Mahonri's 2nd Annual BYC EASTER HATCH. Post pics of your chicks!

[La Mike]

Ok I set 30 pekin and blue swedish hope evryone gets their ducks in

I will be setting chickens on saturday

 

[yotetrapper]

oh, btw Mike, your doms arrived in great condition and are now in the bator!

 

[La Mike]

Great hoping you a great hatch from them

 

[superchemicalgirl]

I'm collecting Saturday and Sunday to package Sunday and mail Monday after work. Last time I mailed Monday after work I don't think the eggs arrived until Thursday PM to Colorado for the Chinese New Year Hatch. Doing it Monday gives them 1 day to "rest" before being set on Saturday.
Although if my NNs dont lay well this weekend I might wait til Tuesday after work to mail.

 

[Mahonri]

My little splash wheaten Am pullet that hatched out Feb. 15th... got caught in the irrigation this morning. Oh well., we win some, we loose some.

 

[La Mike]

Will all that are getting eggs from me for this hatch please e-mail me @ [email protected] so I can keep all in 1 place and be certain not to miss any shipment. All eggs for this hatch will be shipped on Tuesday and thank you all so much.

Mike

 

[dsqard]

Mahonri, sorry about your little pullet. Hate to lose one.

My turkey eggs are cooking for the hatch. My chicks that hatched out two weeks ago are starting to look scruffy from the half feather/half fluff look. I just gave them a pan with nice soft sand in it to dust bathe in since they have been using the spilled food for that. So far they have been avioding the pan like it is going to eat them.

I give them about an hour or so and they will be fighting over who gets to go next in the bath. I have avoided buying chicks at the feed store three weeks in a row now. So proud of myself.

Mainly because they don't have breeds I want. I am sure if they had something really good, I would probably break down and buy some even though I have PLENTY already.

One of the cockerels from the NYD hatch was doing his best impression of a crow this morning. I broke out laughing. It was a pretty pathetic crow but they are growing up. I have got to get them integrated with the big chickens so I will be able to free up the tractor when the time comes. One of the boys is on the menu for when DS comes back from overseas and we get to meet his fiancee for the first time. Probably won't butcher in front of the fiancee. I don't know how she would feel about it.

 

[kjhowe77]

Quote:
I have a guy that wants to buy at least 2 dozen ducklings so they will be going to a new home. There is no way I could have that many running around here. DH still doesn't know about the 6 silkie chicks I bought yesterday at TSC.

 

[ChestnutRidge]

Mahonri, I'm sorry about your little bird.

I had intended to test my incubator before this, but I ended up having to stay at work very late every day this week, so I haven't had a chance until today. I'm going to warm it up and stick in a few grocery store eggs for a few days, holding it steady for a few days and then practicing a "lockdown." I have a Genesis 1588 with an automatic turner. I had read on another thread that you could maintain humidity by running aquarium tubing though a vent hole into the C-shaped trough and injecting warm water into it when needed. The humidity in my house has been in the mid-50% range since I bought the thermometer/hygrometer (the $3 one from TSC), but I decided to go ahead and run the tubing anyway. I'm hoping the heater and fan will dehumidify the incubator, as compared to the rest of the house, but it may be so dehumidifying that I need to add water.

Anyhow, I set that up and plugged everything in. I'm keeping a little log book and a box of stuff I might need, but I'm not sure yet what that will be.

So, when I plugged everything in at 3:30 EST, the humidity was 57%, temperature 71 degrees, room temperature 71 degrees. The incubator in in my dining room where we have a gas stove on a thermostat set at 69 degrees, from which it will drop to 67 before turning on and raising the temperature to 71. I hope that is constant enough.

Hmm, now it's been running about 15 minutes. Yikes! It's already up to 99.5 deg. (looks like 100 deg.) and down to 33% humidity! I guess it is dehumidifying! What percentage humidity do you all recommend for the first 18 days? When I add warm water, can it be from the tap, or should it be filtered water?

I'm thinking I'll stick my (hopefully) unfertilized eggs in tonight and see how that affects things.

This is fun already!

 

[ChestnutRidge]

Hmm. Another question - when you do not have enough eggs to completely full the turner, how do you distribute them? Is it best to group them together in the center or spread them out leaving gaps for air to circulate?