Ended Official BYC Mini Contest - What is Your Hobby?

[CindyinSD]

I had the hobby of gray eggs, but a skunk wiped me out...View attachment 1971953
Now my passion is making incubators, I have made them from plastic coffee cans, to water jugs, wooden boxes, coolers, you name it, if I think I can make it into an incubator, I probably have, or thought about it.View attachment 1971955 View attachment 1971979 One thing I don't do in making my incubators, is I don't do wiring, I use a lamp of some sort, with foil, to keep it from getting too hot, and most incubators, I have made were only 15w. I also still air, and in a smaller box like this one I have dry hatched.

Really cool! How well have they been performing for you?

 

[gimmie birdies]

Very nice- the little box with the egg on the front, is retired, but I was getting 6/6 and hatched about 49 in that one.

 

[CindyinSD]

Very nice- the little box with the egg on the front, is retired, but I was getting 6/6 and hatched about 49 in that one.

Wow! Impressive.

 

[gimmie birdies]

These were some of my hatched birds and incubator that ended up in a magazine.

 

[N F C]

View attachment 1972118 View attachment 1972119 View attachment 1972120 View attachment 1972126 These were some of my hatched birds and incubator that ended up in a magazine.

The picture of the chick in a tea cup is precious

 

[CindyinSD]

View attachment 1972118 View attachment 1972119 View attachment 1972120 View attachment 1972126 These were some of my hatched birds and incubator that ended up in a magazine.

Ohmygoodness SO cute!

 

[N F C]

Just a reminder...

Entries will be accepted through Monday, the 9th of December.

 

[Kluk-Kluk]

ENTRY #1 - Photography

I was composing images in my head since I was a child. This was during the days of Instamatic cameras, but my dad would not allow me to buy one of these "toys"; he insisted I buy an SLR camera for my first camera, and those were expensive! But I worked and worked and saved my money until I had enough to buy a Minolta SR-T 101 when I was 17. I was hooked. I took photos of nature, of people, of my surroundings, of my family. I even took some self-portraits decades before "selfies" became a thing.

I went on to college, where I got a B.S. in Biology, but during my last semester, I took an electron microscopy class. In that class, you couldn't see anything through the electron microscope; you could only take photos on film, then develop the B&W film and make prints. When introduced to the darkroom, I was captivated. I graduated in Biology, then went back to college for Professional Photography.

Sadly, photography is not my job, not my source of income. I ended up being a technical writer for photography companies and wrote about photography and photo equipment, among other things. I often submitted photos to my employers and ended up having photos published in, for example, the Minolta Mirror magazine and on the Kodak website as well as in their marketing materials.

I have taken many mission trips through my church and Christian groups. Usually I serve as the official photographer for the group. Then I submit my photos to the organization to use as they wish. I didn't gain any financial benefit, though years later, I've been sent on all-expense-paid trips to Kenya, Ethiopia, Honduras, and Cambodia in exchange for taking photos for the organizations. I have a website of my photos (www.verasytch.com) and I have an Instagram account with my humanitarian photos, though I photograph a large variety of subjects.

Last fall I photographed my daughter's wedding:

I love photographing nature:

And, of course, I take photos of my chickens. I've been lucky enough to have my chicken photos selected for your calendars three different years, including the 2020 calendar.

Why do I want to win yet another calendar? Because I use one to track my chickens' egg production. My daughter grabbed my extra one that I had to take with her as she moved away from home after her wedding. And I really want to give one as a present to the woman from whom I've purchased most of my chickens.

My dream is to use my photography skills more for humanitarian organizations in the future since I no longer work as a technical writer.

 

[N F C]

Beautiful photos @Kluk-Kluk

 

[NajmoNests]

Hobby Entry #3: Hatching Chicks

It's probably a given that one of my hobbies is chickens but I hit an extreme this year and hatching chicks has been more of an addiction than a hobby, lol. I hatched somewhere around 130 chicks, 6 turkey poults, 3 goslings, 3 peachicks, and 2 quail, all this year in my little tabletop incubators.

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