INCUBATING w/FRIENDS! w/Sally Sunshine Shipped Eggs No problem!

[campingshaws]

Ragnar, my head svart hona cock. I think I'm going to replace him with one of his sons for breeding, but he's a darn fine flock roo. I need acreage so all the good roos can roam with their own hens.

 

[Lucky Lemon]

You anywhere near Atlanta?

About 90 miles.

 

[Honora]

Congrats on your great hatch! @Chicken5555

 

[Chaos18]

About 90 miles.

Oh okay. I've got family in the Peachtree City area.

 

[mlm Mike]

Ragnar, my head svart hona cock. I think I'm going to replace him with one of his sons for breeding, but he's a darn fine flock roo. I need acreage so all the good roos can roam with their own hens.

You have a son that is nicer?

 

[kajira]

Ragnar, my head svart hona cock. I think I'm going to replace him with one of his sons for breeding, but he's a darn fine flock roo. I need acreage so all the good roos can roam with their own hens.

he's pretty.

 

[DwayneNLiz]

Ragnar, my head svart hona cock. I think I'm going to replace him with one of his sons for breeding, but he's a darn fine flock roo. I need acreage so all the good roos can roam with their own hens.

Very handsome boy

 

[kajira]

Thanks for the two links, I saved both and will re-read them tonight after putting the eggs into the incubator when I can ask my husband to explain things to me a little better.

I take a while to process new information, so I'll bug him. lol

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Finally! A post ( not specifically your posts, but posts in general) short enough to quote w/o crashing everyone's system.

What do you think about a pelleted feed for all age groups, from chicks big enough to handle pellets to layers and a rooster, with 20% protein,3.5% fat,6% fiber,1.3% calcium, .6% phosphorus, .65% salt,and a host of other things I can't pronounce? It's supposedly Southern States' answer to Purina All Flock; they call it Flock Balancer. Little late to ask, I guess, since I just bought my 2nd 200 lb load of it!

I love nutrition questions.
Salt, fat, fiber, phosphorus aren't a big concern. Those things are relatively constant between age groups in feed. Companies will formulate the phosphorus to match the calcium content.
The 2 main issues with different feeds are protein and calcium.
1.3% calcium is fine for all birds as long as any laying have another calcium carbonate source available.
1% is adequate for any non layers. 2% won't kill anybody. Roosters can get up to 2.5% without harm but over that is a problem. One study shows better sperm motility at about 2%. Roosters getting 4% die at 4 times the rate of hens.
Protein is a little more dicey. Very young birds building bodies can make use of much higher protein. As they mature, their protein needs drop and at around 15 weeks, 15% may be adequate. Hens in production can use 16-17%. Roosters not molting can do just fine on 12-13% protein.
Any excess protein needs to be processed by the liver and is excreted as lactic acid forming ammonia in the bedding. Basically a waste of money.
Excess protein can eventually lead to visceral gout.
Keep in mind that crude protein numbers (20% in your feed) are not the bottom line but made up of amino acid content. What I mean is that chickens have about 12 amino acids that are essential in their diet.
Think of crude protein as a wooden barrel with staves of various lengths. Each stave represents an amino acid. The usable protein is limited by the shortest stave. There can be excessive protein in some amino acids yet still be insufficient because of limiting amino acids like lysine and methionine that are usually added as synthetics in vegetarian feeds because they are deficient in vegetative sources.
When we mix birds of various ages, it makes things easier but can cause nutrition issues.
If memory serves, you have a bantam rooster so the following suggestion may not work.
You can elevate a feeder containing a lower protein food that only the rooster can reach.
You can cut protein for older birds by adding more scratch grains to the diet.
I hope this helps and I didn't overly confuse/complicate.

You do know that when quoting, you don't have to quote the whole post.
You can quote, then highlight the parts you don't want to put in the quote and hit delete.
Then you only quote the part you want to address.

I think to much protein
To less calcium

More concise but I don't have a problem with 1.3% Ca.

Kinda freaking out - the eggs arrived, 8 of them, and all intact, in one piece, and set small side down in the egg carton.

HOWEVER - the post office didn't tell me they got here, so they spent the night in an AC'd building over night. I've got them in the bathroom to settle, but i'm worried that a night at the post office might have killed them?

Please tell me they are okay

Not a problem at all. In fact being in a cool space is better for them.
Just warm them up slowly. About 10F per hour will eliminate condensation.

After hatching questions...

First question: Just had my first hatch (ever) and (there are still eggs due of same group, but haven't pip'd yet) The second chick to hatch had started to have the egg skin turn tan and start drying, so as I read over and over to be sure, I assisted. I had to dab water on the baby and get it unglued, and such, I let it finish the hatching out of the bottom of its egg shell on its own though. It started flopping around and kicking wildly, unlike the first chick who pip'd and zipped in an hour and was nearly staggering laps around the bator... Now that its a little more stable and "dry" I have put the three who were out in the brooder and to get a better look at them... the one in question's outer toe on both feet (feathered due to being a French maran) is kinda shriveled and small and both are just folding under the foot, so the chick looks like it has 3 toed feet... Im guessing this was an incubating mess up while it was developing, and not sure the toes are going to stay, that's how little and shriveled they look... do I bother trying to do the sandle get up that I read about on here, or let them be for a day or two to see if they stay first?

Second question: I have one that hatched from a much larger egg from the rest of the marans and it is a larger chick (big ol belly to it), It has been free of its shell about 2 hrs or so and has pretty much been only sleeping... occasionally it freaks out, thrashes, then goes back to sleep. How long is too long for this resting its doing? The other three are doing the typical up and chirping/moving for 5 seconds then snoozing for 30 seconds and repeat, so I know they are doing good...

third question: The three chicks have made a pretty sticky dirty mess of the inside of the incubator, including pooping twice already in there before moving, im assuming this is still ok for the next chicks that may or may not come out?

TIA

Never open an incubator if you can avoid it while chicks are hatching.
Hatching is an arduous process for chicks. They need rest and you don't know how hard they worked so there is no absolute amount of time it takes them to recover.

Easy? How would you react if someone was constantly chewing on your tail?

Maybe not easy but available.
It's the same thing with feather eating.

Thank you for your advice. I was wondering if I should do that. She is currently sitting on 10 eggs that are between 9-14 days (i think). I have 14 in the incubator that fall into that range as well. Then I have 6 eggs that I just put in this last Sunday afternoon.

The hen is a pullet I am surprised that she went broody as she has only laid 27 eggs since she started laying August 2. She is my smallest hen. Do you think she can handle 30 eggs? or should I do less? I am very new to hatching and chickens.
Sorry for all the questions.

Only the amount she can cover. If any eggs are visible, there are likely too many.
If too many, most won't hatch because one or more will always be left to cool.

Since they settled over night, do they still need to sit for 8-12 hours before putting them in the incubator? I worry about them getting too old, since they post office failed to tell me they arrived, and weren't planning on telling me at all.

I'd put them in. You can wait up to a day to turn on the egg turner.

Did you know women that live alone are more likely to get Dementia?

I listened to a program on NPR today about dementia and Alzheimer's.
The guy said the best thing you can do is exercise, eat a Mediterranean diet with lots of fruits, vegetables and extra virgin olive oil and have a full social life.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

My pool league starts tonight so I'll be leaving soon.