"Louisiana "La-yers" Peeps"

[TerriLaChicks]

I posted this in the Pea section but I wanted to share this with all of the La-yers.
Well, I have been on a rollercoaster ride over the last week with this hatch. I had a terrible hatch but I am happy for what has hatched. However, this is my very first time trying to hatch pea eggs in the incubator. The 5 pea eggs were scheduled to hatch on Saturday. I had 1 baby that began zipping a few days early. I noticed the "point of zip" looked VERY dry. It didn't look good at all. I was very nervous about the pea not being able to get out of the egg but I let nature takes it course and let things happen. 24 hours had passed and the baby was still trying to get out. I checked the humidity and I thought that the humidity was 20, so I panicked and opened the incubator and put in more water. I looked at the hyrdometer and it read 60!!! I misread the hydrometer. It was actually 40 instead of 20 and it spiked to 60. I could have kicked myself.

So, after that, still no baby. Terri helped me so much through this process and gave me some great advice on what to do. I tried to save the baby but it was too late. After more than 48 hours of trying to break out of the shell, the pea wasn't strong enough to make it out. It died in the shell. I opened up the shell and it was full formed.

I was so sad after that.

So, on Friday, I noticed another egg that was zipping. I had another baby trying to break out. I noticed AGAIN that the area where it was breaking the shell was again VERY DRY. I was soooooooo nervous because I thought the same thing was happening. Temp, humidity and vent was perfect but the area looked very dry. I went to bed and woke up Saturday morning to a baby pea. I was so happy to see that it was able to get out with no problem. There were 2 problems with his baby. Problem #1- There was membrane that had dried on the right side of it's face covering it's eye. I went to the bathroom, turned on the hot shower so that I could bring it in a warm and humid room. The house was too cold. I removed it from the bator and ran in the bathroom . I had my tweezers ready. I carefully removed the dry membrane from it's face . It was VERY VERY VERY dry and it was difficult to remove but I did it.
The other problem that I had and it was my fault was that it's little foot was a little tangled on a loose thread from the towel that I had placed on the slippery tray. I should have used a paper towel instead but I didn't. So I will have to try to put something on it's foot to straighten out. I took it out of the incubator on last night and it is eating and drinking. It went to the food and water immediately. I can tell that it's little foot is giving it a little problem but it is moving and walking around ok. It is chirping away for company. I put the other pea that hatched a couple weeks ago in with the new baby. It looked at it and flew out of the brooder.

I don't know what that was all about.
So the final hatch for this round (5 pea eggs) was 1 pea died in the shell, 1 hatched, 2 eggs were fertile but failed to fully form in the shell and 1 egg was not fertile.
I placed 4 fresh pea eggs under a broody chicken hen and I have picked 3 pea eggs this weekend. I will remove the 4 eggs from under the hen and place those eggs along with the other 3 pea eggs and put all of them in the bator with some turkey eggs and guinea eggs.
I read somewhere in another pea forum that a person stands to have an excellent hatch rate if they allow a broody hen to incubate pea eggs for 10 - 14 eggs and then place the eggs in the incubator. I may try this next go round . As long as the girls are laying, I will continue to hatch.
Thanks to Terri who walked me through all of this and was there for the emergencies. She was my on-call life line and support for these past few days. Thanks TERRI !!!

Here are some pics of the baby that hatched on Saturday.

It's adorable!!!!

 

[BayouGypsy]

Hello, everyone. I have a question about chicken feed. A friend of mine bought some feed for her layers, it was the Lone Star brand. She noticed the eggs weren't hard, they were sort of rubbery. She went to a different feed store and asked if they had any idea what was going on and they told her that Lone Star feed wasn't good, to try the Purina brand. Have any of you had this problem? What brands do you prefer? If they free range, do they need store bought feed, anyway? Thanks in advance!

 

[Chris Herzog]

I posted this in the Pea section but I wanted to share this with all of the La-yers.
Well, I have been on a rollercoaster ride over the last week with this hatch. I had a terrible hatch but I am happy for what has hatched. However, this is my very first time trying to hatch pea eggs in the incubator. The 5 pea eggs were scheduled to hatch on Saturday. I had 1 baby that began zipping a few days early. I noticed the "point of zip" looked VERY dry. It didn't look good at all. I was very nervous about the pea not being able to get out of the egg but I let nature takes it course and let things happen. 24 hours had passed and the baby was still trying to get out. I checked the humidity and I thought that the humidity was 20, so I panicked and opened the incubator and put in more water. I looked at the hyrdometer and it read 60!!! I misread the hydrometer. It was actually 40 instead of 20 and it spiked to 60. I could have kicked myself.

So, after that, still no baby. Terri helped me so much through this process and gave me some great advice on what to do. I tried to save the baby but it was too late. After more than 48 hours of trying to break out of the shell, the pea wasn't strong enough to make it out. It died in the shell. I opened up the shell and it was full formed.

I was so sad after that.

So, on Friday, I noticed another egg that was zipping. I had another baby trying to break out. I noticed AGAIN that the area where it was breaking the shell was again VERY DRY. I was soooooooo nervous because I thought the same thing was happening. Temp, humidity and vent was perfect but the area looked very dry. I went to bed and woke up Saturday morning to a baby pea. I was so happy to see that it was able to get out with no problem. There were 2 problems with his baby. Problem #1- There was membrane that had dried on the right side of it's face covering it's eye. I went to the bathroom, turned on the hot shower so that I could bring it in a warm and humid room. The house was too cold. I removed it from the bator and ran in the bathroom . I had my tweezers ready. I carefully removed the dry membrane from it's face . It was VERY VERY VERY dry and it was difficult to remove but I did it.
The other problem that I had and it was my fault was that it's little foot was a little tangled on a loose thread from the towel that I had placed on the slippery tray. I should have used a paper towel instead but I didn't. So I will have to try to put something on it's foot to straighten out. I took it out of the incubator on last night and it is eating and drinking. It went to the food and water immediately. I can tell that it's little foot is giving it a little problem but it is moving and walking around ok. It is chirping away for company. I put the other pea that hatched a couple weeks ago in with the new baby. It looked at it and flew out of the brooder.

I don't know what that was all about.
So the final hatch for this round (5 pea eggs) was 1 pea died in the shell, 1 hatched, 2 eggs were fertile but failed to fully form in the shell and 1 egg was not fertile.
I placed 4 fresh pea eggs under a broody chicken hen and I have picked 3 pea eggs this weekend. I will remove the 4 eggs from under the hen and place those eggs along with the other 3 pea eggs and put all of them in the bator with some turkey eggs and guinea eggs.
I read somewhere in another pea forum that a person stands to have an excellent hatch rate if they allow a broody hen to incubate pea eggs for 10 - 14 eggs and then place the eggs in the incubator. I may try this next go round . As long as the girls are laying, I will continue to hatch.
Thanks to Terri who walked me through all of this and was there for the emergencies. She was my on-call life line and support for these past few days. Thanks TERRI !!!

Here are some pics of the baby that hatched on Saturday.

Julie,
Sorry that your hatch didn’t go so well. If you don’t mind I would like to make a few comments after what I read that may help you the next time around. I know you’re new to the incubator thing and I’ve had to learn these things myself by trial and error. It can be very disappointing at times but also very rewarding. So please don’t take any offence to what I write, I just want to point out a few small things that I picked up on as I read about your weekend.
Also, I’ve not hatched pea eggs before my experience has been only with chicken eggs but I’m sure that some of this will cross over.

1. The first 18 days I keep my humidity around 45% the last 3 days right at 70% and I have had really good luck when using my own eggs at these %’s. I put 15 eggs in lock-down Friday night, had 11 chicks this morning with 3 more eggs that just peeped in the night. When I get home I’m hoping to have at least 14 chicks if not 15 drying out in the incubator.

1. I generally collect eggs for a week and keep them on a turner (because I have an extra one but this is not necessary to do) until I have enough eggs to set. If you put eggs under a broody hen until you have enough to go into the incubator your eggs will all be hatching at different times. The timer (21days to hatch) starts when the eggs go under a broody hen or into an incubator. You will pull your hair out trying to keep the humidity correct for the different eggs at different stages. When using only one incubator, set them all at the same time and store them in a cool dark place until you have enough to set. When you bump the humidity up for eggs about to hatch the chicks in the eggs that say are on say day 13 could drown because of the higher humidity needed for the ones hatching.

1. If a chick has not come out of the shell with-in 24 hours of peeping. Make the decision then to go try and save it or let nature take its course. If any other eggs have peeped, and you open the incubator you risk losing those chicks to save the one. Once lock-down has started I do not open the incubator back up until all the eggs have either hatched or I’m down to the last egg or two and it has peeped, and it’s been over 24 hours since it has peeped. When I do help a chick out, I use a spoon and gently crack the shell all the way around the egg just like the chick would do but from the outside. I then gently pull the two halves apart and basically poor the chick out onto a paper towel. I rarely touch the chick at all getting it out of the egg. If there is membrane stuck to the chick I do the next step and put him back into the incubator. If he does not have anything stuck to him he goes right back into the incubator until he is dry.

1. Finally warm water on a shrink rapped chick works great at getting the membrane off. I use a paper towel and soak it under the warm water then I get the membrane as wet as I can, let it sit a sec or two then wet it some more. The membrane will peel off relatively easy once it get good and wet.

Like I said, I have not done any pea eggs but I would think that everything above would still work the same except the number of days to incubate. Also having all your eggs on the same schedule will greatly help you out unless you get a second incubator and use it as a hatcher….that’s what I do.
I hope you find some of this helpful and please let us know how the next hatch goes…..Don’t give up!
Chris

 

[catdaddyfro]

Hello, everyone. I have a question about chicken feed. A friend of mine bought some feed for her layers, it was the Lone Star brand. She noticed the eggs weren't hard, they were sort of rubbery. She went to a different feed store and asked if they had any idea what was going on and they told her that Lone Star feed wasn't good, to try the Purina brand. Have any of you had this problem? What brands do you prefer? If they free range, do they need store bought feed, anyway? Thanks in advance!

I use LoneStar brand layer and it works for me with no problems. I do keep extra oyster shell availibale at all times for them to eat at their own convenience though, I never had any dealings with the Purina brand feeds I have used others and always resorted back to LoneStar brand. I have fed multiple 1000s of tons of it for years and years. On the free-ranging yes they do need layer feed to boot esp in the evening time after a day of foraging they need this given to them right before roost time if you want good production if not just a little scratch grains or whole corn in the morning and evening will suffice their appitites but you will only reap what you sow, they will lay some just not very regularly and not too good of quality eggs either.

 

[TATERsmom]

I am from Catahoula parish but have been in Iberia parish for almost 3 years. I have been on this site off and on. originally got involved with chicks a few years ago when my son was in 4H. Havent been able to own any the past couple years due to moving but now I am ready to start my own hobby flock. Have been looking for some Bantams. Prefer to find the Polish Bantams but have been unseccessful. Trying to find some local auctions also. I hadnt been to an acution since my grandfather took me when I was small, but my fiance and I went to one the other night and even though we didnt bid, we had so much fun.I think now we are hooked.

 

[Sprinkles212]

Rise & shine - it's Monday!

OK who need some guineas? They will be one week old Wednesday, all are healthy & eating well & growing like weeds. Most of them are pearls, a couple have a touch of white here & there.
I have 7-8 available. PM me & make an offer!

Ah! Wish I would have known before ordering 15 from a hatchery! They should arrive July 18-ish.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I posted this in the Pea section but I wanted to share this with all of the La-yers.

Well, I have been on a rollercoaster ride over the last week with this hatch. I had a terrible hatch but I am happy for what has hatched. However, this is my very first time trying to hatch pea eggs in the incubator. The 5 pea eggs were scheduled to hatch on Saturday. I had 1 baby that began zipping a few days early. I noticed the "point of zip" looked VERY dry. It didn't look good at all. I was very nervous about the pea not being able to get out of the egg but I let nature takes it course and let things happen. 24 hours had passed and the baby was still trying to get out. I checked the humidity and I thought that the humidity was 20, so I panicked and opened the incubator and put in more water. I looked at the hyrdometer and it read 60!!! I misread the hydrometer. It was actually 40 instead of 20 and it spiked to 60. I could have kicked myself. So, after that, still no baby. Terri helped me so much through this process and gave me some great advice on what to do. I tried to save the baby but it was too late. After more than 48 hours of trying to break out of the shell, the pea wasn't strong enough to make it out. It died in the shell. I opened up the shell and it was full formed. I was so sad after that.

So, on Friday, I noticed another egg that was zipping. I had another baby trying to break out. I noticed AGAIN that the area where it was breaking the shell was again VERY DRY. I was soooooooo nervous because I thought the same thing was happening. Temp, humidity and vent was perfect but the area looked very dry. I went to bed and woke up Saturday morning to a baby pea. I was so happy to see that it was able to get out with no problem. There were 2 problems with his baby. Problem #1- There was membrane that had dried on the right side of it's face covering it's eye. I went to the bathroom, turned on the hot shower so that I could bring it in a warm and humid room. The house was too cold. I removed it from the bator and ran in the bathroom . I had my tweezers ready. I carefully removed the dry membrane from it's face . It was VERY VERY VERY dry and it was difficult to remove but I did it.

The other problem that I had and it was my fault was that it's little foot was a little tangled on a loose thread from the towel that I had placed on the slippery tray. I should have used a paper towel instead but I didn't. So I will have to try to put something on it's foot to straighten out. I took it out of the incubator on last night and it is eating and drinking. It went to the food and water immediately. I can tell that it's little foot is giving it a little problem but it is moving and walking around ok. It is chirping away for company. I put the other pea that hatched a couple weeks ago in with the new baby. It looked at it and flew out of the brooder. I don't know what that was all about.

So the final hatch for this round (5 pea eggs) was 1 pea died in the shell, 1 hatched, 2 eggs were fertile but failed to fully form in the shell and 1 egg was not fertile.

I placed 4 fresh pea eggs under a broody chicken hen and I have picked 3 pea eggs this weekend. I will remove the 4 eggs from under the hen and place those eggs along with the other 3 pea eggs and put all of them in the bator with some turkey eggs and guinea eggs.

I read somewhere in another pea forum that a person stands to have an excellent hatch rate if they allow a broody hen to incubate pea eggs for 10 - 14 eggs and then place the eggs in the incubator. I may try this next go round . As long as the girls are laying, I will continue to hatch.

Thanks to Terri who walked me through all of this and was there for the emergencies. She was my on-call life line and support for these past few days. Thanks TERRI !!!

Here are some pics of the baby that hatched on Saturday.

Julie,
Sorry that your hatch didn’t go so well. If you don’t mind I would like to make a few comments after what I read that may help you the next time around. I know you’re new to the incubator thing and I’ve had to learn these things myself by trial and error. It can be very disappointing at times but also very rewarding. So please don’t take any offence to what I write, I just want to point out a few small things that I picked up on as I read about your weekend.
Also, I’ve not hatched pea eggs before my experience has been only with chicken eggs but I’m sure that some of this will cross over.

1. The first 18 days I keep my humidity around 45% the last 3 days right at 70% and I have had really good luck when using my own eggs at these %’s. I put 15 eggs in lock-down Friday night, had 11 chicks this morning with 3 more eggs that just peeped in the night.  When I get home I’m hoping to have at least 14 chicks if not 15 drying out in the incubator.

1. I generally collect eggs for a week and keep them on a turner (because I have an extra one but this is not necessary to do) until I have enough eggs to set. If you put eggs under a broody hen until you have enough to go into the incubator your eggs will all be hatching at different times. The timer (21days to hatch) starts when the eggs go under a broody hen or into an incubator. You will pull your hair out trying to keep the humidity correct for the different eggs at different stages. When using only one incubator, set them all at the same time and store them in a cool dark place until you have enough to set. When you bump the humidity up for eggs about to hatch the chicks in the eggs that say are on say day 13 could drown because of the higher humidity needed for the ones hatching.  

1. If a chick has not come out of the shell with-in 24 hours of peeping. Make the decision then to go try and save it or let nature take its course. If any other eggs have peeped, and you open the incubator you risk losing those chicks to save the one. Once lock-down has started I do not open the incubator back up until all the eggs have either hatched or I’m down to the last egg or two and it has peeped, and it’s been over 24 hours since it has peeped. When I do help a chick out, I use a spoon and gently crack the shell all the way around the egg just like the chick would do but from the outside. I then gently pull the two halves apart and basically poor the chick out onto a paper towel. I rarely touch the chick at all getting it out of the egg. If there is membrane stuck to the chick I do the next step and put him back into the incubator. If he does not have anything stuck to him he goes right back into the incubator until he is dry.

1. Finally warm water on a shrink rapped chick works great at getting the membrane off. I use a paper towel and soak it under the warm water then I get the membrane as wet as I can, let it sit a sec or two then wet it some more. The membrane will peel off relatively easy once it get good and wet.

Like I said, I have not done any pea eggs but I would think that everything above would still work the same except the number of days to incubate. Also having all your eggs on the same schedule will greatly help you out unless you get a second incubator and use it as a hatcher….that’s what I do.
I hope you find some of this helpful and please let us know how the next hatch goes…..Don’t give up!
Chris

Thank you for the information.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I am from Catahoula parish but have been in Iberia parish for almost 3 years. I have been on this site off and on. originally got involved with chicks a few years ago when my son was in 4H. Havent been able to own any the past couple years due to moving but now I am ready to start my own hobby flock. Have been looking for some Bantams. Prefer to find the Polish Bantams but have been unseccessful. Trying to find some local auctions also. I hadnt been to an acution since my grandfather took me when I was small, but my fiance and I went to one the other night and even though we didnt bid, we had so much fun.I think now we are hooked.  

Hi there!!! Welcome to the group.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Rise & shine - it's Monday!

OK who need some guineas? They will be one week old Wednesday, all are healthy & eating well & growing like weeds. Most of them are pearls, a couple have a touch of white here & there.
I have 7-8 available. PM me & make an offer!

Ah! Wish I would have known before ordering 15 from a hatchery! They should arrive July 18-ish.

Congrats on your order!

 

[ellpel]

I am from Catahoula parish but have been in Iberia parish for almost 3 years. I have been on this site off and on. originally got involved with chicks a few years ago when my son was in 4H. Havent been able to own any the past couple years due to moving but now I am ready to start my own hobby flock. Have been looking for some Bantams. Prefer to find the Polish Bantams but have been unseccessful. Trying to find some local auctions also. I hadnt been to an acution since my grandfather took me when I was small, but my fiance and I went to one the other night and even though we didnt bid, we had so much fun.I think now we are hooked.

cool deal I'm also in iberia parish. What auction did y'all go to?