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

Its 2:30 am but i could not stop reading. Thank you gor letting me tag along on your adventure.


Glad to have you along for the ride.

Dusk is very short in the equatorial region of the world. Being less than 10 degrees from the equator we have essentially 12 hour days and 12 hour nights. With 30 minutes of twilight at each end.

Most days here a beautiful. Today was more beautiful than most though. There was just enough cloud to make the sky pretty and the ocean was as blue as the postcards you see of the french riviera.

As the kids have there outside shower returning from their evening swim, there is massive storm brewing in the north east. It will roll in with rain that can only be experienced in the tropics. I may have a cold rain shower as the water rolls off our corrugated roof. Sometimes its fun to be a kid - even when you are 50!!

Of the 34 mutt eggs there are 28 chicks with 2 pips. If just those two manage to bust out of there calcium covered prisons, I will be very happy.

The snob purebreds are still not doing much. Two wyandottes have pipped. I can hear chirping from a couple of marans and Australorps. The lone aussie that hatched is patiently waiting some mates to play with.

Tomorrow I will put all dry chicks in the brooder. The following day I have to fly to Manila to attend s court hearing on our kids adoption. We will be back Sat morning for 30 hours before I return to Manila and back to Los Angeles, leaving my precious wife and kids to fend for themselves for a few months.

The storm will be here in ten minutes. Lets hope we keep power or atleast enough phone signal to post this.

..... after 20 hits of the send button, it did not go through. Pretty typical of the internet here in the evenings.

Dinner is ready. Sweet and sour pompano fish with local veggies and steamed rice. I will try again in 30 mins. The rain arrived.


Its about an hour later. 7 pm. Another OGM chick has hatched. 3 more to go on that side with 2 on the lake elsinore side. One OGM has pipped. I will candle the last 4 mutt eggs tonight.

During the first 18 days I had mixed the eggs in the bators. There were lake elsinore eggs in both. I did this to quality control the devices. So far I have good hatch rates from both so the delay is not caused by a difference in bator temps. Still its strange that the mutts and one aussie hatched up to 24 hours ago. The only difference between the eggs since I have had them in my possession is that the snobs traveled business class while the mutts were in the bowels of the 747.

Its only 7 hours into day 21 so there is no concern for worry yet. Maybe they know where they are hatching and were told that its custom for the elite to be late to a party.....but jeeeeeez
 
Well at least in Philippines you have cellphone Internet ,here in Algeria 2G is the best that they have got and it is crazy expensive .They say that there is going to be 3G in Q1 2013.But any ways happy hatching day!!! LOL!!!!!

Sorry for this off topic question but I have 4 Hens and 1 Rooster that i got 2 1/2 weeks ago (I'm a starter so I don't have a lot of chickens but I'm getting more chickens,quails,turkeys and ducks.)and only one lays eggs every 2 days.I just got an incubator so how can i know if they are fertilized for them to hatch?Please Help!
 
Well at least in Philippines you have cellphone Internet ,here in Algeria 2G is the best that they have got and it is crazy expensive .They say that there is going to be 3G in Q1 2013.But any ways happy hatching day!!!  LOL!!!!!

Sorry for this off topic question but I have 4 Hens and 1 Rooster that i got 2 1/2 weeks ago (I'm a starter so I don't have a lot of chickens but I'm getting more chickens,quails,turkeys and ducks.)and only one lays eggs every 2 days.I just got an incubator so how can i know if they are fertilized for them to hatch?Please Help!


When you open an egg, if it is fertile there will be a tiny spot in the yolk. If your hens have just been with you that short a time I would wait to let them get up to seed.

There are lots of threads on this topic. Sally Sunshines thread (she posts here) is a bible on every step of incubating.

Good luck.

As far as internet goes, the philippines embraced cell phone as infrastructure is cheaper than land lines and the copper wire does not get "recycled "
 
I saw you mention a possible trip to PA to retrieve some items from Sally on the next hatching adventure. I'm not far from her (just over an hour from Pittsburgh, PA) in Ohio. I have Silkies, Cochin Bantams & Old English Game Bantams & there is an Amish farm up the road from me with gorgeous Rainbow layers if you are interested should you happen to be in the area. I could ship as well, but pick-up may be better considering the journey they will have to make after. Here is a pic of the eggs from the Rainbow layers. I currently have 48 in the bator with all but 3-4 developing beautifully.

 
LOL I actually am working on the Hatching 101 article!!
That wasnt on it, but now it is!! Thanks OZ

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101

Is it Fertile or Infertile?

To check the fertility, simply break an egg in a bowl. Find the white spot on the yolk. If you do not, use a spoon to gently flip the yolk over until you find it.

If the egg is fertile, the white mark will be nearly perfectly round and in the center it will be yellow; it will resemble a donut. If it is infertile, the white mark will not be very round, and in most cases, smaller than that of the fertile mark. If the egg is not fertile, the 'white mark' is called a "blastodisc". If the egg is fertile, the 'white mark' it is called a "blastoderm", and this means that cell division, because of fertilization, occurred​
 
I saw you mention a possible trip to PA to retrieve some items from Sally on the next hatching adventure. I'm not far from her (just over an hour from Pittsburgh, PA) in Ohio. I have Silkies, Cochin Bantams & Old English Game Bantams & there is an Amish farm up the road from me with gorgeous Rainbow layers if you are interested should you happen to be in the area. I could ship as well, but pick-up may be better considering the journey they will have to make after. Here is a pic of the eggs from the Rainbow layers. I currently have 48 in the bator with all but 3-4 developing beautifully.

wee.gif
 
The eggs are hatching up a storm. The mutts are over half way with 18 out. I delayed adding humidity for 24 hours just to give them more of a chance. The lowest the humidity went during the entire first 19 days was 49%. I added water just now to bring it up to 80. I did not bring my scale from the USA so I am just going visual on the air sacks.
Type

Original count

Into Lockdown

Percentage
Lake Elsinore Mutts

18

14

78
OGM Mutts

30

20

67
Black Copper Maran

8

5

62
Blue Laced Red Wyandottes

8

8

100
Australorps

9

6

67
Total

73

53

73

The “fanciest” breed did the best so far with the control group of Lake Elsinore mutts above average. OGM warned me that some of hers eggs were over a week old when I picked them up but even some of those seemed to do OK. It such a shame I had the car trouble during the great December chicken run. I really wanted some barred rocks. Still, if I was crazy enough to try and get there, I would have missed the plane. As it was, my late arrival at LAX cause my luggage to miss the plane when it was held up by TSA for secondary screening. The trailer wheels, voltage converter and rat poison would all cause TSA to pull the boxes off the conveyer belt and implement a manual inspection. They all had notes from TSA to say they had been opened by them. The 48 mutt eggs that went in the hard sided golf bag, along with the frozen ham automatically had a manual inspection as the golf bag’s dimensions cause issues on the conveyer system. This was the reason I placed the eggs in it – I knew it would circumvent the xray process.

If any of you lurkers out there are from SoCal and want to participate in the Spring “Getting the Flock Out of Here” event, PM me. I am looking for monster chicken breeds: Buff or Brittish Orps, Rhode Island Reds, Giant Jerseys, Plymouth Rocks. I also would like some Polish, Frizzle and Silkies as well. I will pay fair price

My best buddy here has recently got into ducks. It was funny when we met up. He was all excited to tell me about ducks while had my chickens to talk about. I have a request from him for duck eggs to hatch and cross breed with his locals to increase size.

Now it’s a waiting game. I hate this part. Still I have my “honey do” list to chip at. One of our ceiling fans needs replacing as the salt air has caused it to short out. The same applies to a couple of closet hinges. Man versus nature is a constant battle man will never win.




The view of fish farms and Bais Bay

om

A potty break on the way home from Dumaguete



The coop is coming along



The thatch roof from the inside





Our pregnant nanny goat



The buck

"

Hector



The kids having a break from blocks



How to ant proof bators island style





The bators view



chickens!!!





looks part polish? waddayathink?



The lake elsinore mutts
ANTS!!! OMG!!!
GO OZ GO!!! I hope you have a safe trip!!
I am sure Wifey and kiddos will take good care whilst your away!! That HAS TO S CK!
 

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