Maine

[islandgirl82]

I was wondering if perhaps he'd been dumped out of a moving car, but your later posts indicated that to not be an issue. Have you had an opportunity to check his feet closely?

Hello Lazy Gardener! I gave him a bath last night which he was really good about despite my inexperience with handling such a large rooster and he's been letting me get closer to him and touching him more during the days. He's not the least bit aggressive but still very cautious. I have started a thread about his recovery and someone mentioned there that the red in his legs is hormone related. He's moving around much better but I still haven't been able to hold his feet still to see them well. I think it'll be something we'll have to work up to.

 

[MainerChick]

Hubby and I just heard peeping from the incubator... Eee!!

 

[sewchick]

If anyone is interested in some wood for a coop.... there is some used plywood from skateboard ramps. It's free. Looks like quite a bit and maybe you could make something unique. Looks like newer wood.
http://maine.craigslist.org/zip/5587055769.html
I hope I am on the Maine board. The ramps are in Auburn, Maine.

 

[buckabucka]

Hubby and I just heard peeping from the incubator... Eee!!

e

 

[MainerChick]

So no sounds at all today. I'm concerned that whatever was making progress yesterday may have failed at some key point. Sad, but I think the broody in the barn is doing OK with hers. There's a silkie that just started to horde eggs as well.

I'll leave the incubator running for a few more days to see if anything hatches out. But after that I'll have to call this a learning experience and think about buying the other thermostat people have suggested.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Anyone want any guinea or turkey eggs (all mutts) to hatch?

Guineas I have a mix of the light blue/grey, the purple and the french black and white spotted bigger guineas. The turkeys are a black spanish and blue slate tom over bourbon red hens.

 

[lazy gardener]

MC, sometimes chicks will be active then rest up for the big push to hatch... Other times... not so much. Got any pips? What have you been running temp and humidity at? Have you calibrated thermometers, hygrometers, and checked all areas of the bator? Using a turner or hand turning?

 

[lazy gardener]

Lovely weather, eh??? Garden is doing well, in spite of it. Any one had luck selling birds on craig's list? How difficult is it to list stuff? I'm thinning the flock to make room for new pullets. May end up taking some of them to the TSC swap next weekend. Never done that either. If any one has had experience in either venue, please let me know how it went for you.

I've got constant attention from red tail hawks this season. I also think there is some land predator hanging around, though I've not seen it, or signs of it. Jack is doing a lot of warning trills and growling. Sometimes 10 minutes at a time.

 

[MainerChick]

I have no visible pips. I think my original calculation of when day 21 was would be off. The eggs went in the night of 5/22. So maybe it would really be today. Regardless, no pips and no other sounds from the incubator so far. I have run it as close as possible to 101, using three thermometers. One is the analog that came with it. Second is a digital combined therm/hygro, and then a second digital therm/hygro in celsius that I've been trying to keep around 37.6, because of it being a still-air. I definitely had a couple days where temperature was a problem, spiking too high, it was a day where Maine weather just drilled the sunlight onto my little trailer and the a/c wasn't on. There was one night where the temp dropped to 98 degrees for a little bit as well. I have no way to be certain, but I suspect that may have doomed this hatch. Humidity ran in the 30% range +/-5% until lockdown, when I added water to both channels and it ran between 60-70%. Though that's more of a guess as the hygros disagree with each other by almost 10%. Any suggestions as to how long to let it run before giving everything a respectful sendoff?

Edited to add that I used an auto-turner for the second half of things, after getting tired of manual turning 3-5x/day every day.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Lovely weather, eh??? Garden is doing well, in spite of it. Any one had luck selling birds on craig's list? How difficult is it to list stuff? I'm thinning the flock to make room for new pullets. May end up taking some of them to the TSC swap next weekend. Never done that either. If any one has had experience in either venue, please let me know how it went for you.

I've got constant attention from red tail hawks this season. I also think there is some land predator hanging around, though I've not seen it, or signs of it. Jack is doing a lot of warning trills and growling. Sometimes 10 minutes at a time.

Lots of people who want to scam you on Craigslist. I listed my pullets for something like 5 or 10 dollars each and I had someone come out to the house and insist I listed them at 5 or 10 dollars for THE WHOLE FLOCK and tried to pressure me into that price. Others that contacted me had no idea anything about birds nor how to keep them safe and healthy and I refused to sell to them. It killed a little part of my soul and I no longer sell birds there.

I wish you good luck, but the best luck I've had is at the swaps. Generally you're getting someone who knows what they're doing and is looking for birds. For some reason my experience is the opposite on Craigslist.

For what it's worth a few weeks ago I posted a bunch of free stuff on Craigslist, and despite putting the town I lived in and "I do not deliver, you must pick up or meet me somewhere near me that I agree to" over half the respondents asked me if I'd deliver and/or where I lived and then were shocked (shocked, I tell you) to find out that I lived so far away. MY TOWN WAS IN THE ORIGINAL POST. GET WITH IT, PEOPLE.

My best CL responses come when I add that you must use proper English (ie if you think "u" is a word, don't bother to reply to me). I'm serious, I get people I can actually deal with when I do that. It might be elitist, but being overly lax with grammar and spelling really raises my blood pressure. Figure if you're getting something free out of it I at least shouldn't get a stroke.