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

[OneMountainAcres]

Hi all! I've been MIA few a few weeks. Just not enough time to keep up with this thread lol. I found some time tonight so I thought I'd drop in, say hi, and share some pics

The broodies are working hard, raising their littles. Ana (SPR) had hers from a day old. The Silver Welbar girl took it apon herself to start mothering some 4 week old CCL cockerels. I still have 3 more broodies sitting on air (4 if you count the broody duck and 7 if you add in the turkeys!)


We've been raising up a few of our meaties from earlier in the year to try to breed and outcross them. We had to butcher 2 of the boys because they were just too big and clumsy to have any chance of breeding. One was almost 12 pounds dressed out and we had a thanksgiving style feast. He fed us almost a week straight! Here are the kids holding two that are still going strong. Brendon has Big Betty and Katelyn is struggling to hold Cap'n (short for Captain America. He had blue kote on him for a bit lol)



Simon serama, hatched from @SallySunshine 's eggs, moved out to the rabbit hutch the other day with his seabright ladies. They get their own private digs since they'll get stepped on with the rest of the flock.



Then there's Sunshine and Lollipop, the goslings. They are getting SO big!



Not much else is new here. @kwhites634 , I just scored some nice BCM last week from supposedly great lines and very dark eggs. If all goes well, I'll be breeding them next spring

@Fire Ant Farm the luffa gourds are doing great and are officially outside now. They seem to be liking the weather so far!

Hope everyone is doing well!

 

[BantyChooks]

Now I feel awful about putting Topaz on the kill list. I went out there and a chick had gotten into his side of the pen.... He was hunkered down with the chick under him. If I didn't want purebred chicks I'd be so tempted to keep him....

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Wow - it's super slow here!!!

Wanted to share a couple pretty egg photos. My girls from the over-Christmas incubation/Jan. 10 hatch have started laying. Tank's daughters were first and are most consistent already (no surprise - but nice, since their mothers had late maturity), but the other two are Goodwin's (lavender ameraucana) daughters with the blue/black copper marans girls. Very nice olive eggs - one last week, another tonight (don't know if it's the same girl or the second one). Alas, no natural light for todays, so it looks more spearmint-looking in the photo than it really is (it's more olive colored in real life). The other egg is a NN pullet egg.

Last week's (pre and post rinse):
View attachment 1049295 View attachment 1049296
Today's:
View attachment 1049297

beautiful eggs! I'm sorry to hear that you lost Goodwin though

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Hi all! I've been MIA few a few weeks. Just not enough time to keep up with this thread lol. I found some time tonight so I thought I'd drop in, say hi, and share some pics

The broodies are working hard, raising their littles. Ana (SPR) had hers from a day old. The Silver Welbar girl took it apon herself to start mothering some 4 week old CCL cockerels. I still have 3 more broodies sitting on air (4 if you count the broody duck and 7 if you add in the turkeys!)
View attachment 1049285 View attachment 1049287

We've been raising up a few of our meaties from earlier in the year to try to breed and outcross them. We had to butcher 2 of the boys because they were just too big and clumsy to have any chance of breeding. One was almost 12 pounds dressed out and we had a thanksgiving style feast. He fed us almost a week straight! Here are the kids holding two that are still going strong. Brendon has Big Betty and Katelyn is struggling to hold Cap'n (short for Captain America. He had blue kote on him for a bit lol)

View attachment 1049286 View attachment 1049288 View attachment 1049290

Simon serama, hatched from @SallySunshine 's eggs, moved out to the rabbit hutch the other day with his seabright ladies. They get their own private digs since they'll get stepped on with the rest of the flock.

View attachment 1049291 View attachment 1049293

Then there's Sunshine and Lollipop, the goslings. They are getting SO big!

View attachment 1049294

Not much else is new here. @kwhites634 , I just scored some nice BCM last week from supposedly great lines and very dark eggs. If all goes well, I'll be breeding them next spring

@Fire Ant Farm the luffa gourds are doing great and are officially outside now. They seem to be liking the weather so far!

Hope everyone is doing well!

Thanks for the update - looks awesome! Your broody is a saint - the CL cockerels I have hatched and raised have all been demon spawn. (Ralphie, please back me up...)

So glad the luffas are going well! They're really tough, and if you're strategic, they create a very nice shade screen if grown on a trellis. I have a great cookbook (Indian, but also Pakistani, Syrian, Sri Lankan, etc.) called 660 Curries, and it actually has several recipes for luffas - when they are young and tender, they are treated a little like zucchini.

I never got mine going this year as my garden got put on the back burner (though I'm sure there will be volunteers somewhere). For sponges, let them get dry and hollow (but not rotting) and then remove and let dry well in a warm but sheltered space. You'll then peel them, and then you can just shake the seeds out and save them (for yourself or other BYC folk!).

I have a broiler NN boy who is about 10 lbs at 16 weeks. But he's well behaved, and corrects intolerable behavior in the others (I was installing an auto door the other day and two of them would NOT leave me alone, in a little bit of a scary way - they managed to put themselves on the cull list as a result). His name is Bubba, and he likes to come out and greet me. I need to get a photo of him next to the 5 gallon feed bucket - he's the biggest bird I've ever owned, and he's not even grown yet!!! I am keeping several other boys from this group, as I realize that the worst could happen, and he could have leg or heart issues. He runs like a sumo wrestler...

Now I feel awful about putting Topaz on the kill list. I went out there and a chick had gotten into his side of the pen.... He was hunkered down with the chick under him. If I didn't want purebred chicks I'd be so tempted to keep him....

Admirable behavior is very VERY high on my priority list - this sounds wonderful. Any way you can keep him and work with breeding pens when specifically wanting to hatch? Or work some separation with the one you want to keep and let him be a bachelor until breeding time comes, and let Topaz lead and protect until then (I am having to do a variation of that, in that I am having sibling boys lead their sisters in small flocks because they are doing good jobs - when the time comes, I'll need to rearrange the pairings, as I am not going to hatch the full sibling crosses for these groups).

(Sorry - I'm probably not making things easier for you...)

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

beautiful eggs! I'm sorry to hear that you lost Goodwin though

It was the day I came home from Christmas travel - so a while ago. Sad sad day. I haven't had many losses - and only in birds that flew out of their protected paddocks.

I have tried to be reflective about it - I would have culled Monkey if Goodwin hadn't died. Now Monkey (splash copper marans) is with Goodwin's girls, and is doing an outstanding job protecting them and proving his worth as a leader. He is also very well behaved.

So, trying to take the cosmic view...

 

[BantyChooks]

Thanks for the update - looks awesome! Your broody is a saint - the CL cockerels I have hatched and raised have all been demon spawn. (Ralphie, please back me up...)

So glad the luffas are going well! They're really tough, and if you're strategic, they create a very nice shade screen if grown on a trellis. I have a great cookbook (Indian, but also Pakistani, Syrian, Sri Lankan, etc.) called 660 Curries, and it actually has several recipes for luffas - when they are young and tender, they are treated a little like zucchini.

I never got mine going this year as my garden got put on the back burner (though I'm sure there will be volunteers somewhere). For sponges, let them get dry and hollow (but not rotting) and then remove and let dry well in a warm but sheltered space. You'll then peel them, and then you can just shake the seeds out and save them (for yourself or other BYC folk!).

I have a broiler NN boy who is about 10 lbs at 16 weeks. But he's well behaved, and corrects intolerable behavior in the others (I was installing an auto door the other day and two of them would NOT leave me alone, in a little bit of a scary way - they managed to put themselves on the cull list as a result). His name is Bubba, and he likes to come out and greet me. I need to get a photo of him next to the 5 gallon feed bucket - he's the biggest bird I've ever owned, and he's not even grown yet!!! I am keeping several other boys from this group, as I realize that the worst could happen, and he could have leg or heart issues. He runs like a sumo wrestler...

View attachment 1049322



Admirable behavior is very VERY high on my priority list - this sounds wonderful. Any way you can keep him and work with breeding pens when specifically wanting to hatch? Or work some separation with the one you want to keep and let him be a bachelor until breeding time comes, and let Topaz lead and protect until then (I am having to do a variation of that, in that I am having sibling boys lead their sisters in small flocks because they are doing good jobs - when the time comes, I'll need to rearrange the pairings, as I am not going to hatch the full sibling crosses for these groups).

(Sorry - I'm probably not making things easier for you...)

Nope, can't. He has too many other flaws... But oh, that was just so stinkin' sweet. Why did he have to go and make it hard?

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Nope, can't. He has too many other flaws... But oh, that was just so stinkin' sweet. Why did he have to go and make it hard?

 

[Pensmaster]

Wow - it's super slow here!!!

Wanted to share a couple pretty egg photos. My girls from the over-Christmas incubation/Jan. 10 hatch have started laying. Tank's daughters were first and are most consistent already (no surprise - but nice, since their mothers had late maturity), but the other two are Goodwin's (lavender ameraucana) daughters with the blue/black copper marans girls. Very nice olive eggs - one last week, another tonight (don't know if it's the same girl or the second one). Alas, no natural light for todays, so it looks more spearmint-looking in the photo than it really is (it's more olive colored in real life). The other egg is a NN pullet egg.

Last week's (pre and post rinse):
View attachment 1049295 View attachment 1049296
Today's:
View attachment 1049297

Nice eggs
Well the weather man was wrong two days in a row. Supposed to be 106 today once again it's 110 with a feel like temp of 114. We usually don't have a humidity problem here but this heat wave has been humid. Lost a hen today extended heat messes with them. The broodies are still doing well with their chicks and the incubator is still incubating. If there is a power failure the eggs would certainly stay warm enough.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Nice eggs
Well the weather man was wrong two days in a row. Supposed to be 106 today once again it's 110 with a feel like temp of 114. We usually don't have a humidity problem here but this heat wave has been humid. Lost a hen today extended heat messes with them. The broodies are still doing well with their chicks and the incubator is still incubating. If there is a power failure the eggs would certainly stay warm enough.

Sorry to hear about the loss - what breed? How have the Altsteirers done in the heat? (I try to learn form folks who have heat losses so I don't try breeds that aren't suited to hot weather, though my weather isn't as insane as yours...)

 

[Pensmaster]

Sorry to hear about the loss - what breed? How have the Altsteirers done in the heat? (I try to learn form folks who have heat losses so I don't try breeds that aren't suited to hot weather, though my weather isn't as insane as yours...)

Awhile ago I would have thought your weather was far worse. Now I'm not so sure. Really hope this quits soon. I've completely covered the garden with sunscreen.
The hen was an older one and one of my project birds. I have several older ones that probably won't make the next few days. Sunday will be the first day under 100 and then it's still 98. Next week promises to be cooler. 92
The Altsterier have been doing well so far. Still laying in the heat although today they took a break. The broody three some still have their 5 chicks amongst them. The rooster and the hen that didn't go broody have been keeping a safe distance from the three and their chicks. I will say I'm not impressed with one of the Altsteriers pens egg sizes. They are only supposed to be 55 g average but this group hasn't been even making that. They've been laying for about 3 months so it should be getting there on size