"Louisiana "La-yers" Peeps"

[arconfederate]

Good morning all! Pam would you elaborate on sexing using the feathers? Thanks.

 

[Ron Skekel]

You need to look when they are three days old. You can find videos on utube to help. It's not fool proof with every breed. Pullets feather faster the wing feathers will have a tall feather then a short feather. Roosters feathers are all the same height. I would go look at the videos to show you what each looks like. Pam

 

[TurksPoultry]

I had baby quail fall between the rack and wall, get trapped and die.  Had to remind myself not to have water/humidity tray where chicks could get into it.  Almost designed it putting fan too low near chicks.  Heating element within reach of biddies?  I guess "safer for the chicks" was sorta dumb to list as a concern. 

Still, any ideas on how to build features into a hatcher to make it better?

My son has a couple of gallons of epoxy resin that is compatible with foam. I will coat the entire interior.  This will allow me the benefit of building a hatcher with a material that is incredibly easy to work with and yet eliminate the one LARGE drawback of foam.  That is cleanup and the possible absorption of nastiness into the foam.  Still, I will have the freedom to build it any way, shape or design I want and, have the added benefit of an easy-to-clean hatcher.

Just thought you folks, being much more experienced than me, would have some things y'all would have liked to incorporate into a better hatcher? 

Different boxes for breeds that are removable but keep the diff eggs seperated so that if u get an abnormality it's easier to track where it occurs.

I candled before going to lock down. One clear and one I'm not sure about looks like it could be a quitter dense shell so I'm leaving it in. Turk The one you thought was clear is alive and still going. You may be tossing some to soon. Just a thought. I'm excited these will be the first Neiderrhinders I'm hatching they all are alive at this time .Hoping for Blue silverrud blues. . The rest will be FBCMs. Some are for sale if interested let me know they will hatch in 2 to 3 days. Pam

I usually cook the clears I pull to feed to the birds so I break each one and have a very good idea of what I pull. If theyre n question I always leave em in.

 

[lakones]

I used to have a neighbor that took the shells and such after a crawfish boil and throw them out for the chickens. After a few days he'd rake up what was left and put in his garden compost. Anyone hear do that?

 

[lakones]

Wanted to let y'all know that I dropped the birds off Tuesday morning and I'm still waiting on the final results from the necropsy. I did get a preliminary report yesterday which didn't really narrow anything down just mainly stated the symptoms that each bird was showing. All of them showed respiratory tract infection issues along with enlarged spleens and excessive fluid in the circulatory system. Definitely something funky going on here..... Supposed to hear something tomorrow on further diagnosis. Mycoplasma gallisepticum is one possiblilty along with a few other respiratory illnesses. I know this doesn't really explain much I just wanted to let y'all know how it's going in case you run into issues like this. If there's one thing I'll take from this it's the importance of biosecurity to the health of your flock. No more swaps for me.....

Did you hear back from them again?

 

[forgetful]

I've given mine crawfish shells a few times. One flock had no interest in it, and the other loved it. I can't see it doing any harm

 

[bigoledude]

When sprinkled over wet epoxy, the blasting sand has exposed sharp edges. But, when mixed into the epoxy, the surface is much smoother. Somewhat like Rhino Shield.

Different boxes for breeds that are removable but keep the diff eggs seperated so that if u get an abnormality it's easier to track where it occurs.

Hey Turk. Great idea. Easier to keep track of breeds that look similar at hatching and, to identify any issues you'd like to keep track of. Thanks for a great suggestion.

Campingshaws; The Hidious-bator is kinda tall. If I put it up on anything, the lil ones won't be able to see what's happening. I think I will cut a window in the front of it and will incorporate one in the hatcher so they can enjoy the action as well. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts.

 

[cajun chicken]

Did you hear back from them again?

I did hear back today. They are still not completely done with the testing but all four of the chickens I brought them had varying degrees of respiratory infection, enlarged organs, pulmonary edema, some worms in the digestive tract, coccidiosis, lice around the vent area, emaciated and just all around in bad shape. They suspect Mycoplasma but cannot confirm until analysis is complete. I am going to be working with the State vet on a path forward and how to hopefully prevent this from happening again. I have already culled all of the young birds I was growing out and I'm down to about 15 layers from which I'm getting 4-5 eggs a day. Blahhhh
Thank you and I will keep you guys updated as I hear something.

 

[banannalee]

Hi I injtroduced myself a long time ago...
I live in Bethany outside of shreveport.
I have about 40 layers right now and some hens due to start inj late august.
I cant find an outlet for my eggs...I am swimming in them. Will be selling at the shreveport Farmers market. Have advertised have several signs in front of farm, use FB word of mouth....but cant get a clientele built up. Am hoping the Shreveport market will help get that going.
A lady called wanting her own floick...so I incubated them and she still wont pick them up
Another lady ordered 3 dozen duck eggs...cant get ahold of her. Sigh

I mainly have Easter Eggers...and silkies..have added astralorps, copper marans, salmon favorelle, leghorn a mix of banty's
Just recd my Mille Fluer hatching eggs and soon my Gold laced polish (frizzle) bantys.
I also have peking ducks and embden geece.

My name is Anna and I am a bit of an addict.
They are healthy and happy as they free range all day.

Looking forward to getting to know yall.
Anna

 

[campingshaws]

Hi I injtroduced myself a long time ago...
I live in Bethany outside of shreveport.
I have about 40 layers right now and some hens due to start inj late august.
I cant find an outlet for my eggs...I am swimming in them. Will be selling at the shreveport Farmers market. Have advertised have several signs in front of farm, use FB word of mouth....but cant get a clientele built up. Am hoping the Shreveport market will help get that going.
A lady called wanting her own floick...so I incubated them and she still wont pick them up
Another lady ordered 3 dozen duck eggs...cant get ahold of her. Sigh

I mainly have Easter Eggers...and silkies..have added astralorps, copper marans, salmon favorelle, leghorn a mix of banty's
Just recd my Mille Fluer hatching eggs and soon my Gold laced polish (frizzle) bantys.
I also have peking ducks and embden geece.

My name is Anna and I am a bit of an addict.
They are healthy and happy as they free range all day.

Looking forward to getting to know yall.
Anna

Hi Anna! Glad to see you back over here.