November Hatch-A-Long (2014)

[rachelpotter]

Breathing in a bag...

Oh boy does all that sounds familiar! Not just with PO employees though. I'm starting to think there's something in the water around here LOL I sent a note to my sons teacher today asking how he's supposed to know words are misspelled on the homework he was given if he can't spell them in the first place. He just started 1st grade and these were not basic 'just learning to read' words. Just amazing.

How many more days do you have before arrival? I have one batch out for delivery today. One in Pennsylvania and one still in Florida. I'm in Oregon lol so they've got a little ways to come still. I think almost all my eggs came from Florida. Floridians must be silkie fanatics

I have one batch coming out of Salem, OR. I paid for the fastest shipping on those. So those I was worried could show up late today? ( 2 day shipping... when does that exactly start?) One set coming out of NY and the other Georgia should be here tomorrow I think... OR perhaps Saturday... which means I need to drive back into town. ( I live 30 minutes from where I work... had eggs shipped to work city since I live in the boonies)


For other entertainment....

Funny story ( now it is anyway...) This am we went to the new coop to check on the 5 weekers we put in the brooder box last night. Kids wanted to come with me (5 and 8). Against my better judgement I said ok. We needed to leave for school/work in about 15 minutes and were just going to go down and peek and make sure everyone was doing great . My 5 year old decided she wanted to check for early eggs in the big coop/horse stalls we have right now. Two Americaunas were up on the top of the stall and pooped on her. Not- "cute well -form- eww I got some poo on me" kind of poop... the Loose splattery watery kind. I turned to look and she had it ON HER FACE.. just under her mouth. ( trying not to panic) and then when I looked closer... on her jacket, her hand, her shoulder and ALL DOWN HER HAIR.

It took a good 20 minutes to clean her up.


Yup. That was MY morning.

 

[darkbluespace]

I think this is a safe place for me to admit this...


I'm refreshing the tracking info on my three boxes of eggs like every 5 minutes... Its insanity....


So far I just have departure info. If I'm this bad now.. how in the heck am I going to make it through 21 days...

Many times I feel I just can't wait for eggs to arrive, develop, hatch, grow, lay... and I cause myself stress. Then I remember that I am doing this because I love it, so I try to let myself enjoy the process. It's all about the journey, not the destination... right?!

 

[rachelpotter]

Many times I feel I just can't wait for eggs to arrive, develop, hatch, grow, lay... and I cause myself stress. Then I remember that I am doing this because I love it, so I try to let myself enjoy the process. It's all about the journey, not the destination... right?!

Thanks for the reminder!


I see you were part of the Serama Hatch along? I have some Serama eggs coming... any words of advice?

 

[Sustained]

I have one batch coming out of Salem, OR. I paid for the fastest shipping on those. So those I was worried could show up late today? ( 2 day shipping... when does that exactly start?) One set coming out of NY and the other Georgia should be here tomorrow I think... OR perhaps Saturday... which means I need to drive back into town. ( I live 30 minutes from where I work... had eggs shipped to work city since I live in the boonies)


For other entertainment....

Funny story ( now it is anyway...) This am we went to the new coop to check on the 5 weekers we put in the brooder box last night. Kids wanted to come with me (5 and 8). Against my better judgement I said ok. We needed to leave for school/work in about 15 minutes and were just going to go down and peek and make sure everyone was doing great . My 5 year old decided she wanted to check for early eggs in the big coop/horse stalls we have right now. Two Americaunas were up on the top of the stall and pooped on her. Not- "cute well -form- eww I got some poo on me" kind of poop... the Loose splattery watery kind. I turned to look and she had it ON HER FACE.. just under her mouth. ( trying not to panic) and then when I looked closer... on her jacket, her hand, her shoulder and ALL DOWN HER HAIR.

It took a good 20 minutes to clean her up.


Yup. That was MY morning.

Okay, first I'd like to say that would really suck at the time. But I've had mornings similar and that made me laugh so hard that my face hurts! I'm a firm believer that I would lead a very dull existence without kids. Although I'd possibly be more sane

 

[darkbluespace]

Thanks for the reminder!


I see you were part of the Serama Hatch along? I have some Serama eggs coming... any words of advice?

Just so you know, I posted that before I read about the poop in the hair, etc. What a morning!!



Did you get Castle Delight eggs? I have not figured out the magic formula for Serama eggs yet : ( I am trying my first non-dry (40%) hatch because the eggs I got were very small. I am on day 19, so I should know how it worked out in the next couple of days...

One batch of Serama eggs I got were two sizes, one size quite large and some quite small and I should have had humidity a little higher, at least for the smaller eggs... none of the tiny eggs that made it to lockdown hatched but I did have 9 hatch out of 13 total that made it to lockdown. My best Serama hatches have been under a broody so if you have any of those I would definitely use them! Good luck!! I LOVE the new brooder too!

 

[rachelpotter]

Just so you know, I posted that before I read about the poop in the hair, etc. What a morning!!



Did you get Castle Delight eggs? I have not figured out the magic formula for Serama eggs yet : ( I am trying my first non-dry (40%) hatch because the eggs I got were very small. I am on day 19, so I should know how it worked out in the next couple of days...

One batch of Serama eggs I got were two sizes, one size quite large and some quite small and I should have had humidity a little higher, at least for the smaller eggs... none of the tiny eggs that made it to lockdown hatched but I did have 9 hatch out of 13 total that made it to lockdown. My best Serama hatches have been under a broody so if you have any of those I would definitely use them! Good luck!! I LOVE the new brooder too!

No. Just a seller I found through a Serama Facebook group. I was *thinking* about bidding on some young adult Seramas from PixieChick and decided against it. Then I saw some beautiful choclate seramas on the FB group for sale.. (old ad though) and when I contacted her she said she could/would ship eggs. So thats how I ended up with the dozen I have coming.

I am not sure what to expect out of this hatch. My FIRST hatch.... So many different breeds (I have Blue/Black Copper Marans, olive eggers, isbars, MAYBE some blue americauna, BBS Jersey Giants and the seramas. Needless to say I am expecting a full bator withOUT any extras they may send... trying to decide what to do about those!

Run to TSC for another bator? Try to fit them all in?

 

[Sustained]

I got another of my egg shipments today. The postal worker slipped on her way to my door and I'm pretty sure it cracked one of the eggs. The paper towel it was wrapped in was wet from the egg leaking. So since I was going to have to toss it anyway I cracked it to check for fertility. Definite bullseye. There were also some very small red bloodlike dots on the yolk and one in the white. Is that normal? I will put a pic of it up in a min. Have to use my phone and my phone app isn't letting me actually write posts. Just post pictures.

Anyway, another eggs had about half of a side cracked but didn't break the membrane so I put fingernail polish over it to see if I can get it to hatch anyway. That one has dirt in the cracks so I'm guessing it was packaged already cracked. So I will be setting 6 more silkie eggs tomorrow.

 

[Sustained]

 

[Sustained]

Run to TSC for another bator? Try to fit them all in?

I'd invest in another bator personally

 

[Dcat]

I really look forward to everyones posts and somehow forgot how exciting it is to be able to see the chicks progress. Yesterday I could see heartbeats but today I can't see them. I can however see the eyes! They just do little wiggled and I am really looking forward to being able to see them more formed and growing. I'm pretty sure im down to just 5 chicken eggs, one already quit and all the others look like clears. Giving it a few more days before I clear them out. So far this incubator is doing everything I hoped for, I closed p a couple of holes to see if it holds humidity better for lock down I stead of me having to add water so often. Right now keeping humidity between 30-50% and seeing how it keeps.