JAN 28th HATCH!!! Who's with me?!?

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good luck!
 
Well, I have a few eggs rockin' but they are shy... It seems like as i go to look at them they rock but if I sit there and stare, they don't move.. And, i know it's not just my imagination because I can hear the rock too....

So, today is day 19 and i went to the local feed store to see if I could get some chick starter and pine shaving.. I only had 3 dollars and change on me so i asked them what the cheapest bag of start n grow they had was... Well, they has a 5 lb bag that was medicated starter which, I really didn't want medicated but I needed to get SOMETHING... I then had an "argument" with the guy who own the store who OBVIOUSLY don't know ANYTHING about chickens... Boy.. Did he argue with the WRONG person!!
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.. The girl was telling me what all they had, to include scratch and as I explained to her, chicks cannot have scratch.. The guy speaks up and tells me that they have Layer pellets but it's not high in protein.. I tried to explain that these will be one day old chicks, that have not even hatched yet so I need chick starter.. Then he tells me that they have LAYER crumbles... I then explain to him that I cannot give ONE DAY OLD CHICKS layer feed of ANY type.. He says, "Yeah because they need more protein and other than the medication in the starter, there is nothing else in the layer feed they cannot have!"... I then explained to him that layer feed has CALCIUM that I CANNOT give DAY OLD CHICKS because the build up of calcium in their systems can KILL THEM!!!

The guy looked at me like I had ten heads!! SO..... I went ahead and bought the $2 bag of medicated starter and left!!!! UGH!!!!!! The guy own a feed store... I've owned chickens just under 2 years... Who is supposed to know more here?!?!?!

Of course, I guess I should have known better... This is the same place that told me that I could feed our guinea pig rabbit food which I found out AFTER the poor thing died that rabbit food does not have enough Vitamin C in it and the lack of vitamin c is what killed the poor thing!!! That was probably the one and only time i didn't research something before doing it!!

Goddess
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things are rolling right along....i've got about 7 pips that i can see.....some are hard to see, and it surprises me to find one kinda under the egg (enough where i can see it though). i'm using the egg carton method....never really used it before....and one chick has pipped up against the carton....i was worried about this, wondering if i should open the bator and move the egg a bit...but i decided not to.....i reasoned that the carton is flimsy (foam) and has a lot more give than the actual shell itself....so i'm gonna let it be. then i've got a couple that have pipped at the blunt end....kinda got me worried, but the bator is staying closed for now.....
 
Just went home to check on the bator and had one of my RIR's pip while I was there I'm so excited!!!!!! I called my wife and she wants to come home and see it. I have 12 in my homemade bator and it day 20! Hope they all hatch without an problem's, wish me luck and I will keep ya'll posted! God bless
 
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Well I awoke to peeping in the incubator...I have no idea how many have pips; stupid incubator only has two moderate size windows, lol. No babies out just yet, but the egg I nearly killed is still alive and moving behind the membrane...here's hoping!

Goddess, I completely agree that feed store people aren't always the best informed...but I do have a question that has been bothering me for a while: I do understand that those "in the know" say that chicks can't eat layer food because of the calcium, but how do roosters metabolize the calcium? My boy Scooter eats layer crumble right with his girlies as the majority of his diet and he hasn't laid an egg yet, lol, although I find him in the nesting box on occasion...good question for the experts, huh? Calcium a no no for babies but okay for roosters...

Don't get me wrong, I do not doubt the belief that excess calcium can hurt little ones, but I wonder why it doesn't hurt big boys...

I was looking at the ingredients list on my layer crumbles versus my chick starter, and if they go by the same system of ingredient order as human foods, my chicks have been raised getting the same amount of calcium from their starter as the big birds get from their layer feed....

Oh well, food for thought. So far as the feed store goes, my local feed store thinks that the ideal food they keep pushing on me for my chickens is cracked corn.
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BigDaddy'sGurl :

Well I awoke to peeping in the incubator...I have no idea how many have pips; stupid incubator only has two moderate size windows, lol. No babies out just yet, but the egg I nearly killed is still alive and moving behind the membrane...here's hoping!

Goddess, I completely agree that feed store people aren't always the best informed...but I do have a question that has been bothering me for a while: I do understand that those "in the know" say that chicks can't eat layer food because of the calcium, but how do roosters metabolize the calcium? My boy Scooter eats layer crumble right with his girlies as the majority of his diet and he hasn't laid an egg yet, lol, although I find him in the nesting box on occasion...good question for the experts, huh? Calcium a no no for babies but okay for roosters...

Don't get me wrong, I do not doubt the belief that excess calcium can hurt little ones, but I wonder why it doesn't hurt big boys...

I was looking at the ingredients list on my layer crumbles versus my chick starter, and if they go by the same system of ingredient order as human foods, my chicks have been raised getting the same amount of calcium from their starter as the big birds get from their layer feed....

Oh well, food for thought. So far as the feed store goes, my local feed store thinks that the ideal food they keep pushing on me for my chickens is cracked corn.
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You know, I never did figure that one out yet either... Hmmm... I got it! The roos use the extra calcium for extra bone growth and that's why they are bigger than hens... Yep! That must be it! That's my story and I'm stickin to it!!
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Maybe someone can chime in to this one and help us understand....

Goddess
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Goddess, maybe they store the calcium in the off chance they must have a broken bone while defending their lady loves? The romantic in me says this must be the case, lol.

blackridge, thanks for the support! I love RIRs, my favorite chicken EVER was a little man named "stewie" who died suddenly one morning and has never been replaced in my heart... : (

Here's hoping I get another "Stewie" (only with pullet parts instead of manly parts, lol)
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BigDaddy'sGurl :

Goddess, maybe they store the calcium in the off chance they must have a broken bone while defending their lady loves? The romantic in me says this must be the case, lol.

Ahhh... Another wonderful theory!!!!
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Goddess
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