Mahonri's 3rd Annual, BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!

[NotAFarm]

Tomorrow, Saturday, March 10, at noon your local time, is setting day for duck, duck, goose.......(sorry...just had to do it!), guinea and turkey eggs!! Call duck eggs will be set on Monday, the 12th and Bobwhite quail on the 15th. We have 8 days until we set chicken eggs.

We do want participants to recognize that the setting times are not "set in stone", if you need to adjust to fit your family or work schedule, the Hatchalong with not come crashing down! We're in this for the fun and fellowship of it....not to hold you to any firm and fast "rules"!! Don't forget to make your guess as to how many eggs will be set...deadline is THIS Sunday....link to the contest page is in my signature line!!

 

[java girl 2]

GOOD MORNING TO ONE AND ALL!!!!!! JUST A REMINDER TOMORROW WE ARE TO SET : mallard (derived) duck, goose, turkey, guinea: 28 days to hatch; set March 10th

goose: 28 to 32 days to hatch; set March 6th -March 10th.

HAVE A VERY GOOD DAY TODAY!!!!!!!!!!

I CAN NOT WAIT TO SEE WHAT EVERYONE WILL SET TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[BHep]

Morning all... slow night, only had to catch up 5 pages.

 

[Wisher1000]

Spangled -- Thank you so much! I am doing this by the seat of my pants and your help is greatly appreciated. I heard that I need to be turning them, do I also need to have them sitting "pointed end down"? It is usually around 65 in our house and being in the south, usually pretty humid - but not 75%! I was thinking of maybe putting a large cardboard box over the eggs and maybe a small bowl with 1/2 cup water and a couple of ice cubes, just to lower the temp a bit and add some humidity. If the eggs are in a paper carton (the open kind that holds 30 eggs) and I prop one end up on a VHS tape will that be enough tilt to work? I mean to swap ends with the tape. And should I rotate thrrough all four sides or just back and forth like the auto turners do?

Mahonri -- The bator is holding at 100 right now (for 36 hours so far) and I do have a fan. I will try to back it off a smidge to 99 when I get home from work today. If you decide to have that litter of pure Goldens, would you consider donating one to our Police Department as a Goodwill Ambassidor? We are looking for a pup to be trained to interact with the public, especially kids, and to perform some safety educational functions for events. We want him/her to sit in the car and wear a seatbelt, retrieve a cell phone, bark at a person wearing a mask, etc. We get requests to bring a dog to lots of events and our K-9's are not good with crowds. We have found that people just want to pet a police dog and really don't care if it actually is a detection or apprehension dog.

Razadia -- If you can get your dad to take the pup, I'll throw in a bag of Puppy Chow and will meet you half way! He really needs a loving home, he seems to have had little positive human contact but still wants it badly. He is very hesitant to be petted for long at a time, but follows right at my heels when I'm walking around the yard. He struggled and cried the first time I caught him and held him in my lap, but never tried to bite me (although it scared him silly) and once he gave up trying to get away, he relaxed and closed his eyes while I held him on my lap and petted his face and back. He hasn't gotten into my lap on his own yet, but will come to me when I'm sitting on the ground as if he is considering it. He really loves scratches in itchy places (heh, don't we all!)

 

[ChestnutRidge]

I had some eggs in the incubator and was hoping one of my hens would go broody....an Icelandic pullet, only 8 months old, was the only volunteer this week...she has been on the nest all week with just one/two quick potty breaks...so tonight when I went out to the garage to check the lockdown humidity, one of the Icelandic eggs had a pip....wasting no time.....I ran in the house....got a hot damp towel.....grabbed the five Icelandic eggs and one Blue Isbar egg from the 'bator and ran out to the barn. I traded the golf ball under the pullet for the six eggs. We'll see how she does with them.........

Updates to follow tomorrow!!

I have a little Phoenix pullet who has been broody this week. If she's still serious next week, she will be sitting on some of my EO Basques!

I hope your little girl is happy with her chicks! I can't wait for pictures... *hint hint*

I fear I am gonna be needing some help with this hatch! I am watching and watching..... should be any time now!

I can only imagine your nervousness and excitement. I think you are so bold for attempting to hatch... such a large creature. It is amazing. I'd feel like I was hatching a dinosaur egg or something. Deep breaths, and remember to get out and move a bit - although it is probably more tempting to sit right next to the eggs!

I wish you the best of luck, and I have all of my fingers crossed for a great hatch!

The chicks and ducks are nice, but the hand is beautiful. Seriously. What a pretty hand.

Hilarious. I thought exactly the same thing and was going to comment, but I didn't want to weird her out.

Your sister has a beautiful hand, chevynova!

It is an old air traffic control tower. The airport got a bigger one so this one got auctioned and added to the house about 25 years ago. We just bought this place a year ago.

So cool. I bet there are great views from that tower. What an awesome idea.

Now to go look for northern lights..

Seeing the northern lights is actually the only thing on my "Things to Do Before I Die" list. Very amazing. Has it been more active recently? Are we closer to solar maximum?

I'm looking forward to hearing about NotaFarm's broody hatch.

It sounds like lots of moose entertainment at AKMichelle's!

And I am very relieved that it is Friday!

x2 on all counts! Well said!

I have had a long, sick week where I was needed at work and could not rest. So, state testing over for now, I am home on the couch where I belong. I am looking forward to lounging and checking on chickens all day. As I said above, I have a little Phoenix who is broody this week, and she is the cutest darn thing I have ever seen. Here is a picture, pre-broody.

 

[NotAFarm]

A little more Alaskan drama tonight. .

Michelle, I love your stories!! Sounds like your LGD is going to be a good one!

Quote:

Friday indeed!!!

Still 5 more participants needed to reach 200.

MN called and I thought it was 4:49... but it's just 3:49, so I've got to get some more zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzs...........

You must be on Central Time, having "sympathy pains" with Kathy about her emus!!

 

[dsqard]

It is an old air traffic control tower. The airport got a bigger one so this one got auctioned and added to the house about 25 years ago. We just bought this place a year ago.

HA!!!!! I thought it looked like one!

 

[dsqard]

Ok caught up for now. Next few days are going to be wonderfully warm (up into the low 60's on Sunday) AAAAANNNNNNNNDDDDD I get my monthly massage tomorrow. I think this is going to be a most excellent weekend! Egg production is finally going through the roof (11 yesterday, the most I have ever collected)

Still no turkey eggs but that just means that I will have to do another hatch after this one.

 

[NotAFarm]

Quote:
1 I have been lifting this pullet up every day to check for "rogue" eggs so she is used to me doing that.....NOT liking it mind you but not flogging me or fleeing the nest, just "roaring" her dino roar to try and scare me. I'm hopeful she will hatch them and then I'll move her to a better location. I'm not working today so will be able to keep a close eye on her.....and I will post pics.
My original two Icelandic hens came from incubated eggs and were raised in a brooder and one is more friendly and the other is quite skittish but will come and eat from my hand. They both raised two broods of chicks last summer and their chicks (now my pullets and cockerals 8-10 months old) know I'm the one with the food/treats and most will eat out of my hand but they are not "pets".

2 I haven't done this before...I have put peeping but not pipped eggs under a hen.....I like for the hen to hatch the chicks herself rather than trying to "graft" them after hatching.

 

[Spangled]

Spangled -- Thank you so much! I am doing this by the seat of my pants and your help is greatly appreciated. I heard that I need to be turning them, do I also need to have them sitting "pointed end down"? It is usually around 65 in our house and being in the south, usually pretty humid - but not 75%! I was thinking of maybe putting a large cardboard box over the eggs and maybe a small bowl with 1/2 cup water and a couple of ice cubes, just to lower the temp a bit and add some humidity. If the eggs are in a paper carton (the open kind that holds 30 eggs) and I prop one end up on a VHS tape will that be enough tilt to work? I mean to swap ends with the tape. And should I rotate thrrough all four sides or just back and forth like the auto turners do?

Just to be clear ... I do a lot of it by the seat of my pants. You can get away with a lot. It really doesn't have to be perfectly 75% humidity. Like I said, I don't even know what the humidity is in that closet of mine. There are so many variables and things that could go wrong that there's a reason why they call it the "miracle" of life. But I think storing them at less than 70F is probably wise. I kind of think of it as a rule I shouldn't break.

(Oh dear, look at that guy's finger.)

I don't know what the proper degree of tilt is. I didn't research that. Maybe it is 45degrees (you know, like in geometry with triangles, not temperature!). I tilt mine a little more than a VHS tape usually, but only probably 1/2 an inch more. A turning rack in an incubator only tilts two ways, so that's all that's necessary. I usually take them out to turn them or put more eggs in, then I can't remember which way they were tilted, so mine get a sideways tilt also some of the time. I don't know what is optimal.

I like your idea with the cardboard box and ice. A mini cooler ... and the cardboard box will soak up a little moisture itself. That should work pretty well since you say your house is already fairly humid. Mine's 49% right now. Our pump gets condensation on which keeps our cupboard a little more humid than the rest of the house. Can you put your hygrometer in there to check it out? (I got a temperature/humidity meter in the hardward section of Walmart. Works well enough for one hatching season. I think they're about $7-10 now. I think that was the cheapest one there. Deluxe ones from FarmTek are about $40, I think.) I wouldn't worry about changing the ice cubes as soon as they melt, though, since your house is already at an acceptable temp.

Yes, pointy end down will get better results for artificial incubation. Of course, natural incubation, with the mom, gets good results on their sides during "storage." Well, as long as a predator doesn't come along an eat the eggs during the storage period.