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

[duluthralphie]

Did you know we have a VWN'er that refuses to acknowledge the pe-dash as a legitimate form punctuation?

For those of you not using the pe-dash or unfamiliar with it.It is simply five----- Yes----- five of the little dashes.

It can be used almost any place a comma----- or other form of punctuation goes. I would really appreciate everyone using it until such time----- she realizes the errors of her ways.

Thank-You----- very much!

 

[Pensmaster]

though its supposed to be POSITIVE DOUBLE digits today!

i even took my pony's blankie off!

That's like washing your car, soon as you do it's bound to rain.

Morning everyone

 

[DwayneNLiz]

That's like washing your car, soon as you do it's bound to rain.

Morning everyone

only supposed to be -1* tonight and snow tomorrow

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It will not be above freezing until April here. so no more whining!

Oh so true. Every time I whine and hit the post button, I then look at the weather and see there are 250 million people in the US going through the same thing or worse and I know y'all don't want to hear about it.
Local weather report today said by the time we get above freezing, it will be the third longest period below freezing in record keeping history.
I actually feel for those who are having bad weather and are totally unprepared. They're getting snow and ice in Lake City, Florida.
Savannah, Georgia is getting 6 inches of snow. Previous record was 3 inches. It has shut down the airport and the whole city. No snow plows.
When I was in the army in Fort Polk Louisiana, we got about a half inch of wet snow. Warm ground/pavement so no freezing. The locals were petrified. They had all of us from a northern climate each drive a civilian home in their car and pick them up for work the next morning.
While we always get a few stretches of zero/subzero weather, normally we have a lot of mild stretches. Our climate was like yours back in 2014, we never got mild weather till April like you either and it was one of the few times we had a deep snow base from December to April.
I doubt if I would have the fortitude to keep chickens in a climate like yours or worse. Having no forage for 4 months a year is hard. I can't imagine not being able to free range for half the year.
If I did, I'd probably keep chickens in a more commercial type building. Large and climate controlled.

I moved eggs to the hatcher yesterday...Frozen winter hatch rates vacuum...I had 176 eggs in incubator only 68 moved to incubator and of those 10-12 are questionable.... I have 11 turkey eggs in, one starter, no finishers......View attachment 1225437

Bummer

I am fairly sure my poor December/January hatch rates are due to the cold we have here. I keep my birds indoors with 16 hours of light a day. The temps are so cold though I think some of the eggs while not cracking from freezing have gotten cold enough to keep them from hatching...

You're right. Eggs can stay a considerable amount of time at temperatures near freezing without affecting hatchabilty.
An egg spending any amount of time at 28.4F or below will develop ice crystals and permanently damage internal structures. One shouldn't expect such eggs to develop very far.
I think setting such eggs is a waste of time and electricity.
I haven't been able to collect eggs often enough this week to make them reliable as table eggs much less for incubation.
I've been boiling the frozen eggs and feeding them back to the chickens.

 

[BantyChooks]

Did you know we have a VWN'er that refuses to acknowledge the pe-dash as a legitimate form punctuation?

For those of you not using the pe-dash or unfamiliar with it.It is simply five----- Yes----- five of the little dashes.

It can be used almost any place a comma----- or other form of punctuation goes. I would really appreciate everyone using it until such time----- she realizes the errors of her ways.

Thank-You----- very much!

Go boil your head

 

[BantyChooks]

I doubt if I would have the fortitude to keep chickens in a climate like yours or worse. Having no forage for 4 months a year is hard. I can't imagine not being able to free range for half the year.
If I did, I'd probably keep chickens in a more commercial type building. Large and climate controlled.

Big coops are definitely a plus. I could easily fit about 50 birds in my current coop IF I did not have a winter covering at least half the year.

Sometimes I wonder why I live here, mostly in April when my forecast shows we're up for yet another blizzard and the rest of the world is basking in sunshine.

Keeping ducks up here requires a bit of insanity as well as fortitude.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Big coops are definitely a plus. I could easily fit about 50 birds in my current coop IF I did not have a winter covering at least half the year.

Sometimes I wonder why I live here, mostly in April when my forecast shows we're up for yet another blizzard and the rest of the world is basking in sunshine.

Keeping ducks up here requires a bit of insanity as well as fortitude.

The two room henhouse we had when I was growing up housed 100 white leghorns and could have held more if bedding was changed more often. It was always open during the day so the chickens could forage in the several acre orchard and rhubarb bed. The big garden was fenced off to keep them out.

I wouldn't mind living in your climate but my hobbies wouldn't include chickens. I always loved winter before being the sole chicken husbandryman.
I love the mountains and would have taken on skiing and likely ice fishing as my primary hobbies.

 

[BantyChooks]

I wouldn't mind living in your climate but my hobbies wouldn't include chickens. I always loved winter before being the sole chicken husbandryman.
I love the mountains and likely would have taken on skiing and likely ice fishing as my primary hobbies.

I have occasionally debated moving further north but animal husbandry was the main reason I decided to stick to here. I do not feel like changing out water in -60*F.

 

[kwhites634]

I doubt if I would have the fortitude to keep chickens in a climate like yours or worse. Having no forage for 4 months a year is hard. I can't imagine not being able to free range for half the year.

Fortunately, I can free range right through the Winter most times. If there's snow on the ground, it's not usually deep enough to slow them down, plus they get out of the run for exercise & to relieve boredom, & stay a little warmer. Don't have to fill the feeder quite as much, either. I alternate days, letting the adults out one day & the youngsters out the next.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

You must still have things growing and bugs to find this time of year?