Maine

[annabananaandfamily]

Whew! Time for a breather! I coached 2 Odyssey of the Mind teams this year and we had competitions on the 17th and 24th. I am very happy to say that my team that competed on the 17th came in 4th and the team that competed on the 24th came in 7th, but 2nd place in spontaneous. Most probably wont know what Odyssey is, so i will just give you a brief explanation. I had 2 teams with 7 kids per team that had to work together to solve a problem by creating a skit and focusing on a few aspects of the problem they would be judged on. One team I had chose to do the problem that required them to create a structe made out of balsa wood and weighing no more than 12grams that would hold as much weight as possible. They also had to create a device that would demonstrate a mathmatical function and a skit to incorporate it all. The other team did a NASA sponsored problem where they had to chose a photo from NASA's website showing "mysterious events" and create a skit that showed the explanation/solution to those events. They also had to create a device that would collect 2 samples and they had to come up with a say to show movement from one location to another in their skit. I have worked with these teams since the begining of October and have been exhausted since we started

. Anyway, I am just so happy with the work they put into it and how they did at their competitions. But I am also really happy to have some free time now to work on stuff around here!!! The chicken compound, as my husband calls it, needs some finishing touches. We have coops already up and ready for our current flock, the chicks (

) we get fromt he eggs in the incubator, and the meaties that are currently in the basement, but I really want to get a coat of paint on all of them. The pens for all the coops are up as well, and we just need to tweek the design on a couple things.

I am SOOOOO excited for the swap this weekend! I cant wait to see what everyone has and try to resist buying all of it I am hoping to find a couple of started pullets (isnt everyone?) and a couple of Cayuga ducklings. Hopefully I will have my own stuff to contribute to all of this in a couple of months!!!

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend!



Edited to add:
I candled some of the eggs that I have set for our first ever hatch and I am VERY excited to say that there are several that even my inexperienced self can identify as growing! Even more exciting to me is that I candled the one egg from our own chickens that I tossed ina day late just as an to see if it would do anything and ITS DEVELOPING!!!!!! WOOOHOOO! So that will be a little barred rock/cochin cross! Hope it works!

 

[hoppy]

my friend's daughter's team came in 2nd state wide for this OOM event. maybe you know each other?

very excited for this weeked too. I'll be glad to get some of my wild wayward chickens moved out- they like to escape their pens and leave unwanted presents everywhere!! thankfully I can hose the place down.
very good on the developing eggs!!

 

[hoppy]

McKenney,
glad your son likes the chicks but then again, who doesn't like chicks???

 

[PollyC]

I think I have lost 72 eggs that I had in incubators. We lost our power for 5 hours and the temps got down to 75 degrees even though I had them wrapped in a double layer of blankets. I bought eggs from all over and now have to start all over. I am bumming big time. I did take them to a friends after she got home from work and put them into her big sportsman but I am not holding my breath for them to hatch. Some were due to hatch this weekend.

 

[Widget]

Don't panic just yet. Some may have perished but you may still get a good hatch. The little peeps may decide to take an extra day or two to show themselves but who could blame them with the winter temperatures that we have again. I know I prefer to stay in where it is warm.

I think I have lost 72 eggs that I had in incubators. We lost our power for 5 hours and the temps got down to 75 degrees even though I had them wrapped in a double layer of blankets. I bought eggs from all over and now have to start all over. I am bumming big time. I did take them to a friends after she got home from work and put them into her big sportsman but I am not holding my breath for them to hatch. Some were due to hatch this weekend.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

I think I have lost 72 eggs that I had in incubators. We lost our power for 5 hours and the temps got down to 75 degrees even though I had them wrapped in a double layer of blankets. I bought eggs from all over and now have to start all over. I am bumming big time. I did take them to a friends after she got home from work and put them into her big sportsman but I am not holding my breath for them to hatch. Some were due to hatch this weekend.

Don't worry about it. I've had hens off their nests, stone cold eggs, unplugged incubator... and I've had good hatches.

 

[Coldweatherbirds]

ooops

 

[Coldweatherbirds]

HATCHING HELP​

My eggs are pipping early!!!! Lots of peeping and one pip in there. I know that the incubator got too hot during those warm days we had here in Maine, and this can cause them to pip early (they aren't due until Wednesday). But.... I also hear that when they hatch early they are more likely to still have external yolks.

1. If I get up in the morning and come across external yolks, what am I supposed to do?

2. Last time I hatched the first out were knocking the other eggs all over the place. I finally caved in and took the chicks out. I think I may have shrinkwrapped some o the slower hatchers with that choice (don't know for sure), but wouldn't they have died also from getting tossed around and trying to reorient themselves? Has anyone tried both methods and found one to a better hatching technique?





Thank you!

 

[superchemicalgirl]

HATCHING HELP​

My eggs are pipping early!!!! Lots of peeping and one pip in there. I know that the incubator got too hot during those warm days we had here in Maine, and this can cause them to pip early (they aren't due until Wednesday). But.... I also hear that when they hatch early they are more likely to still have external yolks.

1. If I get up in the morning and come across external yolks, what am I supposed to do?

2. Last time I hatched the first out were knocking the other eggs all over the place. I finally caved in and took the chicks out. I think I may have shrinkwrapped some o the slower hatchers with that choice (don't know for sure), but wouldn't they have died also from getting tossed around and trying to reorient themselves? Has anyone tried both methods and found one to a better hatching technique?





Thank you!

I leave the chicks alone if they look weird... had a few that still had large bellies and left them alone and they did fine. They mostly sleep for 24 to 48 hours after they get into the brooder.

I also leave the chicks until the bator is full, then quickly scoop in and get the chicks out, I only do this as needed and try to do it only once before the end of the hatch. I've been afraid that chicks will lose eyes or get hurt, but no one ever seems to... luckily.

 

[klf73]

another thing is if you need to open the bator I fill my spray bottle with warm water and spray the interior if I have to open it. I don't do it often but this helps keep the humidity high enough during hatch if I need to open the bator