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

[ChestnutRidge]

Wow, now I know what people mean when they have 200+ post to catch up on. It was worth it though. One of our Nigerian Dwarf does had FIVE kids today!



For an idea of their size, (my wife is 5'2" (really 5"1', but ....)

Beautiful little goats!

That is one tough mamma.
My mom is 5' 1 1/4". That last 1/4" has always been very important, and woe betide anyone who might forget it. So I get that.

I'll just update by saying, KEEP PRAYING FOR ME.

It's going to be a long recovery and healing process.

I'm so glad to see you back.

I found these on the last Easter Hatchalong (they had a Tetris contest!) There are other pictures that are in the search results, but I thought these were the best ones so far!

Thanks for digging these up!

My EO Marandu Basque eggs are on their way. They are scheduled to be delivered from Tn to CA, so should go fedex to Sacramento Airport and then 12 miles to Woodland.

Pray that they make it ok and on time

Ron

Awesome! My Basque eggs arrived today!

They are in great condition due to James' fantastic packing. I'm going to candle them after I catch up and probably set them tomorrow morning with the turner off for a few days.

I had a lovely run in with the USPS today over my eggs, had to pay a ransom for them.

And... it's snowing.

This is not good! I hope they are not setting a precedent up there, rouge mailmen! What happened?

 

[Mahonri]

Hey Mahonri - just had to pop in and thank you for all of the egg orders you generated for me. I stayed up till 1:30 a.m. Sunday night wrapping eggs to ship on Monday just so everyone that ordered from me could have them in plenty of time for setting on the 17th. Sure didn't want them to get hung up at the P.O. somewhere and not arrive in time. I had several hundred dollars worth of egg orders for all different breeds from people who all wanted them for your Easter Hatch Along - so thank you, thank you. And to all who ordered from me - blessings on a great Easter Hatch. Your eggs were all freshly gathered before shipping and you can easily let them set to incubate on the 17th. When I'm setting my own eggs I often let them accumulate for 3 weeks and they still hatch. I keep them stored large end up in a cool environment. I know a read a couple of posts by people worried they got their eggs a day or two too soon so thought I'd pop in with my personal experience that eggs can sit for a loooonnnggg time and still hatch. Just ask the broodies that show up around here with 20 babies in tow from eggs they've been laying for over 3 weeks in a hidden nest somewhere. I've even read where people have taken commercially cleaned, frigerated, store-bought eggs and incubated them and had them hatch. So my words of encouragement to everyone in this hatch-a-long is to wait and set them and join the fun. I think I'll stick a few dozen in the bator myself.

Thanks again Mahonri - you generated a lot of business for me.

Monique!

Thank you for the Thank you... and I'll say here that the thanks also goes to superchemicalgirl, Laree, kathyinmo, NotAFarm, The Sheriff, Java girl 2, Renee, Nifty and a bunch of other WONDERFUL FELLOW HATCHERS!

What a great community we have. You can tell that we have some awesome people. I've had a couple other e-mails and PMs from other breeders thanking me for this hatch a long.

I imagine that before it's over, that perhaps I'll get a thank you from GQF and Brinsea too!

I think that this HAS to be the LARGEST Hatch a Long ever! I'm starting to feel like some of these folks are like my family!... and with 218 participants this thread is moving at lightning speed! I can barely keep up.

So glad that this has been a help to others.

Dar

 

[HortonFarms]

I have babies.......

11 and counting....

 

[Cattitude]

Fuzzy butt goodness!

 

[Arielle]

That's because the P.O. uses Fed Ex to fly the packages (eggs or chicks) to the states farther away but they (P.O.) drive the packages to addresses within the state or bordering states. I recently shipped some live chicks. Two packages the same day. Our P.O. truck leaves here at 4:00 p.m. The first package arrived in PA by 6:00 a.m. the next day. The second package, which was only going 1 1/2 hr away, arrived two days later in the late afternoon. Thank God they were all still alive. I try and tell those ordering chicks from me that it's better if they come and pick them up if they live within a few hours drive.

So if you're shipping eggs and the P.O. handles them the whole way (meaning they are relatively local) you never know what kind of shape they'll be in when they arrive at their final destination. And the P.O. postmaster personally told me that writing "Fragile - live embryos - hatching eggs - please do not expose to heat or freeze" is doing absolutely "nothing" to ensure special handling - which does not exist. He said everything is handled the same way - goes down conveyor belts, dumped into huge bins, and everything dumped on top including boxes of book or bricks. And, if you bothered to insure the eggs, the P.O. wants the broken eggs all shipped back, has one year to review the claim, and then will only refund the postage.


Just some F.Y.I. from someone who's been there, done that, for four years now.

The fellow at my PO keeps askling to verify that I don't want "fragile" put on the packages. He is kind and thoughtful. Love that he cares. I suspect he hasn't seen the other end of the business in the huge shipping/sorting facilities. I have an aunt that works nights at UPS and has shocking stories and I worked packing and shipping in warehouse a few years. FAST is all that counts. I'm surprised so many eggs do hatch.

Thank you to everyone who bought hatching eggs for the Easter Hatch a long! A busy week packing and shipping and the last package went out today.

 

[Mahonri]

Quick update:

Yesterday my 2nd to last patient (she's been with me for over 20 years) who is a trauma nurse/physicians assistant came in because she needed to have an old crown re-cemented. Of course my chairside told her what had happened to me and she was writing me scrips before she left, and was typing out care instructions on my computer for me.

I do have some pretty significant 2nd degree burns on my lower left abdomen and upper left thigh. It's pretty painful and VERY UNCOMFORTABLE.

There are other unmentionable areas that are extremely painful and all I can do is pray. She warned me that if I get an infection in that area with my diabetes, I could end up in the hospital with an IV for weeks. CAN'T DO THAT! I've washed my hands more and the things I touch more in the past two days than any two days in my life. When I walk in from the coop, or time with the dog and her pups, I WASH UP BIG TIME. And I wash EXTRA time between patients now, I have separate towels in the house, and use LOTS of paper towels in the office. The TN/PA says my worst nightmare would be MRSA and that if I got that, I might want to start putting things in order. Serious stuff.
At present I'm on Percocet with a Vicodin chaser, aspirin and high doses of Vitamin C and globs of neosporin where the skin has sloughed off and I have raw, red meat showing through.

Folks, LEARN FROM ME. If you cook something, LEAVE it in the Microwave or on the stove(with the heat off) until it has cooled enough not to be dangerous. I'm so glad this didn't happen to one of my kids and let me tell you, after watching me go through this they are VERY careful with hot/warm food. We've now had chats about bacon grease, hot oil, hot water etc.. ) All it would have taken is 2 minutes for me to WAIT for it to cool down and I wouldn't have gotten the severe burns that I got.

Even if ONE of you thinks of my mistake anytime in the future and it saves you from the pain I'm going through, then it will be worth the pain I'm going through right now. If you have kids or grandkids, TALK TO THEM ABOUT Mahonri! Use me as a bad example! Save someone from pain!
All of that said, I have faith in your prayers. I know that God answers heartfelt prayers... if you can continue to remember me when you are thanking the Lord for all of the multiple blessings we receive in this greatest country on earth, I'd be very grateful.

Thanks..

next post egg update.

 

[Arielle]

Totally. I listen (and can repeat back) all the ridiciously boring things he chatters on about. He should care what's happening to my internet friends.
In other news, my phone charged enough to take a few pics.
Duck 1.

Duck 2

Runner ducks dont need WATER-water, Right? Like a kiddie pool or a big trough might be enough to splash around in?

I have 3 muscovy, don't know how they compare to the runners, and mine get a kids plastic sandbox filled with water. I dump every few days and refill. Yucky yucky water. They also get water from puddles like the chickens.

 

[tazcat70]

And den? Was you looking over the fence today?
TAZCAT: I forgot to ask...what are the blueish eggs?

My Easter Eggers.

I just love my EE's. The rooster is also an EE that hatched from a lovely blue egg.

 

[Wisher1000]

I have a small creek on my property. If I were to accidently include some duck eggs in my hatch, would the little duckies find their way to the creek and back to the coop to sleep? The creek is about 100 yards from the coop and the area between is wooded. I would not want the ducks to spend much time in the woods due to predators but the creek would be delightful for them. How far do free range ducks go?

 

[dsqard]

Laree very cute ducklings. If they weren't so messy, I would be tempted but I MUST RESIST.

HortonFarms you have all just reminded us what we will all be seeing in a little over three weeks. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO cute!

Mahonri, glad to hear that you are getting some good medicine and thank you for the advice. I know I will be thinking about this the next time I take a hot pot off the stove (and no Linda, I am not being a suck up

) I hope she gave you a scrip for the Silvadene. Really is great stuff. I hear you about you being glad that it wasn't one of the kids. I think you would have felt more pain if it had happened to your DD. Prayers to you to get better fast!

AKMichelle, what kind of turkey eggs you got? I am definitely in on the apres Paques dindon eclore (prolly put those in the wrong order, high school French was YEARS ago

) I would love to get another heritage breed.