Getting the flock out of here - a diary of a crazy chicken man

[ozexpat]

thanks Mary

what a rollercoaster


the quails are not so good.

delayed hatches are fraught with problems. one of the quails that were assisted died. The second is OK, In a brooder alone. Mrs Oz will open the other eggs in the morning - its 10pm there.

I really hope we get another few quails out. One just sucks but given the situation it is amazing we have any. Inday (my wife's nick name) used to work in L&D before she became a nurse practitioner says that delivering babies is way easier than dealing with chicks.

we will give the lone quail some sebright banty chicks as company in the morning.

no power disruptions for 5 weeks and 3 power outages today. Mrs Oz earned her beer tonight.

 

[ozexpat]

those will work , i just wonder about their accuracy
the one that came with my 1st bator is off about 2f
so i know when it reads 97.9 it's rite on the money


the generator issue i will resolve
even a cheepo from china would be better then nothing at all
it's not like you need 10,000 watts
for a small unit gas is probably the way to go
however for something bigger diesel IMHO is tough to beat
it can be stored for a very long time unlike gas
i have some in a 150 gallon storage tank from 2007
i pump it into my farm tractor & it works just fine
been thinking about setting up my tractor so i can make power off of the pto
it will run all day on 5 gallons of fuel , probably longer than that if there is less load on er


take care OZ
heading to work in 20 min.
already dropped the wife off for the day for her gig

piggy

I use this model and am very happy with accuracy. I had to calibrate each remote but now I am good to go.

The whole generator and power issue

I wont buy a generator for now, What I am doing is setting up a decent size UPS and then wiring it to a deep cycle marine battery instead of the small one that comes with it.

It will last more than 24 hours without needing a recharge.

It has the advantage of no maintenance - I wont have to organize to get the generator to a mechanic or the mechanic to the generator from 7500 miles away, and having to get the mechanic paid. Routine maintenance has to be performed to keep a gas genny running and a mega kilowatt expensive diesel one will rust before my eyes and be useless in 3 years. to replace the UPS is 70 bucks.

At 2 am when the power goes out and your fast asleep, I am not there to turn on the genny - I am in dream land

It has no fuel - the biggest problem of theft on farms in the Philippines is employees stealing fuel. I am not saying Bernie will steal anything but other help and day laborers could.

 

[maryhysong]

thanks Mary

what a rollercoaster


the quails are not so good.

delayed hatches are fraught with problems. one of the quails that were assisted died. The second is OK, In a brooder alone. Mrs Oz will open the other eggs in the morning - its 10pm there.

I really hope we get another few quails out. One just sucks but given the situation it is amazing we have any. Inday (my wife's nick name) used to work in L&D before she became a nurse practitioner says that delivering babies is way easier than dealing with chicks.

we will give the lone quail some sebright banty chicks as company in the morning.

no power disruptions for 5 weeks and 3 power outages today. Mrs Oz earned her beer tonight.

I was a midwife's apprentice for a bit and have assisted goats and such. Yes chicks are just as hard if not harder. So hard to tell if you are doing the right thing helping them or not. I wait until the very end of the hatch to help and then only if they've pipped and just seem stuck or shrinkwrapped. Even then I try to only help just enough that they can free themselves after I've wet the membrane and chipped off some shell. Some make it and some don't. Sometimes the ones that make it then are failure to thrive and die a week later. That is sadder than if they never get out of the egg, I think. Well hoping some more of yours make and thrive.

 

[hillfloweranch]

i even have my mind crossed

 

[LFchixranch]

Sorry to hear about the coaster ride you and your family is on Oz. I have faith in you to figure it out and smooth sailing next run of the quail.

 

[ozexpat]

Sorry to hear about the coaster ride you and your family is on Oz. I have faith in you to figure it out and smooth sailing next run of the quail.

thanks LFC.

its a learning process. we will master it though

 

[el pollo rey]

sounds like ya might salvage a few breeding pair ....cool

 

[ozexpat]

we hope so

waiting for earth to rotate about 30 more degrees so dawn breaks on monday in the Philippines.

If the quail are a bust, I will just take 120 more. We will do this till we win.

 

[el pollo rey]

Yup yup u will get it done ! And u Aussies are used to being on the other side of the date line lol

 

[ozexpat]

the emotional pendulum keeps on swinging

one surviving cotournix chick. eggtopsies showed fully developed wet chicks. humidity through til lockdown was 50+%

mini dehumidifier and humidistat ordered.

4 power outages on day 20.

2 sebright banties hatched on day 20

day 21 is upon us

Mrs Oz is drained.