, insects, etc. Just not my Penes.
People have no clue how much the post office does and how complicated it is with very little budget.

I love them.

...

My local USPS is GREAT about calling me when I have eggs or live chicks at the post office. This past summer when I had eggs there, they called me at 4:30 in the morning, saying, "You have eggs here and it says on the box to call you immediately when they arrive. Please come get them, knock on the back door and we will let you in to get them." Great experience. Now, their abilities when it comes to regular packages leave much to be desired.


...

It works like that here too. The priority mail shipments usually get there about 4 or so. If I don't have a call by 5AM, I call them.
This is one of the bigger post offices in the area. Whether it's bees, eggs or chicks, I walk around back, knock on the door and they give me my shipment.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

GOOD MORNING, COFFEE CREW! IT'S DAY FOUR OF THE HOSTAGE SITUATION, AND THE NATIVES ARE GETTING RESTLESS!!

Thanks, MC! You have the very best coffee!!!

Quote:

That is seriously cute - like, "should be illegal" cute.

Quote:
I have that candler - the down side is that you have to put the air cell down for it to really work. But It works REALLY well as one of the two lights when trying to candle really dark eggs. Put the egg narrow side down on the Brinsea one (carefully, so it balanced), and your other hand held candler on top over the air cell.

Quote: Yup - everyone's fine. Been taking time off of work off and on this week (I have "too much" unused vacation and too much to do at home) - I did some brooder cleaning this morning and will be heading into the office in a little bit. I weighed the TankxGNH chicks yesterday - weights are mostly ok, and by graphing seem roughly accurate, but the hanging bucket is not working all that well. I've gotten a cage that I'm going to try to hang next time. The Puppy/OE cohort of chicks is moving outside this weekend. All of them have been pretty old (8 weeks) when moving out, mostly because of a housing deficiency. So I've been doing a LOT of brooder cleaning.

I got up to get the brooders ready, Metzer farms told me my geese/ducks are arriving today, and i'm hoping they are okay, since they were all shipped on monday morning.........

What ducks did you get?

Quote: The S&G Naked Neck chicks were shipped on Tuesday morning and arrived Friday. I lost one in transit and another 8 throughout that week.

Hoping all is well with these!

@Akrnaf2 You can ask the Texas girls on here there's nothing quite like the way a Texas guy says yes ma'am.
Right @Jessimom @Fire Ant Farm ?

That's very true.

Quote: I think they're lovely. The only reason I don't have them is that I don't have the room. Would love to have a laying girl or two as lawn ornaments, though...

Quote:

That's super reassuring that you got an offer so fast. Agree with the others that you deserve more and any employer would be lucky to have you.

OK, I should go, ciao!

- Ant Farm

 

[dan26552]

Thanks, MC! You have the very best coffee!!! 


That is seriously cute - like, "should be illegal" cute. 


I have that candler - the down side is that you have to put the air cell down for it to really work. But It works REALLY well as one of the two lights when trying to candle really dark eggs. Put the egg narrow side down on the Brinsea one (carefully, so it balanced), and your other hand held candler on top over the air cell. 
Yup - everyone's fine. Been taking time off of work off and on this week (I have "too much" unused vacation and too much to do at home) - I did some brooder cleaning this morning and will be heading into the office in a little bit. I weighed the TankxGNH chicks yesterday - weights are mostly ok, and by graphing seem roughly accurate, but the hanging bucket is not working all that well. I've gotten a cage that I'm going to try to hang next time. The Puppy/OE cohort of chicks is moving outside this weekend. All of them have been pretty old (8 weeks) when moving out, mostly because of a housing deficiency. So I've been doing a LOT of brooder cleaning. 


 What ducks did you get?

The S&G Naked Neck chicks were shipped on Tuesday morning and arrived Friday. I lost one in transit and another 8 throughout that week. :/  Hoping all is well with these!


That's very true. 
I think they're lovely. The only reason I don't have them is that I don't have the room. Would love to have a laying girl or two as lawn ornaments, though...

 That's super reassuring that you got an offer so fast. Agree with the others that you deserve more and any employer would be lucky to have you.

 

[Akrnaf2]

[CONTENTEMBED=/t/1137467/educational-incubation-hatching-w-sally-sunshine-hosts-bantychooks-and-more/46800#post_18270159 layout=inline]Happy belated birthday, Benny, Mrs. Benny, and Mrs. Whites! (And anyone else I missed - still haven't done the read back). [/CONTENTEMBED]

[COLOR=0000CD]GOOD MORNING, COFFEE CREW! IT'S DAY FOUR OF THE HOSTAGE SITUATION, AND THE NATIVES ARE GETTING RESTLESS!![/COLOR]

Thanks, MC! You have the very best coffee!!!

I'm baaaaaack... I will work on reading back, but wanted to say hi. Goodnight! - Ant Farm

Oh, good! Then I can stop missing you!

That is seriously cute - like, "should be illegal" cute.

Got myself a Brinsea high-intensity candler, as I figgered a nice one would be worth it in the long run. Cos pics are worth a thousand words, here's how it works on the three colours of eggs I get that are the hardest to candle. Olive Brown Blue

Sweet thanks for sharing

I have that candler - the down side is that you have to put the air cell down for it to really work. But It works REALLY well as one of the two lights when trying to candle really dark eggs. Put the egg narrow side down on the Brinsea one (carefully, so it balanced), and your other hand held candler on top over the air cell.

I'm baaaaaack... Hard drive is dead on my iMac. And of course, this happened right in the middle of a bunch of work-all-day-and-late-into-the-night days trying to get housing built for the chicks and trees planted and garden planted. Ate up half on Monday taking it in to the Apple store to have them do the diagnostics and take it for repair/replacement of the HD (it's under warranty). I'm on my laptop now. I've been basically working until I drop the past several days (like, having to invoke the rule that if I stumble and fall twice I'm too tired and need to stop). It'll be like that for a little while longer. I got the last of the apple trees planted yesterday, just in time for a torrential rain storm starting at 2:30 this morning. It woke me up and I couldn't get back to sleep for anything, so I started working on some teaching stuff until it was time to go in to work. I got in a nap this evening before chores, but I'm wiped and heading to bed. I will work on reading back, but wanted to say hi. Goodnight! - Ant Farm

Good morning Kristin glad to hear you did ok from the storms. Chicks ok? Mine are about 1/2 through incubation. Just got an email that the Madison chicks are in now if I was still interested. I think I have enough for now.

Yup - everyone's fine. Been taking time off of work off and on this week (I have "too much" unused vacation and too much to do at home) - I did some brooder cleaning this morning and will be heading into the office in a little bit. I weighed the TankxGNH chicks yesterday - weights are mostly ok, and by graphing seem roughly accurate, but the hanging bucket is not working all that well. I've gotten a cage that I'm going to try to hang next time. The Puppy/OE cohort of chicks is moving outside this weekend. All of them have been pretty old (8 weeks) when moving out, mostly because of a housing deficiency. So I've been doing a LOT of brooder cleaning.

I got up to get the brooders ready, Metzer farms told me my geese/ducks are arriving today, and i'm hoping they are okay, since they were all shipped on monday morning.........

What ducks did you get?

This will give you some information if it does. http://www.brinsea.com/Articles/Advice/PowerOff.aspx I don't know what is in Sally's notes but if you don't have a generator, You can use wood or gas to heat water, rocks, bricks or whatever to stick into the incubator to keep the temp up. I've been beekeeping for close to 10 years with ups and downs. I started with an extremely strong hive this time last year and I didn't get it split in time and it swarmed. Then swarmed again and again. I caught a couple of the swarms and bought a couple packages. At one point I had 4 hives and the big black ants moved in and killed them off. I'm redesigning my stands to try and prevent that. If I could find the ant colonies I'd get some predatory nematodes to dump on the hills. I've read that the swarm boxes need to be about 15' above ground and about the capacity of a 10 frame deep body box. Quote: 4 per LF inside minimum. The high stocking density will contribute to higher humidity to the coop and negate any benefit from body heat. Happy Birthday!!! Good luck. WOW!!!, That's a long time in the mail. Take a camera with you when you go to the post office. Have you called your PO yet?

No, the guy who used to be really good about calling me, doesn't work there anymore, and I haven't been able to get him to call me when stuff comes in like the other guy did. That's why I called Metzer farms to figure out where my birds where yesterday, they weren't at the post office when I stopped by. Tracking put them as arriving today. Metzer said to call them if the birds didn't make it when I pick them up at the post office. It's scanned as arrival date, and I already talked to them and expressed my concerns about their health at the extra day in the mail. They said they should be okay if I pick them up in the AM - but the last time this happened, I lost half of the animals that got shipped. These geese are 75 each.......... i'm not happy if they die.

The S&G Naked Neck chicks were shipped on Tuesday morning and arrived Friday. I lost one in transit and another 8 throughout that week. :/ Hoping all is well with these!

[@=/u/296003/Akrnaf2]@Akrnaf2[/@] You can ask the Texas girls on here there's nothing quite like the way a Texas guy says yes ma'am. Right [@=/u/39565/Jessimom]@Jessimom[/@][@=/u/350041/Fire-Ant-Farm]@Fire Ant Farm[/@]?

That's very true.

and with mystery eggs!! Good Luck! page one, the notes we always refer people to i hope it works out!! i think there were some on the 24 hour auction a few days ago, if you want i can look for the user waiting..... they will need assistance Good Luck!!! hope they are ok!!!!!!! Good morning Beautiful!!!!!!

Thanks but my biggest interest in these is I could drive and pick them up. Also it is one of many breeds on my bucket list.

I think they're lovely. The only reason I don't have them is that I don't have the room. Would love to have a laying girl or two as lawn ornaments, though...

[@=/u/372869/daxigait]@daxigait[/@] Might have missed it on my readback but how did the meeting go? Or is it today? I get my days crossed up sometimes due to the fact that the majority of my readbacks are from the previous evening.

Well, it was polite on both sides. After prayer I went into that meeting having already decided that whatever they did or didn't do I was going to look at my options career-wise. He said that he understood and agreed with my point, and would look into whether they could do anything. He tried to assure me that they do value their employees blah blah blah. I submitted my first application after that meeting and three hours later had a job offer for three and a half dollars more per hour to start with a 50 cent raise after 90 days. Unfortunately, that one is a night position that I really don't want. I could consider it because you can move internally when there is an opening but I am not sure. I do like the fact that it is for 12 hour shifts with three days off. While it is not what I want, it was reassuring.

That's super reassuring that you got an offer so fast. Agree with the others that you deserve more and any employer would be lucky to have you. [CONTENTEMBED=/t/1137467/educational-incubation-hatching-w-sally-sunshine-hosts-bantychooks-and-more/46920#post_18271566 layout=inline]OK, I should go, ciao! [/CONTENTEMBED] [CONTENTEMBED=/t/1137467/educational-incubation-hatching-w-sally-sunshine-hosts-bantychooks-and-more/46920#post_18271566 layout=inline] [/CONTENTEMBED] [CONTENTEMBED=/t/1137467/educational-incubation-hatching-w-sally-sunshine-hosts-bantychooks-and-more/46920#post_18271566 layout=inline]- Ant Farm [/CONTENTEMBED]

Thanks you very much! It is in time not belted!

 

[Lucky Lemon]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BENNY!

 

[kwhites634]

.

Quote:

 

[Akrnaf2]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BENNY!

Thanks very much!

 

[DwayneNLiz]

hope you have a great day!

 

[mlm Mike]

@mlm Mike
how do you calibrate your brinsea???

I check with my Brinsea spot check, which I checked by taking my temp and comparing to a medical thermometer.

 

[DwayneNLiz]

@Akrnaf2