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

[Chaos18]

darned mouse anyway....

I don't understand why he ran up the clock either.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Anyone ever seen this much blood? Or this thing hanging down? Baby was malpoed but hatched overnight all by itself.

Standing on its own power is a good sign.

Long-handled landing nets are a chicken owner's best friend sometimes.

That and a leg hook.

O no,no! The BIOLOGICAL parents! The actual is YOU!

So true.

Chicken ALWAYS have worms and Coccidia, and candida and.... it is almost always the quastion of LOAD and that is the question of immunological efficiency and that is a quastion of stress and is a quastion of wellfer, good food, good water, low numbers, not extrim conditions ect ect....

X2
Plus probiotics to take up space in the digestive tract with good stuff.

I think most of my chicks are progressing at a decent rate, though I can't help but wonder if the two little ones will ever catch up. Not that it matters, since they're two of five cockerels. I have 3 pullets from each of the two families, so I should be able to come up with a minimum of a breeding pair (per family) in the spring. I'd love to get two sets of trios, or even quads for breeding, but only time will tell how many will be selected for breeding. I have a good bit of time to see how they turn out, and they'll only be 11 weeks old in 3 days, but I'm bored so I'm going to post pics anyway...


"Runt"...


Runt's cockerel cousins tower over him. It doesn't bother him, though. What he lacks in size, he makes up for in spunk. He'll take on both of them at once...
He's not likely to ever catch up, and I have someone asking for a "rooster" to throw in with their barnyard birds.


Of course, no photo session would ever be complete without C.J. (Champ, Jr.) taking a siesta on my knee...



Any and all comments are welcome. I know they're young, but feel free to critique my birds... just to make sure I'm not wearing blinders and missing something.

I currently have one chick that just isn't growing like her siblings. I'm considering putting her with the smaller chicks that hatched in the last week so she'll get some more protein. I need to add some probiotics to her water.
It is a shame because there are 9 chicks in that batch and only 3 pullets and she's one of the pullets.

I raised a batch of Freedom Rangers and one cockerel was a runt. Healthy and active but just half the size of his brothers at butcher age.

I have a dilemma, I leave to go out of town tomorrow but my chickens are on day 21 today. My question is if they hatch will they be okay in the incubator until Thursday or if its okay to transport the incubator to someone's house willing to look after them hatching until I come back Thursday? Advice please...

You can leave them but they'd be better coming out immediately after hatch. The sooner chicks get food and water, the more vigorous they will be.

Well, I haven't begin to pip yet. Some blogs I've read said sometimes it takes up to 25 days for the the eggs to start to hatch. So I wasn't sure if I should just leave them. Thanks for the advice. This is my first time hatching eggs so don't want do something wrong. I wouldn't go on this trip but my son is homesick and ready to come home.

If they're chicken eggs, 25 days is misinformation. Don't count on that. If they hatch today, that would be 4 days without food or water, unless you can do something about that, it is too long.

All the talk of healthier eating and tomatoes made me think to share one I really like. Since pasta makes me crave tons of it I have switched to using spaghetti squash to make my spaghetti and I like it just as much without the cravings for more and more. The nice thing is you can cook it in the oven or poke it with a fork a few times and toss it in the microwave. Five minutes, turn over three or so more, cut it in half use a fork ot string/shred it out of its shell and add to the sauce. I made it yesterday with fresh portobello muchrooms in my sauce. Then either ground beef or turkey. Yummy
...

That sounds good.
For meat sauce, my wife used to use ground pork and ground beef mixed half and half. Now she uses turkey and beef mixed. The beef/pork sure was yummy. Then after the sauce was added to the pasta, pour on the cheese and bake the whole thing in the oven.

There is a small chance I am in the top ten posters.

You are. Is there a physical prize?

Hi, just a quick question...
With duck eggs would you increase the humidity to 65% at lock down or on the due to hatch day? I know you have to stop turning at day 25 but I'm just a bit confused in regards to increasing the humidity.

When you stop turning. The reason is the possibility of early pipping/hatching.

Not my intention by FAR!

My intention was as it was, s few months ago, To help others incubate, incubate with each other and chat. Not sure why so many people left the thread. Even I somewhat left it. I will not be on BYC anymore. So I pray you all keep helping others and keep things up to date.
....

I just seen a crow next door went check and ofcourse it was eating a nest if turtle eggs.I saved two it ate I think five

Everything likes the taste of turtle eggs.

Ok. How's everyone tonight.? Hope you don't scatter like last night when I come on.

Don't be so down on yourself.

We have movement day 29 in my two turtle eggs.and my female box turtle died.

If the eggs are properly buried, as they should be and remain till hatch, there's no way for you to know there is movement.

Any idea why she died?

Box turtle populations continue to decline.

"Causes of decline are ... a mixture of habitat destruction, pollution and pesticide effects, direct mortality from vehicle strikes, decreased recruitment through
increased predation (particularly of eggs and juveniles) by subsidized predators (raccoons, foxes, possums, crows), intentional removal of animals for commercial pet
trade (ceased), as personal pets or for 'turtle racing' (ongoing), and possibly disease and vegetational / forest succession trends in much of the eastern United States."
http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/21641/0

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=17+1797&aid=943

The last batch of 12 eggs gave me 6 chicks. I believe there were three clears, one quit around day 16, and two DIS.
Does that mean I am going to get eighteen chicks in a few weeks?

No way to tell till they start hatching.

Being later in the year, the fertility should go up. For that reason alone, so should my hach rate. Plus, I have used this incubator now, so it is no longer new and confusing.
Then, there were the 14 they were all rotten a few days ago. Half of that is seven, plus half of what I have set (22) is a total of 18.

Not necessarily. Given that the roosters have been sufficiently photostimulated early in the year, the first eggs after recovering from molt and winter break normally produce the most vigorous chicks. The reason of that is first eggs will have much higher nutrient levels than eggs laid later in the season.

Did you guys know that you can buy a base that fits onto a 20 ounce bottled water? It would be great to have for just one or two chicks. Like a small hatch or sick bay.
I saw them offered by one of the hatcheries.

My mother in law gave me an antique galvanized base that fits a pint jar. I wonder if it is the same size as the one you found.

I didnt know about them, but what I do know is the small plastic jars with red screw-on bases ain't worth a hoot. I've had two of them. When you turn them upright the jar's half empty before it finally quits spilling water over the side of the base.

I have a bigger problem with the feeders that screw onto a quart jar. The base takes half of the food in the jar when you turn it over. I still use both but I try to transition to adult feeders and water founts as soon as possible.

It's coming along, slowly. Have 3 posts set, plumbed, with 2x8's bolted in place. A royal pain in the butt cutting 6x6's with a 7 1/2" circular saw, but better than a chain saw...already tried.

How about using a sawzall with a 9" blade.

Only going down that far or a little farther wouldn't be to bad with clam shells. Even with the weight of the building I'd still be worried about heaving. Putting sacrete (or whatever it's called) around the posts?

That's the beauty of deck blocks.

Hey Whites thought of you yesterday....A friend of my son's came over and i took him out fishing.....we caught a big ole mess of crappie......then we back trolled the lake for a few laps.....and picked up several northern pike.....including a couple real nice ones.....would have posted yesterday but had company......he's coming back over Wednesday for fish fry.

Taken from clean water, they're one of the best tasting freshwater fish.

Broody question time.

Will a broody hen try to cover more eggs than she can actually fit over? Is there a scientific or not so scientific way to determine how many eggs she can cover without risking them all?

I check periodically to see if any are poking out and I continue to remove eggs till none are showing.

Yes, she will. Let her have all she can cover and remove one.

Good plan.

Morning everyone! Trying to catch up still. I learned a very valuable lesson this weekend. When you're clearing trees, don't be a lazy ... and leave them until the summer when the wild blackberries have TAKEN OVER. We pulled out about 40 cedar trees my husband cut down last winter and they were all in waist high blackberries.

I'm sure they are the wild type with thorns, right?

 

[Chaos18]

I've been eating alot of duck egg sandwiches lately.....with bacon.....i really want one right now......yum

That sounds good right about now.

....
I check periodically to see if any are poking out and I continue to remove eggs till none are showing.
....

Thanks.

 

[Chaos18]

@the butcher Morning and

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The question is, will they let the newborn chicks I put on the floor freeze?
Of course, it will be in the upper 80's to 90's then, but those girls need to start cooperating. I did open a lot of fresh eggs that looked weird, but not all. 14 eggs should not have been bad under those girls.

I've learned the hard way to not allow multiple hens to brood in the same building.
They are always more successful in their own quarters.

I once had 9 pullets in a building and 7 decided to go broody at the same time in a community nest. There were about 28 eggs under them all. I was counting my chicks before they hatched. I was dismayed when only one chick hatch.
Then it became schizophrenic when all pullets wanted to be its mother.

Thank you my friend.

Is two girls trying to sit on everything at the same time the problem?

That is my bet.

I know I should know the answer, but I don't. It is hurting my head to think that hard.
Ready for the question (that was not it)?
If a green egg produces a green egg layer, and a brown egg produces a brown, what color does the father carry to his daughters?

What color egg did he hatch from?

Or is it only the boys he carries the gene to? I forget this stuff.

Most is father to daughter.

Tough to buy any wood that isn't warped anymore. Put enough of it end to end & I could ride to your house & back.

Around here, HD has straighter lumber than Lowe's.

That's true. I usually hit the "Cull Lumber" bin at HD, can usually find some really warped stuff there.

I've bought most of my coop lumber from the Lowe's cull yard. I haven't seen one at my HD.

I've been eating alot of duck egg sandwiches lately.....with bacon.....i really want one right now......yum

Here's breakfast.
Jasmine tea with fresh squeezed lime, blueberries, almonds and eggs. I had already eaten one egg and some blueberries before I decided to shoot it.

 

[Chaos18]

....
I've bought most of my coop lumber from the Lowe's cull yard. I haven't seen one at my HD.
....

I've gotten most of my coop lumber from one cull bin or another. Even found some plywood there before as well.

 

[kwhites634]

Quote: 'Cause he could

 

[daxigait]

Hi LittlelakePhil, Akrnaf2,
@ChickenCanoe I love mixing beef and pork in lasagna and spaghetti, but sometimes I do turkey because of my friend that can't eat beef. I hope your reunion went well.

 

[Chaos18]

'Cause he could

Seems like a silly thing for him to have done.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I've gotten most of my coop lumber from one cull bin or another. Even found some plywood there before as well.

I don't know why but I'm glad there are frequently pallets of OSB, plywood and siding out there. Sure makes building coops easier and cheaper.