***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[Kassaundra]

Finally got the mint wine bottled (jarred since I put it in quart canning jars now, Gary calls it my "moonshine") I ended up w/ 9 quarts. Started another batch of green tomato wine, and dug some old frozen berries out of the freezer I had forgotten about, I'll be starting those into a berry wine.

 

[hotcurltr]

@lonnyandrinda your pictures just made my night. Your girls are so beautiful and what a beautiful farm life they're living.

X2 I sent u a PM, but I don't know if anything is going through on my computer. It keeps crashing. It did this before and I was going to take it in but never have.

 

[kelielliott]

@Kassaundraand @BetsyOK That seems to be the problem with everyone! Richard peters and John mcdaniels are both having the same problem! Thank you both for considering the club!

 

[SharkmanDan]

yes finish the hatch some will survive on the other problem it's a business some people just aren't trustworthy .I am a millright cabinet maker with my shop in the back yard if you supply me plan's and material I can make a cabinet battor hatcher free of charge.

I will likely take you up on that offer. I just need to get some redwood here. Unfortunately, finding redwood, in eastern Oklahoma, is difficult at best. I'll likely wait for my next trip to California, to bring some home, or, maybe do the door out of teak. Also good in a very moist environment.

 

[Kassaundra]

@Kassaundra and @BetsyOK That seems to be the problem with everyone! Richard peters and John mcdaniels are both having the same problem! Thank you both for considering the club!

Well I would have been just as happy left out of this club!

 

[mjgigax]

Sharkman, I think you're being generous with your assessment. I agree with the others--don't do business with this person!

me too, to unilaterally choose to keep all the EEs, to quote my Mom, "She's got a lot of nerve".

 

[mjgigax]

I just came in from my chicken chores and I have 24 chicks from the 51 eggs I put in the incubator, (38 making it to the hatcher). - not my best hatch rate

I got 9 chicks from the 23 eggs (1 cracked) from the Cowetta Auction's Orpington breeder's grow out pens. There were 9 white eggs and 14 lt. brown eggs - like Orpington eggs to begin with and at the end 6 from the white eggs and 3 from the lt. brown. Two eggs were rotten and 2 didn't develop and the rest quit at some point. I will sell the chicks from the white eggs and keep the 3 from the lt. brown eggs to raise and see if they turn out to be Orpingtons. One of them is brown like the 2 chicks that hatched that I know are pure Chocolate Orpington.
- Does this all make sence? -
That is my part of the saga of the eggs from Cowetta - "As the Egg Tray Turns"

 

[MrsDickey]

I just came in from my chicken chores and I have 24 chicks from the 51 eggs I put in the incubator, (38 making it to the hatcher). - not my best hatch rate

I got 9 chicks from the 23 eggs (1 cracked) from the Cowetta Auction's Orpington breeder's grow out pens. There were 9 white eggs and 14 lt. brown eggs - like Orpington eggs to begin with and at the end 6 from the white eggs and 3 from the lt. brown. Two eggs were rotten and 2 didn't develop and the rest quit at some point. I will sell the chicks from the white eggs and keep the 3 from the lt. brown eggs to raise and see if they turn out to be Orpingtons. One of them is brown like the 2 chicks that hatched that I know are pure Chocolate Orpington.
 - Does this all make sence? -
That is my part of the saga of the eggs from Cowetta - "As the Egg Tray Turns"

I got 9 out of the 12 to hatch. Cute little fluffy babies. 1 is chocolate on its back and yellow on its belly. 2 are solid yellow and the rest are a light chipmunk color. Sold some and kept the oddest colored ones.

 

[NanaKat]

In the continuing saga, of the redwood incubator.....
I think I likely will lose most, if not all, of my first batch of eggs. I had three different temp readings, from three different thermometers, aside from the STC1000. They each read somewhat differently, but differently enough, that if two of them were right, I probably overheated all of the eggs. I seem to have the calibration set now, but the first two days, I had temps, showing that at some point, it likely reached 104F. I now have the STC 1000 calibrated to the old school, glass bulb type of thermometer, that was in the incubator. But, I'm going to let the incubation go, for now, in hopes that it might have been wrong, in my favor. You The eggs have been in a week now. At what day, can I safely start to candle some, to look, and have an inexperienced eye, know for certain, one way, or the other? But, keeping it properly humid is also problematic. I am looking forward to buying or building, a modern fully automatic incubator & hatcher.

Next question. I guess it's more an etiquette question.
I sold a bunch of Ameracauna's to a local well known "Chicken Lady". She was impressed with the quality of my chicks. As it turned out, she had several large commercial cabinet incubators. We worked a deal, that she would hatch a bunch of my eggs, and we'd split the hatch, 50/50. A little over 3 weeks ago, I took her 139 eggs. A week later, another 60. She messaged me over the weekend, that they were hatching, and falling out, there were so many. Monday, she said that she was bringing my chicks, but that the hatch wasn't as good as she thought. She said that only 59 of the 120 that I took to her, had hatched. There was a problem, already. I took her 139, not 120. And, my hatch rate, on all previous hatches, with another hatcher, using the exact same equipment, was 96+%.

Considering that I am trying to get a good reputation, for breeding, in the area, and that she's been around here for a long time, I figure it's best not to "poke the bear" so to speak. I figure that it's best, if I simply fulfill my promises to her, and try to work on getting my own commercial type of incubator and hatcher. This Redwood one, is very nice, but needs a great deal of work, to make it furniture quality, it could use an automatic humidifier, and I really need to fit it with some Hovabator egg turners, to keep the eggs moving better.

At minimum, I'm not happy with her hatch rate, knowing the fertility rate of my eggs, is very high. At worst, she may have been deceitful, and hatched more than she said, but, to me, it's not worth the potential, of her bad-mouthing me, to raise a fuss about it. I have too much to lose, and very little to gain, if I were to make it an issue.
What sticks in my craw, though, is that, I had told her, that my niece and her husband, we're building a chicken coop, and their 2 year old son, is simply fascinated by the blue and green eggs, of my Ameracauna's. So, I wanted a bunch of them, to raise for my niece. When she showed up here, with my 30 chicks, she announced that "You know, your Easter Eggers are so nice, I just had to keep all of them. So, these are all either Rhode Island Reds, Cuckoo Marans or Australorps". I mentioned that my nephew was looking forward to some of the Ameracauna's, and she said, "Well, we'll get him some on the next hatch." Only, I don't plan, for there to be a "next hatch" with her. Either I can't trust her egg handling, or I can't trust her. Either way, I have about 120 eggs to go to incubation, in the next few days, and I'll be taking them to the person who hatched the first two rounds, at 96% & 98%. Because 50% of 96% of 120, is still better than doing business with someone who can't seem to hatch the eggs right.
Or, am I looking at it wrong? Your opinions have been great, at keeping me level headed, over this past year, of fowling around.

Candle your eggs between 8 and 10 days. You should see veins on those making progress.
Sounds like the "long time chicken lady" is being deceitful with you about your hatch.
What about the 60 eggs you took her a week after the 139? Have those hatched yet? Hopefully these are still available to you.
Sorry to hear about your situation but you are on the right track. Reputations are hard to build and easy to destroy.
Admittedly, you are well within the realm of etiquete to tell her you will not partner with her on future hatches. When she asks why, you can politely tell her that you are not pleased with the way she did business with you on the hatch... especially since you had better hatch rates with the other hatcher and since you had informed her prior to hatching the eggs that you wanted some of your Ameracauna chicks for your family.

Sharkman that's a shame. I think most of us have went thru it at some point. Unless they are your best friend or mother it's hard to trust getting what you expect from hatching. I think your right, I would just let her go and not " have" any more eggs available for her. One angry person can ruin a lot of hard work building up your clientele. It's best to just chalk it up to experience.
We finally have a day that's not raining,well at least yet! Wish it would dry up so I could do more planting. Looking forward to next weekend, get to head back to Oklahoma for the weekend! My daughter is getting married. Of course I can t go any where without taking critters. I am taking daughter some guinea pigs and a niece some pigeons. Gee I better start
Poking on Craigslist and see what I can find to bring home! Lol

Hope you have some nice planting days ahead and Congratulations on your daughter's wedding. Hope the trip to Oklahoma is filled with lots of joy and hugs!

We didn't get any of the rain so we worked in the garden today cleaning out 8 of our 4 x 16 foot beds and planting tomatoes and peppers. Then we got to sit on the deck enjoying the beautiful sunset.

 

[TipihlowLadies]

I will likely take you up on that offer. I just need to get some redwood here. Unfortunately, finding redwood, in eastern Oklahoma, is difficult at best. I'll likely wait for my next trip to California, to bring some home, or, maybe do the door out of teak. Also good in a very moist environment.

I may have some redwood I salvaged from a hot tub and sauna room from tornado job that i used cypress to keep the cost down how much is needed let me know