Official Squatch Watchers

[apryl29]

Yes!

Yay!!! Congrats

So I think my free rare chick might be a derp! View attachment 1801269

Good luck! LOL Love the cheeks!

That is where I got all my birds from in the 80's! The little free rooster one time was a Sultan, bred every hen, no matter how much bigger than him they were! You can't believe how cute the OrpingtonxSultan chicks were!

William is little but doesn't discriminate against the big girls either. He jumps on everyone, no matter how big.

Good morning folks.

After all the good news yesterday, time for some bad news. The well guy didn't finish up yesterday and because it is raining today and the main thing left is wiring the pump, he won't be out to finish the job. Electricity + rain = bad. Hopefully he can find a gap in the rain to get the work done tomorrow.

As far as the keets go. All 10 eggs hatched. The last egg that hatched had severe intestinal abnormalities (a lot of it was outside its body) and died right away. The 3 that hatched before that (all needed assistance getting out of their shells probably due to shrink wrapping) have splay leg. Those chicks seem to be doing pretty well now that I hobbled them with vet wrap. After throwing minor "HEY! Get this off me!" hissy fits, they all found their feet and are able to stand upright and move around. The last that is still in the incubator is breech keet. Poor thing is having a hard time keeping its feet under its body. It isn't splay legged, just can't keep upright very well. It is doing a little better now so I haven't decided to cull breech keet yet. but it isn't as hopeful as the 3 splay legged keets. I'll be looking into moving the 3 splay legged keets to the brooder this afternoon. If breech keet can't keep up or isn't doing markedly better, I'm going to have to cull the poor thing.

Sad about the keet, but it sounds like you had a good hatch otherwise. Hopefully the breech one gets better. Are you selling or keeping?
I hope the well guy gets done soon. Are they still wiring the internet today?

Good morning everyone! Hoping for rain soon. Have not had any in weeks!

You can have some of ours. Free!

 

[ronott1]

Good morning folks.

After all the good news yesterday, time for some bad news. The well guy didn't finish up yesterday and because it is raining today and the main thing left is wiring the pump, he won't be out to finish the job. Electricity + rain = bad. Hopefully he can find a gap in the rain to get the work done tomorrow.

As far as the keets go. All 10 eggs hatched. The last egg that hatched had severe intestinal abnormalities (a lot of it was outside its body) and died right away. The 3 that hatched before that (all needed assistance getting out of their shells probably due to shrink wrapping) have splay leg. Those chicks seem to be doing pretty well now that I hobbled them with vet wrap. After throwing minor "HEY! Get this off me!" hissy fits, they all found their feet and are able to stand upright and move around. The last that is still in the incubator is breech keet. Poor thing is having a hard time keeping its feet under its body. It isn't splay legged, just can't keep upright very well. It is doing a little better now so I haven't decided to cull breech keet yet. but it isn't as hopeful as the 3 splay legged keets. I'll be looking into moving the 3 splay legged keets to the brooder this afternoon. If breech keet can't keep up or isn't doing markedly better, I'm going to have to cull the poor thing.

It might help to calibrate the incubator. Since they were early, it might be a bit too hot. That can cause hatch problems.

It was a good hatch though. Brinsea incubators can be so good at incubating that chicks that would not have made it in other incubators will hatch and then you see problems like the malformed intestine chick

 

[Redhead Rae]

Sad about the keet, but it sounds like you had a good hatch otherwise. Hopefully the breech one gets better. Are you selling or keeping?
I hope the well guy gets done soon. Are they still wiring the internet today?

I'm going to be selling. I want some guineas for our property once we get over there, but I don't want to brood them right now. I may keep some of the broody raised guineas. My internet got put in yesterday and it works. It's nice to be able to text down to the house now!

It might help to calibrate the incubator. Since they were early, it might be a bit too hot. That can cause hatch problems.

It was a good hatch though. Brinsea incubators can be so good at incubating that chicks that would not have made it in other incubators will hatch and then you see problems like the malformed intestine chick

I didn't calibrate the Brinsea because it was so reliable last year. Maybe I should have. I set it at 37.5 C, which is what I had it for chicks. I don't know if that is too warm for guineas (though I have hens trying to hatch guineas right now).

I love my Brinsea, I've been kicking myself since I bought it because I didn't spend the extra $100 to get the 54 egg one rather than just the 28. I think the splay leg has more to do with assist hatching and humidity in the last few days than the temp.

 

[ronott1]

I'm going to be selling. I want some guineas for our property once we get over there, but I don't want to brood them right now. I may keep some of the broody raised guineas

I didn't calibrate the Brinsea because it was so reliable last year. Maybe I should have. I set it at 37.5 C, which is what I had it for chicks. I don't know if that is too warm for guineas (though I have hens trying to hatch guineas right now).

I love my Brinsea, I've been kicking myself since I bought it because I didn't spend the extra $100 to get the 54 egg one rather than just the 28. I think the splay leg has more to do with assist hatching and humidity in the last few days than the temp.

I love my Brinsea octagon 40!

 

[Redhead Rae]

I love my Brinsea octagon 40!

I have an Ovation 28 EX. I LOVE it!.... except that it is too small.

 

[ronott1]

I have an Ovation 28 EX. I LOVE it!.... except that it is too small.

When my Octagon quits working, I will likely get the bigger version of the ovation

 

[Redhead Rae]

When my Octagon quits working, I will likely get the bigger version of the ovation

Spend the extra for the EX which has a humidity pump. It is amazing. I just need to check the glass of water next to the incubator every once in a while.

 

[ronott1]

Spend the extra for the EX which has a humidity pump. It is amazing. I just need to check the glass of water next to the incubator every once in a while.

I have the humidity pump that works with the octagon and I love it!

 

[Redhead Rae]

I have the humidity pump that works with the octagon and I love it!

The EX humidity pump is built right into the incubator, which is really nice.

 

[Parront]

Green with jealousy over all these incubators! No roosters where we are going. But I might have to get some fertile eggs to hatch! Some local AZ people -- so I do not have them scrambled by our P.O.