I think I'm broody...

[Mmmatt13]

OH! I was going to ask, is it possible for babies to "buck-wheat"? I could've sworn I heard one do it earlier...

 

[Mmmatt13]

#7 is out!

 

[Mmmatt13]

Okay, so looking through pictures, I think the first keet may be Chocolate. Looking at these two pictures, he does seem to be a lot lighter than that RP. But we'll see.

Chocolate:

Royal Purple:

ETA: Looks like the same picture that is used for Royal Purple is used for Bronze... Hmm.

 

[PeepsCA]

The one in the front on the right is almost out, but that's all I see going on in there as of right now. I thought I saw a pip, too, this morning, but I think it must've been my little tube contraption that I have sticking through the hatching tray into the water trough. Tired eyes can make up stories.

LOL, yah.. it was 5AM when I was looking at your cam again, and I was still waiting for the coffee to finish brewing, lol.

Bronze and Royal Purple keets look almost exactly the same until they mature and develop either the Bronze sheen, or the Purple sheen. From the most recent pic you took of it, I really don't think it's a Chocolate tho... I see dark, walnut brown stripes on the head and body. They should be an obvious lighter brown, not dark. Once I see a pic of it next to the Pearl Greys, under regular lighting (not the red heat lamp) and I can see everybody's colors better I can be more sure tho.
Congrats on 7 now!!

 

[Mmmatt13]

Thanks! Yeah I'm planning on taking much better pictures of everyone together once theyrw all done hatching. The newest little one is such a sweetheart already. I hope it stays that way, probably not though.

 

[Mmmatt13]

Well I'm not sure if I'll get any more. But I will wait a couple more days.

I'm considering purchasing some hatching eggs from Ralph Winters. I'd probably get a dozen "rare assorted" and a dozen "fancy assorted."

All 7 are now in the brooder box and little Booger is just that; little! He hatched from the smallest egg, so I can see why, but my he is a spunky little fella. he's gotta stand on his tippy toes to reach the other ones when he sees something interesting.

I did candle them before I locked them down, and I'm almost positive that 13 were still moving, but I kept a couple others in because I hate taking them out. The infertile/clear ones were taken out so that the babies could have more room to move around.

 

[PeepsCA]

I think at this point, I'd carry that lil 'bator in the bathroom, shut the door, turn the shower on full blast on hot, get it all warm and steamy in there and then candle all the eggs tonight if you can... just to see if anybody's wigglin' in there. They are only a day late, right?

At least you have 7, but yah a few more colors would be nice. If the rest have all died/quit that will be a bummer. Even with my fresh collected eggs I end up with a few in each hatch that quit either right before lockdown or right after. I had a Coral Blue that looked like it had quit right before the others pipped... I did the eggtopsy thing (yucky), and it looked completely normal. It had even absorbed most of the yolk so I have no clue why it quit. Frustrating. At least it wasn't one of my Chocolates!

Thanks for doing the hatch cam thing... that was fun

 

[Mmmatt13]

Okay I'll try that tonight. Yep only a day late, technically.

I have terrible luck with hatches so I'm pretty content with 7, though it is a bummer that 7/30 is only 23% hatch rate... but it's MUCH better than last year's total of 5%... I'll probably put the cam on the brooder box for a couple days. My grandmother has been watching the egg-cam all day every day and has missed every hatch. She had it up last night when #7 hatched but her feed froze, which is too bad. But I did record it so I sent her the link to that.

I'm excited to see your hatch cam! Be sure to share the link to your channel! How many do you have out now?

 

[PeepsCA]

Shipped eggs are a huge bummer when it comes to hatching. I struggled with several batches of Turkey, Silkie and Quail eggs for quite a few months last season. I was So discouraged that I was ready to throw my incubators away, lol. I felt really guilty over every one of those poor little eggs that didn't hatch. USPS and Priority shipping is just cruel to boxes of eggs.

But with eggs I collected from my birds I always do much better! 12 poults, 5 keets this time. (I just wanted to hatch a few keets to teach the poults how to eat and drink, but not so many that the poults turned into freaked out spazzes). The keets are 2 Coral Blues, 2 Blondes (slightly different shades, so probably male and female... but also from 2 unrelated flocks, so we'll see) and a Brown. The poults are just mutts/mixes, I'll keep the prettiest ones, but most will go in the freezer once they are big enough for a decent Turkey dinner, or I will sell them. I am definitely not feeding 60-100 Turkeys over winter tho, lol (or more, if my Turkey Girls keep laying for me I'll keep setting)...

My next Turkey and Guinea egg lock-down (13 Turkey eggs and 6 Guinea eggs) is a in a few days but I don't think I'll have a web cam set up by then. I need a longer USB cord for my old web cam, this laptop has one built in, but I am on this thing constantly, lol. The other problem is that the hatcher is in the dining room... it's a big GQF cabinet with a custom glass door on it, but the rest is solid wood and it's DARK in there. I need a light in there, that doesn't produce too much heat Maybe a couple LED stick on lights.. hmmm. I hatch on/in the middle tray in it, so I dunno how the heck I am going to get a cam set up to work for that. I need a remote webcam that can stick to the glass door with a suction cup, lol. Hmmmm maybe I could just duct tape my Android tablet to the hatcher door... lol

 

[Mmmatt13]

I am definitely excited for next year when I can hatch my own and get better hatch rates. It's very disappointing to see so many make it to lockdown and just give up. And almost even more disappointing to see so many not even start developing. But that is what you sign up for when you choose to buy shipped eggs. It's just a gamble.

Are poults harder to teach to eat/drink than other baby poultry? I've never really had a hard time with eaters or drinkers out of ducks, geese, chicks, and peachicks (and now keets).

Sounds like a tough job finding a place for your webcam! A brooder cam wouldn't be too bad, though.

Well I think I'm done with this hatch, I didn't get a chance to candle tonight but I definitely will let them go another day and try to candle tomorrow night if I can.