Nevadans?

[wolftracks]

I got 3 more OEs hatched yesterday. I also had about 50 shipped Marans and got 2 chicks! Bummer! These look like Clyde was the daddy. I think I see tinny muffs. More shipped eggs in the Sportsman. I spent more than I could afford for all these Marans.

 

[sherylreno]

Oh darn it Kim. I hope it goes better for you next time. Perhaps you can get some from Sunny later on and hatch those instead?

I bought an incubator today. It's not a hova bator, it's an LG with an automatic egg turner and fan too. I know you get less to hatch but they don't carry the hova bator here in Reno. Let's just hope it all goes well win I put the eggs in it.

 

[wolftracks]

Sheryl I actually get better hatches in my LG than my Sportsman, but I use 2 LGs for hatchers too. My problem with these hatches was shipped eggs. I know the one shipment was doomed, but was hoping the others would make it or do better. Now that my birds are laying again I can't wait to get some to hatch out.

But don't be discouraged with an LG. They work if you set them and then not keep adjusting. That's the biggest problem most have with them. Not the incubator it's the operator. Just play with it a bit before you set any eggs.

 

[chicharomirinda]

I got 3 more OEs hatched yesterday. I also had about 50 shipped Marans and got 2 chicks! Bummer! These look like Clyde was the daddy. I think I see tinny muffs. More shipped eggs in the Sportsman. I spent more than I could afford for all these Marans.

sorry you had such a rough hatch.

I think sunny had a horrible time trying to hatch shipped marans eggs also.

 

[americanvalkyrie]

Sheryl, have your ducks given you any more eggs? How is an LG incubator rated? Sahara wants to hatch eggs, but I don't want to spend over $100 on something, when we don't have the capacity to keep multiple hatches. Maybe I'll hatch vicariously through other people's forum posts.

Kim, that just plain stinks about your Marans hatch rate! I'm noticing a trend here... people trying to hatch Marans and being disappointed. Is there a lower hatch rate for them, or is everyone just getting crummy luck with expensive eggs?

Elizabeth, when mine started, I got one egg... a few days later another egg... hours and hours of chickens singing the egg song... dogs letting me know that there was a lot of a suspicious new sound going on... then within a few weeks at the most they were all popping out breakfast. The 3 faverolles started laying within the same week, and the Delaware about two weeks later.

Now, I rarely ever hear clucking out there. They just drop an egg and get on with life. Today, after catching eggs in the same nesting box since October, I found one 3 inches away. I guess when you gotta go, you just gotta go?

 

[wolftracks]

OH since I have a lot of birds that aren't separated yet I did a 24 hr auction. All eggs laid from today till I ship out wednesday. Wouldn't ya know I got 9 eggs today! Dang birds gave me eggs for my birthday. LOL I think it's going to take every dime to ship them. LOL

 

[aubreynoramarie]

for the love of god you guys dont buy any more bators! I have one that ill probably never use again that we can all share

Missy i spent well over 80 dollars on eggs for one hatch and have done two seperate full bator hatches and have only had ONE chick of about 60 hatch. Oddly enough the one chick is my lovely marans, Baby.
I have some girls that never make a peep but i also have some that make sure the entire universe knows what they just did. So funny

 

[SunnyDawn]

Hi everyone! Thank you so much for the condolences. I am feeling better today. Yesterday I was a total mess. I know it was much much better for my mom to not have to suffer but I am selfish enough to have wanted a little more time. Plus it was my son's 21st birthday yesterday and I felt like the worst person on the planet having to give him that kind of news on his birthday (he was super close to his grandma). He had a party planned last weekend and canceled it to come down here to Reno to see her for a couple of days.

My Dad is having a terrible time of it. The only time I've ever seen him cry in my life is a few happy tears. Now it is heart wrenching to see how lost and so so sad he is. They have been married since they were teenagers and were one of those ridiculously sappy couples that still adored each other after all these years. Sorry if I'm making anyone feel uncomfortable. Guess I need to talk to someone.

No response needed though. Part of the circle of life and all that. Really not a dang thing anyone can say at a time like this anyway. I know time will heal all. OK enough of this sad stuff. My Mom would be shocked to hear me talking like this. I've never been good at talking about "my feelings". Well some feelings I'm good at expressing, like when I'm ticked off. lol


Missy, I'm afraid that you are correct about the marans eggs. One of the drawbacks to the super hard shell of the marans is the lower hatch rate. Only the toughest chicks can get through that thick, hard shell. Anyone that has hatched them alongside other breeds knows the difference. My EEs and ameraucanas hatched super easy with a fantastic hatch rate but even my own marans eggs had a lower hatch rate. Shipped eggs are even tougher because the PO is so rough with the boxes.

Marans are also known for their very uniformly shaped eggs that are often so round it is hard to tell which end is up resulting in eggs being set upside down when using an automatic turner (and trust me you don't want to do this by hand 3 times a day unless you're only hatching a few). The dark shells make it impossible to see the air sac. If you can you're hatching eggs that are not that dark and, of course, everyone wants to shoot for the chocolate colored eggs.

Of course that hard, non-porous shell is what keeps marans eggs fresh for so long and that is one reason that they are so sought after. It's a trade-off. Ah well. If they were easy to hatch they wouldn't be as fun. I like a challenge. I don't think I'll try shipped eggs again though! After seeing all these videos lately about how fragile packages are handled I'm surprised anything ever hatches when eggs are shipped!


Happy Birthday Kim! Yours is right between my oldest and youngest. My DD was born on Feb. 6th and my DS was born on the 2nd (ground hog's day). All these Aquarians! I've been surrounded by them my whole life. My brother is an Aquarian, my 2 kids are and my step-son is on the cusp. I get along very well with most all Aquarians.


Congrats on the new bator, Sheryl! But please! No more talk about Balut!

 

[wolftracks]

Sunny I'll have to run down all of our Aquarians to you when I'm more awake.

I was never good at feeling either. I did it a little after my mom died, but getting hit so fast with my dad dying 9 days later I was just in a fog. It was just starting to clear a bit and then Bill. Worse 53 days of my life. Now it's his birthday. I don't think I'm going to make it to the cemetery. Maybe, but I haven't been able to go to sleep. Just so you know. Time doesn't heal it. Parents are hard, kids are very hard. I still cry after losing Gabriel and it's been 22 years. Those of us with the sappy marriages? I have no idea when it gets better. I hear it gets different. I used to be a strong person, but then I had this other stronger person that was like the other half of me and losing that is worse than losing half of yourself. It makes you feel so incomplete, it's not even something you can explain. It's something that I wouldn't wish even on my worse enemy. The thing is if one spouse dies, the one left behind is the one left in pain. And you don't even have to have the sappy marriage to go through it the same way. Your dad is going to have a really hard time. Just listen when he needs an ear and talk about your mom when he can handle it. I think the thing that bothers me the most is when people don't mention Bill. Like holidays or birthdays or whatever. You start to feel like they didn't exist, or didn't matter. And then comes the times when people think you need to get over it and move on. Makes you want to smack them. Notice I'm not using the words I'd use if I wasn't in a family forum? LOL And I know you know that it doesn't matter if it's expected. I don't know how many times I've heard someone say that so and so knew it was going to happen so they should have been prepared. That doesn't make the loss any easier. A long drug out illness or something sudden, it doesn't matter. I guess it seems good in theory, but reality sucks! Oh and don't expect him to ask for anything. If he needs something done, it's better to just do it. Anyone can say to let them know if you need them, but it's a hard thing to do. Don't know how many people said that to me. I just couldn't ask. I figured if they wanted to do something for me, just do it, because sometimes you really don't realize it needs done or you just can ask for the help.

Okie dokie. I've done my rambling for now. Almost 4:30, so I'm going to TRY to get some sleep. Love you

 

[Penturner]

Welcome back Sunny. Kim will say to you what I said to Sunny in a PM. You don't get over. you get through. and you eventually learn to live WITH it. So for all those that sound like you should move on. let them carry the bag for a while and see how will they do with it. Otherwise you just keep on keeping on with what you found works. My mother gave me a wonderful piece of advice that I use often. "When nothing works, do nothing" It is important at times like these to know when nothing can be done. Because at those times it is important to do nothing with a purpose.

Sunny, I almost sent this in a PM but decided to do it here in front of God and everyone instead. I have a request and I don't really know why. It is one of those being lead sort of things. But when you find it, and find it in yourself. Will you sing a song to your mother for me? I don't have to hear it. Nobody has to hear it. And you can do it when you are ready. Now this is the being lead part. These words are not from me or my knowledge. On the day you can sing that song. Sing it like it lives in you, the way you imagine it. that is the day you know you have found your way through. You may question the truth of those words even then. But this is your sign. your proof that you have made it. Kim speaks of it in her post above. Sometimes events change us and we are never really sure we have come through. We are not the same, we carry scars now. So this is your confirmation that you are who you are going to be now. So don't push it, don't force yourself. let it be pure and from yourself. It will come because the healing will come. When it does you will sing just as you know singing should be.

Kim, You have every right to continue to love those you have lost. and if the cost of that love is living in sorrow. It is your right to choose to suffer that sorrow. Others can make their own choices in regard to this. But they have no right to expect you to make the same choices. You are true and loyal, never accept anyones advice to abandon that.