July Hatch-a-Long (including 4th of July hatch-a-long)

[kelseyk]

Fumble fingers today! Just dropped 2 16 day eggs moving them to the hatcher. Had them in an egg carton in my lap (like usual) and the carton rolled over and 2 fell to the ground and shattered. 1 is still moving but the other is not. I have antibiotic ointment on both with a damp paper towel over the exposed area to help keep it moist. I'm so mad at myself right now! It's been a heck of a morning.

 

[FortCluck]

Fumble fingers today! Just dropped 2 16 day eggs moving them to the hatcher. Had them in an egg carton in my lap (like usual) and the carton rolled over and 2 fell to the ground and shattered. 1 is still moving but the other is not. I have antibiotic ointment on both with a damp paper towel over the exposed area to help keep it moist. I'm so mad at myself right now! It's been a heck of a morning.

Oh man!!! Never do quail. The eggs are so tiny I always drop them! I have also dropped chicken eggs and duck. I’m fumbalina

 

[kelseyk]

On a good note....10 out of 12 of my Bresse eggs from Texas are developing on day 4!

 

[AgnesGray]

If the kids don't go back to school in August then I will more than likely be in the September HAL too. We are having behavioral problems with my almost 14 year old daughter that are completely stressing me out (part of why I have been a little MIA lately). When I get stressed I tend to shop. And right now.....I prefer to shop for chicken eggs. LOL.

A couple pics I took a while back that I never got around to sharing.

My pheasant run. Just need to tie the last 2 sections of chicken wire down, cut lengths of hog wire for a skirt, install the electric fence, and put on the tarp.
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Just love when my chickens dig up creepy things in the yard!
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(My DH is 5th generation of his family to live on the old farmstead - the old dugout was just north west of the old farmhouse, the soddy was just west of it, and the old farmhouse was built around 1917 and added on to 3 times. This was more than likely his aunts doll that she lost or forgot under the mulberry tree.)

Love the hoop coop!!

The doll is pretty cool in a way too! Neat to have so much history there.

Do I really have to wait until next spring to hatch again???

I mean...broody has all the chicks outside, and there’s plenty of space in my indoor brooder......ducks?!

Seriously though...thinking about adding a few ducks. what breeds should I be looking at?

don’t tell my husband.

Definitely ducks! lol

OUR different feeds I currently have running through my different groups it may be worth the bump in costs.

Flock maker is cheaper than layer feed from my feed barn. It's what mine have all been getting, but I"m going back to layer pellets for a while as my girls won't eat oyster shells and their shells are freakishly thin lately. They're out eating bugs and grass, too, but still have strangely thin shells.

Okay, now that I have 10 Appleyards coming (4 females, 6 males) darn shipping costs for small orders anyway. I wanted 3 girls and 1 boy, the order of 10 costs the same. Back to the topic.

Anyone here an Appleyard owner/eater. I have questions from my wife. When will they lay and when should I process the five extra boys? I'll try the duck forum too, but hey I like you guys (except FortCluck ).

Appleyards are so beautiful! Congrats on the new duck flock! I process pekins at 7-ish weeks if I want to have a whole duck. Anytime I have to process an adult duck or one of my welsh harlequins, they get skinned and go through the grinder. The meat is a great red meat replacement actually.

Decide what you want the ducks for (meat or eggs or decorations/pets), whether you'd like mallard type or muscovies, how large a carcass you want for meat or how prolific you need for layers...

There are reviews of many breeds of ducks on site in the reviews section. I have this book on Kindle, which has in-depth reviews of a huge number of breeds as well as a rich store of great information on caring for and raising them.

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Love that book!

1) the says otherwise
2) yes I am, my 80x100 garden needs ducks to tend it.

I butcher all my own animals (and my customers) and I know what six drakes will do to four hens. They will be processed. Plus I need to know if they are as good as the internet says they are.

I hope you don’t butcher your customers!

You butcher your customers?!?

(sorry-couldn't-resist)

You guys beat me to it!

Apparently I haven't been getting notifications and 20 pages happened. lol I should go check my Silkie/Satin gender post. Hopefully have now gotten some feedback and have just missed it so I can decide what to do with these littles.

 

[AgnesGray]

Fumble fingers today! Just dropped 2 16 day eggs moving them to the hatcher. Had them in an egg carton in my lap (like usual) and the carton rolled over and 2 fell to the ground and shattered. 1 is still moving but the other is not. I have antibiotic ointment on both with a damp paper towel over the exposed area to help keep it moist. I'm so mad at myself right now! It's been a heck of a morning.

Awww, I'm sorry Don't beat yourself up. It happens.

 

[kelseyk]

Oh man!!! Never do quail. The eggs are so tiny I always drop them! I have also dropped chicken eggs and duck. I’m fumbalina

I hate handling my bantam and pheasant eggs! They are so hard to get a good hold of when I pick them up out of my egg carton for candling or moving. I have dropped both a bantam egg and a pheasant egg during candling....but I candle sitting on the foam pad floor in our workout room in the basement, so they were only about an 8 inch drop to a padded surface. These BCM eggs were about 2 feet to the carpeted floor....but they both hit the edge of the table on the way down.

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

On a good note....10 out of 12 of my Bresse eggs from Texas are developing on day 4!

Fantastic news! That always bodes well. How are the aircells looking?

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

I hate handling my bantam and pheasant eggs! They are so hard to get a good hold of when I pick them up out of my egg carton for candling or moving. I have dropped both a bantam egg and a pheasant egg during candling....but I candle sitting on the foam pad floor in our workout room in the basement, so they were only about an 8 inch drop to a padded surface. These BCM eggs were about 2 feet to the carpeted floor....but they both hit the edge of the table on the way down.

I've had a few mishaps over the years. Each one is a gut punch. If the shell is broken but membrane intact you can cobble them back together with wax or nail polish. I've had 50/50 hatch on these. Anything cracked through to the membrane has always been a total loss for me.

I have one egg right now that has a nail polish repair of a hairline crack. It arrived damaged. I've never had an egg repaired before incubation survive this long. I'm guessing they succumb to bacterial growth. The stars aligned for this little guy. He should hatch Saturday.

 

[kelseyk]

Fantastic news! That always bodes well. How are the aircells looking?

The air cells are looking great! This batch of eggs arrived in great condition with barely jiggly air cells. My ones from Georgia still had pretty saddled air cells, but arrived in much better condition than the 2 shipments (from the same seller) before that. That batch I had 2 out of 6 viable at day 4 (but I leave in until day 7 just to make sure).

 

[kelseyk]

I've had a few mishaps over the years. Each one is a gut punch. If the shell is broken but membrane intact you can cobble them back together with wax or nail polish. I've had 50/50 hatch on these. Anything cracked through to the membrane has always been a total loss for me.

I have one egg right now that has a nail polish repair of a hairline crack. It arrived damaged. I've never had an egg repaired before incubation survive this long. I'm guessing they succumb to bacterial growth. The stars aligned for this little guy. He should hatch Saturday.

Both of these eggs are missing half of their shell - no patching will work. The one was bleeding pretty good and was dripping fluid - it is the one I think is dead now. The other, the shell poked a small hole in the membrane and it bled just a little. I gobbed on the neosporin on that spot as quick as I could and smeared some around on the exposed membrane too. Then I placed a damp paper towel over the broken side of the egg - hopefully it will keep it moist enough that it can make it to hatch. I have seen some eggs on this site that are in pretty bad shape at around the same day make it all the way to the end...so I am trying to stay hopeful on this egg.

I have had 3 hairline cracked eggs make it to hatch so for this year (since April). I have 2 more on day 4 that look great right now too as well as a couple that are too dark to see into. The ones that "don't make it" have turned up clear or a very early quitter and have been from boxes that were really badly shaken up by usps.