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

[NotAFarm]

Hilarious, SCG ! That would be just my luck, too! The only thing I can grow is weeds.

edited to clarify..... WEEDS, not "weed."

 

[Razadia]

So I started my seeds indoors a few weeks ago. What I normally do is put the seeds on a damp paper towel inside a ziploc bag that's labeled with the type of seed and the date that I first put them in there. Once they sprout (I check every other day or so) I move them to a soil based home.

I keep spreadsheets of how I'm doing, etc. So it's fairly well organized.

About 2 weeks ago I was checking my bags and paper towels for sprouted seeds and I noticed a small seed that had sprouted on the towel I had down on the counter.

I looked at it, and figured it most looked like a celery seed, and must have fallen out upon inspection so I planted it in a peat pot.

I had no other celery sprout, despite starting maybe 100 of them. But I digress.

The sprout's been looking odd-like, but I've never planted celery before, so I wasn't sure exactly what it was supposed to look like.

Today I finally realized that it was some kind of grass... where it came from, I have no idea. Maybe a seed from chicken food?

What would be the odds that IT would sprout, when 0% of the seeds I was TRYING to sprout sprouted.

Now back to your regularly scheduled chicken programming.

Yep, it's from the feed. I have the same thing all over the yard. It grows like a weed but it makes great treats for the chickens.

 

[Wisher1000]

I have been collecting the bluest eggs to hatch from my own hens, and I am going to get some from Kowgurl62 this week. I have also thought of adding some from some of my brown egg layers and I may not have enough space in my turner. Tell me what you know about "stacking." Do you just balance the extras between the first layer eggs? How many eggs can go in the second row?

 

[kathyinmo]

I have been collecting the bluest eggs to hatch from my own hens, and I am going to get some from Kowgurl62 this week. I have also thought of adding some from some of my brown egg layers and I may not have enough space in my turner. Tell me what you know about "stacking." Do you just balance the extras between the first layer eggs? How many eggs can go in the second row?

We have some expert stackers here! I'm sure they will post some pictures to show ya!
Good luck!

 

[ChestnutRidge]

I may have just purchased Cream Dutch Bantam hatching eggs.

It's possible....

Right now, I'm looking at 15+ Basque (whenever they finally arrive

), 6+ mixed swap, 6+ RC Brown Leghorn, 6+ Blue Birchen Marans or Barnevelder, and 6+ Dutch Bantam.

If each "+" about 2 eggs, then I've got about 50 eggs coming. My turner holds 42, I believe, so I will need a tutorial in egg tetris. Seriously. How do you place them so that they turn and do not fall?

Huh? What just happened?

First dsqard calls me obsessive, then I find out I'm breaking rules. What a totally

embarrassing day. I really need a do-over.

Not at all!

You should have seen the look my husband gave me when I said I was buying more hatching eggs. It's crazy really. I do not have room for all of these birds - a lot will be hatched for fun and then sold, holding back a pullet or two. And I have definitely pointed people towards other forums - with links! - without realizing that I was breaking any rules. So, no worries! You're no crazier than any of the rest of us, and that is reassuring, isn't it?

Just stopping in real quick before chores.

They were pretty good girls today! They get treats! (course they get treats every day, good girls or not

)

Beautiful! I love the speckled (turkey?) egg!

 

[buckabucka]

So I started my seeds indoors a few weeks ago. What I normally do is put the seeds on a damp paper towel inside a ziploc bag that's labeled with the type of seed and the date that I first put them in there. Once they sprout (I check every other day or so) I move them to a soil based home.

I keep spreadsheets of how I'm doing, etc. So it's fairly well organized.

About 2 weeks ago I was checking my bags and paper towels for sprouted seeds and I noticed a small seed that had sprouted on the towel I had down on the counter.

I looked at it, and figured it most looked like a celery seed, and must have fallen out upon inspection so I planted it in a peat pot.

I had no other celery sprout, despite starting maybe 100 of them. But I digress.

The sprout's been looking odd-like, but I've never planted celery before, so I wasn't sure exactly what it was supposed to look like.

Today I finally realized that it was some kind of grass... where it came from, I have no idea. Maybe a seed from chicken food?

What would be the odds that IT would sprout, when 0% of the seeds I was TRYING to sprout sprouted.

Now back to your regularly scheduled chicken programming.

HA! maybe you should grow that piece of grass for a chicken treat! I do the whole paper towel thing also, but no spreadsheet involved. Do you put the ziplocks on the water heater or some other warm place? Don't throw those celery seeds out! Johnny's catalog: seedlings emerge in 2 - 3 WEEKS (and I imagine it will take longer if they are not at optimal 75 degrees). It sounds like you might have enough celery to supply all of central Maine!

 

[ChestnutRidge]

Chestnutridge, -sorry about all the delays with your Basque eggs. Mine are on route, so I'm hoping they don't get side-tracked. I'm also expecting eggs from the west coast, but haven't heard if they shipped (although she said, way back when, that she'd mail them on March 12, so I'm trusting that they are on the way).
Does anyone know if I should be able to view my egg art submissions on the contest page? They're not there, but maybe they aren't supposed to be there.
I'm still confused about the instructions from ronott's vet. Are people going to incubate their shipped eggs for 5 - 7 days without the turner on regardless of how the air cell looks? And if you answered yes to this question, are you putting your own non-shipped eggs in the incubator that has no turner?
Sorry so many questions!

Thanks, bucka. I hope yours are on track. Sometimes I seem to have better luck with eggs coming from further away!

Just speaking for myself, I will rest the eggs based on how much damage I think they sustained. I'll probably rest my EOs for one day once they arrive, put them in the incubator, and not turn on the turner until all the rest of the eggs are in as well, maybe another day or two. But if they are really scrambled, I will leave it off for 4 or 5 days. Yeah, I think I'd just go based on how they look and what I suspect they've been through. I had about a 50% hatch rate last year with shipped eggs - one set coming from the west coast - and I let them all sit for about a day before going in and through just one day of incubation. Okay, I think I'm just babbling now.

In other news, I messed with my Genesis thermostat and finally having it run in the 99.4-99.6 range. The preset was around 100.5 for some reason, so I ran it like that all last year because I was afraid to mess with it. I had a 7:10 pullet-to-cockerel ratio, so perhaps this year I can get closer to 50% of each sex.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

HA!

maybe you should grow that piece of grass for a chicken treat!
I do the whole paper towel thing also, but no spreadsheet involved. Do you put the ziplocks on the water heater or some other warm place? Don't throw those celery seeds out! Johnny's catalog: seedlings emerge in 2 - 3 WEEKS (and I imagine it will take longer if they are not at optimal 75 degrees).
It sounds like you might have enough celery to supply all of central Maine!

They were on a seedling heat mat wrapped in a kitchen towel in my insulated grow box in the warmish basement since 02.19. I figured on Sunday 03.11 they weren't going to sprout (maybe they got too hot?) so I threw them out and started over again with them in dirt this time.

Last years pictures of grow box:

 

[Razadia]

So, my mystery eggs made it to lock down (there are 2 of them) and now one of them is rocking. That's awesome, but they aren't a mystery anymore. I saw my BA Jazzy lay one this morning. Same very light color. I'm still excited though! I really wanted some of her eggs for my first hatch of this year, but I ended up with all pure RIRs. I've decided that I'm putting all of Jazzy's eggs in the bator for the hatch along and hoping that the older ones make it to at least lock down... that way I can 'hatch' my master plan. I'm so dead when my dad figures it out!

 

[kathyinmo]

... that way I can 'hatch' my master plan. I'm so dead when my dad figures it out!

Have you hatched your new living arrangement plans yet?