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

[Fire Ant Farm]

Quote:
I use the ones from Strombergs, because they come in several colors AND are printed with numbers (you can specify sequence). VERY useful when you are tracking and weighing a lot of young chicks that all look alike. I have a couple colors, and I change colors when I change out bands as they grow - helps me make sure I haven't missed anyone. You have to keep an eye on them, after a couple weeks the numbers can rub so that 8 and 6 are hard to tell apart, for instance (though a Sharpie can take care of that). If I were keeping more of the chicks I brought in or hatched, I'd consider wing bands, but I'm culling a lot. Once they are fully grown, I can usually tell them apart, and if not, I'll THEN tag them with different colored regular zip ties (no number). I like zip ties - they stay on, and are easy to remove and replace.

(You know, I bet you could use a sharpie on any light colored one to do numbers if you have a steady hand and good eyes. I weigh them every week - that's often enough to refresh any rubbed numbers.)

Quote:

This time around, I'm making the tractors in panels and able to be disassembled (because I want to be able to take them apart when I don't need them). It also lets me do some of the assembly on the (large) porch which is a better work area than just in the yard. Last night before bed I had moved the final tractor panel to the back in the dark with a headlamp (the last panel I had moved earlier freaked out the chickens closest to the way I had to walk, such that several flew out of the paddock and had to be rounded up, so I had to wait for the final one). It was generally uneventful, but on the way back to the house, I was focused on the ground, and I forgot the low hanging branch of the big mesquite and ran headfirst right into it. Heard a disagreeable crack in my neck (to be fair, it makes crackling noises a lot), and got a big bump on the head. Woke up this AM at about 3:30 with an achy neck, and couldn't get comfortable, so I just got up and started puttering.

After I get the tractor set up, next on the list? Cut down that G-D branch...

 

[kajira]

I couldn't agree more.
We're going to spend billions to build a wall on the southern border, even though the vast majority of undocumented aliens arrive by plane from Asia.
Meanwhile in Mexico -
http://i.imgur.com/6ueVt3I.gifv

I have a crazy hen I think I'm either going to sell or cage to break her broodiness.
She was broody each night, flattened out on eggs in a trance but come out of it during the day. I wanted a broody so I stuck her in another unit with just a rooster and kept them locked up. She stayed on 12 eggs in there and when I finally opened the door, during the day she flew the coop and joined her old flock.
I wasn't sure how here on and off nature affected the eggs so I put them in the incubator.
I only got one egg to hatch from them and it was 5 days late.
She spent the day today walking around foraging with her flock and right now she's flattened out on eggs in the nest box.

Sounds like she just wants to mess wih you

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

GOOD MORNING, EARTHLINGS! I HOPE EVERYONE HAS A GREAT DAY OF CLEANING COOPS, AND HATCHING
CHICKS!

Thanks, MC!!! Perfect timing - I was ready for another cup! (And I'm actually using that exact mug this morning!)

 

[kwhites634]

GOOD MORNING, EARTHLINGS! I HOPE EVERYONE HAS A GREAT DAY OF CLEANING COOPS, AND HATCHING
CHICKS!
.



.

Good morning again, in case I miss you tomorrow. Thanks; looks tasty...better than the mini donuts I just had.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Quote:
MMmmmmmm..... Mini donuts. Powdered sugar type?

 

[kwhites634]

Good morning everyone!

Hey!

 

[kwhites634]

Quote:
I use the ones from Strombergs, because they come in several colors AND are printed with numbers (you can specify sequence). VERY useful when you are tracking and weighing a lot of young chicks that all look alike. I have a couple colors, and I change colors when I change out bands as they grow - helps me make sure I haven't missed anyone. You have to keep an eye on them, after a couple weeks the numbers can rub so that 8 and 6 are hard to tell apart, for instance (though a Sharpie can take care of that). If I were keeping more of the chicks I brought in or hatched, I'd consider wing bands, but I'm culling a lot. Once they are fully grown, I can usually tell them apart, and if not, I'll THEN tag them with different colored regular zip ties (no number). I like zip ties - they stay on, and are easy to remove and replace.

(You know, I bet you could use a sharpie on any light colored one to do numbers if you have a steady hand and good eyes. I weigh them every week - that's often enough to refresh any rubbed numbers.)

Quote:

This time around, I'm making the tractors in panels and able to be disassembled (because I want to be able to take them apart when I don't need them). It also lets me do some of the assembly on the (large) porch which is a better work area than just in the yard. Last night before bed I had moved the final tractor panel to the back in the dark with a headlamp (the last panel I had moved earlier freaked out the chickens closest to the way I had to walk, such that several flew out of the paddock and had to be rounded up, so I had to wait for the final one). It was generally uneventful, but on the way back to the house, I was focused on the ground, and I forgot the low hanging branch of the big mesquite and ran headfirst right into it. Heard a disagreeable crack in my neck (to be fair, it makes crackling noises a lot), and got a big bump on the head. Woke up this AM at about 3:30 with an achy neck, and couldn't get comfortable, so I just got up and started puttering.

After I get the tractor set up, next on the list? Cut down that G-D branch...

That, or watch where you're going

 

[kwhites634]

Quote:
MMmmmmmm..... Mini donuts. Powdered sugar type?
Chocolate glazed Tastycake

 

[BantyChooks]

If that is the smallest size yes.

I think it is, wasn't able to find any others...

Harbor Freight has all kinds of colored assortment zip ties.
http://www.harborfreight.com/household/cable-ties.html?p=2

Here's hoping their cable ties are better quality than their bench clamps.

GOOD MORNING, EARTHLINGS! I HOPE EVERYONE HAS A GREAT DAY OF CLEANING COOPS, AND HATCHING
CHICKS!

Morning Abi. Bedding is too frozen to clean the coop, so I get to skip out for a while longer.

Happy April everyone!

 

[kwhites634]

Quote: Happy April to you, too. If it makes you feel any warmer, I have some volunteer tulips 4-5" out of the ground.