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

[OffGridMAMA]

trying to fall asleep with chicks hatching in my bedroom. another must have just broken free. noisy little buggers

How's the noise tonight?

Hope the power outage didn't harm anyone! In Anaheim?! Craziness my friend...

Told lapalma the Basque are hatching she's excited.

 

[OffGridMAMA]

Oh also, of the last chicks you brought me, two appear to be buff brawma and four sfh?? Am I crazy or did you also hatch buff brawmas? They are beautiful delicate looking Pullets yaaay . Of the six, only one looks roo-ish (sfh). I'll take new pics tomorrow. Incredible colors on the sfh.

 

[ozexpat]

Oh also, of the last chicks you brought me, two appear to be buff brawma and four sfh?? Am I crazy or did you also hatch buff brawmas? They are beautiful delicate looking Pullets

yaaay . Of the six, only one looks roo-ish (sfh). I'll take new pics tomorrow. Incredible colors on the sfh.

i did not ask for buff brahma but there where two chicks that had feathered legs, Interesting - sorry I guess.

the power may have knocked off a few basques - i have one hatched, The others are silent.everything just could be delayed. One Ameraucana is out, there are two peeping with one pipping. There is a Blue polish and a black laced polish pipping. a few more SFH look viable. the sfh probably end with 10. are sold and will break even. i may have sold the ameraucanas too. the crested are for you.

here is hoping

 

[ozexpat]

Exactly. I just finally caught up it took me a LONG time, too (been lurking for weeks

).. This thread is amazing, and everyone on it! I've learned so much in the last month on this site. It was especially cool to see the pics, so now I can put a face to the names.

i have seen you lurking, glad you caught up. welcome!!

 

[ozexpat]

i swore i would go to bed by midnight.

it has arrived

 

[OffGridMAMA]

Don't say sorry! They're beautiful brawmas! Thank you thank you!

Hope they all pull through Oz, especially the SOLD ones!

Good night all!

 

[ozexpat]

Don't say sorry! They're beautiful brawmas! Thank you thank you!

Hope they all pull through Oz, especially the SOLD ones!

Good night all!

polish out, houdan next, the maybe ameraucana, at least they are still coming

 

[piglett]

thanks for pinch hitting Mr P

I package any eggs I take overseas in that foam as I think it minimizes damage from vibration. I have not had an egg break in the foam. I just got some for quail. Last time I had them packed in shredded paper but lost 8. to breakage,

i also re-use

as long as you can keep reusing it it only cost you 1 time.
we have 18 buff orps in the hatcher rite now, lots of churping

 

[piglett]

Foam is not difficult to work with If you could find out what the durometer is of the material you are having success with then you can buy blank sheets and fabricate what you want. Durometer is the measure of the hardness of foam or rubber materials. 0 being dead soft 100 being close to that of metal. The deal is with eggs you need to allow them to move a little without coming to a dead stop against something hard.... Like another egg or the side of the box. (yep I did packaging design once in a past life)

So the Hole in the foam with the foam base and top is in my opinion the perfect packageing for this type of application. That being said... you can make it yourself if you are handy.

Most foams can be cut with a plain old electric knife.... Or a box knife but in order to cut with a box knife you have to compress the foam completely in order to keep it from tearing. Electric knife is the best easiest. Then for the holes for the eggs you need a specific tool. The packaging people will just make a steel rule die to cut the foam then all the holes will be cut at once. But most people don't know how to make one. So go to a place where they sell leather working tools. and get a hole punch. I believe you can get them ranging in size from half inch all the way up to two inches in diameter. They are sold individually and can be sharpened when needed.

The way you use it is place the foam on a work surface that is either made of wood or plastic so that when the hole cutter goes through the foam it will sink into the work surface completing the cut without dulling the tool. Just press the die down till it bottoms out then give it a couple of whacks with a mallet. Id choose a cutter smaller than the egg by a bit. And then the nice part about this is you can take the plug out and cut it in half to help center the egg in the hole.

Now if you wanted to put it in a Cherry lock box I could design that for you as well.... LOL... But the beauty of making it yourself is you can cut the foam to fit something like..... say .... a golf bag?

deb

i was thinking .....what can i cut foam with???
i was thinking a short section of water pipe that was sharp on 1 end
i never knew that a leather place would have a tool that large
thanks for the info
if i start selling hatching eggs i'll have to give it a shot




piglett

 

[Bens-Hens]

Sorry to link bomb, but I just saw this might be worth a crack, for the price can't really go too wrong!

http://compare.ebay.com.au/like/230573953592?ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes

At a pinch I would think a small round hole that had four slits in it (extending the hole in a cross shape) should work too, especially if it was a one way trip.